Pollution (The environment contaminant)

Pollution is one of the problems we face in the world today. There's no country in the world (developed or under-developed) that does not contribute one way or the other to environmental pollution, and humans are the main cause of it

Land, water, and air are natural. They are created by God as the religious people would say, but scientists say the earth was created as a result of the big bang. Whichever way, these three components of the earth existed naturally without the help of man, and we are the ones polluting them

In the part of the world where I belong, Land pollution is majorly caused by sewage disposal. There is no proper dumping system in Nigeria because of the local settings in most areas. people dump refuse along the road, walkway, empty land bush, and so on. In fact, there's no crime in loitering the street with empty bottles of can drink, nylon, paper, plastic, just name it

Also, mining activities are another way the land is polluted. There are many people mining gold in some parts of the country like for example, there's is an abundance of gold in Kaduna and some parts of Osun state where miners mine gold heavily

Furthermore, natural disaster like flood is common here and when this happens, the topsoil is washed away causing the soil to lose its nutrients. And most times, flood is caused by human activities like dumping solid waste materials to block the waterways. And once the water cannot flow freely, it finds its way to the topsoil and washes them away

Every activity done to pollute the soil causes soil degradation. Every waste product like nylon, plastic, and so on produces chemicals. Also, the mining activities require using heavy tools and machines and the fuel and other liquid substances used on the mining site are not compatible with the soil. Once these chemicals mix with the soil nutrient is reduced, thus making the land unproductive for agricultural purposes

Water is life, and it's seen as the basic resource that guaranty the survival of every living thing on the planet. When water is contaminated, we say the water is polluted. The first thing that comes to my mind is the Niger Delta issue in Nigeria. There was a time oil spillage disrupted the fishing activities of the niger delta villagers. It was an awful experience because that was their source of livelihood. Oil spillage is an accidental spillage of oil into the ocean

Also, some people use chemicals to kill marine creatures, especially fish. Some use fertilizers, chlorine, and so on to kill fish in the river thereby polluting the water for other uses. The only substance that is legally acceptable is rotenone, but most people get the cheap ones that pollute the water

Dumping sewage in the river is also another way people pollute the water. They believe the river would carry it away so they never see the implication of what they are doing

Another way is when waste from factories is washed away into the river. I recollect this from my childhood. There was a factory producing detergent called FLASH, not too far from our home and we have a dam around too. Each time the waste from the company enters the dam, foams would build on the surface of the water, and when the breeze blow, the foam would fly around and we would start chasing them up and down. We never understood that the water was polluted. Lol

Also, fertilizers and pesticides from farms used by humans on their plants as well as deforestation cause water pollution when washed away into the river when rain falls

It is detrimental to the survival of aquatic animals. Mostly when water is polluted, most creatures in the water find it difficult to breathe due to the temperature rise that causes alteration of water and reduces the oxygen, thus killing a handful of them

It also affects humans. Some people depend on river water to cook and drink. Most villagers don't have access to pipe-borne water or borehole, so what they use for everything is the river water. Ingesting this contaminated water causes diseases

Dumping waste in the water should be prohibited. Every individual should keep to the rule

Afforestation should be encouraged, and less deforestation should be practiced

Factories should find an alternative way of managing the waste from their plants

In case of oil spillage, there should be a proper arrangement set in place to tackle it immediately before it affects the aquatic creatures

We breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. They are both air, but what we breathe in matters. It's just like when you input something into a computer. GIGO (Garbage in garbage out). If a virus is injected, the computer will crash. Think of what breathing bad air would cause to the human system

Air pollution is the contamination of the atmosphere by releasing pollutants or hazardous substances. Most air pollution is caused by human activities

The burning of fossil fuels causes air pollution. When they are burned to produce energy in factories, it releases what is called greenhouse gasses like nitrous acid, methane, and so on into the atmosphere

Bush burning is also human activity that cause air pollution. When this happens. gasses such as hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulphide, ozone sulphur oxides, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and so on are released into the air

Exhaust from cars, heavy equipment from factories, generators, and so on also contribute to air pollution. All the gasses emitted is as a result of the combustion of fuel, and these gasses are dangerous both to human health and the ecosystem

I've read severally in the news where a complete family is wiped out due to the fact that they switched on a generator and put it in their kitchen overnight. They all choked to death by inhaling too much carbon monoxide and other harmful gasses from the combustion of the fuel in the generator. In 2010, air pollution was responsible for over 3.2 million death in the world. burning of coal and the combustion of diesel are the major cause of the diseases that leads to such a high rate of death

Air pollution causes an environmental threat because of the gases it contains. The emission of all these gasses traps heat from the sun which causes excess heat and high temperature. The high-temperature results in an increased level of ultraviolet radiation, and also cause smog. All these are harmful to human health. It can cause skin cancer, irritation, and so on. And the mixture of these gasses with the vapor in the atmosphere can also lead to acid rain, and when it drops, it affects both the land and sea creatures

Reducing air pollution can help slow the rate of global warming, and reduce the death of people, but it's quite difficult to find a lasting solution to it. We need to find another means of generating heat that would produce less of these gasses. While working on that, the burning of bushes should be drastically reduced. We must all learn to conserve energy

Smoky cars and other automobiles should not be allowed on the street, and factories should also find a way to detoxicate the gasses from their combustion engines before releasing it into the atmosphere

Pollution has caused more harm to the human race. It contributed to low soil fertility, mortality rate, loss of aquatic creatures, and also disturbed human activities. Some people don't understand the effect of pollution. Sensitizing them on the effect can reduce the rate at which our environment is polluted. The reduction means more healthy living for all of us