Our Earth is a wonderful, beautiful, place with all kinds of hidden treasures. It is a truly a gift of nature and we as humans need to truly appreciate it. Beautiful cities, rolling landscapes, and breathtaking views are just some things our wonderful world has. But in some places, this natural beauty is hindered by pollution. This website is dedicated to show some of the most polluted cities in the world, the causes, and the solutions each city is executing to solve their problems. The cities highlighted in this website are: Fresno, California; Kabwe, Zambia, and Vapi, India. Each of these cities are on several different lists for the top five most polluted cities in the world. These cities have numerous types of pollution, ranging from water pollution, air pollution, thermal pollution, and soil pollution.
Land pollution is when waste is left on the Earth's surface. There are many forms, such as garbage on the roads or in landfills. Also, pesticides can cause land pollution. Water pollution is when a pollutant gets into a body of water, such as rivers, lakes and oceans. Many things contribute to water pollution, like raw sewage, oil spills, and nuclear radioactive spills. Smoke and nitrous oxides emitted by modern technology, are responsible for most air pollution. This type of pollution is caused by exhaust from cars and other vehicles, the burning of fossil fuels such as coal or natural gas, industrial operations, and nuclear radiation.
Construction or manufacturing sometimes causes land and water temperatures to rise, which results in thermal pollution. This increase in temperature can affect human, aquatic, and plant life. Two other types of pollution are light pollution, where artificial light can cause bad affects, and noise pollution, where loud noises can cause bad affects to humans and animals.
It is important for us to keep our planet clean and pollution-free because it is the only one we have to live on and we can’t live healthily with a dirty environment. A clean environment makes sure that not just human but also plant and animal life can survive on Earth. Cleaning the environment reduces pollution, prevents the extinction of endangered species, protects unique ecosystems, and conserves such resources as air, water and land. Another factor that negatively impacts the environment is toxic emissions from things such as cars and power plants. Some pollutants also affect human health, causing health problems and diseases such as heart disease, cancer, respiratory tract infections and eye irritation. Pollution also aggravates people with asthma symptoms. Pollutants have also increased mortality rates.
Some of the greatest threats facing the planet are climate change and global warming. In recent years, the Earth’s average temperature has increased. Climate and weather changes, such as heavy rainfalls, resulting in heavy floods, severe heat waves, drought, melting ice caps and rising sea levels, have made temperatures rise. Global warming is causing climate patterns to change and we human are mostly responsible because our activities have released large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. To maintain a clean environment, people should reduce the use of toxic materials, save water and energy, dispose of garbage properly, and recycle waste products.
There are many ways people can help clean up their environment to get rid of pollution. They can reduce the usage of your electrical appliances by buying appliances that are environment friendly and energy efficient. One of the best ways to conserve electricity is by turning off lights and appliances not in use. You can also wash clothes in a washing machine using both warm and cold water instead of using hot water, and try solar power for heating water instead of an electrical appliance. Next, they should drive less. You can drive your car less and use other means of transportation instead. Many countries recommend repairing leaking air conditioners in cars that destroys the upper layer of ozone layer. You must also be careful while filling your car with gas and see that it doesn't spill out the tank.
You can also use energy-efficient motor oil. Also, one can reduce their usage of chemicals and pesticides.It is always wise to get rid off household chemicals and pesticides that directly pollute the environment. Instead one can make their own solutions for cleaning using distilled vinegar, lemon and baking soda. There are many ‘green’ cleaning products available in the market that are environmentally friendly. Next, people can reduce their carbon footprints by lowering the temperature of their water heater, wash dishes by hand instead of using a dishwasher, reduce use of the air conditioner or heater and buy energy efficient lights to lower the energy consumption. Lastly, people can grow their food locally. Planting food locally helps reduce transportation of food items that require pesticides and preservatives. Preservatives directly pollute the air. It has been proven that organic food is more sustainable then food that has been preserved using harmful pesticides and chemicals, thereby casing harm to the entire global ecosystem.