What is pollution and how much impact is it having on us? Its literal meaning is the addition of unwanted and detrimental things in our environment that are harmful for human beings. These harmful substances are called the pollutants. Pollution is having adverse effects on human lives.
Everything existing in this universe at present is either natural or man made. But, the question is, "Is the pollution caused by humans or natural phenomena?" The answer to it is, BOTH! Yes, the pollution is not only caused by humans but also nature. Nature does cause pollution but it is rarer and less impactful than the pollution being spread by manly activities.
Let's take into account the radioactive elements whose decay is the one big cause of environmental pollution. Other sources of it include dust storms, volcanic eruptions, pollens and meteorites etc. Similarly, the human activities like burning of fossil fuels, emission of toxic gases from factories in the environment, exhausts of the cars and many chemicals released by the industries into the water without proper sewage treatments.
What are the types of pollution? Majority of the people know only about three types of it, which are:
1) Air
2) Water
3) Land
However, there are many other types of it as well. For instance, there is noise pollution and visual pollution as well. Let's dive into the studies of each of these.
Air pollution is caused by the harmful gases, exhausts of cars, emission of volatile organic compounds by plants, smokes from the factories etc. Air pollution's one big side effect is that it devastates human respiratory system which is the system used by human beings to breath. It directly damages our lungs, causing many diseases such as emphysema, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We must perform proper actions to try limit it to the maximum extent. Some actions can include using public transports minimizing the personal car usage, planting trees, not burning garbage etc.
Water pollution is caused by the direct release of harmful and untreated waters to rivers and oceans without proper treatments. littering in water bodies and agricultural runoff etc. It has adverse side effects on the aquatic lives. It pollutes the water resulting in humans consuming the deteriorated water causing many diseases and also does result in the death of aquatic life; no longer supporting life in water bodies. In humans, it causes cholera, typhoid and much more. We must not throw the plastics and other sorts of garbage into the water, going for proper sewage treatments, not using excess pesticides and insecticides on agriculture to avoid the excess chemicals of it flowing into the rivers.
Land pollution is caused by deforestation, littering, acid rains, radioactive wastes, industrialization and more. It directly destroys our respiratory system and our environment. It damages the ozone layer, causes cancer to humans and much more. We must take right actions to avoid and minimize it to every possible extent to make life a lot more sustainable on the beloved Earth.
Noise pollution is caused by unwanted noise in the environment. It does include the excess honking, excess of unwanted noises from transports, machinery etc. It damages our ears causing headaches, lowering our hearing frequencies, hypertension (blood pressure), stress and much more. Its sole solution is to avoid excess noise producing equipments to lessen it as much as possible.
Visual pollution, on the other hand, account for all the unwanted things present all around us that can be seen. This type of pollution is least known by people and is the type that obstructs natural and man-made landscapes. It includes billboards, wires around us and such things. It is basically the aesthetic issue that lowers one's ability to enjoy the view. Reducing the uses of such things around us can lower this type of pollution.
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