Wednesday, April 30, 2008

TOEFL practice essay #3 ~ Ledio 9B

Some people believe that the Earth is being harmed (damaged) by human activity. Others feel that human activity makes the Earth a better place to live. What is your opinion? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.


The Earth’s natural resources are being damaged a lot by human activity. Since the last century the Earth’s natural resources have suffered very harsh damage. The environment and the climate are suffering changes. Carbon dioxide released by cars has caused an increase in the Earth’s temperature, which is leading our planet towards global warming. The humans’ excessive use of energy has led to the extinction of some fuels, which are very important for our technology.

Global warming is a much discussed topic in recent years and it is becoming a serious threat to humanity each day that passes. Governments are making many promises, but there are few actions. The plans that are made and talked about aren’t put into action. If the situation continues like this, then after seventy years our planet will be flooded by a large mass of water and countries, cities and towns will be lying underwater endangering the existence of humanity as we know it. Another problem is the pollution of the seas. The toxic wastes of ships and industries are released into the ocean. The seas are becoming polluted by the large quantity of toxic wastes released by human industries and washed away into the oceans. In this way much aquatic life will die because of poisoning. Oceans may become polluted and the sea will become useless.

In many poor countries these effects are being shown and because of this tourism in those countries is very weak. Marine tourism is the most beneficial tourism in the world. The sea has to be protected at every cost. Not only seas and oceans are at risk, but also rivers are affected by toxic wastes. If it continues like this many countries will remain short of water and a big part of the population will die because of thirst.

Humans are always working harder and harder to develop their technologies and they’re using all the natural resources available in the Earth to achieve this aim quickly. The necessity in the last century for building nuclear power stations has increased very much the level of radioactivity in the air. Just in Tirana, because of the high levels of carbon monoxide released by cars, the air has become so polluted that the chances of getting cancer are six times higher than the rest of the European Committee. Tirana is not the only capital with this condition; some well-known capitals share this problem such as those of Belgium, Germany, and France.

I personally think that it is our responsibility to save the planet. It is time for the leaders who rule the world to use their influence and power in the war against global warming and against the destruction of the planet. It is a shame that in the 21st century, the century of development, there are still leaders that think making war, which does not profit anyone, instead of reaching an arrangement between them and starting to work towards the problems that face humanity today such as poverty, global warming etc.