Environmental Pollution: The BAD, The WORSE and The UGLY

Hello guys, Hive account@blessing97 here! Besides global killers such as malaria and HIV, environmental pollution has directly or indirectly affected no less than 100million persons worldwide! Even animals are not left out as over 1million seabirds and approximately 100,000 sea mammals are killed each and every passing year! source.

^{Atmospheric pollution around a cement factory. Courtesy Wikicommons:Image by Stefan Wernli • CC BY-SA 2.5}

No doubt, the word "pollution" is a term most of us are even somewhat tired of hearing, as our ears often encounter this term on a very frequent basis, be it in the news, in the papers, on the internet or maybe even in our day to day conversations with others. And why not? Environmental Pollution is a major problem and concern of many under-developed or so-called developing Countries and Nations of the world, even though the pollution levels vary from place to place.

But on a second thought, what exactly does the word pollution mean? Well, pollution goes beyond just throwing a couple of biscuit or sweet wrappers on the bare floor, and although a floor littered with food wrappers or papers generally does not make a good sight, pollution in precise terms simply means making natural resources such as air, water, land and all other parts of our environmental habitat in whole or in part unclean and unsafe for general usage.

Although pollution in recent times has seen an alarming rate of exponential increment, all thanks to recent trends in civilization and urbanization, it can still be traced back to the first humans, or at least the first civilized man. If you doubt then think about this for a sec. The first man to start up a fire using sparks gotten by striking stones together did an amazing job with that discovery. But it is almost probably certain that the fire led to the formation of soot as he lacked the means to control the combustion process, and the incomplete combustion of carbon(iv)oxide leads to the formation of soot, which in this case may have found its way to the walls of ancient pre-historic caves and stuff. So you see, pollution is almost as old as man himself.

Unfortunately, in our world today, we have much more environmental pollutants to worry about or even contend with. In fact, more and more complex pollutants are released into the atmosphere, land and waters almost on a daily basis, and the resulting effects are so severe that a non-profit organization called "PURE EARTH" reports that more than 200million persons worldwide are exposed to and affected by toxic pollution. And with what resulting consequences? In some overpopulated areas in the world, babies are given birth to with severe birth defects, and thus with a reduced life expectancy of approximately 45years due to the prevalence of cancers and other terminal illnesses. Indeed this is truly saddening and depressing to say the least!

^{Courtesy of Wikicommons; Image by Ryan Cragun • Public domain}

Looking at the picture above, it is quite obvious that children born in African countries which are more susceptible to higher levels of pollution have reduced life expectancies, in stark comparison to those born in more developed countries, which are generally less susceptible to high levels of environmental pollution.

We all know environmental pollution messes up our surroundings, and more often than not leads to an imbalance in our ecosystem. But what exactly are the forms in which environmental pollution may rear it's ugly head? Let's take a look at some of the major forms of environmental pollution plaguing various parts of the world today;

Highlighting The Various Forms Of Environmental Pollution

Environmental pollution can be broadly and majorly classified into;

Air pollution
Water pollution
Land or soil pollution

These are the three major forms or types of pollution, although if we look deep enough we can also identify several other forms such as;

Noise pollution
Radioactive pollution

Each of these aforementioned types of pollution may be caused by a variety of reasons such as industrial activities, improper dumping of solid waste, black smoke from vehicles, increasing urbanization and rapid industrialization, improper disposal of agricultural wastes, fossil fuel combustion and even population explosion or overgrowth. So now let's take a closer look at each of these forms of environmental pollution in some more detail, in order to understand them better.

Air Pollution

^{Air Pollution by Indurstrial Chimneys Courtesy: Wikicommons- Image by the National Park Service under the public domain license}
In the case of air pollution, it is probably the most common and most lethal form of pollution and for good reason too, considering the fact that it accompanies rapid urbanization.

Remember that in most urban areas there is the almost constant combustion of fossil fuels for different purposes, be it for cooking, transportation purposes or perhaps other industrial activities. And the combustion of fossil fuels leads to the release of harmful pollutants into our atmosphere. And this is the same polluted air occupants of these urban areas breathe in. And well, although to checkmate this problem several governmental agencies are constantly regulating industries and companies with regards to the level of chemicals they can release into the environment, whenever leaks or spills occur, they cause devastating effects and problems to the affected areas as a whole.

