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Section Objectives Describe the changes in Russia’s economy. Compare Russia’s economic regions. Discuss Russia’s environmental issues.

 The fall of communism turned Russia’s economy upside down.  The new Russian government turned to a free market economy, the system followed in the United States.  Under a free market economy, the people, not the government, decide what businesses to start and run.  Changing to a free market economy has not been easy.

 Under communism, everybody had jobs.  Workers today can lose their jobs when business is poor.  Without government price controls, prices have risen.  Higher prices make it harder to buy necessities like food and clothing.

 Russia has four economic regions: the Moscow region, Port Cities, Siberia, and the Volga and Urals region.

 The old Soviet government worried more about building factories and nuclear plants than it did about protecting the Russian environment.  Forest lands in Russia have been cut without replanting seedlings to hold the soil, causing serious erosion.  Chemical fertilizers have built up in the soil over time, destroying the soils ability to grow food.

 The Soviets built power plants to create nuclear energy. Many of these plants are in decay, which can lead to dangerous nuclear waste.  Air pollution from heavy industry, plus gases given off by coal-fired electric plants, and different forms of transportation has caused the people to suffer from lung disease and cancer.  Life expectancy has dropped in Russia.  Water is being polluted by agricultural and industrial chemicals, poor sewer systems, and buried chemical weapons.