How Does Pollution Affect Us
Pollution is a well-used term nowadays. We live in a consumable world where we use and dispose of everything from paper cups to fridge/freezers on a regular basis, increasingly by illegal fly-tipping. Some of our cast offs we recycle and use again but much of it ends up in landfill sites, some of which are not in the same country in which we live. All of these cause pollution of one kind or another. The recycling process itself causes pollution of the air and landfill causes pollution of both the land and the air as the rubbish in landfill sites will decompose and emit toxic gases into the atmosphere.
Consumerism is only one part of the pollution the human race causes to our planet. Every day most of us will do something that will cause pollution to the land, rivers, seas or the air we breathe, and these come from various different causes.
In the UK, central government and local authorities now promote recycling of our waste. They ask us to separate out paper, cardboard, glass and garden waste from our general waste and these are taken to recycling centres to be processed and reused. Single use plastic is discouraged and supermarket bags are now charged for but much of our general waste goes either to landfill sites or for incineration.
Landfill sites are not only unsightly and smelly, they cause pollution of the soil associated with the site. Over time, waste on the site begins to decompose and break down and as rain water filters through that waste it forms what can be a highly toxic liquid which will pollute the land, ground water and nearby water ways as it soaks into the soil. Waste from electrical and electronic goods is a particular problem in landfill as they contain hazardous substances, such as mercury, arsenic, cadmium, acids and lead. While the presence of a landfill site is usually obvious due to the associated appearance and odours, other soil pollution goes relatively unnoticed.
In 1950 the population of the world was around 2.5 billion. By 2022 this figure had risen to 8 billion, which means that the world population has more than trebled in 73 years. This growth in human population has meant a growing demand for food. Not only do farmers need to grow more food to feed the human population, they also need to grow feed for the livestock which we eat. The second biggest factor in tropical deforestation is to facilitate soybean production and around 75% of all soy produced is used to feed livestock which is being reared for human consumption. To meet this growing demand, farmers have been using artificial fertilisers and chemical sprays to kill crop pests. These additives encourage the faster growth of larger crops but like most chemicals, they have an adverse effect on the soil. Organic manure helps to hold the structure of soil together, but artificial, powder based fertilisers do not and this makes for a much higher rate of soil erosion caused by wind and rain either blowing or washing away topsoil
Piston engine vehicles, such as car, buses, vans and diesel trains all burn fossil fuels and if a vehicle does not have a catalytic converter fitted, the exhaust gases from these cause pollution to the air in the form of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases, which contribute to the growing problem of greenhouse gases causing global warming. In some countries such as China and India, many of the power stations generating electricity are coal fired, which adds to the air pollution in many parts of these countries. Poor air quality is a major factor in poor health and in Eastern Asia which includes China, over 30% of adult deaths are attributable to air pollution mainly from fossil fuels.
Smog is air pollution that reduces visibility and is a mixture of smoke and fog which was common in many industrial areas, and even now remains a familiar sight in some large industrial cities which have heavy traffic. Smog is produced when sunlight reacts with nitrogen oxides and organic compounds in the atmosphere. Nitrogen oxides come from car exhaust, coal power plants, and factory emissions. When exposed to heat and light from the sun, these chemicals form airborne particles which combine with fog to form smog which is harmful to humans and animals. It can damage lung tissue, and it is especially dangerous to people with respiratory illnesses like asthma it can also cause itchy, burning eyes. Industrial air pollution combined with domestic air pollution can be linked to around seven million premature deaths annually.
Many of the causes of air pollution, such as the combustion of fossil fuels are also responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases, so by taking measures to reduce air pollution, we will also help to slow down global warming.
Pollution of our rivers and waterways is also a major health and environmental issue. This pollution comes from various sources. Every time it rains, insecticides, fertilizers and pesticides used in our fields are washed into the rivers along with animal waste from livestock. Despite having treatment plants for water and sewage in the UK, we have regular instances of raw sewage leaking into our rivers and spillages of chemicals into the rivers is not uncommon.
In poorer countries, people do not have the luxury of water and waste treatment plants and raw sewage from both animals and humans finds its way into rivers along with other agricultural and industrial chemicals and pollutants.
As rain falls on the ground it soaks into the soil, filling the cracks, crevices and porous rocks beneath the surface and forming groundwater which will eventually reappear in springs and streams and into rivers or bodies of inland water. Chemical fertilisers and pesticides used on our fields will combine with this groundwater and be carried in solution as the water travels, often reappearing miles from where it permeated into the ground, adding to the pollution and contamination in the rivers.
Water from rivers flows into our seas and oceans, carrying with it the pollution from upstream. This is the source of around eighty percent of marine pollution as it collects in inland waters or is washed further out to sea by currents and tidal movement. A variety of other debris such as single use plastic bags is blown into the sea by prevailing winds while old netting from fishing and other non-biodegradable man-made rubbish adds to the pollution of our oceans. These have a detrimental effect on fish and marine mammals in the same way as pollutants in our rivers affect fish and other wildlife associated with them.
River pollution in developed countries is an issue which is receiving attention from environmentalists and politicians in an effort to stop our waterways being contaminated and adding to further contamination around our coasts and into our seas, improvements are being seen, perhaps not as quickly as many would wish for. Lesser developed countries have different river pollution and contamination problems, with humans having to rely heavily on river water for both domestic and industrial use.
Many remote areas in third world countries have only river water for their needs, using it for drinking, bathing and cooking, despite the water being contaminated by both human and animal waste and animal carcasses being allowed to float in the water. Diseases spread by the use of unsafe water include cholera, hepatitis and typhoid and the various programmes aimed at finding ways of getting clean water to remote locations struggle to find funding to provide solutions.
Whether the problem of water pollution is in developed or third world countries we need to concentrate our efforts on finding solutions to the two very different problems, one of which has a dramatic effect on our wildlife, the other which causes deadly diseases in humans.