When we talk about air or water pollution, the

reactions garnered are stronger. This is because we can see the effects caused by the pollutants

and their extent very clearly. It is normal human psychology to believe in what you see first
hand. Our land on the other hand is living a nightmare too. We may not be able to see the effects
with clarity, but land is being polluted and abused constantly and we are unable to calculate the
damages incurred. Land Pollution has come to become one of the serious concerns that we
collectively battle.
Land pollution, in other words, means degradation or destruction of earths surface and soil,
directly or indirectly as a result of human activities. Anthropogenic activities are conducted
citing development, and the same affects the land drastically, we witness land pollution; by
drastic we are referring to any activity that lessens the quality and/or productivity of the land as
an ideal place for agriculture, forestation, construction etc. The degradation of land that could be
used constructively in other w1. Deforestation and soil erosion: Deforestation carried out to
create dry lands is one of the major concerns. Land that is once converted into a dry or barren
land, can never be made fertile again, whatever the magnitude of measures to redeem it are.
Land conversion, meaning the alteration or modification of the original properties of the land to
make it use-worthy for a specific purpose is another major cause. This hampers the land
immensely. Also there is a constant waste of land. Unused available land over the years turns
barren; this land then cannot be used. So in search of more land, potent land is hunted and its
indigenous state is compromised with.2. Agricultural activities: With growing human
population, demand for food has increased considerably. Farmers often use highly toxic
fertilizers and pesticides to get rid off insects, fungi and bacteria from their crops. However with
the overuse of these chemicals, they result in contamination and poisoning of soil.3. Mining
activities: During extraction and mining activities, several land spaces are created beneath the
surface. We constant hear about land caving in; this is nothing but natures way of filling the
spaces left out after mining or extraction activity.

4. Overcrowded landfills: Each household produces tonnes of garbage each year. Garbage like
aluminum, plastic, paper, cloth, wood is collected and sent to the localrecycling unit. Items that
can not be recycled become a part of the landfills that hampers the beauty of the city and cause
land pollution.5. Industrialization: Due to increase in demand for food, shelter and house, more
goods are produced. This resulted in creation of more waste that needs to be disposed of. To
meet the demand of the growing population, more industries were developed which led to
deforestation. Research and development paved the way for modern fertilizers and chemicals
that were highly toxic and led to soil contaminatiords is land pollution. 1. Soil pollution: Soil
pollution is another form of land pollution, where the upper layer of the soil is damaged. This is
caused by the overuse of chemical fertilizers, soil erosion caused by running water and other pest
control measures; this leads to loss of fertile land for agriculture, forest cover, fodder patches for
grazing etc.2. Change in climate patterns: The effects of land pollution are very hazardous and
can lead to the loss of ecosystems. When land is polluted, it directly or indirectly affects
the climate patterns.3. Environmental Impact: When deforestation is committed, the tree cover
is compromised on. This leads to a steep imbalance in the rain cycle. A disturbed rain cycle
affects a lot of factors. To begin with, the green cover is reduced. Trees and plants help balance
the atmosphere, without them we are subjected to various concerns likeGlobal warming,
the green house effect, irregular rainfall and flash floods among other imbalances.4. Effect on
human health: The land when contaminated with toxic chemicals and pesticides lead to
problem of skin cancer and human respiratory system. The toxic chemicals can reach our body
through foods and vegetables that we eat as they are grown in polluted soil.1. Make people aware
about the concept of Reduce, Recycle and Reuse.2. Reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers in
agricultural activities.3. Avoid buying packages items as they will lead to garbage and end up in
landfill site.4. Ensure that you do not litter on the ground and do proper disposal of garbage.5.
Buy biodegradable products.6. Do Organic gardening and eat organic food that will be grown

