Sara Hutchins

Professor Sally Timmins

Geography: Natural Disasters-1700-022
March 24, 2015
Environmental Degradation:
Pollution and Human Activity
Environmental degradation can be defined as a process where the natural environment is
being compromised in some way, reducing biological diversity and the general health of the
environment. This process can be a natural one or caused by human activity (McMahon and
Wallace, What is Environmental Degradation?). We are all becoming privy to the fact that
pollution has greatly impacted the earth and still is, we have also known for some time that
pollution is attributed to human activity and left unchecked will undoubtedly render the planet
without essential resources and without the ability to sustain human, animal, and plant life.
Pollution is occurring globally and is an issue that needs to be acknowledged on a scale as big as
the problem itself, and people need to look at their own day to day practices to see what changes
they can make to protect the planet from degrading further.

Pollution is a broad term referring to what happens when something harmful is

introduced into an environment, this can encompass an array of things such as air pollution,
water pollution, land and soil pollution, and so forth. The root causes of global pollution are

believed to be agricultural development, population growth, urbanization and industrialization,

as well as market and policy failures (United Nations Environment Programme). Agricultural
development is an essential component to human life as we need to grow and consume food to
sustain ourselves, however to obtain this land in which to place our farms and grow our food we
deforest areas to create fields for planting and for raising livestock. This can affect our
environment by possibly contaminating local water supply, degrading soil over time; we may
also face the loss of essential ecosystems and habitats. The Agriculture and Consumer Protection
Department through the United Nations now estimates that livestock attributes to 18 percent of
greenhouse emissions, acting as a significant contributor of air pollution (Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations).
Population growth has exploded over the past one hundred years and with this
monumental increase of persons inhabiting the planet, the need for more resources has also
amplified. This encompasses how we have deforested areas for more habitable land by humans
as well as using land to grow food and to obtain other natural resources such as wood, coal,
minerals, metal, water, and so on. With this we have seen an incredible increase in all forms of
pollution; water sources being contaminated, air quality being jeopardized, and soil being
rendered unusable by our expansion outwards.
Urbanization and industrialization has grown with the population and is something we
have looked upon proudly as our technology has increased and has eased our lives on a grand
scale. We have built cars, mainlined electricity, and have streamlined the production line to mass
produce products for our thriving population; we however, were not anticipating the affects these
things would have on our quality of air. Coal is used in an array of ways, it is purposed for the
creation of electricity, cement production, steel manufacturing, and as liquid fuel (World Coal

Association). Coal is also very dirty and emits incredible amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into
the air and can cause phenomenon such as acid rain, smog, and toxic air which affects life on a
global scale.
With so many of these factors causing problems and negatively altering earths global
environments one may wonder at the policy failures within our government. It needs to be
recognized that to prevent pollution and thusly the degradation of the environment these
pollution contributors need to be closely monitored and regulated by the government, and action
needs to be taken to reduce and prevent air, water, land and soil contamination and pollution. It is
the lack of such policy that has led to such degradation throughout the planet and if not remedied
pollution will continue and the earth may be left uninhabitable.
Pollution is currently a problem and concern globally, this means that everyone is at risk
for the consequences if we cannot greatly reduce our impact on the earth. Beijing, China has
been in the news often in the past few years due to the high levels of pollution, particularly the
air pollution they are experiencing; their government has even had to roll out emergency
measures as the air quality has reached hazardous levels. It is believed that Beijing has suffered
so heavily from air pollution because of its large population (more than 11 million), and how it is
a heavily industrialized area, creating large amounts of coal burn-off. It is also with an extreme
lack of policy within their government that allows facilities to go greatly unchecked and
unmonitored.
Lake Karachay in Russia is considered one of the most polluted places on earth. This lake
was used as a dumping ground by the Soviet Union for one of their nuclear production facilities,
the Mayak. As this region has undergone periods of droughts, radioactive particles and dust from
the dried up lake has traveled and irradiated half a million people (Take Part). The pollution of

