Introduction to Pollution and Environmental Degradation

Environmental Degradation

Imagine the environment as a life-support system that functions smoothly when all its components—air, water, soil, forests, oceans, and living beings—are in balance.

Environmental degradation occurs when this balance gets disturbed to such an extent that the environment becomes less suitable or even unfit for sustaining various life forms.

Now, why is this happening? The chain of causes is very logical:

1. Population Explosion

As the population grows rapidly, the demand for food, housing, energy, transport, and every other resource increases sharply.

2. Urbanisation

With more people moving to cities, we see expanding infrastructure, more vehicles, more industries, and higher consumption of resources.

3. Rapid Industrialisation

Human needs and desires push industries to produce more.
But industries do two things simultaneously:

• Extract natural resources at alarming speeds
• Release waste (pollutants) into the environment

When this continues for decades, the environment begins to show signs of stress.

4. Overexploitation of Natural Resources

Forests are cut faster than they regenerate, groundwater is pumped faster than it recharges, and fossil fuels are burnt much more rapidly than the earth can handle.
This overuse produces a series of environmental problems.

Major Consequences

Environmental degradation is visible today in many forms:

• Climate Change – rising temperatures, extreme weather events
• Ocean Acidification – oceans absorbing excess CO₂
• Soil Erosion – fertile soil being washed away
• Desertification – conversion of productive land into deserts
• Loss of Biodiversity – extinction of species
• Pollution – contamination of air, water, soil, etc.

Each of these issues weakens the earth’s natural capacity to support life.

Pollution

To understand pollution, think of it as introducing something into the environment that does not belong there or is present in harmful quantities.

Definition

Pollution refers to the addition or release of undesirable physical, chemical, or biological agents into the environment due to human (anthropogenic) activities.

These agents—called pollutants—disrupt natural processes and can harm humans, animals, plants, and entire ecosystems.

Why “undesirable”?

Because nature either:

1. cannot absorb them, or
2. cannot neutralise them fast enough,

which leads to accumulation and damage.

Types of Pollution

Pollution is not a single phenomenon; it has many forms depending on where pollutants are released:

1. Air Pollution – contaminants in the atmosphere
2. Noise Pollution – harmful or disturbing sound levels
3. Water Pollution – contamination of rivers, lakes, groundwater, oceans
4. Soil Pollution – degradation of soil due to chemicals, waste, etc.
5. Thermal Pollution – increase in natural water temperature due to industrial discharge
6. Radiation Pollution – harmful ionising radiation from nuclear sources or e-waste

Each type affects the environment differently, but the root cause is the same:
human activities exceeding the environment’s capacity to cope.