Understanding Environmental Pollution

This chapter speaks to humanity’s massive impacts on Earth’s environment while also addressing basic concepts of pollution and its impacts. Section 1.1 opens with a brief introduction to the period in which we now live, widely called the Anthropocene because of humanity’s great impact. Examples are given of how we could identify the beginning of this epoch thousands of years from now. Section 1.2 introduces pollution and presents examples of pollution, how it happens, how pollutants are transported in the environment, and how they are degraded. Section 1.3 provides an example of catastrophic pollution, but then considers whether even tiny amounts of pollution are a concern. Section 1.4 discusses nature’s services and our absolute dependence on those services, before Section 1.5 homes in on one critical natural service: that provided by Earth’s soil. In Section 1.6 we ask about root causes of pollution – population, consumption, and technology. Section 1.7 asks us to face ourselves, to see that our personal actions have consequences, and to accept that we need to be part of the solution. Section 1.8 addresses the critical concept of living within our planet’s boundaries, and within this section Table 1.3 summarizes nine life-support systems. Section 1.9 provides a brief overview of the large-scale burning of fossil fuels worldwide, which is a major factor keeping humanity too close to, or beyond, several of the planetary boundaries discussed in Section 1.8. Here, Table 1.4 provides a summary of pollutants produced by fossil fuels and the problems they contribute toward. Section 1.10 presents the conclusion to the chapter.