Pollution – Causes and Effects

Nowadays, pollution is a very harmful and serious problem, which most people do not care. Nevertheless people should contribute on the prevention and correction of this situation; but, if the situation continues the planet will no longer be habitable for neither animals nor people. There are several kinds of pollution; for example, the most common are air, water, and land pollution; it is important than every human beings have in mind the consequences if the pollution grows more each days and the future of children who would be starting their lives.

The land pollution is the degradation of Earth’s land surfaces; it is caused by human activities like exploitation of minerals, inadequate agricultural, and urban and industrial wastes. Some statics from the green students in the USA says that every year one American produces over 3285 pounds of hazardous waste and, over 80% of these items in landfills can be recycled, but they’re not.  In other words, the major sources of this problem are because people do not care about the end of their wastes or activities as a result of the Urbanization and Industrialization (wikipedia); as a consequence, people live or work in nearby areas, and also they could suffer from health-problems like deformities, cancers, respiratory and skin problems and it can lead to birth defects (buzzle and earthplatform).

Second type is Air pollution, that includes all contaminants found in the atmosphere, which dangerous substances can be either in the form of gases or particles. Every day, the average person inhales about 20,000 liters of air, according to "Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1985"; therefore, every time we breathe, we risk inhaling these dangerous chemicals and contaminated gases. Air pollutants have sources that are both natural and human; however, most of this pollution is the result of human activity such as: excessive burning of fossil fuels, automobiles combustion and the utilization of agrochemical substances and aerosols. Air pollution has several bad effects over human health since it increases the appearance of diseases like: bronchitis, lung cancer, and heart disorders; plus, it affects the survival of both plants; because, their leaves become deteriorate and animals because they suffer diseases and die.

The water covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface, and it is a very important resource for the different species in the earth and the environment. However the pollution affects drinking water, rivers, lakes, and oceans all over the world. This type of pollution may not damage our health immediately but can be dangerous with the pass of the time causing diseases like colera, hepatitis illness that cause the death also the acid rain can cause harm the health of marine life in the rivers and lakes as a result can produce a disrupting the growth of photosynthetic plants, micro-organisms and other aquatic organisms that depends on this natural environment to survive created some extinctions of the species. These consequences start due some chemical pollution cause mainly to the technologies development that occurred with the pass of the time, the oil and petrol from the ships.

People know those problems about pollution, and most of us understand the harmful effects; however, we sometimes think that those consequences could never affect us, so we continue contaminating; destroying ourselves and also the environment, which nowadays is less habitable than before. The solution is that the people take in mind the consequences of pollution to start taking actions to stop it, like recycling, reusing and reducing waste. In conclusion, those actions (3R) could help us to decrease pollution levels in water, air and land.

Work Cited

Wikipedia.   “Land Pollution”. Was modified on 01/12/10. Taken the 06/12/10 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_pollution.

Wikipedia.   “Air Pollution”. Was modified on 10/12/10. Taken the 09/12/10 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution.

Buzzle.com. “Land Pollution”. Taken the 06/12/10 from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/land-pollution.html.

EarthPlatform.com. “Land Pollution”. 2010. Taken the 06/12/10 from http://www.earthplatform.com/c/pollution/land.

GreenstudentU.com. “Pollution”. 2008-2010. Taken the 06/12/10 from http://www.greenstudentu.com/encyclopedia/pollution.

“Water Pollution”. Taken the 06/12/10 from http://library.thinkquest.org/26467/water_pollution.htm.

The Guides Network. “Water Pollution Guide”. 2003-2010. Taken the 06/12/10 from http://www.water-pollution.org.uk/health.html.

Tom Soncha. “Air Pollution Cause and Effects”. 09/11/2007. Taken the 09/12/10 from  http://healthandenergy.com/air_pollution_causes.htm.

Caroline, David, Michael, Mindy, Neil, and Vikas. ThinkQuest.com. “Air Pollution”. 1999. Taken the 09/12/10 from http://library.thinkquest.org/26026/Environmental_Problems/air_pollution.html.