The
contamination of air, water, or soil by substances that are harmful to living
organisms. Pollution can occur naturally, for example through volcanic
eruptions, or as the result of human activities, such as the spilling of oil or
disposal of industrial waste.
Pollution
is the introduction of a contaminant into the environment. It is created mostly
by human actions, but can also be a result of natural disasters. Pollution has
a detrimental effect on any living organism in an environment, making it
virtually impossible to sustain life.
Land pollution is pollution of the Earth’s natural land surface by
industrial, commercial, domestic and agricultural activities.
What are the sources of
land pollution?
Some of the main contributors to land pollution are:
Chemical and nuclear plants
Industrial factories
·Oil refineries
·Human sewage
·Oil and antifreeze leaking from cars
·Mining
Littering
Overcrowded landfills
·Deforestation
·Construction debris
Facts about Land Pollution
Here are a few facts about land pollution:
We throw away enough trash every day to fill 63,000 garbage trucks
Every day Americans throw away 1 million bushels of litter out
their car window
·Over 80% of items in landfills can be recycled, but they’re not
How to Prevent Land
Pollution
The best way to prevent land pollution is to recycle. Here are a
few other ways you can reduce land pollution:
·Reuse any items that you can
Buy biodegradable products
Store all liquid chemicals and waste in spill-proof containers
Eat organic foods that are grown without pesticides
·Don’t use pesticides
·Use a drip tray to collect engine oil
·Buy products that have little packaging
·Don’t dump motor oil on the ground
Air Pollution
Air pollution is the accumulation of hazardous substances into the
atmosphere that danger human life and other living matter.
What are the sources of air
pollution?
Some of the main contributors to air pollution are:
·Automobile emissions
·Tobacco smoke
·Combustion of coal
Acid rain
·Noise pollution from cars and construction
·Power plants
·Manufacturing buildings
·Large ships
Paint fumes
Aerosol sprays
·Wildfires
Nuclear weapons
Facts about Air Pollution
Here are a few facts about air pollution:
Almost 232 million different types of vehicles are driven by U.S.
citizens every day, adding greenhouse gases into the air
·U.S. vehicle emissions contribute 45% to global warming
·The average adult consumes 3,000 gallons of polluted air every day
·Vehicle exhaust contributes to 60% of carbon monoxide emissions in
the U.S. and up to 95% in large cities
·Every year 335,000 Americans die of lung
cancer, which is a direct result of air pollution
How to Prevent Air
Pollution
The number one way to prevent air pollution is to walk or bike
more and drive less. This will prevent fossil fuels from polluting the air.
Here are some other ways to prevent air pollution:
·Carpool or join a ride share with friends and coworkers
Don’t smoke
·Keep your car maintenance up-to-date
·If you have to drive, do your errands at one time
·
Water Pollution
Water pollution is the introduction of chemical, biological and
physical matter into large bodies of water that degrade the quality of life
that lives in it and consumes it.
What are the sources of
water pollution?
Some of the main contributors to water pollution are:
·Over two-thirds of U.S. estuaries and bays are severely degraded
because of nitrogen and phosphorous pollution
·Every year almost 25% of U.S. beaches are closed at least once
because of water pollution
·Over 73 different kinds of pesticides have been found in the
groundwater that we eventually use to drink
·1.2 trillion gallons of sewage, stormwater and industrial waste
are discharged into U.S. waters every year
·40% of U.S. rivers are too polluted for aquatic life to survive
·Americans use over 2.2 billion pounds of pesticides every year,
which eventually washes into our rivers and lakes
How to Prevent Water
Pollution
The best way to prevent water pollution is to not throw trash and
other harmful chemicals into our water supplies. Here are a few more ways you
can prevent water pollution:
·Wash your car far away from any stormwater drains
Air
pollution produced by ships may alter clouds, affecting global temperatures.
Air
pollution comes from both natural and man made sources. Though globally man
made pollutants from combustion, construction, mining, agriculture and warfare
are increasingly significant in the air pollution equation.
Motor
vehicle emissions are one of the leading causes of air pollution.China, United States, Russia, Mexico, and Japan are the world
leaders in air pollution emissions. Principal stationary pollution sources
include chemical plants, coal-fired power plants, oil refineries,petrochemical plants, nuclear waste disposal
activity, incinerators, large livestock farms (dairy cows, pigs, poultry,
etc.), PVC factories, metals production
factories, plastics factories, and other heavy industry. Agricultural air
pollution comes from contemporary practices which include clear felling and
burning of natural vegetation as well as spraying of pesticides and herbicides
About 400
million metric tons of hazardous wastes are
generated each year. The United Statesalone
produces about 250 million metric tons. Americans
constitute less than 5% of the world's population, but produce roughly 25% of
the world’s CO2, and
generateapproximately 30% of world’s waste. In
2007, China has overtaken the United States
as the world's biggest producer of CO2, while
still far behind based on per capita pollution - ranked 78th among the world's
nations.
