Of all things, humans have the maximum impact on their surroundings. They change their habitat to match their needs, more so than other species. A growing population creates pressure to expand towns and farmland, throwing the natural surroundings off-balance. Many activities that relate to transport, agriculture, and business create different types of contamination.
The planet's water reserve is contaminated by waste from businesses, agriculture, and sewers. Water naturally spreads pollutants across the landscape, through rivers circulating throughout the surroundings. A pesticide that's sprayed onto a field, for example, seeps into the groundwater, finds its way into a flow, and finally ends up in the sea. These toxicity compounds harm aquatic plants and animals, and infect the food chain, causing certain animal and plant species to become extinct. They may also contaminate humans who eat fish. Although dumping trash in the sea is usually prohibited, many communities discharge their untreated sewage waste and also dispose of their trash in the water.
Some of those substances aren't biodegradable, meaning that micro-organisms into the ground can't break them down. Things such as metal cans, glass, and most plastics accumulate within the environment. This is why it's of paramount importance to recycle and also into reuse things instead of throwing them out. Most nonbiodegradable pollutants into the ground come from industries, which emit thousands of different compounds. However...almost a quarter of household trash is kitchen waste like vegetable peels! This kind of trash can be turned into compost, a natural fertilizer that may be utilized to enrich the soil of gardens or cultivated fields.
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As for air pollution - Many human actions around the last 200 years have been accountable for polluting the atmosphere and damaging peoples health. Automobile engines and power plants burn fuels like gasoline and coal and allow toxicity gases and smoke to escape to the air. Some pollutants help destroy the ozone layer, which is the thin layer of gases that protects Earth from the Suns dangerous ultraviolet rays. Other pollutants contribute into global warming by adding into the planets natural greenhouse effect.
Pollution is a major societal issue. We should never forget it, even if sometimes other global risks and hazards (terrorism, etc) seem to be a bigger threat to our lives.