Causes of Environmental Pollution Let us rst take a look at the causes of environment environmental al pollution: 1. Industries: Industries Industries: Industries have been polluting our environment especially since the beginning of the industrial revolution, as mentioned above, notably due to the increasing use of fossil fuels. fuels. In the !th century and for a signicant part of the "# thcentury, coal has been use to make machines $ork faster, replacing human force. %hough pollution by industries mainly causes air pollution, soil and $ater contamination can also occur. %his is particularly the case for po$er&generating po$er&gener ating industries, such as plants producing electricity '(ay they be a dam, a nuclear reactor or some other type of plant). *lso, the transportation of this energy can be harmful to the environment.. +e can take as an eample the transportation of environment petrol through pipelines- if there is a leak in the pipeline, soil $ill automatically be polluted. *t the same time, if the tanker transporting the petrol from its production plant to the place $here it $ill be consumed leaks or sinks, the $ater $ill get contaminated. 2. Transportatio Transportation: n: Ever Ever since men abandoned animal po$er to travel, pollution of the environment has environment has become higher and higher. Its levels have only been increasing until no$. imilarly to industries, pollution caused by transport can mainly be attributed to fossil fuels. Indeed, humans $ent from horse carriages to cars, trains '$hich, before electricity, used to be propelled by coal), and airplanes. *s the tra/c is increasing every day, pollution follo$s that evolution.
3. Agricultural Activities: *griculture is mainly responsible for the contamination of $ater and soil. %his is caused by the increased use of pesticides, as $ell as by the intensive character of its production. *lmost all pesticides are made from chemical substances and are meant to keep diseases and threatening animals a$ay from the crops. 0o$ever, by keeping these forms of life a$ay, harm is almost al$ays made to the surrounding environment as $ell. 1urthermore, as agriculture gets more and more intensive to feed the increasing $orld population, more environments and ecosystems are destroyed to make space for the crops. ome of them, like rapeseed 2used to make oil 2 demand a lot of space for a relatively small output. 4. Trading Activities: %rading activities including the production and echange of goods and services. Concerning goods, pollution can be caused by packaging '$hich often involves the use of plastic, $hich is made from fossil fuels) or transport, mainly. 5. Residences: 1inally, residential areas provide their fair share of pollution as $ell. 1irst, to be able to build homes, natural environment has to be destroyed in one $ay or another. +ildlife and plants are driven a$ay and replaced by human constructions. *s it re3uires the $ork of industries, construction itself is also a source of contamination of the environment. %hen, $hen people settle in, they $ill produce $aste every day, including a part that cannot be processed by the environment $ithout harm yet.
E4ects of Environmental Pollution 5o$ that $e have identied the main causes of environmental pollution, let us study the negative e4ects it has: 1. Efects on Humans: %he e4ects of environmental pollution on humans are mainly physical, but can also turn into neuro&a4ections in the long term. %he best&kno$n troubles to us are respiratory, in the form of allergies, asthma, irritation of the eyes and nasal passages, or other forms of respiratory infections. 5otably, these $ell spread a4ections can be observed $hen air pollution is high in cities, $hen the $eather gets hot, for instance. 6n top of that, environmental pollution has been proven to be a ma7or factor in the development of cancer. %his can happen for eample $hen $e eat
reminiscences of pollutants used in the production of processed foods, or pesticides from the crops. 6ther, rarer, diseases include hepatitis, typhoid a4ections, diarrhoea and hormonal disruptions. 2. Efects on Animals: Environmental pollution mainly a4ects animal by causing harm to their living environment, making it toic for them to live in. *cid rains can change the composition of rivers and seas, making them toic for shes, an important 3uantity of o8one in the lo$er parts of the atmosphere can cause lung problems to all animals. 5itrogen and phosphates in $ater $ill cause overgro$th of toic algae, preventing other forms of life to follo$ their normal course. Eventually, soil pollution $ill cause harm and sometimes even the destruction of microorganisms, $hich can have the dramatic e4ect of killing the rst layers of the primary food chain. 3. Efects on lants: *s for animals, plants, and especially trees, can be destroyed by acid rains 'and this $ill also have a negative e4ect on animals as $ell, as their natural environment $ill be modied), o8one in the lo$er atmosphere block the plant respiration, and harmful pollutants can be absorbed from the $ater or soil. 4. Efects on t!e Ecos"stem: In short, environmental pollution, almost eclusively created by human activities, has a negative e4ect on the ecosystem, destroying crucial layers of it and causing an even more negative e4ect on the upper layers.
