Environmental Pollution

What Is Environmental Pollution?

Environmental pollution is any undesirable change in our surroundings — air, water or soil — that harms plants, animals and humans. The substance responsible for this harm is called a pollutant. A pollutant is simply something present in far greater concentration than its natural abundance, and it can be a solid, liquid or gas.

Where pollutants come from:

• Human activities — burning fuel, industrial discharge, farming chemicals, vehicle exhaust.
• Natural events — volcanic eruptions, forest fires, dust storms.

Pollutants travel from a source, then get carried by air currents or water flow, or are directly dumped into soil.

Why Air Pollution Matters So Much

A person needs roughly 12–15 times more air (by mass) than food each day. Because we breathe in such large volumes, even a small concentration of a pollutant in air becomes far more significant than the same concentration in food.

Degradable vs Non-Degradable Pollutants

• Degradable pollutants — broken down quickly by natural processes, e.g., discarded vegetable matter, sewage.
• Slowly degradable / non-degradable pollutants — persist in the environment for decades because natural processes cannot break them down, e.g., DDT, plastics, heavy metals, many industrial chemicals, and nuclear waste. These are the pollutants of greatest long-term concern because once released they are extremely difficult to remove.