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environmental pollution
Under pollution is generally understood, the pollution of the environment, that is the
natural living environment of the people. The focus is on the environmental impact
of waste and emissions of material and non-material type.
These include exhaust gases, waste water, different types of waste, particularly
toxic pollutants, emissions such as radiation, but also noise and light pollution.
They originate mainly from the production or consumption of products as an
unwanted by-product or the conclusion of final consumption or use by about
liquefaction of the product itself and must be disposed of or released.
The main types of pollution are water pollution, air pollution and soil pollution As
well as contamination of land and water by waste (littering).
The effects of pollution have been known since the beginning of industrialization, as
in the vicinity of factories plant damage or in winter black snow were observed. In
the the public consciousness, the effects of pollution engaged early 1970s with the
appearance of damage to forests, coral bleaching, the discussion about the acid
rain and the anti-nuclear movement.
With the advent of agriculture, man has created monocultures and thus altered
ecosystems. These changes were partially reversible: Once an acreage has not been
used, the natural vegetation has been able to colonize the damaged floor again. In
some regions of the earth, the soil was so overused but that there just can not grow
with difficulty crop.
The beginning of civilization (urban development) resulted in irreversible
environmental changes. Cutting down large forests in the Mediterranean region for
the production of timber and firewood as well as for agriculture is a striking example
of the permanent change in an ecosystem. The recovery of metals by the melting of
ores is a historically early example of man-made pollution.
The pollution can spread by wind, water and other mechanisms over long distances
and are detected in places where the harmful substances have never been used.
The long-range transport of pollutants is the product of numerous environmental
and substance-specific transport and mobilization processes. Important processes
are atmospheric long-range transport and water transport through ocean currents
and rivers.