In addition to polluting water, some of the same effluents also harm its land. The soil can become contaminated with toxic chemicals after mining, threatening sustainability.
The wind carries pesticides and fertilisers off agricultural fields. Plants, animals, and even people, in some cases, are at risk from their toxicity. Pesticides are absorbed by some fruits and vegetables, which aids in their growth. Pesticides are absorbed into the human body when people eat fruits and vegetables. Cancer and other maladies can be brought on by certain pesticides.
While DDT was once widely used to kill mosquitoes, the pesticide has since been phased out. Malaria, that kills a million population each year in many areas of the world, is spread by mosquitoes. An insecticide known as DDT received its Nobel Prize for discovery by French scientist Paul Hermann Muller. In places like Taiwan and Sri Lanka, DDT is credited with reducing malaria.
Rachel Carson, an American biologist, wrote Silent Spring in 1962, a book about the perils of DDT. In humans, she asserted, it could be a risk factor for cancer. As a result, the number of brown pelicans, white-tailed eagles, and bald eagles has decreased. DDT was outlawed in the United States in 1972. It was also banned in a number of other countries. But DDT didn’t completely vanish from the face of the Earth. DDT is still the most effective method of fighting malaria today, and many governments support its use.
Another type of environmental pollution is litter. Litter and abandoned vehicles and appliances pollute the environment all over the world. Plants and other food web producers struggle to produce nutrients when litter is present. If an animal eats plastic by accident, it runs the risk of death.
Oils, chemicals, as well as ink are common pollutants found in garbage. All of these pollutants can harm plants, wild creatures, and even people if they get into the groundwater.
Land pollution is exacerbated by inefficient garbage collection systems. Often, the trash is collected and taken to a landfill or dump. Landfills are where trash is buried for the long term. There are times when a community produces so much rubbish that their incinerators are overflowing with waste. As a result, they are at a loss for where to dump their waste.
In 2000, a pollution in the environment tragedy occurred at a massive landfill outside of Quezon City, Philippines. Tens of protesters lived on the outskirts of Quezon City on the pistes of the garbage dump. Recycling and reselling waste products was their main source of income. Due to a lack of security in the landfill, however, 218 people were killed in a trash landslide caused by heavy rains.
Occasionally, the land around a landfill is not completely sealed off. Landfill pollution seeps into the earth where it is buried. Herbivores that eat plants that have been contaminated may also become contaminated themselves. Predators that prey on herbivores feel the same way. Bioaccumulation is the term used to describe the process by which a chemical accumulates throughout the food chain.
Contaminants from landfills are also making their way into the local water supply. Toxic chemicals can accumulate in the aquatic food web, affecting all from microscopic algae to fish and predators like sharks and eagles.
Trash is piling up on the side of the road in some communities because they do not have any adequate garbage collection systems. Beaches in other parts of the world are littered with trash. Plastic bags as well as bottles wash up on Kamilo Beach in Hawaii, the United States. Toxic waste is a threat to marine life and a detriment to the local economy. Hawaii’s main source of income is tourism. Tourists avoid the area’s hotels, restaurants, as well as recreational activities because of its dirty beaches.
Some municipalities burn their garbage in order to dispose of it. There are some drawbacks to incinerating trash, including the release of heavy metal compounds into the atmosphere. Despite the fact that trash incinerators can reduce land pollution, they can also increase air pollution.