There are natural pollution resulting from powerful natural processes (volcanic eruption, forest fires, weathering, erosion, etc.) without any human intervention, and anthropogenic pollution, which is the result of economic activity. Pollution is divided into three main types: physical, biological and chemical. The most dangerous for natural ecosystems and humans is precisely chemical pollution, since as a result of it various toxicants enter the environment: polychlorinated dioxins, organochlorine pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nitrosamines, radionuclides, heavy metals, etc. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) , out of more than 6 million known chemical compounds, only about 500 thousand are used in practice; of these, about 40 thousand have properties harmful to humans, and 12 thousand are toxic. Many chemicals have carcinogenic and mutagenic properties, among which 200 items are especially dangerous: benzene, asbestos, benzapyrene, pesticides, heavy metals (especially mercury, lead, cadmium), various dyes and food additives. The danger of toxic substances for humans is largely determined by the ability of the latter to cumulate (Cumulation is the accumulation of a biologically active substance or the effects it causes during repeated exposure to medicinal substances and poisons on the body). Accumulating in the human body, toxicants can lead to various disease states long after their exposure. In addition, toxic substances can lead to various malformations, deformities and hereditary diseases.

Industry

Any human production activity has a negative impact on the natural environment, its resources and processes. Industrial enterprises are divided into mining and processing. The latter are divided into heavy and light industry.

Mining enterprises, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, chemical and oil refining industries, pulp and paper mills, all types of power plants are characterized by a high level of anthropogenic impact on the environment.

Problems of all industrial enterprises - the formation of a large amount of waste:

1) emissions into the atmospheric air;
2) sewage and solid waste production.

The reduction in the areas of forests, savannas, steppes in connection with the rapid construction of cities, large industrial enterprises and highways entails a decrease in the supply of oxygen to the atmosphere. Millions of tons of sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen dioxide, hydrocarbons, ozone, ammonia, carbon monoxide and dust enter the atmosphere every year.

Mining and processing enterprises use large amounts of water for industrial purposes. This circumstance entails the formation of wastewater contaminated with a variety of substances, the entry of which into water bodies is fraught with disastrous consequences for their inhabitants. Oil products, compounds of copper, iron, zinc, surfactants, phosphorus, phenol, ammonium and nitrite nitrogen are discharged into surface waters. Very often, these and other harmful substances end up in groundwater, where they seep from industrial and agricultural waste disposal sites.

The development of large mineral deposits, as well as the extraction of building materials, destroy natural landscapes, destroy the soil cover, and disturb the hydrological balance of groundwater.

Industrial enterprises pollute the natural environment with radioactive substances. A special type of pollution is noise and vibration generated by industrial installations and transport.

Transport

Transport, being a very important link in the world economy, has a sharply negative impact on the quality of the environment. It manifests itself in the chemical pollution of the environment by the exhaust gases of internal combustion engines; noise pollution; land acquisition for road construction. Each mode of transport has a specific impact on the environment.

Road transport is one of the most significant sources of air pollution. This effect is especially noticeable within large cities. Air transport has a similar impact on the environment.

An excess amount of air from car exhaust caused a European flood: a flood in Germany, Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, in the Krasnodar Territory, Adygea. Drought and smog in the central regions of the European part of Russia, in the Moscow region. The flood can be explained by the fact that powerful streams of hot air from automobile CO2 exhaust and H2O exhaust gases from Central and Eastern Europe, where the growth in the number of cars exceeded all permissible norms, were added to atmospheric currents and fluctuations in air flows. The number of cars on highways and cities in our country has increased 5 times as a result of which the thermal heating of air and its volume from automobile exhaust vapors have sharply increased. If the heating of the atmosphere by road transport was much less than the heating of the Earth's surface from the sun, then the number of moving cars has increased so many times that the heating of the atmosphere from cars becomes commensurate with the heating from the sun and sharply disrupts the climate of the atmosphere.

True, the aircraft fleet is much smaller than the automobile fleet, but the influence of only one airliner on the atmosphere is equivalent to the influence of almost 8 thousand cars. In addition, air transport is characterized by the highest degree of noise impact, which is especially noticeable during takeoff and landing, when the aircraft is near the ground.

