Air and Land Pollution - Assignment Example

 Air and Land Pollution Topic Land pollution is one of the major environmental hazards that can adversely affect both animal and human health. Land pollution can be described as the introduction elements to the environment that can harm the components of the environment. It can also be described as the degradation of the land’s surface as a result of poor agricultural practices, dumping of industrial waste, disposal of urban wastes and mineral exploitation.Background informationPoor soil management techniques have been the major cause of land pollution as they have seriously degraded soil quality resulting in soil erosion and soil pollution.

Soil treatment with pesticides, fertilizers, and fungicides obstruct the natural process and destroys organisms such as fungi and bacteria that are useful (Sood, et al., 2012). Land pollution has resulted in a series of problems that have been proven after many years of neglect. There has been increased numbers of unproductive land and numbers of forests. Besides the adverse effects of land pollution on the human health, there are other effects of land pollution. These effects include changes in the climatic cycles, effects on the wildlife; environmental impacts such global warming among other effects.

There are possible measures that should be put in place so as to combat the effects of land pollution. First, people should be made aware about waste recycling and reuse. Farmers should be encouraged to reduce the usage of fertilizers and pesticides in their agricultural activities. People should buy biodegradable products and dumping sites should be located away from residential places.Definition of wordsDeforestation is situations where there are large number of trees cut down without plant more.

Deforestation can lead to ecological imbalances and climate changes. Global warming is gradual rise in average temperatures on earth surface and ocean.Air pollutionTopic description Air pollution is the accumulation of substances in the atmosphere that are a threat to human and animal health. There have been increased cases of air pollution all over the world and mostly in developed countries. Polluted air contains one or more hazardous contaminants or pollutants that are dangerous to general health.

The main pollutants in the air include ground-level ozone, lead, Sulphur, carbon monoxide, PAHs and nitrogen dioxide (Collos & Tiwary, 2009).The increased air pollution has been as a result of quick growth in urban population, increased industrialized and the increased demand for motor vehicles and energy. Other causes of air pollution are poor production technology, poor environmental regulation, poorly maintained cars and congested.Background informationAir pollution can cause adverse effects to the human population and the entire environment.

These effects include acidification, eutrophication, particulate matter and ground-level ozone. Acidification caused by chemical reactions and this acidification can harm buildings and vegetation. Eutrophication occurs when rain deposits nitrogen on the rivers. The nitrogen deposits result in the growth of algae that can harm aquatic life. Air pollution can also cause respiratory problems such as asthma and pneumonia (Harrison, 2001).There are attempts being made globally to curb the intensity of air pollution on industrial, governmental and personal grounds.

There are various solutions to reduce the rate of air pollution which includes encouraging people to clean energy resource, using efficient energy device and encouraging people to conserve energy as much fossil fuel is burnt to generating electricity.Definitions of wordsAcidification is caused by burning fossil fuel which produces sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The emission of this gases leads to formation of nitric and sulfuric acids to the ecosystem. Eutrophication occurs is when water bodies have high concentration of nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates.

This leads to excessive growth of algae and when the algae die and decompose they deplete the oxygen in the water and therefore aquatic life is no more.ReferencesCollos, J. & Tiwary, A., 2009. Air Pollution: Measurement, Modelling and Mitigation, Third Edition. 3RD ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press.Harrison, R. M., 2001. Pollution: Causes, Effects and Control. 2nd ed. Boston: Royal Society of Chemistry.Sood, S., Sood, V. & John, S., 2012. Further insights into the role of land use in urbanStormwater pollution.

Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 24(1), pp. 39-59.