Tag: industrial pollution and degradation of environment

The world is facing accelerated rates of species extinction, largely due to human interference. There are four major causes collectively called as the evil quarter.

Itai-itai is the disease which was caused by the cadmium poisioning due to mining in Toyama Prefecture, Japan. This term was given by the locals for the severe pain the victims felt in the spine and the joints. It can also cause softening of bones and kidney failure. The disease was first described in the menopausal Japanese woman exposed to excessive levels of cadmium over their lifetimes. 

Due to the increase in the temperature, there can be incidental forests fires. The fires result in the burning of the vegetation and animals. This results in the formation of ash which contains the carbon particles. The fumes of the fire are released in the atmosphere causing air pollution. This is the natural source of air pollution.

MIC stands for methyl-isocyanate which is a gas and was leaked accidently in the Union Carbide subsidiary pesticide plant of Bhopal on 3rd dec, 1984 and led to the world's worst industrial disaster.

Burning of fossil fuels is a man-made source of air pollution. The various fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, fuel oil are burned by humans for obtaining heat which is used in the generation of electric power. This leads to increase in the concentration of gas emissions like carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide which enters the atmosphere and leads to air pollution. The increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide causes global warming and sulphur dioxide leads to breathing problem and the major cause of acid rain.

Green plants are the producers through which inorganic elements first enter the food chain. Green plants take in elements from the atmosphere, soil and water and manufacture food on which all the other animals either directly or indirectly feed on. Since plants are directly exposed to pollutants, the effect of pollution is first visible in natural flora of a place, then it will be visible on organisms that are dependent on the plants.

Pollution is any change in physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of the environment, that has the potentiality to harm human life, life of other desirable species, natural resources, cultural assets and industries. Pollution affects the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere by disturbing the delicate balance between abiotic and biotic components and the interaction between various organisms. Thus, the correct answer is option B.

Water pollution and land contamination, it's the quantity (or concentration) of a chemical in the air that makes the difference between "harmless" and "pollution." Carbon dioxide (CO2), is present in the air around you at a typical concentration of less than 0.05 per cent and breathing it in usually does no harm (you breathe it out all day long); but air with an extremely high concentration of carbon dioxide is toxic and could kill you in a matter of minutes. Since Earth's atmosphere is very turbulent many of us live in windy countries air pollution will often disperse relatively quickly.