Water modes of transport mainly affect the hydrosphere of the planet. Oil pollution of the oceans and inland waters, which has already been mentioned above, is associated, in particular, with the operation of this type of transport.

Modern rail transport has almost no direct impact on the environment. But it is associated with a significant withdrawal of land for the construction of roads, as well as clogging of areas adjacent to the railways.

Agriculture

Of all types of economic activity, agriculture has the greatest impact on the environment. The main reason is that agricultural activities require the development of vast territories. There are not many undeveloped areas in the world suitable for agricultural activities. There are many factors hindering the cultivation of new plots of land. These include poor soil quality, arid climate, lack of infrastructure, and environmental restrictions. Modern agriculture has caused significant damage to the environment, primarily due to deforestation for crop areas. In many regions, further deforestation for arable land could lead to an ecological disaster.

In the process of agricultural use in soils, the content of individual nutrients that plants need for full growth decreases, so mineral fertilizers play an extremely important role in agriculture. The application of mineral fertilizers is necessary not only for countries like China, where the amount of land resources is constantly decreasing due to the growth of urbanization, but also for countries like Brazil, where there is an increase in sown areas due to the development of new territories. Since the amount of organic fertilizers is very limited, the improvement of the fertile qualities of the soil is possible only through the application of mineral fertilizers obtained from phosphorites, potassium chloride and natural gas.

The use of fertilizers must be balanced, taking into account their interaction with environmental objects. Violation of the requirements for the use of fertilizers, primarily nitrogen and non-litter manure, not only negatively affects water bodies, water sources, vegetation, but often leads to an increased content of compounds harmful to humans and animals in crop products.

Excessive application of fertilizers (primarily nitrogenous), especially with improper, untimely application, can lead to pollution of water bodies, groundwater, an increase in the content of nitrates, sulfates, chlorides and other compounds in them above the permissible level. This is especially true for regions with high rainfall.

An increase in the concentration of nutrients in water bodies causes their eutrophication. Eutrophication is the process of water enrichment with nutrients, primarily nitrogen and phosphorus, by anthropogenic or natural means. The most undesirable consequence of eutrophication is the overdevelopment of algae in water bodies, which causes them to bloom. There is also an overgrowth of coastal flora, which gradually leads to a reduction in area and swamping of water bodies.

Military activities

War is always chaos and death. War harms not only humanity, but also the environment - it destroys the soil, harms animals, birds, fish. Man lives in constant fear, hunger, lack of water. In wartime, human rights and freedoms are violated, especially the most important thing - the right to life. However, during the war, the country is choked in a wave of patriotism. A kind of upsurge of culture begins. Science and military technology are developing. True, not every military invention of mankind is remarkable. For example, nuclear weapons were a mistake, because if someone ever uses them, it will lead to the destruction or mutation of all life on earth, and there may be a complete destruction of a person as a current one. The world has already once been on the verge of such an event in 1962, when the Third World War was a matter of seconds.

Conducting any military operations leads to the destruction of the environment. Since, for example, high-explosive weapons can cause great damage to both the soil and vegetation cover and the inhabitants of forests and fields. Also, chemical, incendiary, gas weapons radically harm the environment. All these impacts on the environment, which are growing as the economic power of man increases, lead to the fact that nature does not have time to compensate for the destructive consequences of human economic activity.

The use of natural objects for military purposes is the use of them to defeat the enemy. The simplest common ways are poisoning water sources and fires. The first method is the most common due to its simplicity and efficiency. Another method - fires - was also often used in war. The inhabitants of the steppes had a special passion for this method: it is understandable - in the steppe, fire quickly spreads over vast territories, and even if the enemy does not die in the fire, he will be destroyed by the lack of water, food and feed for livestock. They also burned forests, of course, but this is less effective in terms of defeating the enemy, and was usually used for other purposes.

Another reason is the huge graves that remain at the sites of major battles (for example, during the battle on the Kulikovo field, 120,000 people died). When a huge number of corpses decompose, poisons are formed, which, with rain or groundwater, enter water bodies, poisoning them. The same poisons kill animals at the burial site. They are all the more dangerous because their action can begin both immediately and only after many years.