without the use of pesticides.7. Create dumping ground away from residential areas.Several
creatures survive under the land too. Disrupting the harmony of the land, is disrupting their
habitat. This has led to several creatures reaching the endangered status like the Gilberts Potoroo
in Australia.
Water pollution can be defined in many ways. Usually, it means one or more substances have built
up in water to such an extent that they cause problems for animals or people. Oceans, lakes, rivers,
and other inland waters can naturally clean up a certain amount of pollution by dispersing it
harmlessly. If you poured a cup of black ink into a river, the ink would quickly disappear into the
river's much larger volume of clean water. The ink would still be there in the river, but in such a low
concentration that you would not be able to see it. At such low levels, the chemicals in the ink
probably would not present any real problem. However, if you poured gallons of ink into a river every
few seconds through a pipe, the river would quickly turn black. The chemicals in the ink could very
quickly have an effect on the quality of the water. This, in turn, could affect the health of all the plants,
animals, and humans whose lives depend on the river.

Thus, water pollution is all about quantities: how much of a polluting substance is released
and how big a volume of water it is released into. A small quantity of a toxic chemical may
have little impact if it is spilled into the ocean from a ship. But the same amount of the same
chemical can have a much bigger impact pumped into a lake or river, where there is less
clean water to disperse it.
Water pollution almost always means that some damage has been done to an ocean, river,
lake, or other water source. A 1969 United Nations report defined ocean pollution as:
"The introduction by man, directly or indirectly, of substances or energy into the marine
environment (including estuaries) resulting in such deleterious effects as harm to living
resources, hazards to human health, hindrance to marine activities, including fishing,
impairment of quality for use of sea water and reduction of amenities." [1]
Fortunately, Earth is forgiving and damage from water pollution is often reversible. Nutrients

Suitably treated and used in moderate quantities, sewage can be a fertilizer: it returns important
nutrients to the environment, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which plants and animals need for
growth. The trouble is, sewage is often released in much greater quantities than the natural
environment can cope with. Chemical fertilizers used by farmers also add nutrients to the soil, which
drain into rivers and seas and add to the fertilizing effect of the sewage. Together, sewage and
fertilizers can cause a massive increase in the growth of algae or plankton that overwhelms huge
areas of oceans, lakes, or rivers. This is known as a harmful algal bloom (also known as an HAB or
red tide, because it can turn the water red). It is harmful because it removes oxygen from the water
that kills other forms of life, leading to what is known as a dead zone. The Gulf of Mexico has one of
the world's most spectacular dead zones. Each summer, according to studies by the NOAA, it grows
to an area of around 5500 square miles (14,000 square kilometers), which is about the same size as
the state of Connecticut.
SewageWith billions of people on the planet, disposing of sewage waste is a major problem.
According to 2013 figures from the World Health Organization, some 780 million people (11 percent
of the world's population) don't have access to safe drinking water, while 2.5 billion (40 percent of the
world's population) don't have proper sanitation (hygienic toilet facilities); although there have been
great improvements in securing access to clean water, relatively little progress has been made on
improving global sanitation in the last decade. Sewage disposal affects people's immediate
environments and leads to water-related illnesses such as diarrhea that kills 760,000 children under
five each year. [3] (Back in 2002, the World Health Organization estimated that water-related
diseases could kill as many as 135 million people by 2020.) In developed countries, most people
have flush toilets that take sewage waste quickly and hygienically away from their homes.
Waste waterA few statistics illustrate the scale of the problem that waste water (chemicals washed
down drains and discharged from factories) can cause. Around half of all ocean pollution is caused
by sewage and waste water. Each year, the world generates perhaps 510 billion tons of industrial
waste, much of which is pumped untreated into rivers, oceans, and other waterways. [8] In the
United States alone, around 400,000 factories take clean water from rivers, and many pump polluted
waters back in their place. However, there have been major improvements in waste water treatment
recently. Since 1970, in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has invested
about $70 billion in improving water treatment plants that, as of 2015, serve around 88 percent of the
US population (compared to just 69 percent in 1972). However, another $271 billion is still needed to
update and upgrade the system.Factories are point sources of water pollution, but quite a lot of water
is polluted by ordinary people from nonpoint sources; this is how ordinary water becomes waste wat
Chemical wasteDetergents are relatively mild substances. At the opposite end of the spectrum are
highly toxic chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). They were once widely used to
manufacture electronic circuit boards, but their harmful effects have now been recognized and their
use is highly restricted in many countries. Nevertheless, an estimated half million tons of PCBs were

