2 Pollution is the introduction of a contaminant into the environment, the addition to the ecosystem of someting which has a detrimental

effect on it. It is created mostly by human actions, but can also be a result of natural disasters. Pollution has a detrimental effect on any living organism in an environment, making it virtually impossible to sustain life. 4 Air is the ocean we breathe. Air supplies us with oxygen which is essential for us and for all the animals to live. Air is 99.9% nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor and inert gases. Human activities can release substances into the air, some of which can cause problems for humans, plants, and animals. 5 One type of air pollution is the release of particles into the air from burning fuel for energy. Diesel smoke is a good example of this particulate matter. The particles are very small pieces of matter measuring about 2.5 microns or about . 0001 inches. This type of pollution is sometimes referred to as ,,black carbon pollution. The exhaust from burning fuels in automobiles, homes, and industries is a major source of pollution in the air. Some authorities believe that even the burning of wood and charcoal in fireplaces and barbeques can release significant quanitites of soot into the air. 6 Another type of pollution is the release of noxious gases, such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and chemical vapors. These can take part in further chemical reactions once they are in the atmosphere, forming smog and acid rain. Smog is a type of large-scale outdoor pollution. It is caused by chemical reactions between pollutants derived from different sources, primarily automobile exhaust and industrial emissions. Another consequence of outdoor air pollution is acid rain. When a pollutant, such as sulfuric acid combines with droplets of water in the air, the water (or snow) can become acidified. 7 Facts Around 3 billion people cook and heat their homes using open fires and leaky stoves burning biomass (wood, animal dung and crop waste) and coal. Nearly 2 million people die prematurely from illness attributable to indoor air pollution from household solid fuel use. Nearly 50% of pneumonia deaths among children under five are due to particulate matter inhaled from indoor air pollution. More than 1 million people a year die from chronic obstructive respiratory disease (COPD) that develop due to exposure to such indoor air pollution. Both women and men exposed to heavy indoor smoke are 2-3 times more likely to develop COPD 8 Scientists at the University of Michigan found that the quality of air you breathe can immediately increase your blood pressure, and cause unhealthy changes in your blood vessels that last for hours and perhaps even days.

Air pollution can affect our health in many ways with both short-term and longterm effects. Different groups of individuals are affected by air pollution in different ways. Examples of short-term effects include irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, and upper respiratory infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia. Other symptoms can include headaches, nausea, and allergic reactions. Short-term air pollution can aggravate the medical conditions of individuals with asthma and emphysema. Long-term health effects can include chronic respiratory disease, lung cancer, heart disease, and even damage to the brain, nerves, liver, or kidneys. 9 The effects of pollution on plants include mottled foliage, burning at leaf tips or margins,twig dieback, stunted growth, premature leaf drop, delayed maturity, abortion or early drop of blossoms, and reduced yield or quality Plant injury caused by air pollution is most common near large cities, smelters, refineries, electric power plants, airports, highways, incinerators, refuse dumps, pulp and paper mills, and coal-, gas-, or petroleum-burning furnaces. Plant injury also occurs near industries that produce brick, pottery, cement, aluminum, copper,nickel, iron or steel, zinc, acids, ceramics, glass, phosphate fertilizers, paints and stains, rubbers, soaps and detergents, and other chemicals. 10 1. Use less electricity. Turn off lights when you leave the room ,and do not leave electrical appliances switched on when not in use. Wash your clothes on a cool or warm - rather than hot. 2. Drive less. Whenever possible walk, bike, or take public transit instead. Join a carpool if you use your car for regular journeys. 3. Run an environmentally friendly car. Fill up with an energy-conserving grade motor oil. Keep tires properly inflated and aligned to lower fuel use. Get regular maintenance checks. 4. Improve indoor air quality. Keep wood stoves and fireplaces well maintained to minimize emissions. Refrain from smoking indoors. 5. Recycle your waste whenever possible. This includes paper, plastic, glass bottles, cardboard, and aluminum cans. Don't burn wood or trash. 6. Support nationwide campaigns to reduce air pollution. 11 Over two thirds of Earth's surface is covered by water; less than a third is taken up by land. As Earth's population continues to grow, people are putting everincreasing pressure on the planet's water resources. In a sense, our oceans, rivers, and other inland waters are being "squeezed" by human activities not so they take up less room, but so their quality is reduced. Poorer water quality means water pollution. Water pollution is the introduction into fresh or ocean waters of chemical, physical, or biological material that degrades the quality of the water and affects the organisms living in it. This process ranges from simple addition of dissolved or suspended solids to discharge of the most insidious and persistent toxic pollutants (such as pesticides, heavy metals, and nondegradable, bioaccumulative, chemical compounds). 12 Surface waters and groundwater are the two types of water resources that pollution affects. There are also two different ways in which pollution can occur. If pollution comes from a single location, such as a discharge pipe attached to a
