Development can be accrued to various factors which include political stability, religious harmony and social integration; cultural development and socio-economic development which stems from a well rounded, and aggressively pursued and diversified economy. Other factors include a well managed, conserved and protected environment. But in cases where a region, city or country is heavily polluted and degraded, even though the economy is developed as a result of industrialization and acute urbanization, there is still a crutch in the ideology of #environmental sustainability. In other words, no matter how well developed a country is, the overall effect of pollution is largely detrimental to the sustainability of her environment.
First and foremost, pollution is simply the accumulation of something where it is not wanted. A pollutant may also not be a pollutant if it is where it is wanted, depending on the context in which it is used or it occurs. But in this case, we would look at pollutants as undesirable elements. Crude oil is valuable when it is piped into refineries to supply fuel, but adrift on the ocean headed for the beaches of England, the oyster beds of Louisiana or floating on rivers, streams, and lakes in the coastal regions of #Africa in countries like Nigeria, it is a #pollutant. DDT and other fungicides kill mosquitoes and reduces malaria outbreaks and in turn this saves many lives. But its accumulation on plants and in the bodies of fish, birds and other wildlife, it is a pollutant.
Heat is useful and also very important in our every day lives but when it is discharged in large quantities, into cold clear streams, lakes and the oceans, especially during gas flaring activities, it is a pollutant, and this causes thermal pollution. Other pollutants due to radioactivity for example, have no redeeming features regardless of where it is. Chemical and biological weapons have also been improperly disposed off or discarded in times past, and this has constituted and posed a threat to humanity and the environment at large. They are pollutants wherever they are dumped. Certain items become undesirable after they have served their purpose. Aluminum cans are useful containers, but when empty and are thrown carelessly on the roads, streets and the immediate environment as can be noted in most developing countries in Africa and Asia, it has now become a pollutant.
Furthermore, some substances however, can become pollutants when they accumulate in large quantities. A hiker who goes camping in the wilderness or forest, cannot find water disposal systems there. And so for his convenience, he digs a hole, and after relieving himself, he covers it up. Decomposers In the ecosystem break down the wastes. But in the case of sewage disposal of a larger community of about one or two million people, it’s a more complicated situation. If water treatment plants aren’t available, as in the case of rural and sub-urban areas in Africa, water pollution is the hazardous outcome.
There are two other basic factors that have made pollution an ecological problem. These are population growth and technological advancements. The #population on earth has tripled like never before in recent decades, and many of them are using technology on an unprecedented scale. The combination of exploding population, and widespread technology means we are using large amounts of energy and raw materials from the earth. This inadvertently shows we are also creating huge amounts of #waste thereby threatening and eventually causing a world wide ecological crisis.
Comments
Post a Comment