How pollution affects the environment

Environmental pollution is manifested by the introduction of external chemical or biological agents that alter the ideal natural conditions to guarantee the well-being of living beings in their ecosystems. The damage produced by the pollutant will last more or less in time depending on its nature, and may even cause permanent deterioration.

Although natural pollutants pose a danger to the environment, it is those produced by people that seriously threaten the integrity of all animals and plants on the planet, including human health. The increase in power and the search for comfort in human society have been accompanied by the misuse of resources, which in many cases translates into environmental imbalance.

Faced with this situation, actions to stop the deterioration of the environment are becoming increasingly necessary if we want to continue living in harmony with nature. However, this desire for ” comfort ” seems to remain stronger than the need to ensure the health of the planet.

Despite the fact that today much of the waste is recycled or reused, much of it accumulates forming a large amount of garbage in today’s societies. This garbage, which may or may not be material, becomes part of the environment, causing air, water and soil contamination, among others.

There are different types of waste , such as solid household and industrial waste, chemicals and fertilizers, carbon monoxide from vehicles, etc. All of them produce various types of pollution that damage the environment. Next, we expose the most common types of environmental pollution and their origin:

Atmospheric pollution

The release of particles of chemical substances into the atmosphere such as CO2, methane and combustion smoke, causes pollution or serious air pollution. Industries, factories, the burning of garbage or vehicles are some of the main polluting causes of this type, which causes health problems for the living beings that inhabit this environment, including human beings.

It should be noted that, depending on the degree of pollution, air pollution can be classified as local or global. The local nature includes only the source of pollutants, without the effects transcending beyond that area. However, global air pollution affects the general balance of the planet. Pollutants spread beyond the source of emission, as in acid rain or global warming.

In this other AgroCorrn article we talk about Air Pollution: causes, consequences and solutions .

Water contamination

When water comes into contact with foreign components, such as residues of chemical products or residual remains that are accidentally dumped or end up in rivers, for example, the disintegration of pure water occurs, making it undrinkable for consumption and harmful to nature.

Furthermore, the accumulation of microplastics in the oceans is becoming one of the great problems of modern society. Many of the plastics that we use in our day to day, such as packaging, bags and straws, end up in rivers, seas and oceans, causing a very marked imbalance of marine ecosystems. This translates into plastic island formations that threaten aquatic biodiversity and even our own health, after feeding on animals that have consumed plastics, mistaking them for their usual diet.

Soil contamination

The filtration of substances in the soil, such as waste, foreign substances, chemicals such as pesticides or oil causes alterations and physical, chemical and biological imbalance in it. The contamination of soil is caused by the carelessness of humans also causes serious problems to the environment, such as the impossibility of inhabiting an environment, desertification or lack of natural supplies such as food base for animals.

Noise pollution

This type of pollution refers to that produced by the emission of sound in an excessive proportion, frequency, tone, volume and rhythm, such as noise caused by cars, motorcycles, airplanes, trains, machines, engines, explosions and music . The action of noise pollution leads to disorientation, stunning or other negative alterations in the living beings that inhabit the contaminated area.

Visual contamination

The alteration of the environment produced by visual stimuli is also known as a type of pollution called visual pollution . These alterations produced by humans, such as billboards, lights or buildings, disrupt the natural balance of the landscape, altering the natural conditions of living beings.

Natural ecosystems can be easily altered by human intervention. These human actions can cause slight damages, for which the environment will be able to recover, or serious problems that affect all beings on the planet and that have a difficult solution. Next, we explain the consequences of environmental pollution or, what is the same, the effects of pollution on the environment .

What impact does pollution have on the environment

Among the most important and obvious changes is habitat modification. Both aquatic and terrestrial plants and animals can see their ecosystems seriously damaged by pollution of any of the types previously described that humans produce. This unnatural modification of the environment can cause irreversible changes in the environment and deteriorate the quality of life of living beings, even threatening their existence.

Big cities are causing important changes in these natural ecosystems. Green areas and forests are being seriously reduced, which prevents oxygenation of the environment; the smoke from vehicles and factories pollutes the air and causes diseases in living beings; and the waste thrown into rivers, seas and green areas pollutes and threatens everyone’s life.

In addition, in the long term, changes in the environment affect on a large scale. The climate change is a direct result of mismanagement that makes human resources. The increase and concentration of the emission of polluting gases is causing what is known as the greenhouse effect , whose consequences are already visible and will be multiplied in the coming years if pollution and human passivity continue in the same line. Some of those effects are:

• Melting of the glaciers, causing the extinction of biodiversity in the area and a large rise in the oceans, with all that that entails, such as the disappearance of land areas.
• Sudden changes in the climate, with increasingly extreme temperatures and shorter seasons.
• Appearance of severe meteorological phenomena, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis or droughts.
• Holes in the ozone layer, allowing the entry of ultraviolet rays that damage many living beings, such as humans.

Finally, it should be noted that, in addition to being the main cause of environmental pollution and producing it for our own comfort , human beings are also seriously affected by pollution. Respiratory, cardiovascular, dermal, eye diseases and many more are increasingly more commonly associated with environmental pollution. In this other article we talk in detail about how environmental pollution affects human beings .

As we explained in the article How to take care of the environment , there are many ways in which humans can do our bit to avoid environmental pollution that damages our environment so much. From AgroCorrn we leave you some tips to help maintain a more sustainable world for all living beings. Every action counts!

• Reduce: minimize your consumption at the level of goods and products and energy expenditure.
• Reuse: give a second chance to objects that may still have another use.
• Recycle: classify your garbage and put it in the appropriate container, depending on whether it is organic, plastic, glass, metal or toxic. Learn more about the 3Rs of ecology in this other AgroCorrn article.
• Do not throw or dump garbage or waste in natural places such as beaches or forests.
• Use public transport or travel by bicycle or other non-polluting transport whenever possible.
• Better electric cars.
• Use reusable cloth bags when you go shopping.
• Do not pour oil down the drain, as it pollutes the water.
• Avoid using non-environmentally friendly chemicals.
• Help educate your family and friends about the importance of following these steps.

If you want to read more articles similar to How pollution affects the environment , we recommend that you enter our Pollution category .