Pollution In Our Society

Our societies have caused an enormous epidemic which mankind can no longer afford to simply cast aside and ignore. Humanity’s egocentric behavior will only drive us into the ground. At the rate which we are going we will soon find ourselves at the bottom of a pit we have reluctantly dug ourselves. Unfortunately, humanity has already damned several species and continues to compromise the existence of many more. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), there are about 100 million species on our planet, and we currently have an extinction rate of 0.01% per year. In other words, we are losing between 10,000 and 100,000 species every year (How Many). Our civilizations are nowhere near becoming sustainable societies; thus, our growing populations’

Pollution is a phenomenon which can occur in many different forms yet, it usually falls under one of three categories: air, land or water. Pollution of the air is the result of several different harmful chemicals being rereleased into the atmosphere. Much of which is emitted from either manufacturing companies or burning fossil fuels. Manufacturing companies are found all over the world and release organic compound and other harmful chemicals which affect the quality of the air. As humans become more modernized, the amount of big industries will grow, thus emitting larger amounts these harmful toxins. Likewise, the burning of fossil fuels has become a part of our everyday lives because of our dependency on them to power several of our means of transportation and homes. These methods release large amounts of greenhouse gases, such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide, which damage our ozone. Although many alternatives already exist, we still have yet to transition to these methods. Moreover, pollution of land is when a plot is no longer useful and can no longer be used constructively. This is mainly caused by agricultural activities and overcrowded landfills. Our agricultural systems use harmful pesticides and fertilizers that slowly poison the soil and make it more prone to erosion. Comparably, our quickly filling landfills not only render a plot of land useless for several years, but also allow harmful chemicals to be released into the soil. Plants that manage to grow in the infected land will carry the poisons along if they are consumed. Accordingly, the pollution of water renders it useless and extremely harmful. Water is polluted by one of two ways; solid debris or chemical waste. There are many ways in which water can be infected with harmful substances. It could directly be introduced by simply dumping waste into the water or indirectly