Modern armed forces have a significant and dangerous impact on the environment: pollution of territories by military vehicles, forest fires during firing, destruction of the ozone layer during rocket launches and flights of military aircraft, radioactive contamination of the environment by submarines with nuclear installations (they pose a danger as components of spent nuclear fuel , and radiation-contaminated hulls of decommissioned nuclear submarines, the disposal of which is carried out at great expense).

In addition, there has been a recent increase in accidents at depots of aging ammunition, as a result of which fires have destroyed a significant area of ​​​​forests in the territories adjacent to the depots.

Warehouses where components of nuclear weapons (warheads, rocket fuel, and so on) are stored are a constant threat. Potential sources of radioactive contamination of the environment are sunken submarines with nuclear installations.

However, the main environmental problems that are generated by the armed forces are the consequences of nuclear weapons testing, military ecocide in Indo-China and the Persian Gulf, problems of storage and destruction of chemical weapons, and solid and especially liquid fuels of combat missiles.

Utilities

Housing and communal services (HCS) enterprises are the main sources of polluted wastewater entering surface water bodies. Emergency pollution of water sources is accompanied by the shutdown of urban and rural water intakes, violation of the water supply regime. The location of industrial enterprises and other environmentally hazardous facilities in the zones of sanitary protection of drinking water sources has led to the fact that all water taken from surface sources is subjected to special treatment. In most countries, there is a shortage of water supply facilities. As a result, people are forced to use water for household and drinking needs that does not meet sanitary and hygienic requirements.

Depreciation of water supply and sewerage systems is increasing every year, which leads to volley discharges of polluted wastewater, causing extremely high pollution of water bodies, as well as outbreaks of infectious diseases. More than a third of all water networks require complete replacement; Breakthroughs, shutdowns and accidents cause not only water losses, but also a temporary interruption of water supply.

Pollutant: Any agent of natural or man-made origin (primarily a physical agent, a chemical and a species, principally micro-organisms) that enters or emerges from the environment in quantities of … Dictionary-reference book of terms of normative and technical documentation

POLLUTANT- any physical agent, chemical substance or biological species that enters the environment or occurs in it in an amount that exceeds the usual amount and causes pollution of the environment. Ecological encyclopedic dictionary. Chisinau:… … Ecological dictionary

Pollutant Dictionary of Russian synonyms. pollutant noun, number of synonyms: 2 pollutant (2) … Synonym dictionary

pollutant- Any foreign (extraneous) energy or substance (particles, liquids, gases, energy in the form of heat, static electricity, radiation, etc.) in the technological environment (zone) that adversely affects the reliability, safety, efficiency ... ... Technical Translator's Handbook

POLLUTANT, me, husband. That which pollutes the air, water, soil. Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

1) any natural and anthropogenic: physical or informational agent, chemical substance and biological species (ch. arr. microorganisms) that enters the environment or occurs in it in quantities that go beyond the natural background; ... ... Emergencies Dictionary

pollutant- Natural or anthropogenic substances released into or occurring in the environment in quantities that are anomalously high compared to their natural levels. Syn.: pollutant… Geography Dictionary

pollutant- 6.1. #pollutant#: Any agent of natural or man-made origin (primarily a physical agent, a chemical and a species, principally micro-organisms) that enters or occurs in the environment in… … Official terminology

pollutant- rus pollutant (m), pollutant (c) eng contaminant, pollutant fra impureté (f), contaminant (m), polluant (m) deu Verunreinigung (f), Verunreiniger (m), verunreinigender Stoff (m) spa contaminante ( m), agente (m) polulante ... Occupational safety and health. Translation into English, French, German, Spanish

POLLUTANT- In damage management: toxic, harmful or dangerous substance. Any factor: a physical agent, chemical or species (mainly micro-organisms) capable of causing harm to human health or the environment. In laws... Insurance and risk management. Terminological dictionary

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Types of environmental pollution

The simplest definition of pollution is the introduction or emergence of new pollutants into the environment or the excess of the natural long-term average level of these pollutants.

From an ecological point of view, pollution is not just the introduction of alien components into the environment, but their introduction into ecosystems. Many of them are chemically active and are able to interact with the molecules that make up the tissues of living organisms or actively oxidize in air. Such substances are poisons to all living things.