Let's not also forget about the fact that smoke releases toxic Sulphur(iv)oxide into our atmosphere, and Sulphur(iv)oxide and other gases form a team of gases known as the "greenhouse gases" which cause global warming, and also which in turn has led to fluctuating and unstable weather and climate conditions, with a resulting increase in diseases such as asthma, lung cancer and the likes.

No doubt, air pollution is a really devastating form of environmental pollution which causes long and short term damage to those often or constantly being exposed to it.

Water Pollution

^{Untreated sewage in Rio Guaíba, Brazil Courtesy Wikicommons; Image by Paulo rsmenezes • CC BY-SA 3.0 br}
Considering the fact that we humans depend directly on water as an important natural resource, it therefore becomes imperative that our water supply is kept clean and pure at all times in order to make it healthy for our usage, be it for drinking, cooking, bathing, washing or other activities which require the use of clean water. The pollution of water bodies have thus led to short and long term damage both to humans, aquatic life and the environment as a whole.

Thus water pollution occurs when harmful chemicals and substances are introduced into water. These substances may include sewage, insecticides and other chemicals from the run off from most agro-farms.

Water pollution may also be caused by eutrophication which occurs when household items like kitchen utensils or even clothes are washed near water bodies such as rivers or lakes. This introduces chemicals in the form of detergents into these water bodies which also have ways of creating sunlight resistant films over the water surface, thus preventing the penetration of sun-rays into the water, which in turn reduces oxygen supply and subsequently makes the water inhabitable for aquatic life.

^{Eutrophication in a pond Courtesy; wikicommons-F. lamiot (own work) • CC BY-SA 2.5}

Therefore, apart from hurting aquatic life, water pollution also causes the fast spread of water-borne diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea.

Land or Soil Pollution

^{Land pollution along the coast of Maracaibo Lake situated in Estado Zulia Venezuela. Image courtesy; wikicommons-Image by The photographer CC-SA-3.0}
Land pollution as the name implies is caused by the introduction of harmful substances into the soil due to human activities. These human activities which leave the soil exposed and susceptible to pollution include activities such as deforestation, mining and even continuous release of industrial waste.

Other Forms Of Pollution

Now we've briefly seen in some detail what these three major forms of pollution involve, including the causes and resulting effects but what about the other minor but also somewhat prevalent forms?
Well, apart from the three major forms discussed above which include air, water and land pollution, several other minor forms of pollution have emerged in recent times and are fast growing at an alarming rate.

One of such forms is NOISE POLLUTION which is associated with high sound intensities or high levels of sounds greater than 85db.

Noise pollution if left unchecked for a considerable length of time has the ability to cause short term psychological problems such as stress and hypertension, or even long term damaging effects such as partial or total deafness.

Another dangerous form of pollution(these days at least) is RADIOACTIVE POLLUTION. And the reason why it is considered very dangerous is for obvious reasons. Radioactive waste if not properly and carefully disposed off will cause long term damaging effects running into tens to hundreds of years, during which such affected areas will be rendered inhabitable both for humans and wildlife.

And you know what's worse? It may cause genetic mutations which can multiply and spread for ages! Scary right?

So now that we're well acquainted with various forms of pollution and the short and long term effects they bring along with them, is this the imminent end of the world? Or what exactly can we do now to at least minimize or significantly abate the propagation of this vicious cycle?

Well, there are some feasible solutions which would greatly aid in reducing widespread levels of pollution around the world. Let's take a look at some of them;

Using more environmentally friendly energy sources such as solar energy.
^{Biggest Solar Park of the Benelux, Deme Courtesy; wikicommons- Image by Antalexion CC-SA-4.0}

Solar energy although by no means perfect, as it also comes with its several flaws and limitations, is a viable and clean energy source, as it does the environment virtually no harm. Therefore more energy from the sun could be harnessed to meet our energy demands, or at least a great part of it. This would definitely go a long way in reducing our over-dependence on the combustion of fossil fuels for the production and generation of heat energy and power.

Use of wind power.
^{A close shot of wind turbines at a wind farm Image courtesy; wikicommons under public domain license}

Although it seems like a really inferior choice or source, wait till you learn that the production of wind energy is pollution free and can even be traced as far back as 2000BC when windmills where then used in china. Also it would interest you to know that one windmill has the potential to power up to 500 homes! So, if you ask me I'd definitely tell you that windmills are also great and wonderful alternatives of clean power generation.

And also, using electrically powered vehicles and transportation systems definitely wouldn't hurt.

These are just a few solutions, but if used and implemented correctly will definitely go a long way in helping the whole of mankind put environmental pollution right in it's proper place.