WHAT IS POLLUTION?

Pollution is defined as the contamination of the environment & atmosphere of the earth which have many harmful or poisonous effects on earth i.e. environment & atmosphere get depleted. Pollution is also an agent of causing the different adverse changes in the environment & atmosphere of earth. Pollution can also be known as the state created by different pollutants which added by different means into the atmosphere or environment & creates the difficult conditions for life of humans & other species in surviving on earth. Pollution can also be said as that state of the environment when land, water & air like natural resources get polluted. Pollution is also defined as harmful materials in forms of gases or radiation or waves when added into the atmosphere & causes the destruction of layers of atmosphere & different ecosystems of land, water & air on earth so as to pose difficulty for the development & living of different species inheritance on earth. It is the state of earth or atmosphere which poses the threats like discomfort, instability, disorder & harm for the different ecosystems of planet earth. So in simple words, pollution is known as the contamination of our earth & its masses by different means of human development or the contamination of different bodies of soil, water & air of earth which poses the threat to human beings & wildlife species in living on earth. Pollution can occur naturally as well as artificially. The natural way of pollution of the environment is by volcanic eruptions but it pollutes earth to a small content. The main causes of pollution are the human means or artificial means such as the addition of poisonous industrial wastes, industrial gases & industrial effluents in the environment which creates difficulties for ecosystems. Also, the pollution of land & water bodies by harmful chemicals etc. causes pollution artificially.

HOW POLLUTION AFFECTS THE ENVIRONMENT?

The environment is affected in many different ways due to pollution. From environment pollution, we can understand the pollution of land, water & air like natural resources of the earth. The different effects of pollution on the environment are:

1. Emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide etc. from the different industrial units & household structures will leads towards the pollution of atmosphere & further causes greenhouse effect which leads towards the global increase in temperature.
2. The addition of smoke or dust from factories into the atmosphere will decrease the ability of sunlight reaching the earth’s surface, which lead towards a decrease in photosynthesis process carried by plants after absorption of sunlight necessary for making food in plants.
3. Water bodies will get short in oxygen availability due to the addition of heavy metals & pollutants in them which will adversely affect the wildlife due to less oxygen available then biological oxygen demand for surviving of aquatic animals & plants.
4. Pollutants when mixed in the atmosphere also results in acid rain which will make the soils acidic in pH & thus reduces the crop production from the land.
5. Contamination of atmosphere with the pollutant gases like CFCs, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide etc. will leads to depletion of the ozone layer which causes burning of the earth due to direct absorption of UV rays on earth’s surface.
6. The addition of heavy metals like cadmium, mercury, lead etc. in the soil will decrease the fertility of soil & do not allow plants or any vegetation to grow or flourish on it.
7. The addition of pollutant chemicals & metals into soil or plants will lead to absorption of these harmful pollutants in animal & plant bodies through land or water which will deteriorate their quality & lifespan of survival.
8. Destruction of natural habitats of different wildlife species of both animals & plants due to harmful gaseous emissions from industrial units & mining operations carried in deep forests.
9. Destruction of the freshwater aquatic flora & fauna due to water pollution leading towards the extinction of different fishes & microorganisms of coral reefs.
10. Environment pollution is also leading towards the destruction of both macro & micro-ecosystems as pollutants will deteriorate the life sustaining in ecosystems by threatening with poisonous metals & gases.

                                           In short, we can say that the pollution will take away the fragile ecosystem balance of earth by destroying it completely.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OR FORMS OF POLLUTION?

The pollution can be divided into many forms or types according to a site which is polluted by contamination or emission of pollutants in different ecosystems of earth & in the atmosphere. The different types of pollution are listed below:

1. Air pollution: It is defined as the addition of several poisonous gases like nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, CFCs etc. into the atmosphere which will lead towards pollution of the atmosphere is known as air pollution.
2. Water pollution: It is the addition of harmful industrial wastes & effluents like heavy metals & gases into the fresh river or ocean bodies leading towards their depletion is known as water pollution.
3. Land or soil pollution: It is defined as the contamination of land or soil masses with different harmful chemicals used as fertilisers or pesticides in crop production programs leading to soil destruction is known as land or soil pollution.
4. Radioactive pollution: It is the addition of different radioactive materials like thorium, uranium, strontium etc. from the different sources such as nuclear weapons, nuclear power plants, nuclear energy production units & nuclear weapons etc. in the atmosphere or land or water is known as radioactive pollution.
5. Noise or sound pollution: It is the addition of loud sounds of high decibels into the atmosphere such as aircraft sounds, traffic sounds, sonar sounds, weapons sound etc. which disturbs the natural environment is known as sound or noise pollution.
6. Light or visible pollution: It is the over-illumination & light interference in the atmosphere is known as light pollution.