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As most people know, in the past few years, sandstorms have swept across many countries, polluting the air and disturbing daily lives of human beings. Saharan sandstorms have increased about 10 times during the half-century since the 1950s, causing topsoil loss in nearby countries. In Mauritania, there were just two sandstorms a year in the early 1960s, but there are 80 a year today.

In desert areas, sandstorms are most commonly caused by either thunderstorm outflows, or by strong pressure gradients which cause an increase in wind speed over a wide area. In some cases, dust and sand may set a limit to a shallow depth by a low-lying temperature change. In other cases, dust may be blown as high as 6,100 meters high. Drought is another cause of sand storms. Poor farming practices make dust and sand free of protection from the wind. Dryland farming is one of the most serious practices. A sandstorm can transport and carry large amounts of sand. Desert is the key source of sandstorms.

Sand storms have also been shown to increase the spread of disease across the globe. Virus in the dust is blown into the atmosphere by the storms. Some diseases may not be urgent at the very beginning, but they can develop into deadly ones if left untreated. For example, a breathing problem can lead to lung cancer, while dry eyes lead to blindness.

Sandstorms cause soil loss from the dry lands, doing harm to agriculture. Sandstorms also reduce visibility, affecting aeroplanes and road transportation. In addition, sandstorms also discourage visitors from visiting these places, thus striking tourism.

So what should we do with the frightening sandstorms? Some experts put forward practical suggestions as follows. For one thing, more funds ought to be put into tree planting and forest protection so as to keep more water resources within the surface of the earth. For another, governments of all countries should make laws on environmental protection. For example, banning the use of throw-away chopsticks and punishing illegal tree cutting. Scientists should also study and find ways to cut down the degree of its destruction and to improve the whole environment.

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6 . Humankind has tried to improve its standard of living since the very beginning of civilization. Back then, as well as today, providing food and security was the basic task for a person. However, nowadays the range of required goods has expanded greatly. People feel the need for not only some primary things, such as a piece of bread and a roof over their heads, but also for various facilities and luxuries(奢侈品). Providing humanity with these things is connected to the use of natural resources, which requires energy. The problem is that the common sources of energy we use today cause pollution, so economic growth is almost unavoidably associated with environmental damage.

There are certain aspects of economic growth which affect the environment. One of these is the fact that in order to produce more goods and products, the construction of large industrial plants is required. These plants produce a lot of waste, leading to the pollution of water and the atmosphere, which may cause negative long term health effects to nearby populations of animals, or people.

Industrial manufacturing leads to the constantly increasing energy consumption.The traditional energy sources, which are commonly used nowadays, are considered to be the greatest polluters to the environment. There also exist so­called eco­friendly sources of energy. They are sometimes preferred but replacing the traditional sources with them also requires time, during which people have to make some sacrifices(牺牲)to support these undertakings. What’s more, to produce economically practical energy, people unavoidably have to transform the natural site.This is expensive and, has harmful effects on the environment. For example, application of wind energy would block air flows’ natural speed, which is the reason for their decrease in strength after crossing the windmill. Consequently, the pressure balance that is brought about by this current will be affected, and it is important to remember that the environment and weather conditions are directly affected by atmospheric pressure.

For these reasons, bringing about economic growth without any resulting environmental damage, whatsoever, is impossible.

The word “ecosystem” is short for ecological system. An ecosystem is where living creatures expand within a given area. You can say that an ecosystem is the natural environment where biological organisms such as plants, animals and humans co-exist in this world. So naturally that includes you and Meese are all members of an ecosystem!

There are different kinds of ecosystems depending on the type of surface or environment. Most are naturally made such as the ocean or lake and the desert or rainforest. Some are man-made or artificial to encourage co-habitation between living and non-living things in a monitored environment, such as a zoo or garden.

Plants make up the biggest group of biological creatures within an ecosystem, and that’s because they are the natural food producers for everyone. Plants raised in the Earth need air and collect sunlight to help them grow. When they grow, the plants and their fruits or flowers eventually become a source of food to animals, microorganisms and even humans, of course. Food is then converted to energy for the rest of us to function, and this happens in a never-ending cycle until the living creatures die and break up back in the Earth.

Ecosystems are the basis of survival for all living things. We depend on plants and animals for food. In order for us to exist, we need to grow and care about other organisms. We also need to care for the non-living things within our environment like air and water so we can continue living as a population. Since plants, animals and humans are all of various species, we all play a role in maintaining the ecosystem.