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factory, it is known as point-source pollution. Other examples of point source pollution include an oil spill from a tanker, a discharge from a smoke stack (factory chimney), or someone pouring oil from their car down a drain. A great deal of water pollution happens not from one single source but from many different scattered sources. This is called nonpoint-source pollution. 13 Principal sources of water pollution are: *industrial discharge of chemical wastes and byproducts *discharge of poorly-treated or untreated sewage *surface runoff containing pesticides *slash and burn farming practice, which is often an element within shifting cultivation *agricultural systems *surface runoff containing spilled petroleum products *surface runoff from construction sites, farms, or paved and other impervious surfaces e.g. silt *discharge of contaminated and/or heated water used for industrial processes *acid rain caused by industrial discharge of sulfur dioxide (by burning high-sulfur fossil fuels) *excess nutrients added by runoff containing detergents or fertilizers *underground storage tank leakage, leading to soil contamination, thence aquifer contamination. 14 Many bodies of water near urban areas are highly polluted. This is the result of both garbage dumped by individuals and dangerous chemicals legally or illegally dumped by industries. The main problem caused by water pollution is that it kills life that inhabits water-based ecosystems. Dead fish, birds, dolphins, and many other animals often wind up on beaches, killed by pollutants in their habitat. Pollution disrupts the natural food chain as well. Pollutants such as lead and cadmium are eaten by tiny animals. Later, these animals are consumed by fish and shellfish, and the food chain continues to be disrupted at all higher levels. Eventually, humans are affected by this process as well. People can get diseases such as hepatitis by eating seafood that has been poisoned. Ecosystems can be severely changed or destroyed by water pollution. Many areas are now being affected by careless human pollution, and this pollution is coming back to hurt humans. 16 Land pollution is the degradation of the Earth's land surface through misuse of the soil by poor agricultural practices, mineral exploitation, industrial waste dumping, and indiscriminate disposal of urban wastes. It includes visible waste and litter as well as pollution of the soil itself. Examples of Land Pollution Soil Pollution Soil pollution is mainly due to chemicals in herbicides (weed killers) and pesticides (poisons which kill insects and other invertebrate pests). Litter is waste material dumped in public places such as streets, parks, picnic areas, at bus stops and near shops. Waste Disposal The accumulation of waste threatens the health of people in residential areas.
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Waste decays, encourages household pests and turns urban areas into unsightly, dirty and unhealthy places to live in. Control Measures The following measures can be used to control land pollution: anti-litter campaigns can educate people against littering; organic waste can be dumped in places far from residential areas; inorganic materials such as metals, glass and plastic, but also paper, can be reclaimed and recycled. 18 When Chernobyl melted down on Apr. 26, 1986, the ruined plant released 100 times more radiation into the air than the fallout from the nuclear bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Today the 19-mi (30-km) exclusion zone around the plant remains uninhabitable, and between 1992 and 2002 more than 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer cases were diagnosed among Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian children living in the fallout zone. "It's the largest industrial accident in the world," says Fuller. "It'll be contaminated for tens of thousands of years." Fortunately, work is being done to prevent further radiation spill from the ruined sarcophagus of the nuclear plant. 19 This soot-blackened city in China's inland Shanxi province makes Dickensian London look as pristine as a nature park. Shanxi is the heart of China's coal belt, and the hills around Linfen are dotted with mines, legal and illegal, and the air is filled with burning coal. Don't bother hanging your laundry it'll turn black before it dries. China's State Environmental Protection Agency says that Linfen has the worst air in the country, which is saying something, considering that the World Bank has reported that 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are Chinese. 20 Norilsk was founded in 1935 as a Siberian slave labor camp, and life there has pretty much gone downhill since. Home to the world's largest heavy metal smelting complex, more than 4 million tons of cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, arsenic, selenium and zinc are released into the air every year. Air samples exceed the maximum allowance for both copper and nickel, and mortality from respiratory diseases is much higher than in Russia as a whole. "Within 30 miles (48 km) of the nickel smelter there's not a single living tree," says Fuller. "It's just a wasteland."