POLLUTION

POLLUTION

In the last two or three centuries science has made great progress. It has given man the knowledge and power to control the resources of earth, and use them as he wishes. We are living in the age of a continuous industrial revolution. We have built vast industries that are producing large quantities of good and machines.

We like to think that we have achieved what no previous age was able to attain. There is much truth in this claim. We produce all sorts of goods, from chewing gum to space ships. We are ready to conquer other planets. Is this the golden age man has been dreaming of for centuries?

A little thinking, however, will tell us that it is not. We have certainly made a great progress, but let is consider the cost of this progress.

Millions of factories in all parts of world are sending huge quantities of carbon dioxide and other poisonous gasses into the atmosphere. This is not the whole story. They are pouring continuous streams of harmful chemicals into the rivers of the worlds. Every hour our cars, buses and airplanes are discharging deadly poisons into our atmosphere.

The result is that our atmosphere, especially over large industrial areas has more poison then oxygen. Fish and other forms of life living in water are dying fast.

The food crops irrigated with poisonous waters also become poisonous. From them the poison enters into the bodies of human beings, and causes various diseases.

The toxic chemicals we release in the atmosphere are damaging the Ozone Layer above the earth. It is the Ozone gas that protects us from certain very harmful rays of the sum. These rays cause skin cancer, and many other diseases.

The most horrible form of pollution is produced by nuclear waste. This is only a brief account of what we have done to this earth and its atmosphere.