Environmental problems in Arkhangelsk region

Environmental
problems

Environmental
problems are of a great concern nowadays. More and more scientists warn about
the threat of a global ecological catastrophe as a result of man’s economic
activity. Medics note with alarm the growing number of diseases caused by air
and water pollution.

The
ecological situation is particularly unfavorable in large cities. In London,
for example, the dust concentration (daily average) in air exceeds the
permissible level by 60 per cent, in Paris – 80 %. The situation in Moscow is
even worse in some aspects. The carried out research showed that up to 12 million
tons of harmful substances are discharged into air annually. Hundreds of
industrial enterprises pollute atmosphere.

Ecological
problems are also very acute in Arkhangelsk region and in our city. The
ecological situation in the region is influenced by a powerful industrial
military complex, which includes the defense enterprises in Severodvinsk,
cosmodrome in Plesetsk, nuclear test site in Novaya Zemlya. Out of 20
cosmodromes in the world one of them is in Plesetsk.

City’s
population are also worried about the Northern Dvina. Sawmills and pulp and
paper plants contaminate water. As a result the ecological balance in the river
upsets.

Transport
is a major source of environmental pollution. Every car exhausts tons of CO₂
into the air.

Another
source of public concern is disappearance of forests. Their disappearance
upsets the oxygen balance. Among other acute ecological problems are: pollution
of the world’s ocean, radioactivity, noise and other types of pollution,
destruction of ozon layer, deserts’ advance, green-house effect, acid rains,
etc. They are result of men’s careless interaction with nature.