Ecology. Protecting the environment

Ecology (oí ĸ oç – home; λ oγ oç – science) – is a science, which studies the relationship between all forms of life on our planet and our environment. The term was introduced for the first time by the German biologist Ernst Heinrich Hueckel in 1866. Modern ecology, in part, began with Charles Darvin. In developing his theory of evolution, Darvin stressed the adoption of organisms to their environment through natural selection.

We live on a very beautiful planet – on the Earth. Our planet has very rich resources: the bright blue of the sky, fresh crystal – clear mountain lake water, the rich green of the mountain slopes, wild flowers, picturesque view – all these sceneries of nature fill us with admiration. The XX^th century is known to be the century of scientific and technological progress. With the industrial revolution our negative influence on Nature began to increase. This progress gave birth to a very serious problems. In the XXI century the ecological problems have become especially actual and painful. Among the most urgent ecological problems are growth of population, ozone layer in the atmosphere, acid rains, the greenhouse effect, global warming, toxic pollution of the atmosphere, disappearance of forests, water pollution, contamination of underground waters by chemical elements, destruction of soil in some areas, threat to some flora and fauna representatives, shortage of natural resources, noise from cars, buses etc.

Environment is all of the external factors affecting an organism. These factors may be other living organisms (biotic factors) or nonliving variables (abiotic factors), such as water, soil, climate, light, and oxygen. All interacting biotic and abiotic factors together make up an ecosystem. Pollution is one of the most burning problems of nowadays. Poisoned substances pollute everything: air, land, water, birds, animals, people.

Environmental protection includes all available practices used to protect our environment, whether on individual, organizational or global international level. This basically means that each and every one of us can do something to protect our environment, but of course, global actions are the ones that would help our environment the most. Many countries have different organizations, other bodies devoted to environmental protection. There are even some international environmental protection organizations, for instance United Nations Environment Programme. Greenpeace is an independent global compaigning organization that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. This means that something is still being done for our environment, though this something is far from being enough. Only united world can save our environment and our planet for our future generation.

If we want to live on the clean Earth we should remember about ecological culture. Ecological culture means respect to the nature not only as our home, but also as a home of millions of species of insects, animals and birds. Governments should encourage eco-friendly transport that uses solar energy or alternative fuel. To make air clean we need good filters at nuclear power stations, at factories and plants and also in cars and buses. Both clean air and clean water are necessary for our health. If people want to survive they must solve these problems quickly. Man is beginning to understand that his environment is not just his own town or country, but the whole Earth. That’s why people all over the world think and speak so much about ecology. Only active steps will save people from the ecological catastrophe.