Environmental Pollution

The environment is crucial for humans in various ways as it is the basic requirement for living organisms. Environment Pollution is the collective contamination of various natural resources like soil, water, and air. All three are vital for the sustained life of living organisms, including humans. This article will discuss the importance of the environment and uncover the facts and causes of environmental pollution. Environmental pollution is the introduction of contaminated particles into environmental resources.

What is the Environment?

Environment refers to the surroundings of a physical system that may interact with different systems by exchanging energy and mass.  The natural environment consists of all living beings and non-living beings. 

What is Pollution?

Every harmful chemical present in our natural environment can be referred to as Pollution. These harmful particles are known as pollutants. Pollutants can be of two types, natural and Man-made. 

Natural is, for example, Volcanic Ash, and Man-made can be produced by people’s activities, such as trash, harmful smoke produced by factories, and runoff, leading to damage to the air quality, water, and land.

Humans use many things to their benefit. As a result, they cause harm to the environment, such as vehicular smoke, noise pollution, the garbage generated by humans, and sewage problems leading to polluting water and air. Pesticides and many chemicals kill germs, insects, and weeds that seep into waterways and destroy the whole water for wildlife, leading to their deaths. 

What is Environmental Pollution?

Environmental Pollution refers to the introduction of contaminated particles into the physical and biological components of the atmosphere and earth’s surface. It eventually leads to adverse effects on the normal environmental processes.

Pollutants are particles that cause pollution, and we have pollutants in liquids, the air, and gaseous forms. When the concentration of a particle becomes greater than its natural abundance, it converts to a pollutant, either caused by natural processes, or human activities. Many pollutants take decades to degrade; they cannot be removed easily once degraded. For example, DDT, heavy metals, nuclear waste, plastic materials.

There are several effects of environmental pollution like one pollutant is transferred from one place to another by the ways of water, air, soil, and making all of them polluted. Some pollutants mix with the air and water, causing soil pollution.

Types of Pollution

Environmental Pollution refers to the introduction and mixing of contaminated particles into the environment. This results in adverse effects on the environmental state and causes damage to the Natural environment. There are three types of pollution according to the mode and medium of pollutant contamination, and there are three types of environmental pollution. The three types of environmental Pollution are:

• Air Pollution
• Water Pollution
• Land or soil pollution

Air Pollution

Air Pollution is defined as the contamination of air with harmful material for live organisms. It refers to mixing toxic and harmful substances with an environment that eventually harms the environment. There are several reasons for air Pollution like smoke coming from vehicles, volcanic eruptions, industrial wastages, and much more. Air Pollution directly affects living organisms as it contaminates the air leading to unhealthy breathing and many diseases. 

Water pollution

Water pollution refers to the introduction of contaminated materials and particles into the water bodies leading to the polluted water bodies and their utilisation. Water pollution can be further defined as the contamination of water bodies by various means. The processes that lead to water contamination include waste from industries, poor water sanitation, etc. Contaminated water resources and their consumption result in various diseases, like diarrhoea, which is harmful to living organisms. It also results in several health issues, including deformation of the human body, especially in children and infants. 

Land or soil pollution

Land pollution refers to the pollution of the upper layer of soil. It happens due to pest control, overuse of chemical fertilisers, or degradation by water. When disposed of carelessly, hazardous, radioactive wastes add to land pollution. Land Pollution results in an adverse effect on the human body in several ways. Land pollution leads to a collection of harmful and dangerous diseases like lung cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and even long-term damage to brain cells.

Conclusion

Pollution is a common harmful phenomenon due to the increased use of toxin-generating materials. When introduced to the environment, these materials create contamination in nature’s physical and chemical compositions. Three types of environmental pollution cause air pollutants, water pollutants, and land or soil pollutants. These pollutions cause hindrance in the natural process of living organisms and gradually worsen the existing natural environment provided for the sustained development of living organisms.