Understanding and Addressing Environmental Pollution

3.2.2 Environmental Pollution.

One of the greatest issues today that the entire globe is facing is environmental pollution, which is increasing every year and causing severe and irredeemable damage to the earth. The term environmental pollution is too broad with diverse meaning to different group of people or scholars, for example scientist, farmers and business men all have different meaning to environmental pollution.

Environmental pollution is any discharge of material or energy into water, land, or air which can cause short or long-term detriment to the ecological balance of the Earth or that lowers the quality of life. Pollutants or contaminants may lead to primary damages, with direct detectable impact on the environment, or secondary

That is, technological development have though very essential, have through the economic and social growth been to the expense of other areas of human life. The energy is directly interrupted in the atmospheric pollution that results from burning of lots of fossil fuels for transportation, domestic and industrial uses. It was not until 1960s that the issue of environmental air pollution was identified due to the emergence of western thought towards it. It should be noted that pollution in the western world is as a result industrialization but the case with the less developed countries including Nigeria is due to waste deposition facilities. Air pollution have been found to be the major issues influencing the environment with dangerous element. The remission of air pollution onto the atmosphere is basically as a result of human activities .I most case the natural pollutant are often more than human- made pollutants thought the result tends to be concentrated in cities where populations are working (Bolaji,

They also proceed to say that household combustion devices, motor vehicles, industrial facilities and forest fires have been found to be the common sources of air pollution with major pollutants being the particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Also some scholars have defined air pollution as the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter and biological materials which can cause damages to humans and other living organisms and also often cause lots of damages to the entire natural environment .It can also be defined as the presence in the outdoor and indoor atmosphere of one or more gaseous or particulate contaminants in quantities, characteristics and of duration such as to be injurious to human, plant or animal life or to property, or which unreasonably interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property (