Pollution

Ms. Headley
 Objectives
• Define Pollution
• Define Pollutants
• Categories of Pollutants include biodegradable and non – biodegradable.
• Types of Pollution (Air, Land, Water , Thermal and Noise)
• Sources / Causes of the various types of pollutions and their associated
pollutants.
• Effects of the various types of pollution on the environment and on society.
• Solutions or Recommendations to reduce the various types of pollution.
 What is Pollution ?
• Pollution - is the contamination of the natural environment by the
release of unpleasant and harmful substances into the environment.
• The release of these harmful substances in large amounts cause harmful
effects to living organisms that natural biological processes cannot remove
them easily. They also can have a negative impact on human health.
• Pollution contaminates the land, air water by the discharge of these harmful
substances.
• Note the more we use resources the more pollution we are likely to create.
 What are Pollutants?
• Pollutants- are the substances that damage the environment.
• Pollutants can be biodegradable or non-biodegradable
• Biodegradable- materials that are discarded into the environment and are
broken down naturally into simpler, usually harmless forms by the action of
micro organisms e.g. paper
• Non- Biodegradable- materials that cannot be broken down or take a long
time to be broken down in the environment. As a result the waste
accumulates leading to pollution of water and soil.
 What are some types of Pollution
• The types of pollution are broken up into the following categories
1. Land
2. Air
3. Water
4. Thermal and
5. Noise
Refer to handout supplement
 Bioaccumulation
• Pesticides can spread through the environment in a food chain.
• Pesticides e.g., fungicides, herbicides and insecticides are chemicals that are toxic to some organisms
• A grasshopper feeding on a plant treated with insecticide will be killed by eating a small amount.
• This in term harms other organisms in the food chain such as the small bird feeing on the grasshopper.
• If the small bird eats many grasshoppers that have fed on the treated plant, the level of insecticide will be
high enough in the bird to poison or harm it.
• A hawk or another predator feeding on the small bird could end up with even higher levels of pesticide in its
body, Again enough to poison or harm it.

• THIS IS KNOWN AS BIOACCUMULATION OR BIOLOGICAL MAGNIFICATION

 Biological Control
• The use of living organisms to control pests, often in horticulture and
agriculture.
• Introducing a predator or parasite of a pest can greatly reduce the population
size of the pest to the point where the level of damage is economically
acceptable.
• However, great care must be taken when introducing the predator or parasite
so that they themselves don’t become the pest and damage the populations
of other organisms in environment.
 The Greenhouse effect
• Carbon dioxide, water vapor, dinitrogen monoxide. (N2O) and methane
(CH4)are greenhouse gases.
• They form a layer around the earth that lets short-wave radiation from the
sun pass through but prevents much of the long-wave radiation being
reflected back into space. (some long wave radiation from the earth,
however, does escape back into space)
• This radiation causes warming of the Earth which is known and the
greenhouse effect.
Short
wave

Long
wave
 “Enhanced” Greenhouse effect
• An increase in greenhouse gases especially carbo dioxide , caused by human
activities e.g., burning of fossil fuels and deforestation is enhancing the
greenhouse effect and resulting in the earth getting warmer.
• The warming is called global warming.
• Global warming is leading to global climate change.
 Effects of Global Warming
1. Melting of polar ice caps and glaciers
2. A rise in sea levels
3. Flooding of low-lying coastal areas
4. Changes in global weather patterns e.g., some areas become drier or wetter than normal while some are colder or hotter
than normal.
5. More severe weather events and natural disasters e.g., colder winter, hotter summers, extensive flooding, droughts and
wildfires and powerful hurricanes and tornadoes.
6. Changes in ecosystems as the number of some species decline while numbers of the other species increases. Some
organisms immigrate into ecosystems while other emigrate out and some species become extinct.
7. Certain diseases become more widespread e.g., malaria.
8. Arise in sea temperatures can cause bleaching or corals and die.

