We need an environment to live.
The living world, including human beings, need a controlled environment to sustain. And, we have it here, in the world we live, an environment with everything in balance: the temperature, the humidity, the proportion of gases in the atmosphere, the proportion of minerals on the crust (both in the land and water) of the Earth, all of these exist in a fine balance. For those who believe that this was the work of a designer, it is a beautiful product of design. And for those who perceive it as an evolved habitat, it was the environment to which our bodies did adapt, in millions of years. In a habitat, where everything is in a controlled state, there is only one phenomenon that changes this balance – Pollution.Environmental Pollution.
Environmental pollution is the by-product of Industrial revolution. In the 20th century, it was the turn of Europe and North America, the then industrialized world, to create pollution, experience it themselves, suffer it, then research on it, and then attempt counter measures, and finally to teach the rest of the world about it. Now, in this century, when production shifts from the west to the east, it is the turn of the ‘rising Asia’ to go through this cycle once again, and may be to create newer ways of pollution, and to find out newer solutions too.
We can’t have large scale industrialization without creating pollution. And industrialization is not feasible if it is not on revolutionary scales. In a way it is the large scale aspect of industrialization that causes the evils of pollution. The biosphere can adapt to any kind of pollution if it is in small scales. But all the counter measures of an organic system fails when the scale of pollution is phenomenal.
In industrialization, almost all of its components, or stages, or processes, do contribute to pollution of the environment.
Toxic gases, which are the by-products of the chemical processes, are also exhaled to the atmosphere. Examples as gases like Chlorine in the production of fertilizers. These are comparatively more toxic, and would have been fatal if inhaled directly. But then again the factories are required to have taller chimneys for these gas exhausts. So they usually do not become fatal. But they too may have ill effect on the neighbouring population upon prolonged exposure, thus causing chronic (persistent symptoms for a long period) illnesses.
Pollutants that cause water pollutions are of a wide variety over a range of industries. Some of the examples are Fluorides, Sulphides, Silica, Lime, petroleum spills, heavy metals like Lead, Chromium etc.
First published in print on 13 March 2011.
We can’t have large scale industrialization without creating pollution. And industrialization is not feasible if it is not on revolutionary scales. In a way it is the large scale aspect of industrialization that causes the evils of pollution. The biosphere can adapt to any kind of pollution if it is in small scales. But all the counter measures of an organic system fails when the scale of pollution is phenomenal.
In industrialization, almost all of its components, or stages, or processes, do contribute to pollution of the environment.
- Mining. The process of procurement of raw materials and fuels from the crust of the Earth. Examples: Mining of coal, petroleum and other fuels.
- In the production plants. Due to burning of fuels.
- Again, in the production plants, due to the unsafe disposal of industrial waste.
- Once the product is out, due to the over use or abuse of the products (abuse of pesticides, detergents, paints etc.).
- Due to the unsafe disposal of the products themselves (electronic-waste).
Means of Pollution.
The pollution which is thus caused reaches the living world through all the possible means namely, air, water, soil, material waves (sound pollution), and electromagnetic radiation (mobile phones, cellular antenna tower radiation, Blue-Tooth equipments).Air Pollution.
Air pollution largely is caused by two means: the exhaust of the burned fuels and gaseous industrial waste (or what they call by-products). Fuels used in industries are all hydrocarbons including, coal, petroleum products (furnace oil, diesel, naphtha etc.), natural gas, and others. When they burn they give out what we call now, the green house gases. These include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen etc. These are inherently toxic; that is, inhaling CO (carbon monoxide) rich air for a few minutes may cause death. But in the real world these does not work this way. All the factories exhaling these gases are mandated by the law to have chimneys of pre-decided heights and so on. So they usually do not become fatal. But they cause chronic diseases to the neighbouring population. These include allergies, respiratory disorders etc. Also the green house gases cause what we call, Global Warming.Toxic gases, which are the by-products of the chemical processes, are also exhaled to the atmosphere. Examples as gases like Chlorine in the production of fertilizers. These are comparatively more toxic, and would have been fatal if inhaled directly. But then again the factories are required to have taller chimneys for these gas exhausts. So they usually do not become fatal. But they too may have ill effect on the neighbouring population upon prolonged exposure, thus causing chronic (persistent symptoms for a long period) illnesses.
Water pollution.
Of the various media of pollution, the one which affects the living world most is water pollution. The reason is that water is largely polluted by, what we call, industrial waste. These are toxic chemicals, spit out of the production plants, directly on to the water bodies. So they an inherently hazardous, and do reach the biosphere direct. The way they could get into our bodies may be direct, when we drink the polluted water. But this is an uncommon possibility. Indirect, when these get into the bodies of plants and animals, and we consume them as food. At large, this is the most significant kind of pollution, which has far reaching effects.Pollutants that cause water pollutions are of a wide variety over a range of industries. Some of the examples are Fluorides, Sulphides, Silica, Lime, petroleum spills, heavy metals like Lead, Chromium etc.
First published in print on 13 March 2011.
