The Environment - Essay

das essay muss folgendes beinhalten:
global warming, climate change, future solutions to environmental probs, hydro-powered cars/ bio-fuels/ hybrid cars, recycling in germany, litter-bug countries - environmental-friendly countries.

vielleicht könnt ihr ja gucken ob da fehler drin sind oder ob man sonstnoch was dran verändern kann! Danke..
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The Environment

Environmental issues have become hot topics in the recent years. Although there is widespread concern about problems such as global warming and climate change, the majority of people neither realize the true scale of the problems nor fully appreciate the devastating social repercussions.

Climate change is the biggest challenge that we face in the world today. It is already leading to significant changes in the world’s physical environment. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. Glaciers are melting. Sea ice and snow cover are declining. Animals and plants are responding to an earlier spring.

Although we are currently concerned about global warming caused by mankind`s enhancement of the natural greenhouse effect through greenhouse gas pollution, the Earth`s climate has fluctuated many times in the past in response to natural mechanisms of climate change. Such changes in global climate have also occurred over much longer time scales, from hundreds and thousands of years to millions and hundreds of millions of years. In fact the current global warming trend which began at the end of the 19th century spans only a tiny fraction of the Earth`s climatic history.
The overall state of the global climate is largely determined by balance between energy the Earth receives from the Sun and the heat which the Earth releases back to space, called the global energy balance. Many causes of climate change involve processes that alter the global energy balance. The enhanced greenhouse effect is a potential cause of climate change because the extra quantities of greenhouse gases put into the air by mankind trap more heat in the atmosphere. This upsets the global energy balance and causes a rise in global surface temperature. Although most scientists agree that global warming is the result of the enhanced greenhouse effect, natural processes can also upset the global energy balance in this way, causing similar rises in global temperature. A change in the amount of energy received by the Sun for example has often been proposed as the cause of global warming. The challenge facing scientists is to establish beyond doubt a link between global warming and man-made greenhouse gas pollution.
Global warming is an extremely severe problem facing the world today. It is an increase in the earth`s temperature, which can be caused by the use of fossil fuels, and industrial or agricultural processes. Man-made emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased, largely as a result of the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation. In the last 20 years, concern has grown that these two phenomena are, at least in part, associated with each other. That is to say, global warming is now considered most probably to be due to the increases in greenhouse gas emissions and concurrent increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, which have enhanced the Earth`s natural greenhouse effect. Whilst other natural causes of climate change can cause global climate to change over similar periods of time, computer models demonstrate that in all probability there is a real discernible human influence on the global climate. In addition to impacts on wildlife and species biodiversity, human agriculture, forestry, water resources and health will all be affected. Such impacts will be related to changes in precipitation of rainfall and snowfall, sea level, and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, resulting from global warming. It is expected that the societies currently experiencing existing social, economic and climatic stresses will be both worst affected and least able to adapt. These will include many in the developing world, low-lying islands and coastal regions, and the urban poor.
The effects and causes of global warming have been on the rise and people need to do something about it before the problem gets any worse. We could start with exchanging normal lights into energy saving light-bulbs. In addition we could make short journeys on foot or by bike instead of using a motorbike or a car to prevent the increase of carbon dioxide. There are too many cars on the road, so it would be better if everybody tried to form carpools and if this is not possible we could use public transport. Besides that we could use hybrid-cars, which use a rechargeable energy storage system to supplement fossil fuel energy for vehicle propulsion. Hybrid engines are smaller and more efficient than traditional fuel engines. Some hybrid vehicles use regenerative braking to generate electricity while travelling. The term "Hybrid Vehicle" can also refer to a vehicle engine that uses a combination of different fuels such as petroleum and ethanol.To save the future of the world we could also use the water from garden butts for saving. After watching TV or listening to music, we could put off the stand-by button. In addition we could buy biodegradable products and we could use solar or wind energy. While brushing our teeth we could turn off the water tap. The easiest thing to contribute something to save the future is if we recycled our rubbish correctly; put everything in the right bin.
At the end we could not only save the future a little bit, we would also save a lof of money.

Germany is one of the best countries with recycling. The Green Dot system has been one of the most successful recydling initiatives, which has put packaging on a diet. Manufacturers and retailers have to pay for a „Green Dot“ on products, the more packaging there is, the higher the fee. A major part of the success of this program is the proper sorting of garbage.
Let’s start with glass: Any kind of bottle or glass that is non-returnable and on which you id not pay a deposit belongs in the glass bins. Glass is sorted by color which are green, brown and clear glass. Now I willgo on with paper:All packaging made up of paper such as catalogues and newspapers belong in the green bins or in the blue bags. Plastics and everything with the Green Dot belong in the yellow bin. Biological waste is almost 50 % of the total garbage produced in Germany. The bio-stuff can be thrown on a compost heap or to a separate brown bin. The last bin is the grey bin which is the destiny of almost the rest. Everything in the grey bins will be incinerated. If you have hazardous waste such as batteries you have to look for a small bin at your local shopping area. You can give garbake like furniture to the seondhand dealers.

The USA is one of the largest waste producing nation in the world, because of high costs recycling isn’t as advantaged as in the EU. Just 10 % of 56 tons of waste gets recycled per year. But in some states like California and Oregon, established diposites valused on drink cartons or bottles must be reused or recycled. Even in New York City and Seattle you get a fine if you throw away recyclable materials. Quite the reserve, Germany is very succesful in waste disposal. They have a system which is called „The Green Dot“. A major part of the success of the program is the proper sorting of garbage.

suche gutes ende...!