The contaminant around us Kh. Atiar Rahman

A substance may be a contaminant when its occupancy in air, water, or soil harms organism in question and as such bacteria and virus carriers such minute living thing can cause contamination in a significant manner. Pollutants harm humans in different ways where in high concentrations they can cause ill health and even death. These sort of pollutants which are horrifying in due sense can spread through food chains spoiling plants and animals and endangering human food supplies like fish, and they can cause dirt and obnoxious smells.

Atmospheric pollution

The principal inception of air contamination are the burning of coal and oil in houses and factories, and in the engines of cars, buses, airplanes and thus smoke assembled by burning contains small particles of dust which are mainly carbon. This dust calumniates the walls of the buildings and settles on the leaves of plants, limiting photosynthesis by cutting out light and limiting materialization by blocking stomata. Smoke contains sulphur dioxide that reacts with water vapour in air forming sulphuric acid causing damages the stonework of buildings, the leaves of plants, and the peoples lungs which vitally important for controlling breathing function. Garden bonfires can also be a source of hazardous pollution. If household rubbish including plastic and polystyrene is added to the fire, its smoke will contain up to 300 times more cancer-producing chemicals than cigarettes smoke, as well as cyanide, lead, dioxin, and other poisonous chemicals. There is no denying the fact that Petrol and diesel engines release fumes containing oxides of nitrogen and lead compounds. Once lead enters the body it cannot be removed by the excretory system. It collects in the body eventually causing damage, especially on the brain.

Mellifluous Pollution

The main source of water pollution is sewage from houses and farms, chemical waste from industry and agriculture, and spilled oil. Sewage can be made harmless but in many countries population growth has overloaded sewage handling works and untreated sewage is released into rivers and sea. Bacteria in water disintegrate sewage, but in lakes and slow-moving rivers this process uses up oxygen so briskly that fish, insects, and tadpoles, are missing. Industrial waste often manifests very venomous, long-lasting pollutants such as composites of cyanide, lead mercury, and mercury, and copper. These chemicals are jeopardous even in small cornucopia, because when they are discharged into streamlet and rivulet, they garner fish and other aquatic creatures. In this way these are amplified through food chains to water birds and sometimes humans.

In many recent farms poultry, cattle, and pigs are possessed in buildings and there is no other land on which to use the fertilizer that they produce. The manure is released into local streams and rivers where it decomposes and reduces oxygen levels in the same way as untreated domestic sewage. Other pollutants attributable to modern farming methods include chemical sprays that kill insect pests and fungi that skirmish crop plants. If these chemicals enter rivers and ponds they can spread through out food chains in the same way as industrial waste.

Dispersion

Radiation such as X-rays and beta and gamma rays can cause various types of cancer, a blood disorder known as leukemia, and damage to the sperms and ova resulting in deformed babies. Natural radiation comes from outer space in the form of cosmic rays, and artificial radiation comes from certain medical and industrial processes. Little if any harm comes from these sources; but there is increasing concern about radiation from the testing of nuclear power to generate electricity will increase. There is always a risk in emitting radiation upon the surface where it is falling. The persons, who are always dealing radiation as routine job and research purpose, they need to be careful about such fission and fusion phenomena. If air is polluted by radiation, environment must be polluted in question and consequently many dreadful diseases may break out.

Meteorological pollution:

There are many ranges of barometric pollution problems currently alarming the earth's general environment; the problem arises from the acidic gases produced by burning fossil fuels in a different situations. The majority of power stations in industrialized countries burn coal or oil. Both these fuels are polluted with sulphur, which produces sulphur dioxide when it burns. The wind can carry acid rain clouds away from the industrialized centers, causing the pollution to fall on other countries. Besides this, oxides of Nitrogen dioxide are produced when thunderstorm blows or air are heated in furnaces or in vehicle petrol engines. Consequently, these gases dissolve in rainwater to produce acid rain. Due to acid rain, the following adverse effects are observed:

·         Limestone buildings and statues are worn away.

