"Planet Earth: Climate and Environment" (32)
It's a universal truth that every season is beautiful in its own way. Isn't it wonderful to tramp down the country lanes on a frosty winter day? Everything is white with snow and it crunches under your feet. The rime sparkles on the branches and the icicles like precious diamonds hang from the roofs of the houses. It's a merry time for both children and grownups. They can go skating and skiing, sledging and having a fight with snowballs or making a snowman. I suppose, it is very pleasant while the frost lasts, an unpleasant time comes when the thaw begins.
Cars and buses go along streets splashing the mud an slush on the passers-by. Everyone is grumbling and scolding the weather. But soon a warm wind blows up heavy grey clouds and the sun shines brightly in the cloudless azure sky. In a few months summer will come.
Summer is the most suitable season for holidays and vacations. People enjoy bright summer days if they are in the country or at the seaside. They go bathing and swimming, and fishing and boating. But it's unbearable to stay in town on such hot and glaring days. Everybody droops and shambles and tries to hide in the shade.Then after a good rest autumn and harvest time comes. The corn has turned golden and the farmer will reap it and put it in his barn. The air is fresh and full of the autumn fragrance of ripe apples, plums and peaches and of course, coloured asters, chrysanthemums. But the weather is so changeable in autumn, people have to wear raincoats and umbrellas if they don't want to get wet through. The dead leaves cover the ground like a thick motley carpet, the roads are slippery and wet, there are lots of puddles in the streets and again everyone is looking forward to frosty winter days and much snow out-of-doors.
It's rather difficult to say what season is the best one, however dull and nasty or charming and marvelous the weather may be.
As to me, I always look forward to summer. I am never tired of its long sunny days, warm rains with thunderstorms and hail, the buzz of mosquitoes and midges. I like to spend my summer holidays at the seaside.
In my childhood I used to enjoy playing on the beach, making castles and forts in the sands. When one becomes older one begins to notice the murmur of the sea and it's so beautiful to look at the moon's way on the water in the darkness. The air is fresh and it's easy to breathe. I like to lie in the sun getting as brown, paddle in the water or get splashed by the waves. But it's not every year that you can go to the seaside. Sometimes I spend my holidays in the country. Most of my time I spend in the woods gathering strawberries and flowers or at the river bathing and swimming in it. Very often, I help my granny in the vegetable garden weeding it or gathering tomatoes, cucumbers or radish. I like to walk in the rain or just sit indoors watching the raindrops falling down from the green leaves and blades of the grass onto the ground. When summer is over, I always feel sorry, because it was too short and was too quick to pass.
Climate is the weather a certain place has over a long period of time. Climate has a very important influence on plants, animals and humans and is different in different parts of the world. Some scientists think that the world is becomming hotter. If you compare Moscow winter and summer temperatures at the beginning of our century and at its end you will see that climate has really changed. Winters have become warmer. Sometimes there is little snow in January, and there were winters when it rained on the New Year's Eve. Many people say that it is so because of the greenhouse effect. During the last 100 years people have produced a lot of carbon dioxide. This gas in the atmosphere works like glass in a greenhouse. It lets heat get in, but it doesn't let much heat get out. So the atmosphere becomes warmer. Where does the carbon dioxide come from? People and animals breathe in oxygen, and breathe out carbon dioxide. We produce carbon dioxide when we burn things. Trees take this gas from the air, and produce oxygen. But in the last few years, people have cut down and burn big areas of rainforest. This means there are fewer trees, and, of course, more carbon dioxide! As we see the climate in different parts of the world changes a little from year to year. These changes can be dangerous for our planet, which needs protection. Earth is millions of years old, much older than the humans. We know many of its secrets. Yet there is still much to learn.
There are five climatic zones on this planet: the equatorial climate zone, the tropical climate zone, the temperate climatic zone, Arctic and Antarctic climate belts.
Our country is in the temperate climatic zone. Average temperature is 12-13 degrees above zero (Celsius) here.
The weather is the thing we always talk about. In Great Britain if people don't know what talk about they talk about the weather. It often changes and brings cold and misty, sunshine and rain, frost and snow.
In summer the sun shines, often there is no wind and there are no clouds in the sky which is blue and beautiful. We can see stars and the moon at night and people like walks, outdoor games and sports in the fresh air. It's usually 18-20 degrees above zero (Celsius).
