Final

Pollution

Sammy Rodriguez

GEN 499

Sonja Bethune

3/8/21

Introduction

Pollution is the contamination of the environment through the unprecedented addition of toxic substances either in solid, liquid, or gaseous forms. It also includes the injection of some form of energy to the surroundings at a high rate that impedes it from dispersed effectively through natural methods such as dilution, decomposition, restructuring, and storing in a less potent state (Engin et al., 2020). There is a need to investigate and find solutions to the societal issues because it impacts different aspects of the environment, causing grave damage that is often irreversible, such as the damages caused to the air, water, and land.

Body

Pollution occurs when a chemical substance or form of energy is distributed into the environment at a rate faster than it can be dispersed or safely stored (Environmental health Pollution Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013). It can occur naturally or artificially and environmentally affect air, water, and land. Many pollutants affect our environment, such as excessive plastics that are not biodegradable and radioactive material. The pollutants include industrial waste, vehicle emissions, free radicals, and gases. There are many pollution types to the environment; air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, noise pollution, and light pollution (Dang & Yang, 2019).

The various forms of pollution risk the lives of both animals and humans on the earth. Pollution affects the air we breathe and the water we take and can lead to chronic ailments and death in extreme cases. An air pollutant is anything that, when it gets into contact with the atmosphere, threatens life. When dust, smoke, and harmful gases such as carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxides, nitrogen oxides are released into the atmosphere, they contaminate the air. The machinery and equipment in most industries release fumes and smoke that contains harmful gases.

Water pollution is another significant type of pollution. Water pollution refers to the contamination of water sources making the water dangerous for use or contamination. Most industries lack proper waste disposal mechanisms. Instead, they direct their waste into water sources nearby. The waste contains chemicals and substances that threaten not only marine life but also human life. Water is an essential commodity that every human uses; when the water has been contaminated, the animals and humans that consume risk having health complications.

Land or soil pollution is also a primary type of pollution. Soil pollution occurs when harmful chemicals interact with the soil. Land pollution results from excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides during farming activities. Also, when waste is disposed of on land, some components of the waste contaminate the soil. Soil pollution results from harmful chemicals being absorbed into the plants as they grow. When plants are contaminated, they become dangerous for consumption by animals and humans who mainly depend on plants for food. When they consume the plants, they get sick and may get life-threatening conditions.

Light, noise, and plastic pollution are also equally harmful. The destructions that the different forms of pollution cause have adverse effects on humanity and other living creatures in the homes, natural ecosystem, and water bodies. Ethical implications of proposed solutions on human beings should be considered. The practical solution to pollution is creating smart, data-driven cities where technological tools can detect and avert different forms of contamination (Bibrie & Crogstie, 2020). Pollution is a serious environmental issue that has been affecting our environment for many years.

The pollution of the environment threatens humans and animals' lives because of the greenhouse effect. Through industrialization and urbanization activities, we have succeeded in changing the temperatures of the earth and speeded up artic and antarctic melting (Toma et al., 2020). If the melting goes on for long, the coasts' salinity will go down, and the beaches will be inhabitable. It is our responsibility as humans to protect water sources and the habitats of fish and other animals. This is because the ecology benefits from the existence of all factors.

If pollution is not controlled, it will lead to very adverse effects, making the earth inhabitable for humans and animals. First, air pollution will result in premature aging; individuals will get old and weak earlier than expected. Humans will be prone to more chronic diseases due to polluted air and water (Bibri & Crogstie, 2020). The prevalence of chronic diseases will lower the life expectancy of humans and also increase premature deaths. Additionally, scientists have indicated that the pollution, if not controlled, might lead to congenital disabilities; children will be born with abnormalities.

Pollution has severe economic impacts in countries. Since pollution negatively impacts the well-being of human beings, governments are forced to allocate funds for the control of pollution. The cost of controlling pollution and dealing with pollution impacts is very high and might even push governments into sourcing the funds through debt. Also, the funds used to deal with pollution would have been used in other development projects and help improve a country's infrastructure. Thus, if pollution is not addressed on time, it could result in nations' slow economic growth.

Pollution can be controlled in many ways. First, what is needed by many states is awareness creation. Most individuals lack information on the impacts and causes of pollution. Awareness programs must be implemented at national and local levels. Awareness will sensitize the need to take measures to control pollution. The programs will also teach people about alternative ways of waste disposal that will not contaminate the environment. Noise, sound, and light pollution are a few forms that many individuals overlook. Communities should be educated on the health impacts of this pollution.

Additionally, for pollution to be solved, people have to make a few changes to their day-to-day activities. The number of vehicles increases the amount of exhaust fumes released into the environment; individuals can reduce this by using public transport more often. Companies and households should use filters for their chimneys. The filters trap harmful substances lowering the rate of pollution (Toma et al., 2019). Plastics used for packaging should be minimized or made in a manner that makes them reusable and recyclable.

Conclusion

Pollution is harmful to the environment and the living components of the ecology. The pollution, if not controlled, will lead to the earth being inhabitable to human beings, plants, and animals. The pollution can be eliminated if the public, government, and industries work together (Abella et al., 2017). In conclusion, pollution can be reduced if we recycle properly and treat our environment with the proper chemical treatments to reduce pollutants and excessive waste. We can also change this by reducing the use of fossil fuels and carbon emissions. When choosing this topic, I decided to write about something that I have familiarized myself with.

References

Abella, A., Ortiz-de-Urbina-Criado, M., & De-Pablos-Heredero, C. (2017). A model for the analysis of data-driven innovation and value generation in smart cities' ecosystems. Cities, 64, 47-53. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2017.01.011

Bibri, S. E., & Krogstie, J. (2020). Environmentally data-driven smart sustainable cities: Applied innovative solutions for energy efficiency, pollution reduction, and urban metabolism. Energy Informatics, 3(1), 1-59.

Dong, W., & Yang, Q. (2019). Data-driven solution for optimal pumping units scheduling of smart water conservancy. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 7(3), 1919-1926.

Engin, Z., van Dijk, J., Lan, T., Longley, P. A., Treleaven, P., Batty, M., & Penn, A. (2020). Data-driven urban management: Mapping the landscape. Journal of Urban Management, 9(2), 140-150.

Toma, C., Alexandru, A., Popa, M., & Zamfiroiu, A. (2019). IoT solution for smart cities' pollution monitoring and the security challenges. Sensors, 19(15), 3401.