discharged into the environment during the 20th century. [9] In a classic example of transboundary
pollution, traces of PCBs have even been found in birds and fish in the Arctic. They were carried
there through the oceans, thousands of miles from where they originally entered the environment.
Although PCBs are widely banned, their effects will be felt for many decades because they las t a
long time in the environment without breaking down.
Oil pollutionWhen we think of ocean pollution, huge black oil slicks often spring to mind, yet these
spectacular accidents represent only a tiny fraction of all the pollution entering our oceans. Even
considering oil by itself, tanker spills are not as significant as they might seem: only 12 percent of the
oil that enters the oceans comes from tanker accidents; over 70 percent of oil pollution at sea comes
from routine shipping and from the oil people pour down drains on land. [12] However, what makes
tanker spills so destructive is the sheer quantity of oil they release at once in other words, the
concentration of oil they produce in one very localized part of the marine environment How can we
stop water pollution?

EducationMaking people aware of the problem is the first step to solving it. In the early 1990s, when
surfers in Britain grew tired of catching illnesses from water polluted with sewage, they formed a
group called Surfers Against Sewage to force governments and water companies to clean up their
act. People who've grown tired of walking the world's polluted beaches often band together to
organize community beach-cleaning sessions. Anglers who no longer catch so many fish have
campaigned for tougher penalties against factories that pour pollution into our rivers. Greater public
awareness can make a positive difference.
LawsOne of the biggest problems with water pollution is its transboundary nature. Many rivers cross
countries, while seas span whole continents. Pollution discharged by factories in one country with
poor environmental standards can cause problems in neighboring nations, even when they have
tougher laws and higher standards. Environmental laws can make it tougher for people to pollute, but
to be really effective they have to operate across national and international borders. This is why we
have international laws governing the oceans, such as the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the
Sea Economics
Most environmental experts agree that the best way to tackle pollution is through something called
the polluter pays principle. This means that whoever causes pollution should have to pay to clean
it up, one way or another. Polluter pays can operate in all kinds of ways. It could mean that tanker
owners should have to take out insurance that covers the cost of oil spill cleanups, for example. It
could also mean that shoppers should have to pay for their plastic grocery bags, as is now common
in Ireland, to encourage recycling and minimize waste. Or it could mean that factories that use rivers
must have their water inlet pipes downstream of their effluent outflow pipes, so if they cause pollution
they themselves are the first people to suffer. Ultimately, the polluter pays principle is designed to

deter people from polluting by making it less expensive for them to behave in an environmentally
responsible way.What

is Air pollution?

Pollution is now a common place term, that our ears are attuned to. We hear about the
various forms of pollution and read about it through the mass media. Air pollution is
one such form that refers to the contamination of the air, irrespective of indoors or
outside. A physical, biological or chemical alteration to the air in the atmosphere can be
termed as pollution. It occurs when any harmful gases, dust, smoke enters into the
atmosphere and makes it difficult for plants, animals and humans to survive as the air
becomes dirty.
Air pollution can further be classified into two sections- Visible air pollution and
invisible air pollution. Another way of looking at Air pollution could be any substance
that holds the potential to hinder the atmosphere or the well being of the living beings
surviving in it. The sustainment of all things living is due to a combination of gases that
collectively form the atmosphere; the imbalance caused by the increase or decrease of
the percentage of these gases can be harmful for survival.

The Ozone layer considered crucial for the existence of the ecosystems on the
planet isdepleting due to increased pollution. Global warming, a direct result of
the increased imbalance of gases in the atmosphere has come to be known as
the biggest threat and challenge that the contemporary world has to overcome
in a bid for survival Causes of Air pollution
.