Environmental pollution is divided into natural, caused by some natural causes: volcanic eruptions, breaks in the earth's crust, natural fires, dust storms, etc., and anthropogenic, arising in connection with human economic activity.

Among anthropogenic pollution, the following types of pollution are distinguished: physical, mechanical, biological, geological, chemical.

To physical pollution include thermal (thermal), light, noise, vibration, electromagnetic, ionizing pollution.

Sources of soil temperature increase are underground construction, laying of communications. An increase in soil temperature stimulates the activity of microorganisms, which are agents of corrosion of various communications.

light pollution - Violation of natural light environment. It leads to a violation of the rhythms of the activity of living organisms. An increase in water turbidity in water bodies reduces the penetration of sunlight to the depth and the photosynthesis of aquatic vegetation.

Noise pollution . Sound- as a physical phenomenon, it is a wave motion of an elastic medium. Noise - all kinds of sounds that interfere with the perception of useful sounds or break the silence. The sound frequency range that the human ear perceives is from 16 to 20,000 Hz. Sound waves below 20 Hz are called infrasonic, above 20000 - ultrasonic.

Sound volume depends on the amplitude of the sound vibrations. sound effect is measured by relative sound intensity (noise level), which is expressed numerically in decibels (dB).

Noise sources are all types of transport, industrial enterprises, household appliances, etc. Airports are powerful sources of noise, aircraft take off the most noise. Intensive noise is created by railway transport. There are a large number of noise sources in residential premises: operating elevators, fans, pumps, televisions, loud conversations, etc.

Noise adversely affects human health. Sudden sharp sounds of high frequency are especially hard to bear. At a noise level of more than 90 dB, there is a gradual weakening of hearing, a disease of the nervous, cardiovascular system, mental disorders, etc.

The consequences of exposure to infrasound and ultrasound are especially significant. Infrasound causes resonance in various internal organs of a person, vision is disturbed, the functional state of the nervous system, internal organs is disturbed, nervous excitation occurs, etc.

vibration pollution - associated with acoustic vibrations of different frequencies and infrasonic vibrations. Sources of infrasonic vibrations, and the associated vibration are compressor, pumping stations, fans, vibration platforms, air conditioners, cooling towers, turbines of diesel power plants. Vibrations propagate through the metal structures of the equipment and through their bases reach the foundations of public and residential buildings, are transmitted to the enclosing structures of individual premises.

Vibrations have a negative effect on people, cause irritation and interfere with work and rest. When vibrations are transmitted, uneven settlement of foundations and bases occurs, which can lead to deformation and destruction of engineering structures.

Electromagnetic pollution . The development of energy, electronics and radio engineering has caused pollution of the environment by electromagnetic fields. Their main sources are power plants and substations, television and radar stations, high-voltage power lines, electric transport, etc.

Impact measure electromagnetic fields is the field strength. Fields of increased tension have a negative impact on the human body, cause disorders of the nervous system, headache, fatigue, the development of neuroses, insomnia, etc.

ionizing radiation - this is such radiation, the interaction of which with the medium leads to the formation of ions (positively or negatively charged particles) in it from neutral atoms or molecules. There are several types of ionizing radiation.

Gamma radiation is a stream of electromagnetic waves, has a high penetrating ability, its propagation speed is close to the speed of light. In the air, it can spread hundreds of meters, freely pass through the human body and other organisms.

beta radiation- makes up a stream of negatively charged particles - electrons, penetrates several meters in the air, and several millimeters in living tissues and water.

Alpha radiation - e then the flow of positively charged particles (nuclei of helium atoms), their penetrating ability is small, and the ionizing ability is huge, so they pose the greatest danger when they enter the body.

The impact of ionizing radiation on a person leads to its exposure. A quantitative assessment of the ionization of an organism is dose irradiation. Absorbed radiation dose is the amount of radiation energy absorbed by a unit mass of the irradiated body. The unit of absorbed dose is gray.

Under the influence of ionizing radiation, substances in the body of the organism are ionized at the molecular level, causing strong changes (depending on the dose of radiation) in the nuclei of cells, disrupting their normal functioning.

