Automobile Pollution

Spruce Forest Damaged by Acid Rain Forests, lakes, ponds, and other terrestrial and aquatic environments throughout the world are being severely damaged by the effects of acid rain. Acid rain is caused by the combination of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen compounds with water in the atmosphere to produce rain with a very low pH. In addition to chemically burning the leaves of plants, acid rain poisons lake water, which kills most if not all of the aquatic inhabitants.

Industrial Smokestacks Carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and other types of contaminants pouring from industrial smokestacks contribute to worldwide atmospheric pollution. Carbon dioxide contributes significantly to global warming, while sulfur dioxide is the principal cause of acid rain in the northeastern United States, southeastern Canada, and eastern Europe. Other environmental problems stemming from smokestack emissions include respiratory diseases, poisoned lakes and streams, and damaged forests and crops.

Brown Smog Over Phoenix, Arizona Smog is caused by industrial and automobile pollution. It is compounded by temperature inversions, which cause the air pollution to be kept in a particular area for extended periods. Continued exposure to smog can result in respiratory problems, eye irritation, and even death.

Polluted River in the United Kingdom The pollution of rivers and streams with chemical contaminants has become one of the most critical environmental problems of the century. Chemical pollution entering rivers and streams can be classified according to the nature of its sources: point pollution and nonpoint pollution. Point pollution involves pollution from a single concentrated source that can be identified, such as an outfall pipe from a factory or refinery. Nonpoint pollution involves pollution from dispersed sources that cannot be precisely identified, such as runoff from agricultural or mining operations or seepage from septic tanks or sewage drain fields.

Gully Formation Due to Soil Erosion Gully formation, a severe form of soil erosion, is a natural geologic process that can be greatly accelerated by human activities such as urbanization, deforestation, overgrazing of cattle, and poor agricultural practices. Erosion attacks the moisture-bearing ability of soils and adds deposits to waterways. These destructive processes continue at an increased rate on every continent, as overpopulation and industrialization tax the remaining soil.

Slash-and-Burn Deforestation The deforestation technique of slash and burn, utilized extensively to clear large areas of forest for agricultural and other purposes, causes an enormous amount of environmental damage. The large amounts of carbon dioxide given off into the atmosphere during burning adds to the greenhouse effect. The removal of all trees and groundcover destroys animal habitats and greatly accelerates erosion, adding to the sediment loads of rivers and making seasonal flooding much more severe.

Plane Spraying DDT The chemical pesticide DDT was used around the world from the 1940s through the early 1970s to kill crop-eating and disease-carrying insects. In the early 1960s studies began to show that the chemical caused reproductive problems in animals and that it often disrupted the food chain. The use of DDT was banned in the United States in 1973.

Air Pollution and Acid Rain Rainwater once was the purest form of water available but now is often contaminated by pollutants in the air. Acid rain is caused when industrial emissions mix with atmospheric moisture. Pollutants may be carried in clouds for long distances before falling, which means that forests and lakes far away from factories may be damaged by acid rain. In the near vicinity of the factories, additional damage is caused by deposition, a kind of dry rain in which the larger pollutant particles fall to the ground. Air pollution has been increasing since the Industrial Revolution but only recently have side effects such as acid rain become severe and widespread enough to evoke international concern.

Industrial Water Pollution Industrial pollutants that run into streams, rivers, or lakes can have serious effects on wildlife, plants, and humans. In the United States there are strict rules for the amount and composition of substances that factories can release into bodies of water. These rules are not always enforced, and much industrial water pollution comes from accidental chemical or oil spills.

Components of Municipal Solid Waste A person living in an industrialized nation produces a great variety of solid waste, often a mix of potentially reusable or recyclable items (such as paper and yard waste) and largely nonrecyclable material (such as food waste and many types of plastic). Of the municipal solid waste (the waste collected from residences and businesses) produced in the United States in 1998, about two-fifths of the paper, metal, and yard waste was recycled, and about onequarter of the glass was recycled.

Overflowing Landfill An average city dweller may produce a ton of refuse in a year, a volume that rapidly overflows local dumps. Cities running out of space for landfill often turn to incinerating their waste or transporting it to other areas, although up to 90 percent of the material might have been recycled.

Toxic Waste in Love Canal Residents of the Love Canal area in Niagara Falls were forced to evacuate when hazardous wastes leaking from a former disposal site threatened their health and homes in the late 1970s. One of the most notorious cases of toxic waste leakage, the crisis received attention on both local and national levels. Investigation spurred by public outrage revealed that many waste disposal sites like Love Canal existed nationwide

Concorde Airplane Distinguished by a pointed nose that angles downward during takeoff, the Anglo-French Concorde flies at more than twice the speed of sound. Controversy has surrounded its use in the United States; the supersonic plane is very noisy, and some believe its sonic booms harm the environment. Even conventional jet engine airplanes produce noise pollution. Under normal operating conditions, jet engines produce sound at around 110 decibels, but people at close range as a jet engine takes off may be exposed to sounds of more than 130 decibels. Sounds of 120 decibels or more cause pain and damage the delicate tissues of the inner ear.

