Ensayo

Cinthia M Lopez
Instructor Salman
Writing 101
1 November 2012

Pollution‬: ‪Causes and Effects‬
Environmental pollution is one of the most critical and dangerous problem in the world because destroying the planet and its original nature eventually destroys humans. We understand that the environment is important as it is everything that surrounds us and that we must keep our cities,schools, homes, etc. clean. Environmental pollution is “the contamination of the physical and biological components of the earth/atmosphere system to such an extent that normal environmental processes are adversely affected” (Kemp). That is to say any "thing" that is added to the air, water, soil, or food that threatens the health or survival of humans or other live organisms is calledcontamination. It is very difficult to keep the environment clean but it is even harder to stop pollution because it is the main result of human activities caused by the economic development of our society such as big industries that contaminate air constantly. When talking about pollution, it is known that the causes are produced by human activities, and likewise those affected by the effects of pollution arehumans.
Humans have been able to modify the environment with their activities. Thanks to their unique mental and physical abilities, they modified the environment to suit their needs. Although the first humans lived in harmony with the environment, like other animals, their distance from wildlife began in prehistoric times when they had modest technology and its impact on the environmentwas only local. However, as technology increased, humans improved their quality of life and at same time significant problems emerged that had repercussions the environment. Fast technological development caused the discovery, use, and exploitation of the planet. Humans began to change the face of the planet, the nature of its atmosphere, and the quality of water.
All the changes that ourplanet has experienced are caused by the humans’ needs such as the power, money, and technology. Why humans want money and the latest technology if they do not have a clean planet to live? Wealth is found in the beauty of nature, where can be enjoyed a healthy life, but the intention of humans to improve their life has been counterproductive, consequently resulting in a planet sick with pollution,all those changes in the planet that has destroys the natural beauty of it. In the last years the planet has experienced many tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, and forest fires that have destroyed humanity and the main cause of this problem is the pollution in the planet.
Nowadays, technological progress is producing a rapid degeneration in environment quality. It is interesting to notethat, “as of 1990, there were around 65,000 different chemicals in the marketplace, i.e. potential environmental pollutants that were to be released into air, water and land on a regular basis” (Gray). Most source pollution is human activities that occur in urban or industrial areas or near them with concentrations of pollutants. Some pollutants directly affect the areas where it has been producedand some are transported by wind or water to other areas. Pollution respects no borders whatsoever.
There are many sources of pollution around the world that are very difficult to stop. Although people stop polluting, there exist contaminants that cannot be destroyed and the effects already caused to the environment cannot be fixed. This pollution is the cause of many diseases, pests,viruses, animals in danger of extinction, deteriorating oceans, etc. Sadly, humans are responsible for all this irreversible damage to the place that God created to live happily, leaving as legacy to future generations a destroyed planet.
There are several types of pollutants that damage primarily water, air, and soil. Pure water is a renewable resource but may become so polluted by human...