To preserve our ecosystems, we should stop using too much energy, which happens when we consume more than our share of resources. Humans should not disturb the natural habitat of plants and animals, and allow them to grow healthily for the cycle to continue. Too many people in a habitat can mean displacement: imagine being thrown out of your home because there is no more space for everyone. Worse, overpopulation can also ruin the environment and cause destruction of existing plants and animals.

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Solving the Problem of E-Waste

One of the problems damaging our planet is the number of things we throw away. A more recent addition to the list of things we chuck away is e-waste - electronic items that are broken and not recycled.

Tonnes of televisions, phones, and other electronic equipment are discarded chiefly because we lack the skills to repair them. Fortunately, now solutions are being found to give e-waste a new life.

There's a growing trend for repair events and clubs which could be part of a solution to the growing amount of electrical and electronic junk. A Restart Project in London, is one that many found around the world. One of its volunteers, Francesco Calo, said that "this project allows you to reduce waste, extend the life of objects, and it helps people who cannot afford to get rid of items that have developed a fault.

As many electrical items contain valuable metals, another idea is e-waste mining. An experiment at the University of New South Wales involves extracting these materials from electronic appliances. It's thought that doing this could be more profitable than traditional mining.

These projects make total sense --- collections of e-waste for recycling are depressing or even decreasing" according to Ruediger Kuehr, of the United Nations University. And in countries where there is no laws, much of it just gets dumped. However, the European Union, for example, is trying to tackle the problem by insisting manufacturers have to make appliances longer-lasting and will have to supply spare parts for machines for up to 10 years.

Imagine living on the edge of a vast desert, which is moving quietly closer to your village every day and covering your fields. The desert is on the move. This is called desertification.

Desertification occurs in regions close to an already existing desert. It generally arises from two related causes. The first is over-use of water in the area. There is not enough water in any case, and if it is not carefully used, disaster can follow. As time goes on, water shortages make farming more and more difficult. In some places, locals can remember local lakes and marshes which were once the homes for all kinds of fish and birds. They have been completely buried by the sand now. Farmers leave the land, and fields are replaced by deserts.

The second cause is misuse or over-use of the land. This means that the wrong crops are planted and need more water than is available. Ploughing large fields and removing bushes and trees means that the wind will blow away the soil. Once the soil is lost, it is hard to replace, and if there is rain, it has nowhere to go, and brings no benefit.

It is not only the farmers and villagers who suffer. Every spring, the skies over some of eastern cities, thousands of kilometers away from the deserts, can be darkened by sandstorms. Dust from deserts can have a great effect on weather systems. While desertification is perhaps being partly caused by global warming, these sandstorms can make global warming worse by adding to what is known as the greenhouse effect.

What can be done to slow down or stop the process of desertification? A great deal of work is already under way. Obviously first steps are to find new water sources. Tree planting can help, by providing barriers between desert and rich field. Some types of grass also hold the soil together, and stop the wind taking it. Without these efforts, it will be harder and harder to stop the world’s deserts in their tracks, and more and more farmers will give up and head for cities. The lesson to be learnt lies beneath the sand.

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Environmental problems are becoming more and more serious all over the world. For example, cars have made the air unhealthy for people to breathe and poisonous gas is given off by factories. Trees on the hills have been cut down and waste water is being poured continuously into rivers. Furthermore, wherever we go today, we can find rubbish carelessly disposed(处理)．

There are different kinds of pollutants, each of which comes from different sources. It is necessary to identify the source of pollution, in order to make a policy to get rid of them. Different products, processes and activities of our industrialized world together form the major source of pollution.

The forms of pollution can be mainly divided into three kinds—solids，liquid and gas. These pollutants have greatly damaged our planet and continue to do so. In fact，pollution is threatening our existence. The whole ecological balance of the earth is changing. Massive destruction of environment has brought about negative effects and even posed a great threat to man’s existence.

We must face the situation that exists and take action to solve our environmental problems. For instance, new laws must be passed to place strict control over industrial pollution; the public must receive the education about the danger of pollution and raise their awareness of protecting the environment and so on.

The earth is our home and we have the duty to take care of it for ourselves and our later generations. Fortunately, more and more people have realized these problems. Measures have been taken to deal with these situations by the government. And laws have been passed to stop pollution, I hope the problems will be solved in the near future and our home will become better and better.