In the 1958 short story La Nuvola D. Smog (The Smog Cloud), Italian writer Italo Calvino describes a fictional city, as it shows from the title, wrapped in a large fog cloud: Pollution here becomes a metaphor of every bad thing in life.
It is a literary details that shows how environmental pollution, since the late twentieth century, has entered collective consciousness as one of the major problems of our time.
What is environmental pollution?
Environmental pollution is the entry of foreign and potentially harmful elements in the environment. Its results are especially serious when they harm ecosystems and human society, especially in terms of health.
Pollution is not human privilege: for example, volcanoes also emit pollutants. However, it is certain that our species is making huge contribution to environmental pollution, and has increased in the last centuries.
Types of pollution
There are different types of pollution.
First of all, the pollutants were studied in which physical elements were present: air pollution, water pollution and land pollution.
Later, by analogy, definitions for noise pollution, light pollution, thermal pollution and electromagnetic pollution were provided: In these cases, no physical substance is inserted in the environment, but abstract factors - such as electromagnetic waves (including light) or sound - are added.
Often different types of pollution are interconnected with each other: for example, some pollutants present in the atmosphere return to the Earth in the form of acidic rainfall, causing soil and oceans to be contaminated.
Air pollution
Air pollution is the most prominent case. The most visible phenomenon is smog (combination of a portmenu word, "smoke" and "fog"), which is formed from gases such as nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide.
However, when it is not visible, pollution is still both present and harmful. In the long term, the most dangerous pollutants are greenhouse gases (mainly carbon dioxide), which are responsible for climate change. The air of our cities is also polluted by other gases (such as carbon monoxide) and atmospheric particles (ie, microscopic particles), which can be classified into PM10 (10 μm in size) and PM 2.5 (smaller than 2.5 μm).
Finally, cigarette smoke, pesticides and in particular, in many countries, coal or other highly polluting fuel -powered oven also causes air to air inside the houses.
Water pollution
Water pollution is now affecting almost all the seas, oceans, lakes and rivers in the world. In the sea, the most serious cases are of oil leakage caused by ship accidents, but the problem of pollution from plastic and especially microplastic is becoming increasingly serious.
Only 2.5% of the total water on Earth is fresh water - it is the most valuable resource for human life. However, the flowing water is often contaminated with chemicals, especially from chemicals called PFAS (Perfluorinated and Polyfluorinated alcoholic substances).
Soil pollution
Pollution, with erosion, now the main threat to soil on our planet, and it has now reached every corner of the world: it has also been found in the most uninhabited areas such as Antarctica.
Soil pollution is caused by both the substances present in the form of waste and subtle and invisible particles left by the gross objects.
Electromagnetic pollution
Electromagnetic fields are often of natural origin: for example, the magnetic field of the Earth, or electrical fields generated from electricity. However, today we talk about electromagnetic pollution when it is human due to this: even if they do not contaminate the environment with harmful substances, they still change the natural conditions of the planet.
For example, in terms of broadcasting and telecommunications devices (including cell phones), it is similar to the emitting electromagnetic waves.
light pollution
Since light is transmitted in the form of electromagnetic waves, a particular case of electromagnetic pollution comes up as light pollution. Artificial light systems often emit excessive brightness in the environment due to unskilled lamp design, causing light not focusing on the downwards, on the streets or where it is most useful, but in all directions.
In addition to depriving urban inhabitants from looking at wires, light pollution causes astronomical observations and above, it interfere with the life cycle of many animals.
Noise pollution
Noise pollution like light pollution is also caused by human activities, which are not physical substances in the environment, but in this case sound, emit sound.
It affects most of the city dwellers (eg, living in the nightlife areas), but in general, people living in high-density areas of road, rail or air traffic as well as industrial areas also affect it. And, like light pollution, noise pollution also causes more or less serious disruption to many animal species.
Thermal pollution
The final but important thing is that thermal pollution occurs when human activities affect environmental temperature. It has a direct effect when heat is emitted: for example, water poured into waterways by many industries. It is not necessarily polluted, but its temperature is high.
Heat pollution is indirect when an increase in heat is the result of other activities: eg, deforestation, which reduces the cooling effect of vegetation, or excessive construction, so high that we talk about "urban heat islands" in cities, where the temperature is much higher than the surrounding areas. In the long run, the most worrying indirect result is climate change arising from greenhouse gases.
Main causes of pollution
In fact, every human activity produces pollution in some form or the other.
