March 09, 2014

Pollution An International Problem

Essay : [Pollution, An International Problem]

English Essay on "Pollution, An International Problem"



Pollution, An International Problem

The earth today is a giant laboratory in which humans are conducting thoughtless experiments that could have catastrophic consequences.


We need to think about how the earth and its subsystems of living and non-living parts operate. how we disturb the system, and how to improve the forecasting of our impacts on the environment.


Small scale individual actions may seem harmless but when carried out globally their total effect can add up to serious trouble for the environment. One widely predicted catastrophe of global warming is a rise of sea levels, which would bring economic ruin to many coastal communities.


Warmer climates could extend growing seasons in colder places like Canada; poorer countries, which tend to exist in the World's hottest regions; already, would suffer greater economic inequity.


If the earth becomes warmer the ice on the poles will melt and certain areas will become too hot to live in. This means that there will be more water in the oceans and coastal areas like Karachi, Bombay and one third of Bangladesh will sink. If animal species are destroyed, those animals which eat them will also be destroyed. The balance of the ecosystem will be upset and man too will die. If too many chemicals are used to spray our crops they will be poisoned and many useful insects will be killed.


The industrial revolution wrenched man away from the land and increased his power over nature. For nearly a century the human race insanely' plundered the earth. Forests were chopped down to make furniture houses, print billions of useless books and other useless things. Animals were hunted for fur; ivory tusks, skins and flesh till whole species were wiped out.(4essay.blogspot.com) Above all our factories belched out smoke which' the Victorian novelists describe so well. But what the Victorians did not know is that the blackened buildings of the city only look ugly. The real ugliness is that the ozone layer is destroyed.


The lethal rays of sum, which are otherwise blocked, come down and give us skin' cancer. People saw the litter in the Thames but not the sea which, as the session on marine pollution made clear, is becoming a cesspool. And if the sea dies we will also die. Not only because the sea has, fish but also because it produces oxygen as do forests. And when we produce all those gadgets we can do without we produce lethal gases which form a blanket which trap the heat of the earth. This raises the temperature of the earth. This raises the temperature of the earth which is called global warming.


Everyone wants to reduce pollution. But the pollution problem is as complicated as it is serious. It is complicated because much pollution is caused by things that benefit people. For example, exhaust from automobiles causes a large percentage of all air pollution. But the automobile provides transportation for millions of people. Factories discharge much of the material that pollutes air and water, but factories’ provide jobs for people and produce goods that people want. Too much fertilizer or pesticide can ruin soil, but fertilizers and pesticides are important aids to the growing of crops. .


Pollution of the environment has become a major concern during the 20th century as human society has generated an ever increasing variety and quantity of products and wastes, many of which are released into the environment. Land, water and air are all increasingly affected by a range of pollutants including noises, heat, smoke, chemicals, sewage, manure and radioactive isotopes. Once in the environment, many pollutants are dilute dispersed or broken down into harmless materials, but others may be concentrated or transformed into more damaging forms. Damage caused by pollution may not be immediately obvious, causing comparatively subtle but far reaching changes in biological communities which are not of obvious importance to humans and their environment.(4essay.blogspot.com) However, the nature of the ecosystem is such that minor fluctuations may be magnified by the interactions between species: for example, the detrimental effect pesticides can have on bird populations. Monitoring pollution pathways and effects is a formidable problem for environmental scientists, but solving pollution problems is more than a technical issue.


Pollution occurs where human activities introduce something into the environment which has harmful effects. The inclusion of harmful effects in the definition means that the concept of pollution is value dependent and hence politically contested. In many cases, values and interests differ: for example, farmers use weed killers and pesticides and regard the results as beneficial, while conservationists lament the effects on meadow plants or butterflies. In other cases it matters where the substance is: depletion of stratospheric ozone is regarded as a problem, and so is increased low level ozone. In some cases sculpture dioxide in the air acts as a valuable source of plant nutrients while in others it contributes to acid rain and plant damage. Concentration of pollutants makes a crucial difference: carbon dioxide would not have been regarded as a pollutant a decade ago but now it is involved in one of the most threatening pollution issues. In small quantities, animal manure is beneficial, but in large quantities it can overwhelm the capacity of natural cycles to deal with it. For most chemical pollutants, and even for radioactivity, harmful effects may be difficult to demonstrate at low concentrations so there may be passionate disputes between emitter and affected publics. In many such cases there may be natural sources of the possible pollutant as well as industrial sources so responsibility is difficult to prove. Although governments seem increasingly concerned to regulate pollution, progress is far from simple, which is illustrated by some examples from air, water and land

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