Make a Difference
Earth is the only place in the universe suitable for life. Life exists because of the interaction between the living and nonliving resources creating a balance that sustains both. We are able to survive because of three main non living factors, water for drinking, air for breathing and the soil or land we live on. Without any of this tree main components, we wouldn’t be able to exist.
Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. Pollutants can be natural, but they can also be created by human activity, such as trash or runoff produced by factories and construction that damage the quality of air, water, and land. This is an issue that the construction industry cannot ignore. If we don’t put precautionary measures in place to manage harmful waste, it can directly affect site employees and people living nearby. This includes causing irreversible damage to their health, with a concerning link between pollutants and cancer.
Nowadays with the excessive amount of construction and industries' production the rates of contaminated water and air have raised. These human practices continue to contribute to destroy Earth and at the same time themselves, but you might be wondering how?
Air pollution refers to man-made emissions that are released into the atmosphere, in this specif activities it occurs through the use of plant and vehicles on the site, as a lot of this heavy machinery operates on diesel engines, that release pollutants into the air. This includes the gases carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, which are detrimental not only for humans but also for animals; through land clearing and demolition as high levels of dust are created when land is disrupted and through chemicals, as the use hazardous ones is very common on construction sites.
As said before water also suffers a great transformation due to industries and constructions, water pollution happens when toxic substances end up in water bodies such as rivers, lakes and oceans. This contamination may be visible, either on the surface or invisible to the human eye, when chemicals dissolve in it. Construction activities often involve the use of toxic chemicals and pollutants that can end up in this precious resource if not managed well as a result of runoff from construction work, entering the water system through drains, sipping into the soil etc.
Managing the amount of contamination you create as and individual and as a company is extremely necessary. As well as controlling the negative impacts on the environment and workers, enforcing prevention strategies can have a very significant impact on the perception of your company, as you will be considered someone that is contributing to a sustainable development in comparison to your competitors. There are so many things you can do to help Earth, such as never burning waste materials, adopting hybrid technology, using renewable material, implementing low sulphur diesel, monitoring and improving your management and disposal of site waste, covering all the drains between others.
As you have seen there are millions of ways with which we can continually improve the not necessary air and water quality, it is our duty to protect the borrowed air we are breathing and the borrowed water we are drinking, we are supposed to live everything in better conditions than before for the next generations, or do you prefer your kids drinking dirty water and dying because of respiratory diseases?. We are still on time but it is up to you to make a difference.
By Isabela Duarte, Step10
