It is no secret that the current ecological situation in the Russian Federation and in the whole world can be defined as critical. The technological progress came at a hefty price for the earth. And despite the fact that people are aware of the threat and despite the undertaken measures, the situation keeps aggravating. Industrial air, water and soil pollution, cutting off the trees, soil erosion resulting from agricultural activities, more domestic waste and lack of an effective technology for their disposal are the realities of the interaction between man and the environment.

 These are the issues that ecologists deal with. Their main task is to protect the environment and to provide the equilibrium between the nature’s interests and the demands of the scientific and technological progress. They are also responsible for restoration of the broken ecological equilibrium. Ecologists study man-nature interaction, assess the impact of different factors, elaborate ecological programs aimed at nature protection, secure ecological safety, conduct environmental assessment, develop recommendations for nature protection, and they can also teach students at universities.

 Ecologists pay precise attention to industrial companies, the area of extreme pollution of the environment. They often have to deal with fuel-scale ecological disasters that were caused by man, i. e. the Aral sea disaster.

 Ecologists are also concerned with the ecological situation in big cities. The environment and its pollution in particular has already become the main cause of diseases among children and adults. Experts from the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences say that the unprecedented growth of innate diseases among children is directly connected with water and air pollution in the cities. Unfortunately, improvement is not expected as the growing population and hence the growing demand for industry, energy and housing exert more pressure on the environment.

 The ecological problem in modern society is so grave that we have to involve ecologists into all spheres of economic activity. That is why the demand for this profession is constantly growing.

 Ecologists work in many different areas. Here are the main of them:

 Water: ecologists monitor water basins, evaluate water reserves, study human influence on natural resources, develop technologies for drinking water treatment. Ecologists also pay special attention to purification of industrial and domestic sewage water.

 Ground: ecologists pay special attention to pollution of soil with industrial and domestic wastes as well as soil depletion and, hence, ecosystem destruction, being the result of agricultural activity. Ecologists undertake to develop measures to treat and recover soils.

 Air: control over hazardous emissions into atmosphere by industrial enterprises, monitoring of city air condition, development of air purification technologies, reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

 Management: development and implementation of ecological standards, development of the Legislation and its enforcement at various levels, starting from ecological police and ending up with state bodies.

 Industrial production and construction: even construction of a single house inevitably affects the environment; that is why every large construction is to be approved by ecological bodies before its beginning. The presence of ecological supervisors and approval by ecological bodies is mandatory for such large-scale projects as construction of new highways, industrial enterprises or dams. Industrial production has always been bound with wastes emission and environmental pollution. In this case the main task of ecologists is to develop a set of measures to neutralize its hazardous impact and protect the environment. Emissions into air, water and soil are to be neutralized or minimized.

 Finally, environmental assessment is becoming more and more popular; it is conducted by special companies. Environmental assessment of acting technologies and projects is made upon request of enterprises; it highlights reserves, increases the equipment capacity, eliminates shortcomings, certifies the production, etc. Now people have finally realized how pressing the problem of environmental pollution is; besides, to obtain an ecological conclusion is a matter of prestige for many companies. Finally, it is economically efficient: in addition to the fees for exploration of natural resources and hazardous emissions, an enterprise might be obliged to pay penalties for exceeding the established ecological standards. In this case only an ecologist can make proper correct calculation.

 Thus, the profession of an ecologist becomes more popular with every year, and graduates who have received this profession find their job without problems.