Pollution

Pollution is the process by which harmful substances (called pollutants) are released into the natural environment. The list of pollutants includes volcanic ash, trash, chemicals released by industries, smoke, plastics, etc. With the advancement of technology and with new inventions, the lives of people have been made easier, but the irony is that these eventually end up polluting the atmosphere, thereby becoming a major threat to all living things which are a part of planet Earth.

The major types of pollution include air pollution, water pollution and land pollution. Air pollution is the contamination of the atmosphere mainly due to smoke from vehicles, factories and forest fires. Water gets polluted when toxic substances like chemicals and plastic waste are discharged into the water bodies, and the process by which accumulated solid and liquid waste contaminate the soil and groundwater are referred to as land pollution.

All of them affect the Earth’s lifespan to a great extent because they tamper with the normal and healthy conditions of the Earth’s environment, which in turn questions the scope of survival of all its inhabitants.

Environmental pollution is caused as a result of man’s activities in his attempt to construct a developed and technologically advanced world for himself. Some of the causes are:

Discharge of chemical waste

Plastic waste

Mining

Burning of fossil fuels

Forest fires

Transportation

Use of machinery that emits large amounts of carbon compounds

Burning of Garbage

Smoke released from factories and industries

Oil spills

Marine dumping

Sewage disposal

Fertilisers and pesticides

Radioactive waste

Environmental pollution affects the Earth to an extent that we cannot imagine. Human beings have the habit of taking things for granted. They do not realise the seriousness of their actions until they witness the worst-case scenarios. It is only then that they start thinking about doing something to stop the effects of pollution but little do they know that most of it are irreversible. Pollution of air, water and land pose a serious threat to the well-being of every little thing that inhabit the Earth.

Effects of pollution include:

Global warming

Depletion of the ozone layer

Degradation of the environment

Infertility of land

Increased risk on human health, which includes allergies, respiratory diseases, heart attack, cancer, etc.

Animal health

Acid rain

Climate change

It is high time human beings realised that if they do not act immediately, there would not be anything left for their future generations, not even what little they had. Measures to control pollution should be put into effect as soon as possible if they need a planet to call their own.

There might be some people wondering about the need to stop pollution when the environment is not so much in ruins as people portray it to be. Well, the fact is that the environment is much more affected than any of us know. Controlling pollution will reduce health hazards, liability risk, economic losses; and provide us with clean air, better lifestyle, clear visibility, safe environment for all inhabitants of the Earth and so on.

Multiple efforts have been taken by the governments of various countries and organizations around the world to reduce the effects of pollution on our environment. One of the initiatives taken by the United Nations is the United Nations Environment Programme with the mission to inspire people all around the world, to work together, to care for the environment, and take steps to improve the quality of life, not just for ourselves, but for the future generations as well. The United Nations has also designated June 5 of every year to be World Environment Day in order to bring representatives of all member nations together to address the environmental problems, to create awareness and to instigate action.

The answer to all the environmental problems the world is facing today is immediate action and consistency in reduced usage of private transportation, machinery with possible carbon emission and proper disposal of waste to start with.

Pollution is caused by harmful solid and liquid substances that contaminate the environment. These substances are called pollutants which include chemicals, carbon emissions, smoke, garbage, plastic, etc.

Pollution can be stopped if we try to

start using public transportation more than private vehicles so that it reduces the amount of smoke released into the atmosphere

avoid burning of plastic or garbage

avoid using machinery that has a lot of chemical emissions

dispose waste properly instead of dumping it into the water bodies

Wildfires, volcanic eruptions and forest fires are some of the natural causes of pollution.