Distinguish irradiation external when the radiation source is outside the body and internal when the source of radiation is inside the body, getting there with air, water, food, medicines.

Until the middle of the 20th century, the main sources of ionizing radiation were natural sources - cosmic rays and rocks. But even then, the levels of radiation differed significantly, reaching the highest values ​​in the areas of deposits of uranium ores, radioactive slates, phosphorites, crystalline rocks, etc.

Currently, sources of radioactive radiation created by man have led to an increase in the natural radiation background.

Exposure doses of the population from natural sources depend on the height of cities above sea level, the geological structure of the territory. For inhabitants of mountainous regions, the level of exposure from cosmic rays is increasing. Aircraft crews and passengers who often fly at altitudes of 8-11 km can receive significant doses of radiation.

An increase in the exposure dose from natural sources can be caused by the use of building materials with a high content of radionuclides in the construction of buildings, roads or in the planning of territories.

A dangerous natural source of internal radiation is gas radon. It is a radioactive gas, a product of the radioactive decay of radium and thorium. It has now been revealed that it is present in many rooms on all continents. It comes from the rocks of the foundations of buildings and structures and accumulates in the basements and rooms of the first floors, especially when they are not sufficiently ventilated, and also enters other floors through cracks in the walls and ceilings. Radon sources are also building materials from which buildings and structures are built.

Sources of radioactive radiation created by man.

Radiation aerosols released into the atmosphere during nuclear weapons testing. Despite the fact that the volume of nuclear weapons testing has decreased compared to 50-60 years of the XX century, long-lived radionuclides continue to come to the Earth's surface from the stratosphere, contributing to an increase in the radiation background.

Sources of ionizing radiation used in many instruments, equipment in the national economy, civil defense, construction, research purposes, etc.

Common source of exposure are medical procedures (especially X-ray examination). Irradiation doses largely depend on the qualifications of the personnel and the condition of the equipment.

Nuclear power makes a significant contribution to increasing the radiation background: when storing waste generated during the extraction and enrichment of uranium ores, the production of nuclear fuel, during the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and end-of-life equipment of nuclear power plants, but accidents at nuclear power plants pose the greatest danger.

As a result of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (which is estimated as the largest man-made disaster in the history of mankind), radioactive contamination of large areas occurred, both in our country and abroad. More than 500 radionuclides with different half-lives entered the atmosphere as a part of emissions. The radiation background near the accident site was thousands of times higher than the natural radiation background, which led to the need to resettle residents near the lying areas.

Mechanical pollution - pollution of the environment by materials that have only a mechanical effect without chemical consequences. Examples are: siltation of water bodies with soil, dust in the atmosphere, construction waste dump on a land plot. At first glance, such pollution may seem harmless, but it can cause a number of environmental problems, the elimination of which will require significant economic costs.

biological pollution divided into bacterial and organic. Bacterial contamination - the introduction into the environment of pathogens that contribute to the spread of diseases, such as hepatitis, cholera, dysentery and other diseases.

Sources may be insufficiently disinfected sewage wastewater discharged into a water body.

Organic pollution - pollution, for example, of the aquatic environment with substances capable of fermentation, decay: waste from food, pulp and paper industries, untreated sewage.

Biological pollution also includes animal relocation into new ecosystems where their natural enemies are absent. Such relocation can lead to an explosion in the number of relocated animals and have unpredictable consequences.

geological pollution - stimulation under the influence of human activities of such geological processes as flooding, drainage of territories, the formation of landslides, landslides, subsidence of the earth's surface, etc.

Such violations occur as a result of mining, construction, leakage of water and sewage from communications, as a result of the vibrational impact of transport and other influences. The given impacts must be taken into account when designing in construction (choosing the design characteristics of soils, in calculating the stability of buildings and structures).

chemical pollution - change in the natural chemical properties of the environment as a result of emissions by industrial enterprises, transport, agriculture of various pollutants. For example, emissions into the atmosphere of hydrocarbon fuel combustion products, soil pollution with pesticides, and untreated wastewater discharges into water bodies. Some of the most dangerous pollutants are heavy metals and synthetic organic compounds.

