Pollution

Pollution: Causes

- Cutting trees indiscriminately is dangerous. As the population of the world is rising, there is demand for more and more residential land. So people resort to deforestation. This leads to imbalance in the nature. Scientists recommend a minimum of 33% forest area.

- Real estate is a highly profitable business all over the world. In the areas surrounding towns and cities, many farmers today prefer to convert their agricultural lands into residential lay outs. This adds to the imbalance in nature.

- Use of pesticides and chemicals in agriculture causes pollution. To meet the needs of the increasing population and for maximum production, farmers are using chemicals. This pollutes the land and imparts poisonous nature to the food.

- Conversion of agricultural land into fish tanks is one of the causes of pollution. In most parts of the world, sea food business is flourishing. It is found to be more profitable than agriculture. So a large number of farmers are converting their agricultural lands into fish tanks. It pollutes the land and the underground water table also.

- The number of factories and industries is increasing all over the world every year. Most of these factories do not have a proper mechanism to dispose their wastes. They usually dump them in wastelands or nearby rivers. This causes pollution of land and water resources.

- To meet the transport requirement of the increasing population, more and more motor vehicles have become necessary. The smoke emitted by these vehicles contains harmful ingredients. They pollute the air.

- Air conditioners and refrigerators emit greenhouse gases called chloroflouro carbons (CFCs). They contribute to air pollution.

- There is a large scale consumption of tobacco all over the world. Tobacco contains toxic elements and it is one of the causes of air pollution.

Pollution: Remedies

- For every tree that we cut, we should make it a policy to plant two. Awareness programmes should be conducted to make the people understand the importance of keeping the environment green.

- There must be strict guidelines and restrictions on the conversion of agricultural land into residential lay outs or fish tanks. Violations must be penalized heavily.

- Organic farming must be encouraged. The use of pesticides and chemicals should be controlled as much as possible.

- Factories and industries should not be allowed to dump their wastes where they like. There must be very stern guidelines and in case of violations, the licenses of factories must be cancelled.

- The use of solar energy and hydel energy should be encouraged so that the consumption of conventional fuels like petrol, diesel, kerosene and coal comes down.

- Minimum 33% forest area must be ensured so that the effect of greenhouse gases can be balanced.

- Tobacco consumption must be prohibited.