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Environmental Pollution Pollution: Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort

to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat, or light. Pollutants, the elements of pollution, can be foreign substances or energies, or naturally occurring; when naturally occurring, they are considered contaminants when they exceed natural levels. Pollution became a popular issue after World War II, due to radioactive fallout from atomic warfare and testing. Then a non-nuclear event, The Great Smog of 1952 in London, killed at least 4000 people.This prompted some of the first major modern environmental legislation, The Clean Air Act of 1956. Air pollution: Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment into the atmosphere. The atmosphere is a complex dynamic natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet Earth. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution has long been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the Earth's ecosystems. Water pollution: Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, groundwater). Water pollution affects plants and organisms living in these bodies of water; and, in almost all cases the effect is damaging not only to individual species and populations, but also to the natural biological communities. Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds. Land pollution: Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Land pollution is the degradation of Earth's land surfaces often caused by human activities and their misuse of land resources. It occurs when waste is not disposed properly. Health hazard disposal of urban and industrial wastes, exploitation of minerals, and improper use of soil by inadequate agricultural practices are a few factors. Urbanization and industrialization are major causes of land pollution.

Noise pollution: Noise pollution (or environmental noise) is displeasing human, animal or machine-created sound that disrupts the activity or balance of human or animal life. The word noise comes from the Latin word nauseas meaning seasickness. The source of most outdoor noise worldwide is mainly construction and transportation systems, including motor vehicle noise, aircraft noise and rail noise.[1][2] Poor urban planning may give rise to noise pollution, since side-by-side industrial and residential buildings can result in noise pollution in the residential area. Indoor and outdoor noise pollution sources include car alarms, emergency service sirens, mechanical equipment, fireworks, compressed air horns, groundskeeping equipment, barking dogs, appliances, lighting hum, audio entertainment systems, electric megaphones, and loud people. Effect of man on environment Freshwater Environments : Man pollutes freshwater all over the world in many ways there is much waste and pollution that ends up in rivers. One of the main hazards is called eutrophication, this process becomes enriched with artificial nutrients from fertilisers which run off into the rivers and upset the natural nutrient cycle of the river, lake or pond. The water turns green because of the algae which when they die multifly using up all the oxygen. Similar consequences occur if raw sewage is pumped into a river. Chemical waste from factories dump their un wanted waste into rivers, lakes or ponds as well. One major component that effects the water wildlife is the insecticide DDT which damages animal tissue and is dangerous to humans , this can be passed along the foodchain. Marine Environments : 80% of the waste which is pumped into the sea each year is produced by dredging, 10% is industrial waste and 10% is sewage. Some of the consiquences due to this are :- presence of toxic substances and the rapid uptake of contaminants by marine organisms to name but a few. Oil spillages either by tankers or offshore ridges cause devastating effects on the local environments. Oil is extremely dense which means it floats on top of the water and can kill fish and birds, ruin beaches but nothing as yet has been invented to deal with this major problem. Dangerous metals such as mercury, arsenic and lead are

also dumped into the sea. All of these examples have the ability to kill and damage the environment around it. Agricultural Environments : Unwanted plants or insects are nowadays killed with by herbicides and insecticides, in this case chemical rather than biological are used. Pesticides have the ability to damage the local environment, while herbicides may kill wild flowers as well as weeds and insecticides may kill As a student how can you save the environment Turn off unneeded lights even when leaving a room for a short time. Set your refrigerator temperature at 36 to 38 and your freezer at 0 to 5 . Unplug seldom used appliances. Wash clothes with warm or cold water instead of hot. Turn off lights, computers and other appliances when not in use. Plant trees to shade your home. Learn about alternatives to household cleaning items that do not use hazardous chemicals. Use traps instead of rat and mouse poisons and insect killers. Copy and print on both sides of paper. Reuse items like envelopes, folders and paper clips. Use recycled paper.

Role of man to save the environment Use mailer sheets for interoffice mail instead of an envelope.Use mailer sheets for interoffice mail instead of an envelope. Set up a bulletin board for memos instead of sending a copy to each employee. Use e-mail instead of paper correspondence. Use recycled paper. Use discarded paper for scrap paper. Encourage your school and/or company to print documents with soy-based inks, which are less toxic. Use a ceramic coffee mug instead of a disposable cup.

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