Environmental Page


Environmental pollution is any discharge of material or energy into water, land, or air that causes or may cause acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term) detriment to the Earth's ecological balance or that lowers the quality of life. Pollutants may cause primary damage, with direct identifiable impact on the environment, or secondary damage in the form of minor perturbations in the delicate balance of the biological food web that are detectable only over long time periods.

Until relatively recently in humanity's history, where pollution has existed, it has been primarily a local problem. The industrialization of society, the introduction of motorized vehicles, and the explosion of the human population, have caused an exponential growth in the production of goods and services. Coupled with this growth has been a tremendous increase in waste by-products. The indiscriminate discharge of untreated industrial and domestic wastes into waterways, the spewing of thousands of tons of particulates and airborne gases into the atmosphere, the 'throwaway' attitude toward solid wastes, and the use of newly developed chemicals without considering potential consequences have resulted in major environmental disasters, including the formation of smog and the pollution of large areas eg. The Mediterranean Sea. Technology has begun to solve some pollution problems , and public awareness of the extent of pollution will eventually force governments to undertake more effective environmental planning and adopt more effective antipollution measures. But basically it all rests in individual hands. We must all account for what will happen to our planet and it's up to us to see that what we do today doesn't jeopardise our future and future generations.




Did you know?

When most of us sit down to eat a meal, we haven't the slightest awareness of how our everyday food choices affect the health of out planet.
The great irony is that the industry producing the animal products we eat, those 'foods' that clog our arteries and kill us, that same industry also contributes enormously to the pollution and suffocation of our planet.
The animal products industry uses more water than all other industries combined.
Tropical forests are being wiped out at the rate of eleven million hectares per year.
Soil erosion is the most serious threat to our planet at present. Without soil, the terrain of Planet Earth would be as lifeless as the moon.
Presently, on a worldwide basis, we are cutting trees ten times faster than we are replanting them.




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