Hungary Grace Morton Tamarac Middle School, Grade 7 RPI EcoEd Research Program Spring 2013 My name is Grace Morton. I am in 7th grade at Tamarac Middle School. I researched Hungary, and I chose Hungary because my dad took a trip to its capital, Budapest in 2010, and this is one picture that he took during his trip. This picture was taken by my dad when he went to Budapest.

Geography Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Its largest river, the Danube, runs straight through its capital city, Budapest. Budapest was originally three cities, with Buda and Obuda on the West and Pest on the East. My dads trip was in Pest.

Government Parliamentary democracy Prime Minister Viktor Orban Hungary’s government is a Parliamentary Democracy. A Parliament is similar to a congress. Their leader is a Prime Minister, currently Viktor Orban, who has been in office for two years. The flag of Hungary consists of three stripes- red, white and green.

This is another picture from my dad’s trip. Major Bodies of Water THE RIVER DANUBE THE RIVER TISZA This is another picture from my dad’s trip. LAKE BALATON One of the most major environmental problems in Hungary is water pollution. The three main sources o freshwater are the Danube, the Tisza and Lake Balaton. The Danube is the second longest river in Europe, and its pollution comes from factories and cities dumping and spilling waste into it. The Tisa is the longest tributary of the Danube and its pollution comes from the same sources. Lake Balaton is the largest lake in Central Europe, and its pollution comes from tourism- people driving and building buildings around it. http://eeagrants.org/Results/Project-stories/Protecting-the-environment-around-Lake-Balaton#story

Air Pollution Another major environmental problem in Hungary is air pollution. This comes from industry and traffic, and one of the chemicals emitted is sulfur dioxide. As this graph shows, the levels of Sulfur dioxide have gone down in the past few decades. The pink line represents what is in the atmosphere, while the blue line represents total emissions. http://energiaklub.hu/dl/kiadvanyok/Sustainable%20Energy%20Strategy%20for%20Hungary.pdf

Soil pollution It doesn’t hurt humans directly, but it hurts animals and plants living and growing in the soil. Sulfur dioxide Contaminated clouds Acid rain Polluted soil Soil pollution is not as great a problem as air or water pollution, but it still needs attention. Soil pollution isn’t something we think about a lot, because it doesn’t hurt us directly. It only directly effects plant and animas living and growing in polluted soil. Soil pollution is caused by air pollution. When there are high levels of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere, Clouds that form are contaminated, thus precipitating contaminated rain- acid rain. This runs along the soil, and the soil soaks up a lot of chemicals from it. This can effect humans if we eat plants growing in contaminated soil or make contact with the soil. http://www.earthtimes.org/pollution/soil-takes-years-recover-pollution-spills/121/

Toxic Red Sludge Spill http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11498884 Sludge contains iron oxide, aluminum oxide, silicon dioxide, calcium oxide, titanium dioxide and sodium oxide Hungarian Aluminum (MAL) In 2010, a dam to an industrial waste reservoir collapsed, spilling millions of tons of toxic red sludge into the towns of Kolontar and Devecser. The picture on the bottom shows the collapsed dam in green and the sludge rushing out of it. On the top right, there is man cleaning up the sludge, but more importantly, you can see how high the sludge was. The sludge was carried away in trucks, leaving the towns stained red. http://www.geoeye.com/corpsite/gallery/gallery-image.aspx?2140&g=17

Population Declining at 0.81% Got below 10,000,000 in 2010 Death Rate is slowly growing while birth rate is shrinking Government is encouraging people to have children Got below 10,000,000 in 2010 Needs to get back up Lowest ever since 1960 Government will lower taxes for families with three or more children. Hungary’s population is declining at 0.81%, which may not seem significant but it is. The population dipped below ten million in 2010, and the country is trying desperately to get it back up. It has not been this low since 1960. This relates to the environment because the government is paying a lot of attention to this when they could be thinking about the environment.

Estimations for Renewable Energy http://energiaklub.hu/dl/kiadvanyok/Sustainable%20Energy%20Strategy%20for%20Hungary.pdf http://energiaklub.hu/dl/kiadvanyok/Sustainable%20Energy%20Strategy%20for%20Hungary.pdf

Renewable Energy Strategy Population Energy efficiency Nuclear Energy Fossil Fuels Renewable energy http://energiaklub.hu/dl/kiadvanyok/Sustainable%20Energy%20Strategy%20for%20Hungary.pdf http://energiaklub.hu/dl/kiadvanyok/Sustainable%20Energy%20Strategy%20for%20Hungary.pdf

Szeged, Hungary Bicycling This bike-sharing station is in France. http://www.xpatloop.com/news/bike_sharing_coming_to_hungary_in_march

Environmental Organizations Clean Air Action Group Monitoring air quality in Hungarian cities One of Hungary’s most well known environmental organizations European Environmental Area Grants Norway, Sweden, and a few other countries Loan money to clean up the environment Recently did a project with Lake Balaton

Q & A Thank you!