When autumn comes, the days become shorter and colder. It gets dark earlier and often heavy clouds cover the sky bringing rain with them. Sometimes there is heavy rain, so that an umbrella or a raincoat is necessary if we don't want to get wet through. Then you can hear people say, "What bad weather! When is this rain going to stop?" Many people then catch cold and must go to bed. Then a fire at home is so pleasant. And in autumn the temperate is usually 5-15 above zero degrees (Celsius).
At last frost and snow come. Fields, forests and houses are covered with snow and rivers and lakes with ice. In winter people enjoy skiing, skating and sledging. Children like to play snowballs. The temperate is usually 5-20 below zero degrees (Celsius).
But spring again brings sunshine and warm winds. Sometimes it snows but snow will not remain long, it will melt in the warm sun." Spring will bring bright sunshine, green grass and flowers. The temperate is usually 13-14 above zero degrees (Celsius).
But the weather is very different, and we can know about tomorrow weather from weather forecasts.
We get wet through when we are caught in a rainstorm without a coat. Sometimes we put on a sweater and then find that the weather has become hot. We do not always know what weather to expect.
On TV and radio there are daily weather forecasts. Sometimes, the forecast is not quite right as the weather is not an easy thing to forecast.
All day and night, weathermen are collecting information from ships, planes, weather stations, and space stations. With the help of this information, they can understand what the weather will be like during the next few days. As a result of the weathermen's work we learn about the weather.
Although no two days will have exactly the same weather, some types of weather people can forecast. When a barometer shows high pressure, the weather will be calm. In winter it will be cold and frosty. In summer it usually means misty mornings and hot sunny days. When the barometer shows low pressure, look out for rain and strong winds.
People invented many proverbs and sayings about weather. This is some of them: When the wind is west the weather is always best. When the wind's in the south, the rain's in its mouth.
If you don't like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.
A lot of professions are depend of weather. For example: vet, farmer and others.
So we cannot live without weather, because practically all of our plans depend of weather. But without it our life will be very-very bored and routine.
Water pollution occurs mostly, when people overload the water environment such as streams, lakes, underground water, bays or seas with wastes or substances harmful to living beings.
Water is necessary for life. All organisms contain it, some drink it and some live in it. Plants and animals require water that is moderately pure, and they cannot survive, if water contains toxic chemicals or harmful microorganisms. Water pollution kills large quantity of fish, birds, and other animals, in some cases killing everything in an affected area.
Pollution makes streams, lakes, and coastal waters unpleasant to swim in or to have a rest. Fish and shellfish harvested from polluted waters may be unsafe to eat. People who polluted water can become ill, if they drink polluted water for a long time, it may develop cancer or hurt their future children.
The major water pollutants are chemical, biological, and physical materials that lessen the water quality. Pollutants can be separated into several different classes:
The first class is petroleum products: oil, fuel, lubrication, plastics. The petroleum products get into water by accidental spills from ships, tanker trucks and when there are leaks from underground storage tanks. Many petroleum products are poisonous for animals. Spilled oil damages the feathers of birds and the fur of animals, often it causes death.
The second class is pesticides and herbicides. There are chemicals used to kill harmful animals and plants. If they penetrate into streams, rivers, lakes, these chemicals can be very dangerous. The chemicals can remain dangerous for a long time. When an animal eats a plant that's been treated with it, the poisons are absorbed into the tissues and organs of the animals.
When other animals feed on a contaminated animal, the chemicals are passed up to them. As it goes up through the food chain, the chemical becomes more harmful, so animals at the top of the food chains may suffer cancers, reproductive problems, and death. Nitrates can cause a lethal form of anemia in infants.
The third class are heavy metals, such as, mercury, selenium, uranium, radium, cesium, etc. They get into the water from industries, automobile exhausts, mines, and natural soil. Heavy metals also become more harmful as they follow the food chain. They accumulate in living being's cells and when they reach high levels of concentration in the organism, they can be extremely poisonous, or can result in long-term health problems. They can sometimes cause liver and kidney damage.
The fourth class is fertilizers and other nutrients used to promote plant growth on farms and in gardens.
The fifth class is infectious organisms and pathogens. They enter water through sewage, storm drains, runoff from farms, etc.
The last one is thermal pollution. Water is often taken from rivers, lakes or seas to be used in factories and power plants. The water is usually returned to the source warmer than when it was taken. Even a small temperature change in a body of water can drive away the fish and other species that were originally there, and attract other species in place of them. It breaks a balance and can cause serious circumstances in future.
