SAVE PLANTS SAVE EARTH

The U.S. Russia and other developed countries spend tremendous amounts of money in recent years for the study of the planets in the solar system and beyond. These expenses seem superfluous considering the imminent dangers facing civilization from pollution, intensive exploitation of the limited natural resources and overpopulation.The most expensive Hubble Space Telescope and the hipper expensive manned spaceships may provide us with new information on the Universe. These and similar sophisticated means, however, will not help us find the answers to the Big question of our time: How Long Will Civilization Survive if Destruction of the Planet's Environment goes on?According to environmental scientists, life on our small but perhaps unique planet Earth may come to an end in the next 70-80 years. They attribute this danger to the tremendous technological development, which upsets nature's equilibrium and the dramatic growth of human population. The factors that endanger life on earth are mainly:1. Contamination of the soil and water resources by monstrous amounts of industrial and home garbage, as well as by pesticides and chemical fertilizers used intensively in modern agriculture.2. Damage to the protective ozone layer by mainly CFC (Chloro-Fluoro-Carbon) gases.3. Green House Effect, caused by the excess, in the atmosphere, of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases generated by industry, agriculture, automobiles and electric power plants. 4. Acid Rain, caused by the release by industrial plants and vehicles of significant quantities of pollutants into the air. 5. The release of poisonous gases to the atmosphere and the destruction of rare species of plants and animals by burning of forests throughout the world, especially the rain forests.6. Dramatic growth of human population, which constitute perhaps the most scaring factor of all. Human population, consisting today of almost 7 billion people, compared with only 2 billion in 1930, may grow in about 40 years to the scaring number of 10 billion. The many millions born every year must fight for their survival. They therefore use water resources to the limit, exploit the scarce natural resources and burn forests for fuel and for agricultural cultivation.