Thermal Pollution from Power Plants and Factories Power plants and industrial factories are among the major contributors to the problem of thermal pollution. These facilities draw water from nearby lakes and streams, which they use to cool their machinery and steam-driven equipment. Although many such facilities now take care not to contaminate the water with chemical pollutants, few return the heated water to its original temperature before dumping it back into the lakes and streams from which it came. The heated water warms local bodies of water by as much as 10 C (18 F), making the water uninhabitable for fish and other organisms.

Czech Air Pollution Factory smoke darkens the sky above Prague, Czech Republic. The Czech Republic faces a severe air pollution problem that is choking the nations land. Air pollution and subsequent acid rain has killed or damaged many of the countrys trees and badly degraded its soil.

Smog over Santiago Set in an enclosed valley between the coastal range and the Andes Mountains, Santiago, Chile, experiences high levels of air pollution. Vehicular and industrial emissions, street dust, thermal inversions and the citys location all contribute to the problem. In 1997 Chile and neighboring Argentina opened a pipeline to pump natural gas from Argentina to Santiago. Because natural gas burns much cleaner than other fuels, Chileans hope the new pipeline will help reduce pollution and improve Santiagos air quality.

Romanian Bauxite Plant A bauxite extraction plant spews a cloud of pollution over the Danube delta city of Tulcea. Severe air pollution problems stem from the rapid industrialization of Romania during the Communist period.

Recycling Plant Many products may be made using recycled materials at less cost and with less pollution. Materials that can be recycled include metal, plastic, paper, and glass. One commonly recycled item, aluminum cans, are shown here being formed into a large block that will be shipped to another facility for reprocessing.

Protesters Discourage Drilling Project Demonstrators with oil-covered plastic animals protest a potential drilling project in Key Largo, Florida. Whether or not accidental spills occur during the project, its impact on the delicate marine ecosystem of the coral reefs could be devastating. Noise, heat, and motion are also forms of pollution that disrupt normal life cycles.

Effluent From an Outfall Pipe

Effluent discharge represents one form of point pollution. Contaminants present in effluent discharge include heavy metals, mercury, raw sewage, coliform bacteria and various diseasecausing protozoans. These contaminants accumulate in bottom sediments and become incorporated into bottom-dwelling fish and invertebrates. Once assimilated into living plants and animals, the contaminants move quickly through the food chain, affecting the health of animals and humans.

Nuclear Power Plants The Palo Verde Nuclear Power Facility in Arizona, like other nuclear power plants, was built to harness nuclear energy for controlled use by humans. The first nuclear power plant began operating in 1954 in Obninsk, Russia. Subsequently, several other countries followed suit. Nuclear power is a controversial energy source: it is inexpensive and creates no air pollution, but the radioactivity released during accidents at nuclear power plants has caused deaths and environmental damage.

Kuwaiti Oil Wells on Fire During the Persian Gulf War in early 1991 the United States and allied forces liberated Kuwait from Iraqi control, but Kuwait suffered extensive damage. Retreating Iraqi troops set fire to hundreds of the countrys oil wells, darkening skies over Kuwait and causing serious air pollution in Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait.

Cyanobacteria Growing in a Hot Spring Bright bands of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, grow in concentric rings in the hot waters of thermal springs. Different species of cyanobacteria, each of a different color, thrive at temperatures far above those tolerated by most other forms of life. Cyanobacteria are often the only organisms able to survive in lakes and streams that have been devastated by thermal pollution. Even if other animals can survive the warmer temperatures, they will probably die as cyanobacteria take over and alter the waters oxygen level.

Divisions of the Atmosphere Without our atmosphere, there would be no life on Earth. A relatively thin envelope, the atmosphere consists of layers of gases that support life and provide protection from harmful radiation.

Farms or Rain Forest? Brazil lost more than 13,000 sq km (5000 sq mi) of rain forest a year during the mid-1990s, much of it due to slash-and-burn agriculture. Traditional societies practiced low-impact slashand-burn cultivation, clearing small areas, which the surrounding forest later reclaimed. In modern practice, large-scale slash-and-burn clearing causes extensive damage to rain forests and contributes to the increase of carbon dioxide levels in the earths atmosphere.

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Cleanup Workers wash the shoreline on Latouche Island, Alaska, after the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground in 1989, dumping more than 38 million liters (more than 10 million gallons) of oil into Prince William Sound. The resulting environmental damage prompted the United States Congress to pass federal safety requirements for oil tankers and barges and to assign the principal cost of spill cleanup to oil companies.

Oil Spill Clean-up Workers use special nets to clean up a California beach following an oil tanker spill. Tanker spills are an increasing environmental problem because once oil has spilled, it is virtually impossible to completely remove or contain it. Even small amounts spread rapidly across large areas of water. Because oil and water do not mix, the oil floats on the water and then washes up on broad expanses of shoreline. Attempts to chemically treat or sink the oil may further disrupt marine and beach ecosystems.