Water pollution is one of the famous and one of the largest problems in our world. People in Africa cannot drink clean water; their children die because a big part of our water has been polluted. Children in Kenya often have to go many kilometers to collect drinking water. At all over 2 million people don't have clean water. And we do not know how it will be in future.
But the pollute water killed animals and plants too. There is no ocean or sea, which is not used as a dump. Many seas are used for dumping industrial and nuclear waste. This poisons and kills fish and sea animals. "Nuclear-poisoned" fish can be eaten by people.
Many rivers and lakes are poisoned too. Fish and reptiles cannot live in them. There is not enough oxygen in the water. In such places all the birds leave their habitats and many plants die. If people drink this water they can die too. It happens so because factories produce a lot of waste and pour it into rivers. So they poison water.
But we MUST keep our planet and water of our planet clean. If we want to live, we should guard our clean water and do not pollute them because we could live without food about a month but without water we could die in 4-5 days. Let's keep our water clean!
Britain was originally a land of vast forests, mainly oak and beech in the Lowlands and pine and birch in the Highlands, with great stretches of marshland and smaller areas of moors. In the course of time, much forest land was cleared and almost all Lowlands outside the industrial areas were put under cultivation. Today only about 6 per cent of the total land area remains wooded.
Extensive forests remain in eastern and northern Scotland and in south-eastern and western England. Oak, elm, ash, and beech are the commonest trees in England, while Scotland has much pine and birch. The Highlands with thin soil are largely moorland with heather and grasses. In the cultivated areas that make up most of Britain there are many wild flowers, flowering plants and grasses.
The fauna or animal life of Britain is much like that of north-western Europe, to which it was once joined. Many larger mammals such as bear, wolf have been hunted to extinction, others are now protected by law. There are many foxes. Otters are common along rivers and streams, and seals live along much of the coast. Hedgehogs, hares, rabbits, rats and mice are numerous. Deer live in some of the forests in the Highlands of Scotland and England.
Some 230 kinds of birds live in Britain, and another 200 are regular visitors, many are songbirds. The most numerous are blackbirds, sparrows and starlings. Robin Redbreast is the national bird of Britain. The number of ducks, geese and other water fowl has diminished during recent years.
There are many threats to wildlife and ecological balance around the coast. The biggest threat to the coastline is pollution. Even much-loved Blackpool is not officially safe. More than 3.500 million tons of industrial waste is pumped into the North Sea every year. "We cannot continue to use our seas as a dustbin and expect our coastline to survive," says Greenpeace. Many other ecological problems may be caused by privatization of the coast. Many of the rivers are ''biologically dead'', i.e. unable to support fish and wildlife.
Englishmen say "There is no bad weather, there are bad clothes", it means that they like all the seasons, all kinds of weather. Every season is good in its own way. Each person likes this or that season. It depends on his character, mood. They say that Pushkin liked autumn very much. This season is full of colours, bright and tasty. The sky is blue, but sometimes grey clouds appear. The sun shines but it begins to hide behind the clouds. Its rays are not so warm. Autumn is full of vegetables and fruit, mushrooms and berries. There is nothing like Indian summer in autumn. As for me, I like to walk on the carpet of bright leaves listen to the last songs of birds flying to warm countries, look at the nature. It is like a fairy-tale. It fades away and nothing can be done. Soon drizzling rains will begin and everything will be dull and sad. But still I like autumn. Winter in Usinsk is long and severe with dark nights, bitter wings and hard frosts. Even sometimes you can see a quiet winter frosty day. It is snowing. Fluffy soft snowflakes are falling to the ground making a beautiful thick carpet. The icecles glitter in the sun the snow sparkles like diamond. Going outdoors in such weather is pleasant. Many people go to the forests and enjoy sledging and skiing, playing snowballs and making a snowman. As for spring, people in Usinsk long for it and dream about it during long winter days. It comes late but suddenly. I don't like it because my town becomes grey. But spring is the beginning of new life. Nature awakens from its long winter sleep. The trees begin to bud and soon tiny green leaves will appear. Young green grass appear, fruit trees begin to blossom. Everything looks magic covered with green carpet. Nature looks full of promise. I like summer because we have holiday and enjoy resting after school year. In my opinion every season is beautiful and attractive.
The world environment means simply what is around us. Some people live in towns, other in the country. There are a lot of ecological problems.
The most serious ecological problems are: noise from cars and buses; destruction of wildlife and countryside beauty; shortage of natural resources; the growth of population; pollution in its many forms.