1. Burning of Fossil Fuels: Sulfur dioxide emitted from the combustion of fossil
fuelslike coal, petroleum and other factory combustibles is one the major cause of air
pollution. Pollution emitting from vehicles including trucks, jeeps, cars, trains, airplanes
cause immense amount of pollution. We rely on them to fulfill our daily basic needs of
transportation. But, there overuse is killing our environment as dangerous gases are
polluting the environment. Carbon Monooxide caused by improper or incomplete
combustion and generally emitted from vehicles is another major pollutant along with
Nitrogen Oxides, that is produced from both natural and man made processes.2.
Agricultural activities: Ammonia is a very common by product from agriculture
related activities and is one of the most hazardous gases in the atmosphere. Use of
insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers in agricultural activities has grown quite a lot.
They emit harmful chemicals into the air and can also cause water pollution.3. Exhaust
from factories and industries: Manufacturing industries release large amount of
carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, organic compounds, and chemicals into the air
thereby depleting the quality of air. Manufacturing industries can be found at every
corner of the earth and there is no area that has not been affected by it. Petroleum
refineries also release hydrocarbons and various other chemicals that pollute the air
and also cause land pollution.4. Mining operations: Mining is a process wherein

minerals below the earth are extracted using large equipments. During the process dust
and chemicals are released in the air causing massive air pollution. This is one of the reason
which is responsible for the deteriorating health conditions of workers and nearby residents.5.
Indoor air pollution: Household cleaning products, painting supplies emit toxic chemicals in
the air and cause air pollution. Have you ever noticed that once you paint walls of your house, it
creates some sort of smell which makes it literally impossible for you to breathe. Effects:1.
Respiratory and heart problems: The effects of Air pollution are alarming. They are known to
create several respiratory and heart conditions along with Cancer, among other threats to the
body. Several millions are known to have died due to direct or indirect effects of Air pollution.
Children in areas exposed to air pollutants are said to commonly suffer from pneumonia and
asthma.2. Global warming: Another direct effect is the immediate alterations that the world is
witnessing due to Global warming. With increased temperatures world wide, increase in sea
levels and melting of ice from colder regions and icebergs, displacement and loss of habitat
have already signaled an impending disaster if actions for preservation and normalization
arent undertaken soon.3. Acid Rain: Harmful gases like nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides are
released into the atmosphere during the burning of fossil fuels. When it rains, the water
droplets combines with these air pollutants, becomes acidic and then falls on the ground in the
form of acid rain. Acid rain can cause great damage to human, animals and crops.4.
Eutrophication: Eutrophication is a condition where high amount of nitrogen present in some
pollutants gets developed on seas surface and turns itself into algae and and adversely affect
fish, plants and animal species. The green colored algae that is present on lakes and ponds is
due to presence of this chemical only.5. Effect on Wildlife: Just like humans, animals also face
some devastating affects of air pollution. Toxic chemicals present in the air can force wildlife
species to move to new place and change their habitat. The toxic pollutants deposit over
Solutions for Air Pollution1. Use public mode of transportation: Encourage people to use

more and morepublic modes of transportation to reduce pollution. Also, try to make use of car
pooling. If you and your colleagues come from the same locality and have same timings you can
explore this option to save energy and money.2. Conserve energy: Switch off fans and lights
when you are going out. Large amount of fossil fuels are burnt to produce electricity. You can
save the environment from degradation by reducing the amount of fossil fuels to be burned.3.
Understand the concept of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: Do not throw away items that are of
no use to you. In-fact reuse them for some other purpose. For e.g. you can use old jars to store
cereals or pulses.4. Emphasis on clean energy resources: Clean energy technologies
like solar, windand geothermal are on high these days. Governments of various countries have
been providing grants to consumers who are interested in installing solar panels for their
home. This will go a long way to curb air pollution.5. Use energy efficient devices: CFL lights
consume less electricity as against their counterparts. They live longer, consume less electricity,
lower electricity bills and also help you to reduce pollution by consuming less energy.the
surface of the water and can also affect sea animals.