Pollution A threat to survival

Isnt it ironic that technological and industrial development are generally always far from the development they so promise. It is a paradox of the modern day that any development is generally always accompanied with environmental pollution and degradation. Man, for his own selfish purposes, has violated every norm and exploited nature. And certainly, nature too is not always forgiving. Polluting the environment comes with its fair share of problems including depletion of resources, changes in climate, etc. But the most important of them all is that this pollution is hazardous to health of any living organism. Pollution basically affects the three basics that surround us, viz. air, water and land. Pollution of these have a direct impact on ones health. Environment, according to the Dictionary of Biology, is the complete range of external conditions under which an organism lives including physical, chemical and biological factors such as temperature, light and the availability of food and water. Pollution literally means an undesirable change in the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the land, air or water that harmfully affect human life or that of any species. Air, water and land are the three basic amenities of life. Increase in population, coupled with industrialization and urbanization has led to the contamination of these amenities with undesirable and harmful substances leading to health hazards. These harmful substances termed as 'pollutants' are the by products of man's actions. Environmental pollution can be classified as air pollution, water pollution, land pollution, radiation pollution and noise pollution. All these lead to a number of health hazards. Air pollution is defined as the presence of materials in the air that are harmful to man and environment. Air, as we know, cannot be bound as compared to a source of water like a pond or a lake, which can be isolated and checked. This results in the spread of pollutants over wide areas, sometimes even countries in different continents as was in the case of the Chernobyl accident in the U.S.S.R. The sources of air pollution include sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide, nitrous oxide, arsenic etc. released from chimneys, domestic pollutants from fossil fuels burnt by man, automobile exhausts and radiations. These can cause eye irritation, pulmonary congestion, bronchial problems etc. The chlorine gas which leaked from the Shri Ram Fertilizers in Delhi affected in a similar manner. The methyl isocyanate which leaked, from the infamous Union Carbide's plant at Bhopal had resulted in a large number of deaths due to cyanide poisoning besides leading to irreplaceable loss of sight, muscular degradation, lung infection and complexities in child birth.

Carbon monoxide, an odour less gas, which has affinity with haemoglobin, enters into the blood stream and causes increased levels of carbon monoxide in the blood stream causing headache, nausea, breathing problems, unconsciousness and death. Water pollutants include domestic sewerage, industrial waste like caustic soda, lignite, sulphur, cyanides, ammonia etc. and chemical inputs like fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides used for increasing agricultural productivity. Polluted water is the main cause of spread of the epidemic diseases like cholera, jaundice, dysentery, typhoid, gastroenteritis etc. One easily recalls the large number of deaths that occur due to these epidemic diseases basically gastroenteritis in Delhi every year during the rainy season. Mercury, lead, copper, zinc and other metals and their oxides dumped by the industrial units in the water sources cause nervous disorders and even brain damage. The aquatic organisms, which consume these pollutants, when consumed by, man lead to variety of health hazards (through biomagnifiaction). Increase of population in the urban areas due to industrialization has resulted in the disposal of wastes in vast land areas. Solid and liquid waste materials produced by the paper and pulp mills, oil refineries, power plants etc. pollute land. Fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and insecticides used for increasing agricultural productivity also result in land pollution besides water pollution. They eventually kill the fertility of the soil. Agricultural inputs such as fertilizers result into the seeping of the same in the ground water. Some gases, unable to find a way out of the surface of land escape from the wells and other such sources of water, and cause dizziness, irritation and death. One gas thus released is carbon monoxide, which has been a cause of a number of deaths in Punjab and other northern states. The enormous number of insecticides and pesticides that are sprayed on the crops find their way into the human system and create disturbances with its functioning. Industrial units dump large quantity of ash on land, and this results in rendering the land useless for cultivation and cause diseases like cough, asthma etc. The radiations emitted or leaked by the nuclear power plants and other nuclear installations result in contaminating the environment. The radiations cause diseases like skin cancer, leukemia etc. It also induces mutations, which change the genetic order and cause related diseases. Noise pollution is another serious threat to the environment. Endless noise produced by the industrial units and automobiles in the cities and towns affects humans physically and mentally. Noise damages the eardrum, at times even permanently if it is continuous and of high intensity. It produces fatigue, headache, tension and nausea.

To check such pollution, a number of efforts are required on the part of the administration and the citizens. More programmes like the Ganga Action Plan for cleaning the rivers are required to make our water and land resources less polluted. The industrial units that are located on the banks of these rivers should be allowed to run only with individual or organized scientific safeguards. Non-conventional energy sources like the solar power should be promoted and used on a large scale. Another area, which should be given prominence, is educating the younger generation. Instead of burdening the younger generation with complex texts, such courses should be evolved which make an effort to take the younger ones close to the nature. Besides this, there is a vital need of creating awareness, among the masses. This can be done by the administrative and voluntary organizations by showing films and clips of pollution and health hazards caused by it. The electronic media has an important part to play in this regard. Such programmes should be telecast in the regional and local languages in a simple manner rather than in a complex technical language. The industrial units should be encouraged to have a green belt around their installation and should not be located in the densely populated areas. Laws were made and laws are being framed, but more important is the proper implementation of these laws to achieve the desired results. Proper implementation of the laws requires not only proper management techniques but also an active involvement of the citizens. Local committees or bodies with members from the industrial units, administration, the pressure groups, citizens and other related fields should be formed with a view to monitor the implementation of the law and pollution control programmes. Such bodies should be given sufficient powers for doing the needful. In the end, one can only say that an organized effort on the part of citizens and the administration is required to keep a check on the environmental pollution and health hazards. Unless we work consciously and collectively to sustain and improve the environment, we are not only endangering other species but also the survival of human race. Only by working together we can make our Mother Earth cleaner and greener.