For example water pollution: water is everywhere, but there is no ocean or sea which is not used as a dump. Many rivers and lakes are poisoned too. Fish and reptiles can't live in them. People can't drink this water. So we have to clean the water environment. But it is not the only problem with pollution.
Another problem is air pollution. Air pollution influences the health of people. There are a lot of dangers. For example: ultraviolet radiation from the sun can cause skin cancer. Normally the ozone layer in the atmosphere protects us from such radiation, but if there are holes in the ozone layer ultraviolet radiation can get to the earth. Many scientists think that these holes are the result of air pollution.
Also we have problem with nuclear pollution. Nuclear pollution cannot be seen but its effect can be terrible. To make air clean again we need good filters at nuclear power stations, at factories, in cars and buses.
Another problem is growth of population. They don't have enough places to live. They need more water, more food. So it is the reason of the shortage of the natural resources. It is very difficult to solve this problem.
Also one of the most serious problems is green house effect. It works like this: sunlight gives us heat. Some of the heat warms the atmosphere and some of the heat goes back into space. Nowadays the heat can't go into space. That's why winter and summer temperatures in many places have become higher. If the temperature continue growing up the snow on the mountains and ice will melt, so the most of the earth will be under water.
So every person has to understand how important it is to solve this problems, that endanger people's life. For example I try not to throw out in our city.
Funny weather we are having' is a statment of the obvious wehave used for generations as a greeting. When the deep cold lastslong and heavy snow and blizzards give us the shivers we replace"funny" with something stronger, such as "terrible", "ghastly".At times like these people ask what is happening to the weather.So we go to the experts, who tells us, in language appropriate tothe subject, what happened yesterday, what is happening today,and what might happen in the next few years. Weather and climatespecialists all over the world have ammassed a vast quantity ofinformation. They can describe what is happening around us. Withsatellites they can forecast more accurately what might happen inthe immediate future. Their research has produced evidence of whypast climatic changes took place.
There have been many climate fluctuations over the 10,000years since Britain was last covered with an ice sheet. Advancesand retreats of ice in the northern hemisphere during the past500,000 years can be accounted for by changes in the warmth fromthe Sun.
This was caused by alterations in the Earth's orbit atperiods of 96,000, 40,000 and 20,000 years.
Although that theory is widley accepted as a possibleexplanations for ice ages, it has not been proved. More than 50theories have been put forward, but only a few have not beencompletely dismissed.
Not long ago a new theory was published in the sciencejournal "Nature". According to Dr. Garry Hunt, of UniversityCollege, intense radiations from the nuclear explosion of anearby supernova - a star - could cause the destruction of partor all of the ozone layer and in this way trigger an ice age.
As for me, i like autumn best of all. The days becomeshorter and the nights longer. It isn't so hot in the day-time.The trees are covered with yellow and red leaves. At the end ofsummer apples, pears, plums and other fruit become ripe. In theSouth there are many oranges, peaches and tangerines. Autumn isplesant when it does not rain. General autumn is a rainy seasonof the year. When it rains the weather is nasty. The sky iscovered with heavy clouds. It drizzles. It is muddy and wet.
At the present time the Earth accomodates more than 5 billionpeople. Half of which are undernourished. A total of 4 milliondeaths occur each year from starvation. Mankind has finallyrealised the threat of increasing population and has faced thefact that something must be done. The food-supply increase lagsconsiderably behind the immense growth of population. Besidesconditions for crops growth steadily become worse due to numerous kinds ofenvironmental pollution. And worst of all, today's man consistentlycontributes to his own deadly crisis. We have got too many cars,too many factories, too much wastes and carbon dioxide, toolittle water and food deficiency - all that can be easily tracedto abundant human population. That is why many western scientists say thatour world is going through an ecological crisis which will meanthe gradual destruction of the human race. Our scientists are notthat pessimistic, although they do think that man's increasedinfluence on the planet is posing a growing threat tothe biosphere. It is not too late to forestall what could bedrastic and irreversible changes in the environment and ensurethat the world will be a healthy place for the present and futuregenerations to live in.
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There are many animals in Australia that you cannot see anywhere else, and talking of the animals, we should mention kangaroos in the first place. There are many different types of kangaroo. The biggest are the great grey kangaroos. They are 213 centimetres tall and can run at 56 kilometres per hour. Some run from you then stop and stare.
