Important Pollution Facts
Humans were placed on the earth as its caretakers, but instead have filled its every breadth with pollution; facts about the drastic effects this will have on the future are alarming. If not immediately halted and reversed, these damaging effects will have a stronger impact on our very lives than many take the time to realize.
Every trip to the grocery store is an investment in the destruction of the earth. Prepared foods are enclosed in packages of paper, cardboard, plastic or glass that are non-edible and highly disposable. While many of these substances are able to be recycled into another useful form, the majority of people do not make the extra effort to separate them so that they are able to be transformed. Of course, we need to purchase foods, but there is a better method of obtaining the food necessary for survival without adding to the pollution problem of the world. Shopping at bulk food stores using reusable containers to carry and store the foods will go a long way in reducing the mounds of waste products. Those items which are unable to be purchased in bulk and must instead be contained within a recyclable substance should have those containers separated into categories for recycling.
Americans, as compared to many other nationalities, have a great deal of advantages afforded us. The opportunity to buy new clothes, new shoes, new home accessories, new vehicles and more is a temptation that few can ignore, despite the fact that often the need for these items is lacking. The desire to have the new and improved models or to be competitive with fashion trends is something that is irresistible. When these newer items are in hand, perfectly functional older items are often disdainfully discarded as obsolete or unnecessary. For items that contain toxic materials, such as refrigerants, battery acid and foams, discarding them requires finesse and expert handling. Simply tossing them out to be buried in landfills results in these hazardous substances leaching into water tables and surrounding soil.
The very air we breathe is a victim of pollution. Emissions from factories, manufacturing plants, vehicles, airplanes, power plants and human activities contribute to global warming as fossil fuels are burnt; releasing copious amounts of dangerous carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Open waters in the Antarctic and the Arctic now find families of polar bears, mothers and cubs, swimming to opposite shores in their desperate search for food. Their survival depends upon the availability of prey such as seals and fish. Arctic ice is crucial for the bears, for feeding and for breeding. Due to pollution, facts indicate that a threat is hovering over the survival of polar bears as the arctic sea ice shrinks in volume. These are not the only wildlife members that feel the impact of pollution. Lakes and oceans alike show diminishing numbers of certain marine life, thanks to bilge tank emptying, fuel emissions released in the previously pristine waters, discarded waste such as plastics and aluminums and environmental wastes poured into the water.
It is unrealistic to propose that progress be turned backwards to a day when people made their own clothes, grew their own produce, raised their own meat and used beasts of burden instead of machines in their daily life. It is not unrealistic to expect that humans curtail waste disposal and begin the arduous process of undoing the damage that we have unwittingly done in our quest for a better life. Renew, reuse and recycle are words that should be emblazoned upon every heart as we go forth; to save not only the future of wildlife but the future of many generations of humans as well.