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 ENVIRONMENT POLLUTION 

Environment meaning

Environment can be defined as a sum total of all the living and non-living elements and their effects that influence human life. While all living or biotic elements are animals, plants, forests, fisheries, and birds, non-living or abiotic elements include water, land, sunlight, rocks, and air.

Environment functions

(1) Provides the supply of resources

•       The environment offers resources for production.
•       It includes both renewable and non-renewable resources.
•       Examples: Wood for furniture, soil, land, etc.

(2) Sustains life

•       The environment includes the sun, soil, water, and air, which are essential for human life.
•       It sustains life by providing genetic and biodiversity.

(3) Assimilates waste

•       Production and consumption activities generate waste.
•       This occurs mostly in the form of garbage.
•       The environment helps in getting rid of the garbage.

(4) Enhances the quality of life

•       The environment enhances the quality of life.
•       Human beings enjoy the beauty of nature that includes rivers, mountains, deserts, etc.
•       These add to the quality of life.

pollution

environmental pollution, the addition of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or any form of energy (such as heat, sound, or radioactivity) to the environment at a rate faster than it can be dispersed, diluted, decomposed, recycled, or stored in some harmless form. The major kinds of pollution, usually classified by environment, are 

air pollution, water pollution, and land pollution. Modern society is also concerned about specific types of pollutants, such as noise pollution, light pollution, and plastic pollution. Pollution of all kinds can have negative effects on the environment and wildlife and often impacts human health and well-being.

History of pollution

Although environmental pollution can be caused by natural events such as forest fires and active volcanoes, use of the word pollution generally implies that the contaminants have an anthropogenic source—that is, a source created by human activities. Pollution has accompanied humankind ever since groups of people first congregated and remained for a long time in any one place. Indeed, ancient human settlements are frequently recognized by their wastes—shell mounds and rubble heaps, for instance. Pollution was not a serious problem as long as there was enough space available for each individual or group. However, with the establishment of permanent settlements by great numbers of people, pollution became a problem, and it has remained one ever since.

Pollution control

The presence of environmental pollution raises the issue of pollution control. Great efforts are made to limit the release of harmful substances into the environment through air pollution control, wastewater treatment, solid-waste management, hazardous-waste management, and recycling. Unfortunately, attempts at pollution control are often surpassed by the scale of the problem, especially in less-developed countries. Noxious levels of air pollution are common in many large cities, where particulates and gases from transportation, heating, and manufacturing accumulate and linger. The problem of plastic pollution on land and in the oceans has only grown as the use of single-use plastics has burgeoned worldwide. In addition, greenhouse gas emissions, such as methane and carbon dioxide, continue to drive global warming and pose a great threat to biodiversity and public health.

How to create a sustainable future

While numerous practices are cited as threats to sustainability, such as political corruption, social inequality, the arms race, and profligate government expenditures, environmental issues remain at the heart of the discussion. Of course, what is conducive to environmental sustainability remains a matter of intense debate. Approaches range from a moderate “greening” of current social institutions to a radical transformation of the global political and economic order. A gradual adjustment toward sustainability relies on governmental initiatives to orient production and consumption into less environmentally destructive channels. That implies a reengineering of industrial and agricultural processes, a transformation of land-use practices, and a shift in household consumption. Potentially renewable resources should be managed to conserve their long-term viability; nonrenewable resources should be extracted at rates that allow an ordered transition to alternatives; emission of waste and toxic substances must remain within the assimilative capacities of natural systems; and more-vigorous measures must be taken to preserve species, habitats, and ecosystems. Managing long-term environmental issues such as climate change and the loss of biodiversity is of critical importance to efforts to achieve sustainability.

Governments can deploy an array of policy tools to effect such changes, including regulation, fiscal instruments, negotiated agreements, and informational tools. Yet many problems resist solution because the offending (unsustainable) practices are often linked to deeply entrenched practices and constraints and supported by established definitions of values and interests.

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