Heavy metals are chemical elements that have a high density

(> 8 g/cm3), such as lead, tin, cadmium, mercury, chromium, copper, zinc, etc., they are widely used in industry and are very toxic. Their ions and some compounds are easily soluble in water, can enter the body and have a negative effect on it. The main sources of waste containing heavy metals are ore beneficiation, metal smelting and processing, and electroplating industries.

Synthetic organic compounds are used to produce plastics, synthetic fibers, solvents, paints, pesticides, detergents, and can be absorbed by living organisms and disrupt their functioning.

Heavy metals and many synthetic organic compounds are bioaccumulative. Bioaccumulation- this is the accumulation of pollutants in living organisms when they enter from the external environment in small doses that seem harmless.

Bioaccumulation is exacerbated in the food chain, i.e. plant organisms assimilate pollutants from the external environment and accumulate them in their organs, herbivorous animals, eating vegetation, receive large doses, predatory animals receive even larger doses. As a result, in living organisms at the end of the food chain, the concentration of pollutants can be hundreds of thousands of times greater than in the external environment. This accumulation of a substance as it passes through the food chain is called bioconcentration.

The dangers of bioaccumulation and bioconcentration became known in the 1960s when population declines were found for many birds of prey, animals at the end of the food chain.

Environmental pollution is a global problem of our time, which is regularly discussed in the news and scientific circles. Many international organizations have been created to combat the deterioration of natural conditions. Scientists have long sounded the alarm about the inevitability of an environmental catastrophe in the very near future.

At the moment, much is known about environmental pollution - a large number of scientific papers and books have been written, numerous studies have been carried out. But in solving the problem, mankind has advanced very little. Pollution of nature still remains an important and urgent issue, the postponement of which can be tragic.

History of biosphere pollution

In connection with the intensive industrialization of society, environmental pollution has become especially aggravated in recent decades. However, despite this fact, natural pollution is one of the most ancient problems in human history. Even in the era of primitive life, people began to barbarously destroy forests, exterminate animals and change the landscape of the earth to expand the territory of residence and obtain valuable resources.

Even then, this led to climate change and other environmental problems. The growth of the planet's population and the progress of civilizations was accompanied by increased mining, drainage of water bodies, as well as chemical pollution of the biosphere. The Industrial Revolution marked not only a new era in society, but also a new wave of pollution.

With the development of science and technology, scientists have received tools that make it possible to accurately and thoroughly analyze the ecological state of the planet. Weather reports, monitoring of the chemical composition of air, water and soil, satellite data, as well as smoking pipes everywhere and oil slicks on the water, indicate that the problem is rapidly aggravating with the expansion of the technosphere. No wonder the appearance of man is called the main ecological catastrophe.

Classification of nature pollution

There are several classifications of environmental pollution based on their source, direction, and other factors.

So, the following types of environmental pollution are distinguished:

• Biological - the source of pollution is living organisms, it can occur due to natural causes or as a result of anthropogenic activities.
• Physical - leads to a change in the corresponding characteristics of the environment. Physical pollution includes thermal, radiation, noise and others.
• Chemical - an increase in the content of substances or their penetration into the environment. Leads to a change in the normal chemical composition of resources.
• Mechanical - pollution of the biosphere with garbage.

In fact, one type of pollution may be accompanied by another or several at once.

The gaseous shell of the planet is an integral participant in natural processes, determines the thermal background and climate of the Earth, protects against destructive cosmic radiation, and affects relief formation.

The composition of the atmosphere has changed throughout the historical development of the planet. The current situation is such that part of the volume of the gas envelope is determined by human economic activity. The composition of the air is heterogeneous and differs depending on the geographical location - in industrial areas and large cities, a high level of harmful impurities.

The main sources of chemical pollution of the atmosphere:

• chemical plants;
• enterprises of the fuel and energy complex;
• transport.

These pollutants cause heavy metals such as lead, mercury, chromium, and copper to be present in the atmosphere. They are permanent components of the air in industrial areas.

Modern power plants emit hundreds of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every day, as well as soot, dust and ash.

