Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of waste materials, foreign chemicals, or even some types of energies. These pollutants usually cause harm to ecosystems that they invade and disrupt the delicate balance of all. [3]M

• Air Pollution is the release of chemicals and particles into our atmosphere. Things like carbon monoxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and nitrogen oxides are produced by most fossil fuel burning vehicles. When nitrogen oxides and CFC’s react to sunlight, ozone is formed. When ozone reaches our elevation, it can be poisonous to humans.

• Water pollution occurs when substances that are harmful enter water ecosystems. Sometimes these are even dumped into the water by certain individuals and can be devastating to indigenous life. It can also be in the runoff from chemicals used on land, and when it rains, the runoff carries these chemicals to the waterways.

• Soil and land contamination is brought about by chemical spills or even leaky storage tanks. Some pesticides are harmful to the earth too.

• In more recent times, radioactive pollution caused by nuclear wastes has become one of the most dangerous forms of pollution.

Humans most definitely rely on our air quality. When ozone gets to low to the earth, it can cause respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Water pollution, on the other hand, is the cause of approximately 14,000 deaths per day. This is usually from contaminated drinking water in less developed countries.

The quality of soil is vital for any health ecosystem. If the ph level of the soil is reduced to a level that makes it more acidic, then that soil can become infertile; making plants unable to grow in the area. This, in turn, can have many undesirable effects on the plant eating organisms and the rest of the food web. When smog and haze are mixed into the batch, we will find that this will not only limit the amount of Oxygen the plants can make (photosynthesis), but affect the other animals much in the same way bad quality of air would affect us.