In
February 2007, a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), representing the work of 2,500 scientists, economists, and policymakers
from more than 120 countries, said that humans have been the primary cause of
global warming since 1950. Humans have ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions and
avoid the consequences of global warming, a major climate report concluded. But
to change the climate, the transition from fossil fuels like coal and oil needs
to occur within decades, according to the final report this year from the UN's
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Some of
the more common soil contaminants
are chlorinated hydrocarbons (CFH), heavy metals (such
as chromium, cadmium–found
in rechargeable batteries, and lead–found in lead paint, aviation fuel and
still in some countries, gasoline), MTBE, zinc, arsenic and benzene.
In 2001 a series of press reports culminating in a book called Fateful Harvest unveiled
a widespread practice of recycling industrial byproducts into fertilizer,
resulting in the contamination of the soil with various metals. Ordinary
municipal landfills are
the source of many chemical substances entering the soil environment (and often
groundwater), emanating from the wide variety of refuse accepted, especially
substances illegally discarded there, or from pre-1970 landfills that may have
been subject to little control in the U.S. or EU. There have also been some
unusual releases of polychlorinated dibenzodioxins, commonly
called dioxins for simplicity, such as TCDD.
Pollution
can also be the consequence of a natural disaster. For example, hurricanes often
involve water contamination from sewage, andpetrochemical spills
from ruptured boats or automobiles.
Larger scale and environmental damage is not uncommon when coastal oil rigs orrefineries are
involved. Some sources of pollution, such as nuclear power plants
or oil tankers,
can produce widespread and potentially hazardous releases when accidents occur.
In the
case of noise pollution the dominant source class
is the motor vehicle, producing about ninety percent
of all unwanted noise worldwide
Some people talk a lot of rot about chemicals as if all chemicals are bad.Everything is made of chemicals. Some are 'good' while others are 'bad'. Water is a chemical; so is air. Some people think that if something is 'natural', then that's okay. But some natural chemicals are very poisonous: things like sulphur dioxide (that comes out of volcanoes) and ricin (a deadly chemical made by thecastor oil plant). The difference between these natural chemical poisons and ones which humans have made is that life has got used to the natural poisons. It's learned to live with them over millions of years. Some life -- certain types of bacteria -- even eats poisons which would kill you or me.
But humans have made thousands of new types of poisons, called toxins, which living things have never seen before. Most of these new poisons have been made with good intentions. But they have quite unintended side-effects, and pollute much of the air we all breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink (or in my case, swim in).
The best known nasties are persistent organic pollutants (POPs). These include the pesticides farmers spray onfood crops. POPs are very stable. They don't go away. Almost no life can break them down and make them harmless. Instead they tend to build up inside animals' bodies. This can mean they can't have babies or it can make them ill or even kill them.
Perhaps you've also heard of CFCs? These chemicals are not toxic but they do damage the atmosphere. They destroy a gas called ozone which shields the planet from the strong radiation of the sun. People sensibly agreed to stop making them at a meetings which came up with the Montreal Protocols. In many ways, this has been a success but some of it is not working very well . The 'hole' in the ozone shield gets bigger every year, especially over my home, the Antarctic. Another hole forms over the Arctic for the same reasons.
Humans are the only animals on the planet that kill each other in large numbers. I don't know why. All other animals live quite peacefully with each other and with the planet. Perhaps it's because humans are so clever.
Anyway, millions of people died in wars in the 20th century alone. Quite apart from all the death and suffering, wars also create terrible pollution. Military aircraft use huge amounts of fuel. If an aeroplane (pollution) drops a bomb (more pollution) on an oil refinery, a huge fire starts (yet more pollution).
In the last world war, some people dropped nuclear bombs on two cities in Japan, killing hundreds of thousands of people and creating a new sort of pollution: radiation. In recent human wars, some armies used weapons made of a heavy poisonous metal called depleted uranium. These leave behind another sort of radioactive pollution.
A few years ago, some people called hippies used to say 'make love, not war'. Sadly, many people seem to prefer to make war, not love.
'You are what you eat', some people say. I don't quite agree with that. I eat fish but I'm not a fish. I'm a penguin. Anyway, you get the general idea I'm sure. And if you eat rubbishy food, you can't really expect to grow up strong and healthy. But if you eat good-quality food, you've a good chance of doing so. That's justcommonsense really. So how do know what food is good-quality? Unfortunately a lot of food that looks good really isn't good because it contains pollution. Pollution from what?
