Polluting Planet Earth essays

Polluting Planet Earth essays Why is pollution taking place? For a long time humans have been carelessly polluting the planet on which they live. Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that causes adverse change. The three major places pollution occurs are in the water, air, and on land. Water pollution is one of the biggest problems the world is facing with tremendous impact to the life of the human race. Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwaters caused by human activities. One major cause of water pollution is oil spills. In March of 1989 at Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred. The drivers of the Exxon Valdez noticed icebergs in their planned route. Instead of trying to weave through the icebergs, they decided to go into another direction. While Exxon was on their new route, the oil tanker hit Bligh Reef in shallow land. The Exxon Valdez spilled approximately 10.9 million gallons of oil. The oil impacted over 1,100 miles of non-continuous coastlines in Alaska and covered over 11,000 square miles of the ocean. This oils spill killed hundreds of thousands of birds, fish, and animals immediately. The Exxon Valdez oil spill is considered one of the worst human caused marine environmental disasters ever to occur. Years later scientists have noticed higher death rates among sea otters and some other species by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Air pollution is the introduction into the atmosphere of chemical particles or biological materials. Although air pollution comes from many sources; The Great Smog in 1952 is one of the worst man made air pollution disasters that occurred. In London, The Great Smog was caused by punishing alignment of weather patterns and coal pollution. At this time the city was pockmarked with factories and power plants that incinerated thousands of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Also because of such a col...