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Реферат: The Adverse Effects of Green Lawns (Иностранные языки)
The Adverse Effects of Green Lawns
An Essay By
Mekan Melyayev
English Composition 121
February 26, 2002
Essay: The adverse effects of green lawns.
Lush, green, beautiful lawns surround almost every house in my
suburban neighborhood. Green lawns are part of suburban culture. Few
people consider the idea of not having one. The Associated Landscape
Contractors of America, a trade group, claims, "A properly installed and
maintained lawn gives homeowners a 100 to 200 percent return on their
investment and increases overall property values in the neighborhood"
(http://www.homestore.com). Conversely, a poorly maintained lawn reduces
property values for the neighborhood. Thus it makes sense to believe that
people who own lavish, evenly trimmed, green lawns with no weeds or insect
pests are good neighbors and responsible citizens.
This, however, doesn’t mean that a nation of neighborhoods with such
lawns is a nation of good neighbors and responsible citizens. Such
neighborhoods come with a hidden cost to society and to future generations.
All homeowners know the price they personally pay to maintain their lawn.
But they might not know that, far from being a harmless means of
beautifying homes, the maintenance of lavish lawns has at least four
serious consequences for society: pesticide toxicity, fertilizer runoff,
water consumption and greenhouse gas production.
Each year, 67 million pounds of pesticides are used on lawns across
the United States. This is about five to nine pounds of pesticide per acre
of lawn (Daniels Stivie, The Green Lawn Handbook, 8). Pesticides are
chemicals that are used to kill insects that live in grass. Even though
few people consider pesticides to be toxic or harmful to humans, U.S.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada said “chemicals used in lawn care may cause
cancer, nerve damage, liver and kidney damage, birth defects, and even
death.” (The Use and Regulations of Lawn Care Chemicals, 2)
Not many people are aware that lawn pesticides can be lethal. In a
Senate Hearing on the subject of pesticides, Thomas Prior of Maplewood,
Virginia talked about the death of his brother after exposure to
pesticides. “He became grotesquely swollen; enormous blisters appeared on
his body; one by one his organs failed; his skin sloughed off and he became
blind. The pain was ceaseless and after fourteen excruciating days, he
died.” (The Use and Regulation of Lawn Care Chemicals, 21)
Lawn pesticides are harmful to wildlife, too. If pesticides can kill a
human being, then we can imagine what they can do to wildlife. Seeing
geese, squirrels, prairie dogs, and rabbits is quite normal in suburbia.
These and many other animals naturally feed on grass, and lawns might seem
to be excellent food sources for them. Diazinon (a type of pesticide) was
banned in 1986, because it resulted in the death of songbirds, waterfowl,
eagles, and other birds of prey (Daniels Stivie The Wild Lawn Handbook, 6).
Lawns don’t absorb all the pesticides applied to them. The rest are
washed into the water table, where they contaminate the drinking water.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, pesticides have been
found in the groundwater of dozens of states (The Use and Regulations of
Lawn Care Chemicals, 10). This causes an increase in the price of drinking
water, because the government has to spend more money on purification.
Fertilizer runoff is another major problem. According to a study by
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, only about 50% of the
nitrogen and phosphorous in fertilizer is utilized by plants. The rest is
dissolved in the groundwater. When this runs into rivers, it causes
tremendous growth in the number of bacteria and microscopic plants
suspended in the water. These organisms use the oxygen which would
normally be available for marine life.
The portion of the Gulf of Mexico which receives the effluent of the
Mississippi River is so low in oxygen that it is referred to as a "Dead
Zone". All fish and shrimp have abandoned this zone. Marine animals,
which are not able to flee, such as ground feeders and worms, have died.
This dead zone is in the center of one of the most important commercial and
recreational fisheries in the United States (Flux and Sources of Nutrients
in the Mississippi – Atchafalaya River Basin, 4).
As water is becoming a major issue of the new century, we continue
using water to irrigate our lawns. The average lawn requires about 10,000
gallons of water over the course of a summer to keep it green. This water
is often diverted from other uses, such as agriculture. By the year 2005,
at least 40% of the world’s population might face serious problems with
agriculture, industry or human health, if they rely only on natural
freshwater. Severe water shortages could strike even water-rich countries
such as the United States (Scientific American, 42-43).
Greenhouse gasses are produced both by the decomposition of grass
clippings, and by the use of lawnmowers. Clippings disposed of in sealed
plastic bags are broken down into methane. Methane traps over 21 times
more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide. Most lawn mowers use two-
stroke gasoline engines, which are very inefficient at creating power from
hydrocarbon fuels, and are highly polluting (United States Environmental
Protection Agency, 2001).
Thirty million acres, totalling roughly 468,750 square miles, are
devoted to American lawns (Jenkins Scott. The Lawn: A History of American
Obsession). Individual homeowners cannot ignore the rights of their
neighbors to maintain the value of their homes, but as a nation we cannot
ignore the hidden costs of this use of resources. Perhaps the solution to
this conundrum is to develop a new national consensus on what constitutes a
truly beautiful lawn.
Works Cited
Daniels, Stivie. The Green Lawn Handbook. Macmillan: New York, 1995
Geleick, Peter. “Making Every Drop Count.” Scientific American Feb. 2001:
42-43
Jenkins, Scott. The Lawn: A History of American Obsession: Washington, DC:
1994
Lawn and Gardens. (2001): 9 pars. 23 Feb 2002
United States Department of Commerce. NOAA Coastal Ocean Program. Flux and
Sources of Nutrients in the Mississippi – Atchafalaya River Basin. Series
17, Washington: GPO, 1999.