this lake was a careless action that is affecting people to date, making residents ill, and
negatively altering the land, water, and air surrounding this lake.
Landfills are where our waste material is taken by our city waste management vehicles
and brought to these specialized locations where the waste is covered by soil and is broken down
over time. The United Nations reported that the United States disposes more than half of its solid
waste in landfills. This amounts to over 110 million tons of waste per year and makes the US one
of the top contributors to worldwide landfill waste (Poopy.org). What this is referring to, is that
there is not enough solid material being recycled as there should be, and an overwhelmingly
large amount can be recycled to prevent land pollution. While landfills are regulated there are
still cases where waste is absorbing into surrounding watersheds and contaminating those
causing incredible problems for the surrounding ecosystems and creating unsafe drinking water
for many people.
These cases of pollution are being caused by human activity, and are occurring because
people are not being properly educated or made aware of the damage we are inflicting on the
environment. It seems that in a lot of cases people take on the attitude of out of sight, out of mind
where they are not obtaining the conceptual knowledge of what is going on around them and
how earths processes affect one another. This earth is very slow forming and when we remove
materials from the earth or add other materials to the earth, it is affected and takes thousands of
years to recreate or dissolve these resources that are being used up and lost so quickly.
It appears as well that money and laziness play a large part in how companies and
individuals are disposing of materials that create much of our air, water, land and soil pollution.
Different kinds of companies create emissions whether it is through the air, water, or land and
even though this is harmful to the environment some of these companies do not have the

motivation to spend more money to find a less harmful way to do business and stop adversely
effecting the environment. It is likely the same with certain individuals who will take
convenience over protecting the environment and helping reduce the types and amount of
pollution worldwide. If we could show people on a large scale how much even little things can
greatly influence the impact upon the planet, perhaps people would be better informed to make
decisions that will help the earth sustain us for as long as possible.
With all of this being said, there are so many things that are being done and things that
we can do as a global community to greatly reduce the damage we are doing and have done to
our environment. New technology has made for the creation of electric cars which are charged
rather than fueled by gasoline, creating cleaner air for all. If we use less coal then it would
minimize the amount of air and water contamination coal causes each year, and we can do this by
switching over to solar power as well as using our waste materials to produce cleaner or rather
recycled energy. Becoming educated in cleaner types of energy and then implementing those
energies could greatly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and refocus our attentions on
renewable resources.
In Utah, a group known as Utah Mothers for Clean Air have banded together to call for
policy amendments so that during the winter months when Salt Lake City is a murky, smog
ridden nightmare, emissions will be closely monitored to reduce the amount of air pollution the
city is faced with. Regulations are being put in place to control emissions and companies are now
being held accountable for contamination and thusly the damage being caused to the air, water,
land and soil by their activities. While we have made great strides in attaining reform within our
government policies, these big conglomerates still hold a monopoly over certain environmental

policy and we need to make ourselves heard by contacting our local government agencies and
demanding reform.
Little changes such as walking to work, growing your own vegetable garden, recycling
materials, cutting meat out of one day a week, turning off the lights after you leave a room,
turning off your car rather than letting it idle, disposing of hazardous materials responsibly, using
natural cleaners rather than heavily chemically laden ones, using reusable cloth bags rather than
plastic ones when you shop, become part of a reforestation project, reducing the amount of
organic waste your family produces, finding other ways to use old materials, and so on. There are
so many opportunities to create a better environment and to reduce the amount of pollution being
created by being irresponsible citizens of earth. It would not take much to begin reversing the
damage we have caused if only we would start paying attention to our every day practices and
making small changes.

Works Cited
Challenges to International Waters: Regional Assessments in a Global Perspective.
Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Environment Programme, 2006. Unep.org. United Nations
Environment Programme. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. "Spotlight: Livestock Impacts
on the Environment." Spotlight: Livestock Impacts on the Environment. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar.
2015.
McMahon, Mary, and O. Wallace. "What Is Environmental Degradation?" WiseGeek.
Conjecture, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
Poopy.org: Promoting Sustainable Lifestyle Habits. "Land Pollution Facts." Poopyorg.
N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Take Part. "Lake Karachay Russia." TakePart. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
World Coal Association. "Uses of Coal." Uses of Coal. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
Images Cited
Felton, Ashley. Digital image. Active Tipping Area of an Operating Landfill. 2006.
Wikipedia Commons, Perth, Western Austrailia. Web. 19 Mar. 2015
Nienetwiler. Digital image. Waste. Wikipedia Commons. N.p., Oct. 2010. Web. 19 Mar.
2015.
United States Government. "Air Pollution." Wikipedia Commons. N.p., May 2007. Web.
19 Mar. 2015.
Video Cited
Beijing Air Pollution (before and after the Rain) from the High Speed Train. Dir.
ChemSurvival. YouTube. N.p., 5 Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.