POLLUTION

Today, everyone is talking about Environmental issues and their statistics, facts and management. But we all don't know the ground reality of these issues. So this article and so on will help you to know facts and figures regarding pollution. Lets start our journey towards the World of information.

Pollution, also called environmental pollution, the addition of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or any form of energy (such as heat, sound, or radioactivity) to the environment at a rate faster than it can be dispersed, diluted, decomposed, recycled, or stored in some harmless form. In short, Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. These harmful materials are called pollutants. 

Pollutants can be natural, such as volcanic ash. They can also be created by human activity, such as trash or runoff produced by factories. Pollutants damage the quality of air, water, and land. Many things those are useful to people produce pollution. Cars spew pollutants from their exhaust pipes. Burning coal to create electricity pollutes the air. Industries and homes generate garbage and sewage that can pollute the land and water. Pesticides— chemical poisons used to kill weeds and insects—seep into waterways and harm wildlife. All living things—from one-celled microbes to blue whales—depend on Earth‘s supply of air and water. When these resources are polluted, all forms of life are threatened. Pollution is a global problem. Although urban areas are usually more polluted than the countryside, pollution can spread to remote places where no people live. 

For example, pesticides and other chemicals have been found in the Antarctic ice sheet. In the middle of the northern Pacific Ocean, a huge collection of microscopic plastic particles forms what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Air and water currents carry pollution. Ocean currents and migrating fish carry marine pollutants far and wide. Winds can pick up radioactive material accidentally released from a nuclear reactor and scatter it around the world. Smoke from a factory in one country drifts into another country. 

In the past, visitors to Big Bend National Park in the U.S. state of Texas could see 290 kilometers (180 miles) across the vast landscape. Now, coal-burning power plants in Texas and the neighboring state of Chihuahua, Mexico have spewed so much pollution into the air that visitors to Big Bend can sometimes see only 50 kilometers (30 miles). 

An excellent example of this type of global pollution problem is global climate change which is complex, requires the cooperation of all countries, and makes our human society and all living organisms vulnerable. Global climate change is really the sum of all pollution combined with natural changes in climate. Global problems are also problems where solutions may not be immediate and involve complex political, social, and economic components. Some humans will be resistant to change, cannot imagine the consequences, insist their values are correct, and may have constrained ideological, cultural, and political values and ideas. This is all occurring in a time of globalization—in increased inter-connectedness among countries in the areas of economics, trade, culture, and politics.

POLLUTION FACTS

• Americans generate 30 billion foam cups, 220 million tires, and 1.8 billion disposable diapers every year, according to the Green Schools Alliance.  
• According to the WHO, ambient air pollution contributes to 6.7% of all deaths worldwide. 
• The Mississippi River drains the lands of nearly 40% of the continental United Sates. It also carries an estimated 1.5 million metric tons of nitrogen pollution into the Gulf of Mexico each year, resulting in a dead zone each summer about the size of New Jersey. 
• Pollution in China can change weather patterns in the United States. It takes just five days for the jet stream to carry heavy air pollution from China to the United States, where it stops clouds from producing rain and snow. 
• About 7 million premature deaths annually linked to air pollution, according to WHO. That is one in eight deaths worldwide.

 TYPES OF POLLUTION 

The major kinds of pollution, usually classified by environment, are air pollution, water pollution, and land pollution. Modern society is also concerned about specific types of pollutants, such as noise pollution, light pollution, and plastic pollution. Pollution of all kinds can have negative effects on the environment and wildlife and often impacts human health and well-being.