·         Lakes and rivers are acidified, and the presence of metal ions leached out of the soil damages the gills of the fish and as such the fishes can die.

·         The nutrients are leached out of the soil and from leaves. Trees are deprived of these nutrients. Aluminum ions are freed from the clay as Aluminum sulphate and damage the roots of the trees. The tree is unable to draw up water through damaged roots and it dies. Due to depletion of ozone layer, a protective layer of ozone in the stratosphere prevents harmful ultra-violet radiation reaching the earth surface ozone layer remains depleted.

·         Chlorofluorocarbons and other halogen compounds are formed due to the depletion of ozone layer, which causes the damage of human beings and plants in question, for which restrictions have been imposed to use such compounds virtually by International agreement.

In view of the above it is evident that if the situation were tolerable to grow worse, preamble to higher levels of ultra-violet radiation could effect more cases of skin cancer in human and cause crops to a great extent. That is to say, in burning chemicals and bricks, poisonous gas emit and as such sulphur dioxide gas, Nitrogen dioxides and carbon monoxide gas are produced in atmospheric layer and consequently, acid rain occurs. This sort of acid rain causes trees to destroy and soil to pollute and poisonous. As a result of creating such dangerous pollutants, our lives are becoming risky and health hazards. Besides this, the problems of green house effects are throughout the world for which we should find out ways and means to solve the impediments, which create health exposure in our every day life. The CFC gas is the product of tremendous effects of greenhouse chattels and as a result, our environment is being polluted creating great health vulnerability in question. The fact is that due to awesome increase of CFC gas and carbon dioxide, ozone layer is consequently licked and the ultra-violet ray from the Ionosphere is in the way to hit the earth directly for which the surface temperature is gradually increasing and the ice is melted and the depth of the sea is also being increased. It is hoped in future that in course of time, the earth will be inundated under water. It has been observed in recent years survey that due to tremendous indiscriminant use of ploy-ethane bags, pollution are occurring to a great extent. In the world, wastage is being observed but these are being recycled in a developed process, which are the consequences of better technology and scientific research. In order to remove such pollution, a better technology and strong recycling process are needed for which new bags are possible to be made. Besides this, we need to be careful about dealing wastage for which prospective and alternative measures are keenly emphasized in a systematic manner. We know that the plants and trees are vitally important in order to make our environments healthy and sophisticated to live peacefully in the world. On the other hand, due to lack of trees, adverse situations prevail in the atmospheric layer like increasing carbon dioxide and dust particles. If this type of gas is increased in the layer, our environment becomes barren and unsuitable for living. We use oxygen in our inhalation and give out carbon dioxide as a general flow of breathing function. Trees give us shadow and fruits for which our survival on earth becomes easy and comfortable. We need trees in order to make our environment free from pollution. Hence, it is widely recognized that due to enormous use of plants and trees, we are always facing the situations of health hazard and for which the government is careful to plant trees in place of the trees cut down. Since the plants and trees are being cut down to a great extent, the amount of lands have been reducing day by day for which the scarcity of cultivable lands are being observed tremendously. As a result of being extinct the forests, the number of animals, birds and other creature living in woodland are being reduced to a great extent. The main weapon to fight against extinction is self-awareness and consciousness. It has to come within everybody that we have to possess the feelings of responsibility and environmentalism, in order to build a better world -a world full of evergreen beauty and spirited animals and for these purpose, the following steps may be taken in due course.

·         Following and whaling should be absolutely proscribed

·         Deforestation needs to be counteracted

·         The use of ivory and furs needs to be declared as a punishable crime imposing an exemplary penalty in question.

·         National parks and nature reserves should be created

·         The natural habitats of endangered species should be preserved.

If these tactics of measures are accomplished instantaneously, then it may be anticipated an optimistic upshot that a man can see the dawn of a new era in the history of the world, which will be even more eye-catching if we are engrossed to be humiliated with one another by forsaking all sorts of enmity and quarrelsome activities from the social life.