Lifestyle and Entertainment

In previous Baba Jaga's contribution: Save our Planet, I talked about a need to reduce the consumption of goods. I gave a positive example of Poland since we did not consume that much as people in US do. To counterbalance this positive image of Poland and Eastern Europe lets talk about environmental pollution in the article below.

How many of you know that the worst polluted part of Europe is so called black triangle between Southwestern Poland, Eastern Germany (Eastern Saxony) and Czech Republic (Northern Bohemia)? This area is shaped by the range of mountains, among them so called Giant Mountains (Karkonosze) of Sudeten chain. The mountains form a wind barrier which creates unfavorable conditions for the dispersion of pollution from three industrial centers, mainly brown coal mining. The mountains in the center of the triangle were affected by the acid rain from these industrial centers. It is estimated that 50% of the coniferous forest there disappeared between 1972 and 1989. Since 1991 all three countries of this region try to work together to alleviate this environmental disaster. The photo on the right shows a part of Sudeten forest which is distressed by pollution.

Read more: Environmental Pollution in Poland

It might be a right time to compare the way how people live in Poland (simplicity) and in the US (overconsumption). The US is the biggest consumer of goods in the world. People use here more energy than anywhere else in the world. Now, when the gas prices in the US reached the level over 4 dollars per gallon - it is a time to modify our habits.

I was born in Poland sixteen years after the end of World War II which completely devastated Poland economically. Poland, "thanks" to Soviet occupation did not accept Marshall Plan which helped rebuilt Western European economy. Poles lived under the umbrella of Soviet-type socialistic economy. The development of Eastern European countries was slower than the countries of Western Europe, even if before the war they were better off since we denied any help from the US and since we embraced communistic economy.

Read more: Save our Planet - How we used less and saved more in Poland

I cannot teach you how to learn foreign language perfectly since I do not know English or any other language perfectly. I can teach you how to efficiently communicate and it does not cost a dime � like some of these software programs worth hundreds of dollars. I was born in Poland, my first foreign language was Russian, then English and German. Then I also learned some French and Spanish.

The easiest way to learn foreign language is to move to a foreign country when you are younger than 12-13. At this age the internal vocal organs can still adapt to the sounds of the other language. Many Hispanic people in this country are truly bilingual, operating with the same ease in English as in Spanish with no foreign accent whatsoever. They are really and truly bilingual.

Read more: Tips About How To Learn Foreign Language

I received recently three new books which teach children Polish language. I would like to share with you my experience since I am a proud mother of eight years old daughter who practically spend her whole life in the US. We live in Idaho far from any Polonia centers. My husband is an American, so I am the only person who can teach her some Polish. All books have been published by Milet Publishing. This publishing house is known for multicultural and multilingual books with interesting artistic touch. Milet is located in the UK, US and Canada.

Read more: Polish-English Dictionaries for Children