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Europe’s
Environmental Issues
Essential Question
 How has Europe
dealt with the
major
environmental
issues of acid rain,
air pollution, and
nuclear disaster?
Air Pollution
 Many of the world’s largest and most
industrialized countries are in Europe.

Paris, London, Berlin, Rome, Amsterdam
 These cities tend to have lots of factories, lots of
traffic, and produce a lot of air pollution.
Air Pollution
 Factories and power
plants pump pollutants
into Europe’s
atmosphere.
 The country with the
worst air pollution in
Europe is the UNITED
KINGDOM.
Air Pollution in the United Kingdom
 London, capital of UK, is famous
for air pollution
 Word “smog” first used in 1905
to describe air in London (thick
fog + smoke)
The Great Smog of 1952
 Smog was so dense that for 4 days people in London
could not see what was in front of them.


Transportation slowed, crime increased, & thousands of people
died from the pollution
People around the world became frightened & worried about
the quality of the air they were breathing
Sources of Air Pollution
 In the past, the major source was smoke (CO2)
from burning coal (factories)
 Today, exhaust from cars & buses are also the
sources
Effects of Air Pollution
 Asthma and pneumonia are linked to vehicle
emissions

Burns the lungs, nose, and eyes, and endangers human life
 High air pollution keeps children & senior citizens
indoors
 Blackens buildings
& harms wildlife
Acid Rain
Acid Rain
 The country with the
worst acid rain in
Europe is GERMANY.
What is Acid Rain?
 Air Pollution leads to
health problems, and can
affect the environment
through ACID RAIN.


Acid rain is caused by factories
and car exhaust.
The pollution gets into the clouds
and causes the rain to be acidic.
What is Acid Rain?
 Acid rain is a result of air pollution. When any type
of fuel burns, lots of different chemicals are
produced and released into the air and mix with
water in the clouds.
 The rain from these clouds then falls as very weak
acid.

It’s not acidic enough to burn your skin, but it’s very harmful
for the environment.
Germany is Its Own Worst Enemy…
 Main source of acid rain is smoke from factories
(burning fuels like natural gas, coal, & oil)

Germany is a top manufacturing country—leads the world in
cars, steel, & chemical products—so it depends on these
factories
 Cars & buses also produce harmful gases.

Germans own more cars than people of most other
countries do
Acid Rain in Germany
 Acid rain has destroyed nearly half of the Black
Forest!


This has really harmed Germany’s economy because timber is
an important export. It brings in millions of dollars to
Germany. The timber business provides jobs.
No forest? No jobs. No jobs? Poor economy.
Acid Rain in Germany
 Acid rain is also harmful to
 plant life
 aquatic animals
 humans (cancer)
 buildings and statues (eroded).
What is Europe doing to fix
these problems?...
European Environmental Policies
 In Western Europe, nations are trying to lessen
pollution.

They are spending money and researching new ways to
produce power that cause less environmental damage.
 In Eastern Europe, few nations are researching new
technologies

They have less money
European Environmental Policies
 Governments are also
researching alternative
fuel sources for cars
which would lessen air
pollution and acid rain.

Rather than being made
of oil, these fuels come
from plant soil.
European Union
 Most countries in
Europe are members of
a group called the
European Union.

Since its formation in
1993, the EU has passed
policies designed to fight
acid rain, improve air
quality, restrict toxic
waste, and reduce
pollution.
The Chernobyl Accident
26 April 1986
http://library.thinkquest.org/20331/images/chernsite.jpg
Where is Chernobyl?
-In Northern Ukraine
-10 miles away
from Belarus
-80 miles North of Kiev
http://students.vassar.edu/mezegen/Eastern%20Europe%20Map.gif
http://studiohousebooks.co.uk/chernobyl/Chernobyl/chernobyl.html
Chernobyl, Ukraine
 In 1986 the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station
experienced a disaster.
 One of the nuclear reactors exploded.


