GLOBAL POLLUTION

Global pollution is a major concern to every country in the world today. According to the oxford online dictionary, the word global can be defined as something related to or encompassing the whole of something, or a group of things. Meanwhile, the word pollution brings meaning of the presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance which has harmful or poisonous effects. The global pollution that occurs has caused severe damages to the world environment and ecosystem. Without we knowing it, this had caused many new rare disease in the human society. The pollution can be grouped into many categories but there are four major type of pollution that happen in the whole wide world. The first type is the air pollution which is the most dangerous type of pollution. The air pollution happened when there is direct release of harmful substance into the air around us. The substance will become air-borne and soon it will cause acid rain. The air pollution causes human to have such degree of asthma, lung cancer and many other pandemic diseases. The air pollution can also cause global warming as it traps the heat from the sun and the heat will surrounded the earth, increasing from time to time. Air pollution is mainly caused by the burning of chemical which then release the harmful chemical into the air. For example, the smoke resulted from the industrial activity into the air will caused air pollution. Other than that, the chemical can come from various sources such as the burning from vehicle, direct burning, and even smoking. This type of pollution also harms the polar animals as it caused global warming that increase the temperature in the polar area and changed its climate. Research shown that in the year of 2010, it is the most rapid change in the ice composition in the North Pole. It means that our activities have been the most contributing factor of the melting of ice in the North Pole since the last 20,000 years ago1. Air pollution is estimated to cause approximately two million premature deaths worldwide per year," said Michal Krzyzanowski, an air quality adviser at the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Damaging air pollutants include sulphur dioxide, particulate mattera mixture of extremely small particles and water dropletsozone, and nitrogen dioxide. China accounts for roughly one-third of the global total for these pollutants. In neighbouring India, air pollution is believed to cause 527,700 fatalities a year. In the United States, premature deaths from toxic air
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pollutants are estimated at 41,200 annually. The burning of coal or charcoal to heat homes, common throughout China, also produces a range of indoor air pollutants.2 Sixteen of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China. The country is the second largest emitter of carbon dioxide after the United States.3 The US contains 4% of the world's population but produces about 25% of all carbon dioxide emissions. By comparison, Britain emits 3% .4 According to the recent epidemiological studies more than 500,000 Americans die each year from cardiopulmonary disease linked to breathing fine particle air pollution. To stop this fatal effect, people should start concerning about the environment. They have to stop releasing harmful chemical directly into the air. Besides that, there is soil pollution. This means that the soil itself is polluted and contain chemical that can bring harm to living things. Rather than affecting the human being directly like the air pollution, soil pollution has effect that is more indirect. Human depends on the soil in agricultural aspect. The plants depend on the soil for nutrients. By releasing the harmful chemical into the soil, it makes the soil contaminate and poisonous. Once the soil is planted with something, the poisonous substance will be transmitted into the plants. When we consume the plants, we also consume the chemical in it. The substances will soon affect our organ and system. This will continue along the food chain. The soil pollution can caused such disease like cancer which is incurable. The soil pollution happened mainly from the release of chemical by the industrial activity and factories. It is also caused by the deforestation activity. The government had enforced law to prevent this but it seems that it is not working as the activities keep on happening. Soil pollution of this has amassed globally, everyday threatening the very foundation and mechanical support of every matter on earth. Globally, soil pollution has been resulted in loss of 6 million hectares of land per year, loss of 24 billion tons of topsoil per year, loss of minimum 15 million acres prime agricultural land to overuse and mismanagement and desertification of land results in the loss of 16 million per square miles of world's land surface.5 The major causes of

