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Britain supports international cooperation on environmental protection. Increasingly, much of Britain’s legislation on pollution control is being developed in collaboration with other European Community member states and organizations such as the United Nations.

Legislation sets out a wide range of power and duties for central and local government, including controls over waste, air pollution, litter, noise and water pollution. The National Rivers Authority is responsible for the control of water pollution in England and Wales. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Pollution helps to control emissions to land, air and water from harmful industrial processes. The Government plans to merge these two bodies into a single Environment Agency. Similar controls apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Britain supports measures that help to improve the global environment. It stopped incinerating waste at sea after 1990, and will end sea dumping of sewage sludge by 1998. Along with European partners, it has agreed major cuts in emissions from large combustion plants (such as coal-fired power stations) of the main gases that lead to acid rain. The Government is committed to meeting EC requirements concerned with the protection and improvement of the water supply, and with quality of water needed to support freshwater fisheries and bathing.

Pollution Control in the USA

In the United States, government efforts to control pollution have taken three forms: direct regulation, effluent fees and tax credits.

Direct regulation refers to government rules to protect the environment. The prohibition on burning wastes, or the dumping of sewage in a river, and the banning of a particular pesticide (such as DDT) are examples of this form of pollution control. Those who fail to obey government regulations are subjects to fine, imprisonment, or both.

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Effluent fees are charges levied on polluters for discharging wastes. For example, a factory that pumps its waste into the atmosphere or a nearby stream will be charged on the basis of the quantity of waste discharged.

Tax credits enable firms to reduce their taxes in exchange for investing in equipment that will enable them to reduce the amount of pollution they generate.

Has environmental protection slowed economic growth in the USA? Upon the whole, it hasn’t. Of course, dislocations have occurred. That is, some workers in particular companies have lost their jobs, and a few firms had to close down or do with lower profits for a while. In a short run, complying with clean air and clean water laws was costly for many firms but most were able to do so.

Pollution control may actually contribute to economic growth. There is now a blooming “pollution control industry” that has crea ted new employment and new markets. They deal with research, construction and equipment design and maintenance. In addition, many firms are working to make more efficient use of resources by recycling paper, aluminium and other raw materials.

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Check your knowledge

Severn Trent faces a £35.8m fine

Ofwat is proposing to fine Severn Trent Water £35.8m for providing false information deliberately and offering the company's customers a poor service. The water industry regulator is fining the firm £34.7m9 or 2.9% of total turnover.

Severn Trent also admitted misreporting water leakage levels | in 2001 and 2002, after a Serious Fraud Office inquiry. Severn Trent is likely to face a further fine from the criminal courts for the two counts of providing false information, to Severn has eight million customers which it pleaded guilty.

The case has now been before the City of London Magistrates1 Court, with the next hearing now set for the Old Bailey on 6 May.

"Seven Trent Water's behaviour was unacceptable," said Ofwat chief executive Regina Finn. "The size of the fine reflects how seriously Ofwat takes the deliberate misreporting of information.

Tony Wray, chief executive of Birmingham-based Severn Trent Water's parent company Severn Trent PLC, said "When my new management team and I uncovered misreporting and poor service in our customer relations department we promptly alerted Ofwat." "And we took steps to implement proper controls and an ethical working culture with the highest standards to ensure there can be no repetition of this unacceptable behaviour. "We fully acknowledge and accept that the company is responsible for its failures." Mr Wray told the BBC that those responsible for providing the false information "are absolutely no longer with Severn Trent".

This is not the first time that Ofwat has fined a water company for its provision of data and substandard customer service.

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Back in February Ofwat fined Southern Water £20.3m, or 3.5% of its annual turnover, for poor service and reporting misleading figures.

And last year, Thames Water was fined £12m, or 0.9% of its yearly sales, for "inadequate" reporting and customer service.

poor - здесь: плохой

fine - штраф, to fine - штрафовать

customer - клиент

turnover - оборот

misreporting - искажение

court - суд

behaviour - поведение

unacceptable - неприемлемый

responsible - ответственный

fire - здесь: увольнять

guilty – виноватый

Mark statements as true or false:

1.Severn Trent Water has 8 million customers.

2.Severn Trent Water provided false information.

3.The company don't want to fire the people who are responsible for misreporting of information.

4.Severn Trent Water is the first company that was fined by Ofwat.

5.All the three companies that were fined are guilty of bad customer service.

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Global warming

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-twentieth century, and its projected continuation.

The average global air temperature near the Earth's surface increased 0.741 0.18 °C during the hundred years ending in 2005. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-twentieth century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic (man-made) greenhouse gas concentrations" via the greenhouse effect. Natural phenomena such as solar variation combined with volcanoes probably had a small warming effect from pre-industrial times to 1950 and a small cooling effect from 1950 onward.

These basic conclusions have been endorsed by at least thirty scientific societies and academies of science. While individual scientists have voiced disagreement with some findings of the IPCC, the overwhelming majority of scientists working on climate change agree with the IPCC's main conclusions.

Climate model projections summarized by the IPCC indicate that average global surface temperature will likely rise a further 1.1 to 6.4 °C during the twenty-first century.

Increasing global temperature will cause sea level to rise, and is expected to increase the intensity of extreme weather events Mid to change the amount and pattern of precipitation. Other effects of global warming include changes in agricultural yields, trade routes, species extinctions and increases in the ranges of disease vectors.

Most national governments have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but there is ongoing political and public debate

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worldwide regarding what, if any, action should be taken to reduce or reverse future warming or to adapt to its expected consequences.

increase = rise - увеличиваться, повышаться

average - средний

due to - из-за

greenhouse effect - парниковый эффект

endorse - подтверждать, одобрять

pattern of precipitation - схема осадков

ongoing - продолжающийся

expected consequences - ожидаемые последствия

Mark statements as true or false:

1.Sun and volcanoes effect the temperature on the Earth.

2.All the scientists agree with the conclusions of the IPCC.

3.During this century the temperature will go up 1.1 to 6.4 °C.

4.The aim of the Kyoto Protocol is to minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

5.Global warming can't effect species extinctions.

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Ольга Николаевна Корнева

Елена Сергеевна Корнилова

ECOLOGY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Учебное пособие

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