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Definition: pollution from The Penguin Dictionary of Science

Any deleterious effect on the natural environment caused by the release of any substance. Water can be polluted by untreated sewage or overuse of fertilizers (➤eutrophic). Air pollution is commonly caused by oxides of nitrogen (collectively known as ➤NOx), sulfur dioxide, soot and other particulate matter. ➤Ozone is another cause of pollution at ground level, although its presence in the stratosphere is beneficial (➤ozone layer; ➤➤ozone hole).


Pollution

From Encyclopedia of Global Health
The concept of pollution consists of the inappropriate or undesirable mixing of items or elements that may in themselves be quite appropriate or desirable. An item of food on a plate is an item that is desirable, clean, and in its right place; if the food item falls off the plate onto the floor, then it suddenly becomes dirty and undesirable—it has been polluted by contact with the floor. In traditional Indian society, people are divided into castes and a person from the highest, Brahmin caste, will fear pollution from proximity to a person from the lowest Untouchable (Dalit) caste or something touched or manufactured by such a person. Although the two people in themselves may be quite virtuous and valuable in their own right, their coming together results in contamination or pollution. In the early part of 2007, a boat carrying cargo of many tonnes of sugar capsized in the Chao Phraya River, north of Bangkok. The sugar entered the water, lowered the level of oxygen in the water, and…
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Full text Article Pollution, Air

From Global Social Issues: An Encyclopedia
A coal-fired power plant in the Mongolian capital...
The contamination of the earth's atmosphere is the result of human activity—most of all the burning of hydrocarbon-based fuels, such as coal and oil. The conflict between the need to use fuels and the negative consequences of air pollution on health, building materials and infrastructure, and the…
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Satellite image of the north-west coast of Spain,...
At the time of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972, the greatest threat to the marine environment was perceived to be marine pollution. Waste discharged from ships, as well as urban and industrial effluent from land-based sources, were all seen as…
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WATER POLLUTION
Water pollution is a physical or chemical change in water that adversely affects the health of humans or other organisms. There are eight major types of water pollution: Water Pollution The first major federal legislation addressing the concerns of water pollution was the Federal Water Pollution…
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Full text Article Pollution, Water

From Global Social Issues: An Encyclopedia
Pollution, Water
Water pollution is any contamination of water with chemicals or other foreign substances that are detrimental to human, plant, or animal health. These pollutants include fertilizers and pesticides from agricultural runoff; sewage and food-processing waste; lead, mercury, chromium, and other heavy…
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Air Pollution
Although California has made dramatic progress in reducing air pollution, a majority of the population continues to breathe air that poses significant health risks. Ozone and small particles are the most widespread air pollutants in California. Others include carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, and…
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Full text Article Is air pollution making you sick? 4 questions answered (May 2018)

From The Conversation: An Independent Source of Analysis from Academic Researchers
Is air pollution making you sick? 4 questions answered
Not a day seems to go by without a story of an “airpocalypse,” usually somewhere in a developing nation. It’s hard not to empathize with the people in the smoggy images of New Delhi or Ulaanbataar or Kathmandu, often wearing masks , walking to school or work though soupy cloudiness. Last year, a…
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Full text Article Why California gets to write its own auto emissions standards: 5 questions answered (May 2018)

From The Conversation: An Independent Source of Analysis from Academic Researchers
Why California gets to write its own auto emissions standards: 5 questions answered
Editor’s note: On April 2, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that the Trump administration plans to revise tailpipe emissions standards negotiated by the Obama administration for motor vehicles built between 2022 and 2025, saying the standards were set “too high.” …
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Full text Article pollution

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Harmful effect on the environment of by-products of human activity, principally industrial and agricultural processes – for example, noise, smoke, car emissions, pesticides, radiation, sewage disposal , household waste, and chemical and radioactive effluents in air, seas, and rivers. Air pollution…
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Full text Article Pollution

From The A to Z of Corporate Social Responsibility
→ Eco-efficiency , Environmental liabilities , Life cycle assessment , Waste management Pollution can be defined as the release of unwanted by-products of industrial production that degrade the quality of the natural or social environment. This release can be to air, → water and soil, but noise…
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Full text Article pollution

From Environmental History and Global Change: A Dictionary of Environmental History
The conventional view is that pollution is simply the by-product of industrial processes; another slant is that rather than being a consequence of modernization pollution is central to the origins of modern society (Bernhard & Massard-Guilband 2002). Agriculture generates liquid and solid wastes…
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