This is all to do with how people make food: growing it on the farm, processing it in factories, storing it and making it ready for you to eat. Here's what happens:
Most farmers spray poisonous chemicals on their crops to kill off pests or diseases. Many of these poisons remain in small quantities in the food you eat. Some people believe that this may cause cancer and other illnesses. The poisons also pollute both water and air and can kill lots of animals by accident. They also kill a lot of humans by accident every year.
some farmers grow genetically engineered crops (see my guide about this). Some people regard GE crops as a form of pollution because once it's released, nothing can bring it back again. You can clean up oil spills but you can't clean up genetics spills. Genes are part of life and make living copies of themselves, sometimes millions of them. But, to be fair, there's no evidence that GE foods are toxic or dangerous because people have been eating them without problem since the 1990s
farm animals make lots of pollution from their waste. Some of this gets into water supplies and, because animals like cows belch and fart (whoops sorry- rude word!) a lot of gas called methane, they can actually add toglobal warming. Methane is a very strong greenhouse gas, much stronger than CO2
trucks and aeroplanes used by people to move food and drink around make a lot of smoke and gas (like CO2 and nitrogen oxides) pollution
much of what you eat and drink gets messed around with in big factories to make what is called 'processed food'. Often things are put into food to make it look good but which might be harmful to people: additives, colour and other yukky stuff. Some food like meat often gets contaminated with nasty bugs called bacteria which can make people very sick or kill them. Most things that you drink -- you know, things like soda -- are really just flavoured water. Every drink you gulp down comes in a can or plastic bottles which you then throw away meaning waste and more transport. Sugary drinks make you fat and spoil your teeth. Some of the flavourings and sugar substitutes may be harmful. Nobody really knows for sure. Don't worry though. You and your friends and parents really can help to cut thispollution. I've got some great ideas for you at the end of my guide. http://tiki.oneworld.net/pollution/pollution5.html
This is the pollution everybody sees and knows about. You can't miss it, can you? Every time you go anywhere in a car or walk in the street, you smell the stink of exhaust fumes. Sometimes the exhaust fumes get so thick they form a sort of fog. People call this 'smog' ('smoke' + 'fog' = smog). It's particularly bad in cities like Los Angeles,Mexico City and Delhi. People get sick because of it. Why? Because the smoke, fumes and gases that make up the smog are poisonous. You might even be surprised to know that smoke from barbecues, grills (you know, restaurants and fast food places) and lawnmowers is also pretty bad and makes smogs even worse.
What you don't see in this sort of pollution are the poisonous but invisible gases like carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and ozone. Ozone is a poisonous form of the gas we animals all breathe: oxygen. CO, SO2 and NOx are also poisonous. CO2 is a specialproblem all of its own. This is the gas which is mostly responsible for what people call the 'greenhouse effect'. It is mostly this gas that is making our planet heat up (see my guide to global warming).
Another thing you don't see so easily which comes out of factories, farms and cities is the liquid pollution. This is the stuff that gets dumped into streams, into rivers, into lakes and into the seas.
Here's the sort of stuff I mean:
sewage (phew!)
waste chemicals from factories
waste oils from industry, cars, road run-off, service stations
I'm not saying people always do this dumping on purpose, although many do because it's the 'cheap' option. Some of it is accidental and some because people don't know any better. The 'thinking' (if any) goes like this:
" If I pour something nasty I want to get rid of into a river, that's okay because it's quickly flushed away by the flowing water... umm, isn't it?"
Flushed away, yes, but where to? This is a huge problem for humans. Because people make so much waste, they have to dump it somewhere. Up to now, as long as no-one could see the waste (Not In My Back Yard, shortened to NIMBY), everyone thought it was okay. "Out of sight, out of mind." The planet is only so big and people make so much mess that the whole planet gets dirty. The transport that the flowing rivers, tidal seas and ocean currents provide for human pollution means that it really does get everywhere.
volcanoes
This can mean they can't have babies or it can make them ill or even kill them.
Military aircraft use huge amounts of fuel. If an aeroplane (pollution) drops a bomb (more pollution) on an oil refinery, a 
Here's what happens:
Most farmers spray poisonous chemicals on their crops to kill off 
farm animals make lots of pollution from their waste. Some of this gets into water supplies and, because animals like cows 
trucks and aeroplanes used by people to move food and drink around make a lot of smoke and gas (like CO2 and nitrogen oxides) pollution
Another thing you don't see so easily which comes out of factories, farms and cities is the 
What are heavy metals? Two well known examples of heavy metals are mercury and cadmium. They are extremely toxic - even in tiny amounts
I'm not saying people always do this dumping on purpose, although many do because it's the 'cheap' option. Some of it is accidental and some because people don't know any better. The 'thinking' (if any) goes like this: