POLLUTION IS RAVISHING EARTH
Nitrogen Pollution
Through the passage of time, the human kind has constantly damaged the planet earth and its environment by creating houses, fossil fuels, cars, among others that require natural resources. These have contaminated different sectors of the planet so that it has brought us to the point of not knowing how to handle this issue no longer.
For example, nitrogen pollution is the main ingredient of different problems such as:
1. Air pollution: This is part of urban smog. Because of pollution, concentrations of particulate air have gotten big enough to exceed the air qualitiy’s standards in many of the major cities of the world. As a consequence, human health’s problems have worriedly increased.
2. Water pollution: Nitrogen pollution is also a big problem in the aquatic zones. Algaes and other plants grow more than what they’re originally set to, which has worsened fish’s life quality. There have been reported more than 880 deadzone places around the ocean in which fish are unable to survive.
3. Soil pollution: As soil gets more acidic, it contaminates microbial communities. Soil’s life supporting capacity has been threatened as à consequence of this issue.
4. Biodiversity loss: If the soil can’t support life, the microbe dependent animals won’t have anything to eat. This will cause a great loss of biodiversity in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
5. Climate change: The nitrous oxide is a powerful greenhouse gas that damages the ozone layer, which protects us from the ultraviolet radiation from the sun by absorbing it. For that reason, if it is completely spoiled, a lot of species won’t be able to survive.
Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment, which are called pollutants that can be natural, such as volcanic dust. However, they can also be created by human activity, like trash, industrial runoff, among others. Pollutants damage the quality of air, water, and land.
The three major types that we will be discussing today are air pollution, water pollution, and land pollution.
Air pollution
Polluted air can be dangerous, even if the pollutants are invisible. It can make people’s eyes burn and gives us a hard time breathing as well. It is known for being able to increase different respiratory diseases such as lung cancer, asthma, bronchitis, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), among others.
Air pollution is also one of the main reasons for global warming due to the atmospheric temperature as an effect from the vast amount of greenhouse gases, which have caused glaciers to melt, heightening sea levels.
Water pollution
Some polluted water may look muddy, smell bad, and have garbage floating around. Some others look clean, yet filled with harmful chemicals we can’t neither see or smell. The ingestion of it may result in hazardous diseases, and even death, as the UN has estimated that 4,000 children die every day from drinking contaminated water.
It is caused when dirty particles, substances or chemicals are discharged indirectly or directly into the water, mainly by human causes, which leads to the degradation of the water’s quality. These pollutants may even affect our daily lives, as they reach the groundwater and contaminate the water we utilize in our daily activities.
Soil Pollution
Soil pollution is the destruction of the Earth’s land surface. It is caused by solid wastes and chemicals. The land gets polluted by the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, industrial wastes, and more. These can harm plants, animals, and sometimes people. Some fruits and vegetables absorb pesticides, hurting the consumer as it enters their body.
Human Impact
Since the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century the human population has exploded and is now growing at an exponential rate with no signs of slowing down. More people demand more resources and create more pollution and ever-increasing impact on Earth.
We cause pollution by burning fossil fuels, which we rely on for transport and electricity generators. Fossil fuels release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which is known as à greenhouse gas.
Greenhouse gases cause an increase in average global temperatures known as the greenhouse effect, which is linked to climate change. Some areas of the world are getting wetter and others hotter, and drier, which may result in devastating changes on ecosystems and biodiversity.
Cause and Effect On the Biodiversity, an example:
By: Kevin Consuegra, Fernando Lascano and Valentina Quintero
Step 9 Yellow