Radioactive material entered the water, soil, and air.
The pollution traveled to other countries in Northern Europe
and Scandinavia.
Immediate Impact
- 203 people were
hospitalized immediately.
31 of them eventually died.
Most of these people were
workers in the plant or local
firefighters.
- NW winds from the Black
Sea carried the radiation
for miles in the following
days. Scandinavian
detectors picked up on the
abundance of radiation, but
the Soviet government
denied everything.
http://www.cmc.ec.gc.ca/~arqidor/ctbto/ctbt3.html
West and
Northwest Winds
carried radiation
http://www.ki4u.com/potassium-iodide.htm
http://www.metoffice.com/environment/serv4.html
The Clean Up
 “Liquidators”
 These were firemen who helped
put out the fires and helped clean
up the radiation
 Most did not realize the dangers of
radiation.
 Many later died from radiation,
because they didn’t wear
protection.
 An estimated 8,000-20,000 to date
have died
 Robots
 United States supplied
 Specifically designed to enter
reactor core and help build the
sarcophagus
http://www.chernobyl-international.com/aboutchernobyl/fateoftheliquidators.asp
http://er1.org/docs/photos/Disaster/Chernobyl%2002%20robotic%20inspector.jpg
Clean Up
Approximately
300,000 to
600,000 liquidators
were involved in
the cleanup of the
30 km evacuation
zone around the
plant in the years
following the
meltdown.
http://library.thinkquest.org/3426/data/emergency/cleanup.efforts.html
Evacuation
-Following the accident hundreds of
thousands of people had to be
evacuated and between 1990 and
1995 an additional 210,000 people
were resettled.
http://library.thinkquest.org/3426/data/emergency/evacuation.html
Containment
• Cement buildings built in the months after
disaster
• 5,000 tons of sand thrown on top of reactor core
http://www.greenpeace.org.ar/energiapositiva/img/fotos/chernobyl.jpg
After
Chernobyl
http://studiohousebooks.co.uk/chernobyl/Chernobyl/chernobyl.html
http://fme.sincerethought.org/gallery/album10/wtc_6
The Children of Ukraine
 Children were much more affected
by Chernobyl and the radiation, due
to their weaker immune systems.
 1991-1992--sickness rate among
children almost tripled
 Threat to gene pool—fewer children
being born.
 The following problems have
increased in children:

heart and circulatory diseases,
malignant tumors, and disorders of
the nervous system, sensory organs,
of the bone, muscle and connective
tissue system
http://studiohousebooks.co.uk/chernobyl/Pictures/pictures.html
http://studiohousebooks.co.uk/chernobyl/Chernobyl/chernobyl.html
Children cont’d
 It is estimated that 1 out of every 4 infants
will develop thyroid abnormalities.
 The normal rate of thyroid cancer would be
only one in 1 million.
 In the immediate aftermath of the disaster,
had the authorities supplied the children
with preventive potassium iodine, it would
have prevented many of the thyroid cancer
cases.
Thyroid cancer
•The thyroid gland is the most vulnerable
organ to radiation in the human body.
•Normally, this is a rare disease, with only
1 case per year being reported in Belarus
before the Chernobyl accident.
•Thyroid cancer can take 10-30 years to
show its effects.
•There has been a 2,400% increase in the rates of thyroid cancer in
Belarus since 1986.
•In the Homyel region of Belarus, the region closest to Chernobyl, there
has been a 100-fold increase in thyroid cancer.
http://www.chernobyl-international.com/aboutchernobyl/thyroidcancer.asp
Other problems…
 Food & Water
 Milk—Farmers have to
watch the radiation level in
milk.
 Fish—Cannot be eaten, as
water absorbs radiation and
fats concentrate it
 Radioactive Floods every
spring
 Lives ruined
 Suicide and depression
 Even healthy people were
traumatized
http://www.spacedaily.com/images/chernobyl-airview-bg.jpg
http://library.thinkquest.org/3426/data/local-effects/agriculture.effects.html
Chernobyl Today
•The plant has been shut down by
Ukraine.
•The cement building is falling apart,
due to the quick emergency
construction of it.
•The UN estimates that up to 9 million
people have been affected directly or
indirectly by the fallout.
•The full consequences will not be seen
for at least another 50 years.
•http://rt.com/news/nuclear-troubles-echoesplant/ www.calguard.ca.gov/ ia/Chernobyl-15%20years.htm
www.balticuniv.uu.se/ space/catch_news27.shtml
Chernobyl Today
www.calguard.ca.gov/ ia/Chernobyl-15%20years.htm
www.balticuniv.uu.se/ space/catch_news27.shtml