Air is essential for life – not only for humans, but also for animals and plants. Although all living beings share the air, only people pollute. Traffic plays a large role in the creation of air pollution. The car industry is booming. Cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles, and aeroplanes are an integral part of our contemporary way of life. They all produce exhaust, which often gets trapped in the cities due to the wind currents created by the cityscape, causing smog in heavy congested areas.

A big polluter is a heavy industry. Some factories emit sulphur dioxide. This poisonous gas gets into air and in combination with water make sulphuric acid in the clouds. It later falls as acid rain which kills trees, makes soil infertile and pollutes water and ground.

The ozone layer in the atmosphere serves as a filter for the sun. It protects us from dangerous UV rays from the sun. Due to the damage to this layer, there is an increase in skin cancer. It is believed that the hole in the ozone layer causes changes in the weather patterns. The hole was caused by the industrial and technological way of life and it`s getting larger. It is caused by the use of the gas Freon, as well as the vast amount of carbon dioxide released from cars, power plants, and homes.
The areas of the largest ozone hole are Antarctica, South America, Australia and New Zealand.

During the last hundred years we have produced a huge amount of carbon dioxide (from burning oil, coal, petrol, gas, wood, etc.). The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere works like the glass in a greenhouse. It allows heat to get in but it doesn`t allow much heat to get out. So the atmosphere becomes warmer because less heat can escape. So the Earth`s surface is constantly warming up. Because the temperature is higher, the sea levels are rising. They have already risen by 15 cm since 1880. Maybe they will rise another one and a half meter before the year 2030.

Destroying of forests. In many countries the trees have been cut down because the land was needed for animals or crops. In other parts of the world the trees are cut down because their wood is wanted. This wood is used for buildings or it`s made into furniture.

The soil in the forests is very thin, but it is protected by the trees. When the trees are cut down, the soil is washed away by the rain or blown away by the wind. Soon nothing can be grown on it. The forest becomes a desert.
When a forest is destroyed, that aren`t only trees that are lost, the home of millions of animals and plants are destroyed too.

In the last few years people have burned huge areas of rain forest. It means that there are fewer trees, and of course more carbon dioxide. And we know that rain forests are the biggest producers of oxygen.

Reduce, reuse and recycle. These three important words can be learned by children. One day, perhaps when these children are grown up, most people will reduce their usage of disposable, one-time-use items and reduce the amount of solid waste. People will reuse any materials they can and hopefully will recycle materials they can`t use. There are technologies that can change waste into something different and useful.