Environmental pollution is currently the biggest challenge facing the word today.
In the United States 40% of rivers and 46% of lakes are too polluted for fishing, swimming, and aquatic life. Not surprising though when 1.2 trillion gallons of untreated storm water, industrial waste, and untreated sewage are being discharge annually into American waters.
One-third of the topsoil in the world is already degraded, and with the current rate of soil degradation caused be improper agricultural and industrial practices, and deforestation, most of the world’s topsoil could be gone within the next 60 years.
The Great Smog in 1952 killed 8000 people in London. This event was caused by a period of cold weather combined with windless conditions that formed a dense layer of airborne pollutants, mostly from coal plants, over the city.
There are many sources of pollution and each one has its own effect on the environment and living organisms. This article will discuss the causes and effects of the different kinds of pollution.
The causes of pollution are not just limited to fossil fuels and carbons emissions. There are many other types of pollution including chemical pollution into bodies of water and soil through improper disposal practices and agricultural activities, and noise and light pollution created by cities and urbanization as a result of population growth.
The burning of fossil fuels for transportation and electricity produces both primary and secondary pollutants and is one of the biggest sources of air pollution.
The fumes from car exhausts contain dangerous gases and particulates including hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide. These gases rise into the atmosphere and react with other atmospheric gases creating even more toxic gases.
According to The Earth Institute, the heavy use of fertilizer for agriculture is a major contributor of fine-particulate air pollution, with most of Europe, Russia, China, and the United States being affected. The level of pollution caused by agricultural activities is thought to outweigh all other sources of fine-particulate air pollution in these countries.