Does human beings have a duty to protect the natural environment - Essay Example

Air pollution entails the release of gases and particles into the atmosphere, according to Harrison (2001) pollutant gases include carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide. The increase in these gases in the atmosphere has been due to industrial release of these gases and motor vehicle fumes, the use of fossil oils has a source of energy has contributed to the air pollution problem. When these gases are released into the atmosphere they affect the quality of air in towns and industrial towns, Harrison (2001) states that some of the health dangers that air pollution poses include nose, eye and throat irritation, bronchitis, pneumonia, lung cancer, asthma and heart diseases.

These medical conditions incur high health costs and lower productivity in the workplace. The only solution is to establish assessment of air pollution which will determine the amount and type of pollution, after assessment air pollutants should be determined and appropriate measures to reduce pollution undertaken. Currently many nations have established policies and mechanisms to prevent air pollution, if human beings do not control pollution then there will be no regulations governing air pollution and therefore the occurrence of the diseases mentioned will increase, this means that the mortality rate will increase as a result of deaths associated with the diseases.

Therefore it is evident that human beings have a role to play in protecting the environment whereby by preventing air pollution diseases are reduced and lives saved.Radioactivity pollution problem:This form of pollution involves the release of radioactive material to the environment, Kolbert (2006) states that this form of pollution spreads rapidly to a large area and may last for many years whereby it affects animals and plants for a long period of time, this form of pollution poses a health danger whereby it causes chronic diseases and cancer.

Radioactive pollution is as a result of human activity which includes testing of nuclear weapons, production of nuclear materials and accidents resulting from nuclear power production. Therefore it is evident that human activity is the main contributor to nuclear pollution, the effects of this form of pollution may last for many decades and therefore posses the greatest danger to human and plant life through diseases such as cancer and other chronic diseases. Human beings are responsible for this form of pollution and therefore have a role in protecting the environment from this form of pollution.

Soil pollution problems:Soil pollution occurs as a result of the use of pesticides, oil dumping, industrial wastes, spillage by underground tanks and heavy metal contamination. Soil pollution poses health risks and degradation of agricultural soils. The major concern in heavy metal contaminated soils is that plants will take up these heavy metals and products consumed by humans are contaminated with these metals.When human activity results into the degradation of soils the soils loose their productivity and yields decline, a reduction in production means a reduction in the food produced and therefore