There are several forms of environmental pollution. The three main forms of environmental pollution include air, land, and water. These forms of pollution negatively impact our environment on a daily basis much more than most understand. Environmental pollution not only hurts our environment, but also the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink.
The air we breathe is harmed by the various adverse affects from human interaction. Many of the main forms of air pollution comes from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas. The issue that comes into play is that these fossil fuels are used as our main forms of energy. The most used energy source for electricity in the United States is coal. In a world without coal, it would be extremely hard to produce electricity. However, there are many other forms of electricity generation. These forms of electricity generation include nuclear power and hydropower. The main issue with nuclear power is that it isn’t sustainable and is very dangerous. Hydropower is a very efficient form of energy generation, however a large issue is that the reservoir of water used for hydroelectric power produces large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane, producing similar amounts of pollution as burning fossil fuels. Along with producing carbon dioxide and methane, hydropower oftentimes disturbs live water habitats because of large dams or turbines. Along with electric power, one of the biggest air pollutants are cars, which burn gas in order to operate and give off harmful exhaust pollutants. Along with these forms of pollutions, humans and animals alike also are harming the environment in the process of respiration. When inhaling oxygen, that oxygen is converted to carbon dioxide and released freely into the air, ultimately resulting in increased air pollution.
Along with air, our land is being polluted on a daily basis. Our land become polluted from human waste, such as littering. One of the largest forms of littered items are cigarette butts. Aside from the pollution that smoking puts in the air, many smokers oftentimes throw their cigarette butts directly onto the ground. These improperly disposed cigarette butts account for around half of all littered items. Another major form of land pollution is illegal dumping. The world has a waste issue. We’re producing so many disposable items, but we have nowhere to put them once we are finished, resulting in many natural habitats, both on land and water, being depleted and ruined. This debris then collects, and ultimately damages the environment. Generally, a majority of the debris from land pollution gets pushed into bodies of water and through one way or another, ends up reaching its destination in our oceans. Along with land debris, industrial waste, radiation spills, and runoff from farming ends up in our water as well. Along with these various forms of spillage, a major problem with water pollution is runoff of raw sewage tends to find its way into lakes and streams as well.
It seems as if pollution is an unsolvable problem. In a world where it becomes hard to breathe and water becomes undrinkable, the world will eventually find what it’s like to be unable to survive. These many pollution issues are extremely challenging. We don’t know where to put all of our trash, we don’t know how to make cars run without burning fossil fuels, and it’s not like we can change our biology so that animals don’t produce carbon dioxide through respiration. These many issues will likely lead to the demise of mankind itself. In my opinion, we are unable to prevent all of these problems. The only thing we can hope to do is limit these issues and push them back until they catch up with us. to learn more. click on the links below.