Pollution Effects

A very good morning and God be with you all. I am Dijah Mie M. Rico and today I
am giving a speech on, “ Pollution effects”.

The air and water supply around us is of utmost importance to our continued
survival on this planet Earth. However, mankind has taken these for granted. As human
population increases, pollution has become a major problem and has remained so. It is
now time to join hands to protect and preserve our environment and thereby, safeguard
human health.

Pollution is the contamination of our air, water and land by harmful substances.
Air pollution is by far the most harmful form of pollution. Human activities can release
particles into the air from burning fuel for energy. Gases such as sulphur dioxide, carbon
monoxide, nitrogen oxides and chemical vapours are also released into the atmosphere.
Once released, there further chemical reactions in the air, forming smog and acid rain.

My dear friend,

The gases have also slowly damaged the atmosphere and depleted the ozone
layer. They trap more heat and make the Earth warmer and cause the Earth’s temperature
to rise. This is known as global warming. One cause of global warming is the
greenhouse effect.

My beloved friend,

Water pollution presents harm to our environment. Daily, people dump hazardous
materials into our rivers, lakes and oceans. Industrial, commercial and domestic activities
produces solid wastes, sewage, oil spills and toxic chemicals that have destroyed many
marine animals and aquatic plants and even cause death to humans who consume the
marine animals. The disposed wastes may be carried away by the currents but will never
disappear. The will reappear sometimes in changed form or merely diluted. The inability
for these wastes to breakdown causes an overload that eventually makes our water unfit
for use and cause serious harm. Pollutants like heavy metals such as mercury are often
released into our waters. This has made the consumption of fish hazardous to birds,
mammals and humans.

In view of all these, the public must be made aware of the dangers of
pollution. We must work in concerted effort with the government to reduce pollution
through proper management and processing of garbage and industrial wastes. I hope
many of you will help to save our environment.

Thank you for listening.

Dijah Mie M. Rico

BSED General Science