The increase in the number of cars in settlements has led to an increase in the concentration of a number of harmful gases in the air, which are part of the engine exhaust. Anti-knock additives added to vehicle fuels release large amounts of lead. Cars produce dust and ash, which pollute not only the air, but also the soil, settling on the ground.

The atmosphere is also polluted by very toxic gases emitted by the chemical industry. Wastes from chemical plants, such as nitrogen and sulfur oxides, are the cause of acid rain and are capable of reacting with biospheric components to form other hazardous derivatives.

As a result of human activities, forest fires regularly occur, during which huge amounts of carbon dioxide are released.

Soil is a thin layer of the lithosphere, formed as a result of natural factors, in which most of the exchange processes between living and non-living systems take place.

Due to the extraction of natural resources, mining, the construction of buildings, roads and airfields, large-scale areas of soil are being destroyed.

Irrational human economic activity has caused the degradation of the fertile layer of the earth. Its natural chemical composition changes, mechanical pollution occurs. The intensive development of agriculture leads to significant losses of land. Frequent plowing makes them vulnerable to flooding, salinization and winds, which cause soil erosion.

The abundant use of fertilizers, insecticides, and chemical poisons to kill pests and cleanse weeds leads to the ingress of toxic compounds that are unnatural for it into the soil. As a result of anthropogenic activity, chemical pollution of lands by heavy metals and their derivatives occurs. The main harmful element is lead, as well as its compounds. When processing lead ores, about 30 kilograms of metal is thrown out from each ton. Automobile exhaust containing a large amount of this metal settles in the soil, poisoning the organisms living in it. Drains of liquid waste from mines contaminate the earth with zinc, copper and other metals.

Power plants, radioactive fallout from nuclear explosions, research centers for the study of atomic energy cause radioactive isotopes to enter the soil, which then enter the human body with food.

The reserves of metals concentrated in the bowels of the earth are dissipated as a result of human production activity. Then they concentrate in the topsoil. In ancient times, man used 18 elements from the earth's crust, and today - all known.

Today, the water shell of the earth is much more polluted than one can imagine. Oil slicks and bottles floating on the surface are just what you can see. A significant part of the pollutants is in a dissolved state.

Water damage can occur naturally. As a result of mudflows and floods, magnesium is washed out of the mainland soil, which enters water bodies and harms fish. As a result of chemical transformations, aluminum penetrates into fresh water. But natural pollution is negligible compared to anthropogenic pollution. Through the fault of man, the following fall into the water:

• surface-active compounds;
• pesticides;
• phosphates, nitrates and other salts;
• medicines;
• oil products;
• radioactive isotopes.

The sources of these pollutants are farms, fisheries, oil platforms, power plants, chemical industries, and sewage.

Acid rain, which is also the result of human activity, dissolves the soil, washing away heavy metals.

In addition to chemical pollution of water, there is physical, namely thermal. Most of the water is used in the production of electricity. Thermal stations use it to cool turbines, and the heated waste liquid is drained into reservoirs.

Mechanical deterioration of water quality by household waste in settlements leads to a reduction in the habitats of living beings. Some species are dying.

Polluted water is the main cause of most diseases. As a result of liquid poisoning, many living beings die, the ocean ecosystem suffers, and the normal course of natural processes is disturbed. Pollutants eventually enter the human body.

Pollution control

In order to avoid an ecological catastrophe, the fight against physical pollution must be a top priority. The problem must be solved at the international level, because nature has no state borders. To prevent pollution, it is necessary to impose sanctions on enterprises that emit waste into the environment, to impose large fines for placing garbage in the wrong place. Incentives to comply with environmental safety standards can also be implemented through financial methods. This approach has proven effective in some countries.

A promising direction in the fight against pollution is the use of alternative energy sources. The use of solar panels, hydrogen fuel and other energy-saving technologies will reduce the release of toxic compounds into the atmosphere.

Other pollution control methods include:

• construction of treatment facilities;
• creation of national parks and reserves;
• increase in the number of green spaces;
• population control in third world countries;
• drawing public attention to the problem.

Environmental pollution is a large-scale global problem, which can be solved only with the active participation of everyone who calls the planet Earth their home, otherwise an ecological catastrophe will be inevitable.