Back to: Social Studies Primary 4
Pollution
Pollution is the contamination of a place or substance, thereby making it unsafe or harmful for living things, both plants and animals. It is anything that makes the land, water, or air dirty and bad.
Types of pollution
- Air Pollution: This is when smoke from fire and machines or exhaust fumes from cars fill the air and pollute it. Air pollution causes respiratory diseases such as asthma and lung cancer in human. Air pollution also causes blood poisoning leading to chronic cough, sneezing and allergies. It results in stunted growth in plants.
- Water Pollution: Water pollution is caused by many things such as the dumping of refuse and sewage into water, oil discharge from ships and boats, and oil spillage from oil production. Water pollution kills the plants which fish feeds on and kill the fish as well. This impacts on human which gets sick with dysentery and cholera from using contaminated water to bathe, drink and cook. Water pollution also affects the income of people who fish for a living because they no longer have any fish to sell.
- Land Pollution: This occurs from spillage from oil tankers, or excessive dumping of refuse on land. Oil spillage makes it hard to use land for farming and result in a loss of income for the affected farmers.
- Noise Pollution: Too much noise can be a form of pollution. Loud blaring music late at night or early in the morning can cause sleeplessness, headache, and nervousness. Excessive noise can damage ear drums and lead to deafness. Impatient and bad drivers who blare their horns also cause noise pollution.
Remedy/prevention of pollution
Air pollution can be remedied or reduced by doing the following:
- Reducing our dependence on fossil fuel.
- Finding alternative sources of energy which will not pollute the air.
- Moving industries to the outskirt of cities and towns to reduce the constant release of smokes and gases from factories into the air.
- Imposing heavy fines on oil producers who spill oil and insisting they clean up the polluted areas.
Water pollution can be remedied or reduced by doing the following:
- Making it illegal to dump waste into water and enforce this law by imposing strict punishments on offenders.
- Recycling our water will also help in dealing with water pollution. It helps to purify the water before releasing it into the environment for use.
- Government should provide waste disposal facilities so that people can stop dumping into the water.
Land pollution can be remedied or reduced by doing the following:
- Government should provide waste disposal facilities so that people can stop dumping unto the land.
- Imposing fines on tanker drivers who discharge used oil onto the ground and oil producers who destroys ecosystems with oil spillage.
- Providing harsh punishments to those found guilty of breaking oil pipelines. Not only are these people stealing, they are also destroying the land.
- Plant more trees and flowers and protecting endangered species will help restore the land.
- Practicing regular environmental sanitation.
Noise pollution can be remedied or reduced by doing the following:
- Educating people about the dangers of playing music too loud and disturbing the peace with loud sermons or advertisements.
- Making it part of traffic and road rules not to horn in certain areas, especially residential areas, or where hospitals or schools are located.
- Imposing fines on those who refuse to obey the laws regarding noise pollution.
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