Environment issues

Md. Mozzammel Haque, Erasmus Mundus "AtoSiM" Programme, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam

Photo: AFP

The water we drink, the air we breathe and the food we eat affect our bodies every day. Therefore it is important that these most essential environmental influences do not contain hazardous quantities of substances that may increase the risk of health problems. Pollution can take many forms. The air contaminated by greenhouse gases which are mainly responsible for the depletion of ozone layer hitting the universe, the ground where we grow our food, and even the increasing noise we hear every dayall contribute to health problems and a lower quality of life. Find out the environment issues of pollution, what's being done on a global level, and what you can do in your community. It is undoubtedly true that environmental pollution is contamination of air, water and land from man-made waste. Air pollution is the release of chemicals and particles into the atmosphere. Water pollution includes surface excess, outflow into groundwater, liquid falls, wastewater discharge and littering. If toxins are spilled on the ground, soil can become contaminated. Well known contaminants include herbicides and pesticides. Toxic waste is waste material, often in chemical form, which pollutes the natural environment and contaminates groundwater. Arsenic in the ground water in Bangladesh and West Bengal of India has come from the arsenic mixed pesticides. The environment has to sustain not only the basic human needs for survival, but also the conversion of raw materials into products and services. The Copenhagen conference issued a strong statement about greenhouse gases as the primary cause of climate change and their role as a contributing factor in depleting the ozone layer, longer heat waves and higher concentrations of ground-level ozone that lead to increases in respiratory illnesses and other health problems.
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It is sad that no meaningful agreement could be reached for combating climate change by carbon emission at this conference. The impending doomsday scenario required mankind to take effective action without any delay, however the conference descended into a veritable Tower of Babel and farce in its closing days. President Barack Obama, the messiah of change for the US and the most powerful world leader, failed to do anything for climate change. The Danish conference chairperson rightly resigned and was filled by a stop-gap. The anarchists protesters (I call them anarchists because it was not clear what they wanted) had their chance to disrupt everything. The British media quotes the following interesting number statistics: “Cost of the conference over £130 m (million); CO2 generated for 2 weeks of conference, 41000 tons ( more than what is generated by a country like Malawi in two weeks); 119 Heads of states, 193 Country delegations, 2 walkouts by African nations, 47358 passes used to visitors only 29644 bothered to turn up; 3079 journalists from around the world, 35 BBC journalists; 1622 Protestors arrested; 3452 staff employed for summit; 3 times Obama urged countries not to talk but act”. And the final outcome. Not very much!! Engineer Shafi Ahmed, London, UK