AIR POLLUTION Air is one of the essential elements in our life. It provides us

with oxygen, which allows us to breathe. The air can be both

our friend and enemy. With the numerous chemicals like car-

bon dioxide, methane, and harmful compounds, a polluted air is

a source of various sicknesses.

70% of air pollution in cities of Vietnam is caused by vehicles.

Dust pollution in big cities exceeds standards from 5-7 times.

In Hanoi, a decade ago, bicycles and three-wheeled pedal

taxis rode quietly down the tree-lined streets of Vietnam's

capital. Today, more than 2 millions motorcycles and scooters

buzz through Hanoi in a confused and unrelieved cacophony.

As its economy surges forward, motorcycles have become the

symbol of economic freedom in Vietnam.

Motorbikes are now the most popular vehicles in Vietnam,

accounting for 95 percent of the total vehicles in the country.

Vietnam has around 3 millions new motorbikes and 150,000

cars registered annually. Notably, motorbikes are not con-

trolled for exhaust fume.

By the end of 2010, there were 33 million motorbikes and

cars in Vietnam, including 1.4 million cars

Pollution is one of the main causes of the deteriora-tion of our environment. Pollution is nothing but the con-

tamination of our planet by harmful substances and wast-

ages or the unwanted things which is added to the natural

contents like air, water, etc. Some of the worst conse-

quences of the pollution are: the global warming,

the diminishing resources and weather instability which we

are exper ie nc i ng today . K now ing where

pollution comes from can help us to avoid those activities

which increase the contamination of the planet.

WATER POLLUTION Like air, water is a source of life. Humans will not be able to function well without adequate

intake of water. This nourishes our body, and helps remove the wastes and toxins inside it. Aside

from human beings, plants and animals need water in order to survive.

"The river used to be clean and full of fish," said Tran Bach, 67, who has lived for his entire life

in Long Tho, a village on the bank of the Thi Vai river. Fifteen years ago, he says, he could catch

about 50 kg of fish per day, enough to support his family of five. "With too many factories built

along the bank, the river is now so dirty and polluted that we can no longer drink its water or

catch any fish from it," he complained. "Now, the riverbed is full of waste and it has become

narrower and shallower." Bach’s neighbour, Le Bich Son, added that respiratory diseases and

intestinal sicknesses are also increasingly common among local people; this is linked to the

pollution in the river.

Viet Nam’s freshwater and marine

biodiversity is relatively high but

threatened by domestic and indus-

trial water pollution, dam and road

construction, dredging, over-fishing

and destructive fishing techniques,

as well as intensive aquaculture.

The geography and topography of

Viet Nam makes the country

extremely vulnerable to natural

hazards. Heavily populated areas

such as the Delta Regions of the

Red River and the Mekong River

along with the Central Coastal Regions are especially vulnerable to natural disasters which have

extreme effects on people, their livelihood, their agricultural lands, their livestock, and their

infrastructure.

INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION Vietnam has been growing at a phenomenal rate

since the adoption, in the late 1980s, of reforms

that have stimulated its economy. The industrial

sector, which is growing by 15 percent per year, is

the principal driving force behind the country's

development. It is also the principal polluter: air

pollutants, contaminants dumped into waterways,

and hazardous wastes cause serious environmental

damage.

DEFORESTATION Illegal logging is escalating in the country's northern and central provinces, wreaking havoc on

the environment and threatening to worsen floods in the area. Forests in mountainous areas are

being chopped down for logs while coastal mangrove forests are being cleared for fish farms.

Professor Phan Nguyen Hong, who has been researching mangrove forests for 40 years, said

Vietnams swamplands have been cleared by locals wanting to make quick profits by selling

firewood and breeding fish.

"We have just over 150,000 hectares of mangrove

forests left, just one third of the original area", he

said. "Tens of thousands of hectares have been

cleared every year to raise shrimp. The deforestation

has damaged the coastal ecosystem and environmental

impacts will gradually cause disease for the shrimp",

Hong added.

Mangrove forests also help prevent soil erosion

thanks to their thick tree roots and by slowing down

river currents.

There are a lot of environmental hazards that comes with the impact of pollution. The vast,

humid expanse of the Mekong delta is home to more than 17 million people, who have relied for

generations on its thousands of river arteries. But rising sea water caused by global warming is

now increasing the salt content of the river water and threatening the livelihoods of millions of

poor farmers and fishermen.

Vietnam is listed by the World Bank among the countries most threatened by rising waters

brought about by higher global temperatures. Such a rise could leave a third of the Mekong

Delta underwater and lead to mass internal migration and devastation in a region that produces

nearly half of Vietnam's rice.

For more about pollution http://facingthefuture.org/

If you want to learn more about pollution

Come at the RISS library and check out

one of these books

Birthday

Oscar Wilde was born on 16th

October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. He was a brilliant scholar but also

increasingly rebellious. He was

awarded a scholarship to Dublin

college, then to Oxford University.

He enjoyed his time in Oxford and

was able to develop his poetic sensibilities and love of literature.

He also became more conscious of

his bisexual nature. He moved to London where he was

able to skillfully enter into high

society, soon becoming well known

as a playwright and noted wit. In 1881, he published his first

collection of poetry Poems.

In 1884 he married Constance Lloyd, and they had two sons, Cyril

and Vyvyan.

His first and only novel, The

Picture of Dorian Gray, was published in 1891.

His dress was a target for

satire in the cartoons, but Wilde

didn’t seem to mind. In fact he

learnt the art of self-publicity and

seemed to revel in it, at least up

until his trial in 1898 for his

“crime” of homosexual acts.

He was found guilty, and sentenced

to prison for two years.

This experience deeply shocked and

affected him. During this time, he

wrote De Profundis. Upon his

release in 1897, he wrote The

Ballad of Reading Gaol, revealing his concern for inhumane

prison conditions.

He left for Paris where he lived in

comparative anonymity.

The life of Wilde was turbulent and

volatile. Never short

of incident. It reflected his own

inner paradoxes and

revolutionary views. In some ways

he was both a saint and sinner at

the same time. Wilde was not an

overtly political commentator but

through his plays there is an

underlying critique of social

norms that are illumined for

their absurdities. He died of cerebral meningitis on

November 30, 1900, penniless, in

a cheap Paris hotel.

Oscar Wilde

Stop by the RISS Library

and check one of his books out !!!

“I am so clever that

sometimes I don’t

understand a single word

of what I am saying.”

Oscar Wilde