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http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/070709-china-pollution.html http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/05/0516_050516_chinaeco.html 4 about the same as India which has 15 times as many people. 5 http://library.thinkquest.org/C0111040/Types/land.php

land pollution in India have to do with two of this great Asian countrys major characteristics, its population, and its rapidly developing economy.6 Many urban and dense cities with significant industrial waste generation have been found to have contaminated soil. Govil et al (2001) carried out a geochemical investigation in and around the Patancheru industrial development area of Andhra Pradesh, just north of Hyderabad city, to determine the extent if chemical pollution in the soil. Their data revealed significant contamination, showing two to three times higher levels of toxic elements than normal.7 During the 1970s, health problems resulting from the dumping of hazardous wastes in the Love Canal neighbourhood in Niagara Falls, New York, brought the dangers of soil pollution to national attention. Each year, the United States creates 11.6 billion pounds of sewage sludge, of which 38 % goes to landfills, 16 % is burned before its ashes go to landfills, 36 % is spread on farm or forest soil deliberately, and 10 % is abandoned in piles which cause soil pollution.8 The other type of pollution is the water pollution which is also the most serious pollution as up to 75% of earth surface is made up from water9. Practically the same as air pollution, water pollution happened when there is release of harmful substance into the water. Water pollution affects not only the marine lives but it affects the whole food chain. Once the water is contaminated, the human who consume the water will also be affected. The animal that drinks on the water banks will face the same fate. Because of this pollution, many marine lives are facing serious extinction. Usually, it happened due to the direct release of dangerous chemical by the irresponsible factories or private ships into the water. As the water is an important element in human lives, the contaminated water effect humans lives in worst way. A polluted water can caused food poisoning, malfunction of the digestive organs and many other deadly diseases. To help curbing this problem, people must give full cooperation to the government policies in taking the environment into full account and consideration in daily activities. They have to start thinking about preserving the source while they can. Although it is not much, an effort is still and effort and it still count.

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http://www.pollutionfacts.net/land_pollution_in_india/land_pollution_in_india.html)\ http://www.waterandmegacities.org/status-of-soil-contamination-in-india/ 8 http://www.livestrong.com/article/187748-facts-about-soil-pollution/

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http://hassam.hubpages.com/hub/Types-And-Causes-Of-Pollution

The last but not least is the noise pollution. Noise pollution is by now worldwide recognized as a major problem for the quality of life in any urban area. The noise pollution is different from any other types of pollution. The noise pollution is not caused by any direct release of chemical or harmful substances, but it is caused by the presence of a very loud and disturbing sound into the surrounding. The noise pollution can also be defined as the presence of unpleasant sound that can be fatal to human ear. As simple as it may look like, sound can be dangerous to human as it can caused stress and make us human lost our control. Also, noise pollution can caused the hearing ability of a person to decrease. The noise pollution can give many bad implications to a human being such as hearing disability, hypertension, stress and also aggression. This type of pollution usually cause by the moving vehicles, man-made machine and also the loud music. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), 2001, in Germany and other developed countries, as many as four to five million people, that is, 12 to 15 % of all employed people, are exposed to noise levels of 85 decibels or more. Between 1987 and 1997, community noise levels in the United States were estimated to have increased by 11 % and were predicted to continue increasing at that rate or more.10 In other hand, an ocean noise cause by high intensity sound sources is a major threat, such as seismic surveys and military sonar used by the world's navies to detect submarines. The colossal sounds these emit, well over 200 decibels, can injure marine animals and damage their hearing. High intensity sonar has also been linked by scientists to many fatal stranding of whales and dolphins. The stranding and deaths of 26 dolphins in Cornwall in June followed a Royal Navy exercise nearby.11 These are the major global pollution that happening in a worldwide range. The problem is getting serious day by day, it is not a nation worries but the world problem. The pollution rate is affecting all the living things in the world. It is definitely a serious problem that has to be tackle as soon as possible before it gets worst and before it gets too late.

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http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/noise_pollution.aspx http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/marine-noise.html#cr

REFERENCES
Marlals, (2009). Facts About Soil Pollution. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Livestrong.com: http://www.livestrong.com/article/187748-facts-about-soil-pollution/ Global Warming: International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. (2008) Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3045300933.html Q & A: The U.S and Climate Change : BBC News (2002). Retrieved February 11, 2012 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1820523.stm Chinas Boom is Bust for Global Environment, Study Warns: National Geographic News (2010). Retrieved February 11, 2012 from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/05/0516_050516_chinaeco.html Shikhar Kumar, (2011). Status of Soil Contamination In India: Water & Megacities. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from http://www.waterandmegacities.org/status-of-soil-contamination-inindia/.