CLIMATIC ZONES
-a) the arctic zone:
– it mostly snows and freezes. Temperatures stay below zero. The life is hard because there is winter for most of the year. Typical animals are polar bear, polar fox, reindeer. There are few trees.
b) the tropical zone:
– the weather is mostly hot, the air is humid. Changing of drought and rain seasons are typical. Some of the animals living in this zone are snake, monkey, parrot, elephant, zebra, lion, tiger, rhino etc.
c) the moderate zone: changing of 4 seasons is typical. Each season takes 3 months.
Seasons
Spring oficially begins on March 21st. There is a lot of rain and sunshine, nature is getting up after a winter. The days slowly get Flowers and plants begin to grow. Summer starts on 21st of June. It is a very hot season, it can rain heavily too. Children have a summer holidays and enjoy the sun. Autumn is the season, when the leaves on trees change their colours to bright. It starts on 23th september. Weather is cloudy and windy, children fly kits. Winter is the season in which there should be a lot of snow, but because of global warming this doesn´t happen these days. It starts on 21 december. Slippery roads and ice cause many accidents.
ENVIRONMENT and its problems:
Environment includes plants, animals, air, water, our civilization etc. We could say that it is everything what is around us. Environment is influenced by processes in nature, but mainly by activity of people.
Some of the environmental problems are:
a) grenhouse effect
This process is natural for the Earth. It prevents heat from escaping into the atmosphere. The problem is that human activity makes this process too intensive. Our civilization produces greenhouse gases (freons, water vapour, methane, carbon dioxide), which are let into the atmosphere in too big amounts. The effect is made stronger and our planet warms up, which results in global warming and climate changes.
There is an ozone layer around the Earth which protects us against ultraviolet rays. The layer is getting thinner because it is damaged by freons. As a result, we are endangered by UV rays which can cause skin cancer and other diseases.
b) global warming
c) cutting down rainforests
(because of wood; this is a big problem in Latin America; Brazilian rainforest is called „the lungs of the world“ – but it is being destroyed)
d) hunting endangered species – mostly by poachers
e) pollution
The air is polluted by:
– exhaust fumes from transport and cars: people use cars to go to work or to go shopping, and there are often traffic jams, especially in big cities
– factories and power stations. There are lots of coal power stations in North Bohemia (Tušimice, Prunéřov, Počerady). They are desulphurized today; in spite of that they emit lots of pollutants every day.
– freons and other gases
Water is polluted:
– by cargo ships and disasters on the sea
– by people who wash their cars by rivers and ponds
– by fertilizers used in agriculture
– by chemical factories
Soil is polluted by fertilizers used in agriculture and by landfills (especially illegal landfills).
Although the ecological crisis of our time is very serious, each individual can make a difference by making changes in their daily lives.
Some actions we can take are as follows:
– Separate and recycle your trash: Bio, paper, glass, plastic and metals.
– Do not waste water. Take a shower instead of baths.
– Do not waste electricity. Switch off the lights, radio.. when you are not using them.
– Recycle used batteries.
– Bike when possible or use public transportation.
– Grow plants and trees.
In the world there are many environmental organisations:
Greenpeace – it is an international organisation which fights against pollution.
The Green Party – a world wide political party which is independently represented in the Czech Republic.