Small island states of the Caribbean are extremely vulnerable to the effects of global warming due to their small size, fragile
ecosystems, low lying coasts, vulnerability to natural disasters, constraints of transport and communication and for some
limited fresh water supplies
 Ozone Depletion
• The Ozone layer is a part of the upper most atmosphere aids in the
protection of harmful UV radiation reaching the earth. However, the use of
CFC’s has led to the thinning of this layer causing those rays to pass through.
 Ocean acidification
• Some carbon dioxide is absorbed by oceans causing the ph of the water to
decrease.
• This is known as ocean acidification.
• It affects the ability of shellfish to produce and maintain their shells and of
reef building corals to produce their skeletons.
• This reduces the chances of survival of these organisms which in term
negatively impacts the marine food chain, fishing industries and leads to coral
reef erosion.
 Eutrophication
• Farmers add inorganic fertilizers to soils to replace mineral ions lost when crops are
removed.
• The ions in these fertilizers (particularly nitrates) are very soluble
• As a result, they are easily leached(carried by water)from the soils and enter water
ways .
• The level of nitrates can rise rapidly in lakes and rivers
• This increase in mineral ions is called eutrophication.
• This is a natural process however what is unnatural is the speed in which it
happens due to leaching of ions in fertilizers from soil.
 Effects of Eutrophication
1. Nitrate levels rise, causes algae to reproduce rapidly as they use nitrates to make extra proteins for growth.
2. The algae form an algal bloom- algal pea soup.
3. The algae prevent light from penetrating further into the water.
4. Submerged plants cannot photosynthesize and so die.
5. The algae also die as they run out of nitrates.
6. Bacteria decay the dead plants and algae(releasing more nitrates and allowing the cycle to start again).
7. The bacteria reproduce (due to large amounts of dead matter) and their respiration uses up more and more oxygen.
8. The water may become totally ANOXIC (without oxygen) and all life in water will die.

• (It is more severe in hot weather as nitrate become more concentrated due to evaporation of water and the heat also speeds
up enzyme activity. It is less severe in moving water as nitrates rapidly diluted and continually re-oxygenated.)
 Pollution of Marine and Wetlands
• Marine ecosystems – are aquatic ecosystems where water contains
dissolved compounds especially salts. Include coral reefs, seagrass beds,
rocky and sandy shores, mangrove swamps, estuaries.
• Wetland ecosystems- are transitional ecosystems where dry land meets
water and the water may be fresh, brackish or salt. They are areas covered
with water for part or all year round and are usually found alongside rivers,
lakes, coastal areas. Include mangrove swamps, fresh water swamps, marshes.
 Effects of pollution of Marine and Wet land
ecosystems
Damage to the coral reefs, mangrove swamps, and other marine and wetland ecosystems result in LOSS of:
1. Biodiversity
2. Habitats for many organisms
3. Natural resources
4. Attractions and recreational sites for tourists.
5. Nursery grounds for reef fish which mangrove swamps provide resulting in reduced population sizes of
fish.
6. Nesting and breeding grounds for birds e.g. Egret and scarlet ibis
7. Protection of the shorelines against wave action and trial forces, resulting in increased costal erosion
8. Flood control provided by wetlands.
 What can be done to remedy Pollution ?
• Use of cleaner fuel.
• Use alternative energy sources that do not cause pollution instead of burning fossil fuels.
• Use organic fertilizers instead of inorganic fertilizers
• Use natural, biodegradable pesticides and herbicides or biological control instead of
synthetic pesticides and herbicides.
• Use aerosol propellants and refrigerants that do not contain harmful chlorofluorocarbons
(CFC’s).
• Ensure gaseous emissions from factories are cleaned before they enter the environment.
• Dispose of waste using appropriate methods and methods that produce harmless or
useful end products:
1. Purify all effluents from factories.
2. Treat all sewage in sewage treatment plants and use the sludge as fertilizer and the
water to irrigate crops
3. Collect and recycle or re-use all recyclable waste e.g., glass, plastic, metals and paper.
4. Compost all waste of plant origin, e.g., vegetable peelings and crop residues.
5. Use farmyard waste and waste from food industries to produce biogas.
 Other strategies to reduce Pollution
1. Develop educational programs for people of all ages.
2. Implement monitoring programs to continually assess the health of ecosystems.
3. Practice organic agriculture which involves using natural pesticides, herbicides and
fertilizers, rotating crops and livestock, recycling organic matter back into the soil,
practicing soil conservation and using preventative disease control measures.
4. Sign international agreements to control pollutants and conserve natural resources.
5. Pass legislations to protect the environment.
 Homework
• Find examples of biological controls used in Trinidad and in the Caribbean
• Research how biogas is made. Ensure to include a diagram of the set up and
a description of how it works.
• Include for research on Noise pollution to the slides.