Environmental Pollution: The Effects Are Endless

Environmental Pollution: The Effects Are Endless Environmental pollution is not just a single entity but is comprised of a variety of matters. To break it down for definition purposes, one could look at the meaning of each word to get a good idea of what we are dealing with.

The word environment means the physical and biological factors and their chemical interactions that affect an organism, while natural environment means all living and non-living things that occur naturally on Earth. Pollution is any form of organism (natural or not) that affects the natural order of things.

What Does This All Mean?

With some basic definitions of environment and pollution, one could wonder how does it affect their own world. Well, environmental pollution invades many aspects of everyones life. A few examples of this all encompassing pollution would include:

Air pollution Acid rain, illegal burning, cigarette smoke, and excessive fumes from automobile chemicals are a few causes of this
Water pollution Illegal dumping of rubbish, toxic waste, general chemicals used for cleaning, and more reeks havoc on our waterways
Land pollution Strip mining, excessive building, misuse of fertilizers, and full landfills are taking away our lands precious minerals
Noise pollution Busy streets, loud music, heavy construction areas, and over populated work areas cause increased stress levels in our everyday life

Controlling The Monster

This is some pretty scary knowledge and it can overwhelm just about anyone. Some may think that we have gone so far that we may never see the end of the environmental nightmare. We cannot give up hope nor can we just expect the next person to take care of it all. There are things that have been instilled and as governments come to realize that this is not going away on its own they are cracking down on some of the major contributors of the problem. However, the everyday person can help and it does not matter how old you are, your economic status, or where you live. We all can do something to improve this bleak situation. A few things that can help would include:

Clean your air Make sure your heating source is burning efficiently by having it inspected. Cut down or cut out the use of chemicals in your household. There are many alternatives that are just as effective for cleaning.
Water conservation Water is one of our most vital resources and one of the resources that get wasted at alarming rates. Using appliances that require little amounts of water, turning off the water while brushing your teeth, and using cleaning products that do not have phosphates helps reduce water pollution.
Soil saving Instead of throwing your kitchen waste into the rubbish consider a compost bin. There are a variety of ways to compost kitchen wastes into mineral rich soil enhancers. These enhancers can be put back into the mineral starved soil.

Environmental pollution is not just one generations issue. Historically, there has been a general downfall in our Earths most valuable resources and we are all to blame. But, the future does not have to look bleak because we can all be a part of the solution. We just need to take a step back, make small changes and the results will be great.

Environmental Pollution Kills One In Five “Environmental pollution–it’s not my problem.” Is this something you’ve heard? Is this something you’ve said? Is this something you believe?

If it is, consider opening your eyes and ears, because evidence from the World Health Organization and the World Bank strongly indicates that environmental pollution is everybody’s problem. According to these organizations’ estimates, some 20% of premature death worldwide can be related to environmental factors.

Imagine five people you know, and then imagine one of them dead due to environmental pollution. That’s not an abstract fear: that’s everybody’s problem. Granted, the majority of the “death statistics” are gathered in extremely poor parts of the world, most prominently sub-Saharan Africa (where these one in five deaths are almost always children under the age of six.)

“But environmental factors, that could mean anything,” you may think. The WHO/World Bank evidence cites specific pollution issues that are linked to premature death. The biggest offenders are water and air pollution–unclean drinking water and unsafe clouds of toxic smoke wafting over communities–with lead-based contamination coming in a grimly close third.

The biggest offender when it comes to deaths caused by environmental pollution is respiratory infections, which cause some 4 million child deaths per year. The usual cause of these infections is indoor airborne pollution. Cook fires fill the air of a house with grease, smoke, and other irritants, which quickly sap infant health. Outdoor cook fires are no better and simply spread the problem around, compounding it with existing chemical fires from burning plastic and poisoned animals. A close second infection caused by the application of pesticides, which kills another 3.5 million adults. Malaria and poisoned drinking water round out the picture.

This isn’t what we tend to think of when we think of environmental pollution–the classic image is a smokestack belching green clouds, or glowing drums of nuclear waste floating in a lagoon. What the World Bank/WHO report talks about, however, isn’t about classic images: it’s about the reality of life for one of the most populous continents in the world. In a thousand small ways, environmental pollution poisons the air and the water and makes life on earth impossible.

Most of us don’t live in sub-Saharan Africa and many of us treat these pollution-related deaths as something abstract, distant from our own experience. Aristotle famously said that action at a distance is impossible; empathy at a distance may be equally so. But in the modern world, we’re not as distant from the world of extreme poverty as we think. Unfortunately, it seems–based on statistics like this–that the only distance that matters may be the gap between wealth and poverty–the gap between water that kills us and water that keeps us alive.