Wombats and koalas have many similarities and are probably related. The number of koalas is getting smaller. This is partly because of fumes from bush fires. Rescue teams help the koalas by catching them, putting them on respirators, then returning them to their original location when they are better. Australia also has a lot of native marsupial mice that live in the desert. Many of these only come out at night.
You know, there are many animals that are "unpopular" in Australia including spiders which are dangerous. You can find these in Sydney. If they are hungry, they will attack anything that moves. They have sharp teeth and poison. Luckily, there is an antidote if you can get to hospital quickly. There have been 12 deaths since 1927.
Another animal with sharp teeth and a fatal bite is the shark. However, there are normally a lot of beach patrols and protective nets to stop these from eating you for breakfast. Other animals that are a problem for beach lovers are jellyfish. They look like bubbles of blue bubble gum and they have a painful sting therefore people do not swim when there are many in the water. Other "unpopular" animals include dingoes. These are a cross between wolves and dogs. They are unpopular because they eat farmers' animals.
Now what about the ugly animals? A word that people often use to describe a cane toad is ugly! Other words include fat, noisy and disgusting. They are also as big as footballs!' The Queensland Government brought cane toads to Australia to eat cane beetles. Unfortunately cane toads can't fly but cane beetles can. Now the toads are more of a problem than the beetles. Hundreds of thousands are born every year. The toads eat everything including rare Australian animals. The toads are also poisonous to eat. Animals that eat them die. Though they are unpopular animals, some people like them and keep them as pets or write songs about them.There are a number of types of crocodiles found in northern Australia, ranging from the potentially dangerous saltwater crocodiles to smaller, more shy, harmless varieties.
They have got snakes too although fears of the poisonous types are largely exaggerated. They are generally shy creatures, only too ready to avoid trouble. The taipan and the tiger are worth keeping away from.
That is only a small selection of the creatures of the country. Others include penguins, turtles, seals and opossums.In the dry areas, you can see an amazing variety of lizards; some grow to a very hefty size.
Hello! My name is Masha. I want to tell you about summer and summer's month in Belarus.
The weather in summer in Belarus is very changeable.
June is often rainy, wet and cloudy. You can see drizzles, showers, heavy rains and thunderstorms in June in Belarus. But June is usually warm month-average temperature in June is about 22 degrees above zero.
July is the finest and the driest month of the year. In July you can't see heavy rains and thunderstorms. Drizzles are usually warm. Average temperature in July is about 24-26 degrees above zero.
August in Belarus is hot and dry too. But the nature starts to get ready for autumn.
Many trees and flowers are blossom and ripe in summer in Belarus, and animals are especially active.
Everyone knows that there are four seasons in a year: Spring, summer, autumn and winter. Each of them lasts 8 Months.
Spring comes in March and ends in May. It often rains in Spring, especially in April.
Summer is the hottest season in the year. It begins in June and ends in August. In summer the sky is clear and cloudless. The days are long and the nights are short and warm. Summer brings fruits and vegetables. It is pleasant to spend this season by the seaside or somewhere in the country.
The Autumn months are September, October and November. The days are becoming shorter, the sun lose its force. It often rains. It is the season of harvesting.
Winter lasts three month as well: December, January and February. It is getting colder day by day. The sun shines rarely and it snows of fen. But everything looks so pretty covered by snow.
So in every season there are bright and dark sides. But we must be thankful together whatever the weather.
A year is the average time it takes for the Earth to go once round the Sun. There are 12 months or 52 weeks or 365 days in a year. Every four years there is a leap year. It has 366 days. The names of the months are: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December. The days of the week are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. There are 7 days in a week, 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in a minute.
There are four seasons in the year - spring, summer, autumn and winter.The Sun rises in the east in the morning and sets in the west in the evening. We tell the time by means of watches and clocks. The most famous of them is Big Ben, it is a tower clock near the Houses of Parliament in London.
In the times of Julius Caesar the first month of the year was March, which is now the third month. Now the first month of the year is January. It is very cold in January. The second month is February. It has twenty-eight days. Every leap year February adds on a twenty-ninth day.The third month March is the first month of spring. In spring the days grow longer and the weather becomes warmer. Spring like any other season has three months.June, July and August are the summer months of which July and August are the hottest ones. In summer I often go to see my friends who live in the country. When my vacation is over, I return to my J native town.
In autumn the days grow shorter. The weather is bad. It often rains.
December is the twelfth and last month of the year. At the same time it is the first month of winter.