* The oldest economic activity, agriculture, today uses substances such as pesticides and fertilizers, which are among the main contributors in soil and water pollution.
Industry, and especially large factories, are a major source of air pollution due to gaseous emissions, but also of soil and water pollution due to their solid and liquid wastes. In addition, they are among the main causes of sound and thermal pollution.
* The energy sector has historically depended on fossil fuels, one of the main contributors in climate change. Today the contribution of renewable sources is increasing, but in many countries like China, the most polluting fuel, coal use is still prominent.
* Another significant contribution to the greenhouse effect is to transport, but it also emit other polluting gases, such as carbon monoxide generated by vehicles movement. In addition, transport is one of the major causes of noise pollution.
* Garbage - not only industrial waste, but also the garbage generated by individuals - has a profound impact on the environment, especially if it is not properly managed. Local level, landfills are a major source of soil pollution, while massive garbage (such as plastic) also reaches the sea through waterways.
Effects of environmental pollution
Environmental pollution has a harmful effect on human health.
According to estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution is responsible for 7 million premature deaths every year due to respiratory, heart and immune system related diseases. Damage caused by polluted domestic air also has to be taken into account.
Water pollution is so widespread that about two billion people, or one-fourth of the world's population, drink contaminated water daily.
In addition, when pollutants such as waste from drug and cosmetics industries spread to the environment, resistance to antibiotics increases in bacteria.
Climate change also means an increase in extreme events like cyclone, floods and droughts.
Globally, environmental pollution has the most permanent effect on biodiversity, so much that a new collective extinction is underway. Along with intensive hunting and fishing, climate change is included in its main reasons, but from soil pollution to plastic pollution in oceans, as well as all other types of pollution, such as thermal, sound and light pollution, contribute to some extent.
Global landscape
While the earlier fog was seen connecting with more developed metros like London, air quality has improved in European cities in the last 10 years, as the European Environment Agency (EEA) figures - although exposure to the so -called micro -particle substance remains a problem - whereasThis is very dangerous in cities of developing countries.The rivers of Asia are also often highly polluted, such as Ganga (India), Sitaram (Indonesia), Burganga (Bangladesh), and Huang-Ho or Yellow River (China). It is difficult to rank them based on clear criteria, but the Sarno River located in the Campaania region of Italy is also included in many of these rankings.
With respect to maritime pollution, the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" (which covers a larger area than Australia) in the Northern Pacific region is famous, but similar incidents can be found in other oceans: these are sea areas, where due to streams, microplastic abnormal sensationsGet stored (although they do not appear with naked eyes).How can we reduce pollution?
It is possible to reduce pollution; This is a task that is being done at the inter-governmental level, for example, through many climate peak conferences, despite lethargy and uncertainty.
In fact, companies are setting goals that go beyond institutional goals: In the energy sector, the most advanced companies are moving towards the power generation fleet based on clean sources, which are now fully competitive than in technological innovations, especially in matter science, especially in matter.
Anel Group is a major player in the region, and we are keeping our vision even higher: In our new strategic plan for 2024-2026, an investment of 12.1 billion euros has been allocated for renewable energy, aiming to further increase the 13.4 ggawattical capacity by 2026, with total production capacity 73Gigawatt will be done.Thus, we hope that our stake in zero-furorean production will increase from 74% to 86% in 2026 in 2023, and will reach 100% by 2040.
Renewable energy is part of the more common structure of the cyclic economy. This approach is not only limited to re -use and recycling, but it also includes increasing the useful life of various products and making them cyclical from the design phase itself. This reduces waste production and reduces pollution related to extraction of raw materials.
Another improvement we are seeing is electrification in areas such as heating, cooking and transport. This is decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and air quality is improving in cities and homes.
In addition, compared to some time ago, now internal combustion vehicles are also spreading less pollution. This is due to technological innovation and fuel diversification.
At the local level, by governments, especially in more developed countries, the number of action is increasing to reduce traffic and encourage sustainable waste management.
Individuals and communities can also play an important role in reducing environmental pollution: for example, by prioritizing the journey by public transport (especially rail), by focusing on the pruning of waste, reducing energy consumption, as well as, of course, of course, plastic or other pollution in the environmentBy preventing the materials from spreading.The responsibility is of all, the importance is paramount and mission is possible: that is, to curb all forms of human health, natural ecosystem and anthropological pollution to protect the environment in general.
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