When you think of the Arctic (北极), you imagine an icy land of pure white snow. Others imagine it as the last really clean place left on Earth. We have polluted the deepest oceans with plastic trash, and now, CNN says, “It’s the Arctic’s turn”
German scientists have recently found micro plastics (微塑料) in Arctic snow, the Associated Press reported. Micro plastic are pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters. Sadly, the scientists found 1,800 pieces of micro plastic per liter of snow.
How is plastic pollution reaching the Arctic? According to scientists, “It’s readily apparent (显然的) that the majority of the micro plastics in the snow comes from the air.” they fall off of plastic objects and are moved by the wind, just like dust. They mix with ice in the air and fall to the ground as snow. Finding these plastics in Arctic snow means that we may breathe them in. An even higher amount of micro plastic was found in the snow around cities.
The high concentrations (浓度) found in snow samples (样本) suggest micro plastics, which contain rubber or chemical used in synthetic fabrics (合成纤维), may cause significant air pollution.
Are they bad for us? Scientists cannot answer this question for now, according to the World Health Organization. We do know that our bodies cannot take in “large” pieces of micro plastics. However, if the plastics are small enough, they can find ways into our bodies and stay there for a long time, which can be bad for our health. What’s more, earlier studies have shown that micro plastics may contributes to lung cancer risk, heightening the need to further assess (评估) the risks of taking them in, the study said.
Micro plastics have also been found in rivers and oceans around the world. Previous research has found that they flow long distances and into tour oceans, damaging ecosystems (生态系统) along the way. They start in our wastewater when we wash clothes with plastic fibers. The waste water then flows into rivers and out to sea, where they are eaten by sea animals. If people then eat these animals, it means that we’re eating the plastic as well.
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Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulated, over industrialized planet. When you come to think about it, there are only four ways you can deal with rubbish: dump it, burn it, turn it into something you can use again, attempt to produce less of it. We keep trying all four methods, but the quantity of rubbish we produce worldwide threatens to overwhelm us. Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. There is an even more hidden kind of pollution that particularly affects urban areas and invades our daily lives,and that is noise.
A recent survey of the effects of noise revealed a large number of sources of noise that we really dislike: Lawn mowers whining on a summer's day, late-night parties in apartment blocks, noisy neighbors, vehicles of all kinds, especially large container trucks thundering through quiet village, planes and helicopters flying overhead, large radios carried round in public places and played at maximum volume. To our surprise, dogs' barking incessantly in the night rated the highest form of noise pollution on a scale ranging from one to seven.
New technology has also made its own contribution to noise. A lot of people object to mobile phones, especially when they are used in public places like restaurants or on public transport. Loud conversations on mobile phones invade our thoughts or interrupt the pleasure of meeting friends for a quiet chat.
The noise pollution survey revealed an amusing old fashioned source of noise. It turned out to be snoring (打鼾)! Men were found to be the worst offenders. It was revealed that 20% of men in their mid-thirties snore. This figure rises to a staggering 60% of men in their sixties. Against these figures, it was found that only 5% of women snore regularly, while the rest are constantly woken or kept awake by their trumpeting partners.
Whatever the source of noise, one thing is certain: silence, it seems, has become a golden memory.
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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.
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A new study warns that about thirty percent of the world's people may not have enough water by 2025.
A private American organisation called Population Action International (PAI) did the new study. It says more than three hundred and thirty-five million people lack enough water now. The people live in twentyeight countries. Most of the countries are in Africa or the Middle East.
PAI researcher Robert Engelman says by the year 2025, about three thousand million people are short of water. Eighteen more countries are expected to have serious water problems. The demand for water keeps increasing. Yet the amount of water on the earth stays the same.
Mr Engelman says the population in countries that lack water is growing faster than in other parts of the world. He says population growth in these countries will continue to increase.
The report says lack of water in the future may result in several problems. It may increase health problems. Lack of water often means drinking water is not safe. Mr Engelman says there are problems all over the world because of diseases like cholera that are carried in water.
Lack of water may also lead to more international conflicts. Countries may have to fight for water in the future. Some countries now get sixty percent of their fresh water from other countries. This is true of Egypt, the Netherlands, Cambodia, Syria, Sudan and Iraq. And the report says lack of water would affect the ability to improve their economies. This is because new industries often need large amounts of water when they are beginning.
The Population Action International study gives several solutions to the water problem. One way, it says, is to find ways to use water for more than one purpose. Another way is to teach people to be careful not to waste water. A third way is to use less water of agriculture.
The report also says longterm solutions to the water problem must include controls on population growth. It says countries cannot provide clean water unless they slow population growth by limiting the number of children people have.
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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.
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China has decided to stop the use of free plastic bags.Supermarkets，shops and outlets(经销店) in China can’t offer plastic bags any more.
Every year，people use too many plastic bags.They throw them here and there after they have used them.The government has done its best to deal with them but failed.While we offer quick service(服务) to customers，the plastic bags pollute water，earth and air，and they waste the oil.The government asks people to go back to carry cloth bags and use baskets when they go to buy something.The cloth bags and the baskets can be used again and again.Many months have passed.Since plastic bags were forbidden(禁止)，the environment has been improved a lot.
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