United States Environmental Protection Agency. Greenhouse Gas Emmisions
from Mananagent of Selected Materials in Munipal Solid Waste. Washington:
GPO, 1998
United States Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works. The Use
and Regulation of Lawn Care Chemicals. 101st Cong., 2nd sess. Washington:
GPO, 1990
Реферат на тему: The Algorithm of a Start and the Development of International Conflicts and Possible Ways of Their Solution
School №5.
The Algorithm of a Start and the Development of International Conflicts and
Possible Ways of Their Solution.
Composed by Michael
Korolyov
Teacher
Altynova G.A.
Ryazan, 2001
The humanity has come into the Third Millennium having lots of non - solved
problems and one of the most difficult of them is the national one. It
appeared not only in developing countries ( African, Asian, South -
American countries) but in the civilized regions such as Western Europe,
North America and in the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe, that
can hardly be referred to any of these groups. Every day in world news
reports we can see many examples of international conflicts. Ulster,
Kosovo, Chechnya, Palestine, Macedonian - these geographical names are
known by every person who watches TV or reeds newspapers and the wars
there are becoming a true menace to international security. Thousands of
people have already perished, millions of them have lost their homes -
these are non - final results of this tragedy called separatism. What is
it? What are the reasons for it? How we can stop it (if we can)? The aim of
my work is to answer these questions.
I have put forward the following statement as hypothesis: the development
of international conflicts is closely connected to the social and economic
situation in the regions where these conflicts take place. In my work I’ll
use some facts proving this connection and explain the factors that
influence the increasing level of ethical contradictions.
The methods of getting the material used in my work are:
1. case study
2. adapting
3. analysis
4. making conclusions
5. making comparisons
The main source of information for me was Mass Media. I used the
articles from the magazine «Novoye Vremya» (1992 -2000). The articles
contain facts related to different countries that have ethnical
problems. I also used the book by A. B. Krylov «Separatism» ( Moscow
1990). And, of course, TV reports gave me a lot of information about
present-day centers of separatism in the world.
Separatism is a political movement the aim of which is separation of a
part of the territory from the whole state and creating an independent
state there or annexation it to another state. It is based on the
principle of national self - determination which is wrongly explained
in the following way: «Each ethnical community should have its own
territory recognized by other states». But the explanation fixed in the
world law consists in the right of ethnosisis to participation in the
wider social and political process.
The main reasons for aggravating ethnical extremism are the periods of
social and economic difficulties together with enforcing of social and
ethnical contradictions and low efficacy of the work of the authorities
and police. We can see such situation in Yugoslavia and in the
countries of the former USSR in the 1990-s, in the republics of Africa
after becoming independent and so on. Such factors lead to increasing
attempts to solve the conflicts with the help of power both or the side
of the existing authorities and opposite communities.
Among the additional reasons are:
6. mutual territorial pretensions of the ethnosises (in the majority of
conflicts);
7. struggle for power between ethnical groups at the local, regional and
national level (Ulster, Kosovo, Chechnya and other national republics
of Russian Federation, Afghanistan);
8. economic backwardness of multiethnic countries (Africa, Asia);
9. differences in language, traditions, customs, religion, cultural and
political discrimination ( Ulster till 1972, Kosovo, Bask’s Land
(Spain), Kathalony (Spain and France), Kurdistan (Iraq, Iran, Turkey)
The greatest centers of separatism have their own local specifics which
is similar in the countries of one area. So it’s possible to mark out 6
types of separatism.
0. West - European . High social mobilization here doesn’t usually get
out of the limits of «civilized» political struggle ( except Ulster and
Bask’s land)
0. East- European. This type is characterized by a great number of
victims and interference of other countries and organizations (NATO,
UNO, EC).
0. Near -Eastern (Islamic). The opposite sides here belong to one
religious and cultural basis (Islam). The typical example is the war in
Kurdistan, the territory of which is now devided between 4 countries.
0. Asian. The centers of separatism here are noted for many people. For
example in Indian states Jamey and Cashmere the number of victims is
37000 people, in Ceylon - more then 32000 in Philippines - 25000.
0. African. The ethnical conflicts there appeared after colonial
countries had left this region. The wars in Rwanda, democratic republic
Congo and in other countries became the examples of unfounded cruelty
and caused the death of millions of people.
0. American. Ethnical conflicts here are not so wide spread . The most
famous example is Quebec, but the struggle for independence there is
only political.
Thus we can see that the start and the development of ethnical conflicts
are influenced by geographical, social and economic factors.
Understanding this influence can lead to making up of recommendations to
prevent such problems. I’ll mention some of them.
Firstly, we should distinctly define the limits of the using of military
power. This power shouldn’t be used to protect political or economic
interests of some ethnical structures.
Secondly, the UNO should declare the struggle against separatism as one
of the most important tasks in its activities. This struggle may include
working out of international laws, economic help to multyethnical
countries.
Thirdly, developed countries should assign money to stable social and
economic situation in the developing states because the problem of
ethnical separatism is a threat to security in the whole world.
And the last, global and especially local cooperation between different
countries should be extended not only because the whole world community
is able to find away out of ethnical conflicts but also because the
process of world integration can make the appearance of separatism
senseless.
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