Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. These harmful materials are called pollutants. Pollutants tin can be natural, such as volcanic ash. They can likewise be created by human activity, such every bit trash or runoff produced by factories. Pollutants damage the quality of air, water, and land.

Many things that are useful to people produce pollution. Cars spew pollutants from their exhaust pipes. Burning coal to create electricity pollutes the air. Industries and homes generate garbage and sewage that can pollute the land and water. Pesticides—chemical poisons used to kill weeds and insects—seep into waterways and harm wildlife.

All living things—from i-celled microbes to blueish whales—depend on Earth'south supply of air and water. When these resource are polluted, all forms of life are threatened.

Pollution is a global problem. Although urban areas are usually more polluted than the countryside, pollution can spread to remote places where no people live. For case, pesticides and other chemicals accept been institute in the Antarctic ice sail. In the heart of the northern Pacific Ocean, a huge collection of microscopic plastic particles forms what is known as the Neat Pacific Garbage Patch.

Air and h2o currents acquit pollution. Ocean currents and migrating fish carry marine pollutants far and wide. Winds can pick up radioactive material accidentally released from a nuclear reactor and scatter it effectually the world. Fume from a mill in 1 state drifts into another country.

In the past, visitors to Big Bend National Park in the U.S. land of Texas could run across 290 kilometers (180 miles) across the vast landscape. Now, coal-burning power plants in Texas and the neighboring land of Chihuahua, United mexican states have spewed so much pollution into the air that visitors to Big Bend can sometimes run across only 50 kilometers (30 miles).

The three major types of pollution are air pollution, water pollution, and land pollution.

Air Pollution

Sometimes, air pollution is visible. A person tin come across dark smoke pour from the exhaust pipes of big trucks or factories, for example. More often, however, air pollution is invisible.

Polluted air tin can be dangerous, even if the pollutants are invisible. Information technology can brand people's eyes burn down and brand them have difficulty breathing. It can also increase the risk of lung cancer.

Sometimes, air pollution kills rapidly. In 1984, an accident at a pesticide plant in Bhopal, Republic of india, released a deadly gas into the air. At least 8,000 people died inside days. Hundreds of thousands more were permanently injured.

Natural disasters can besides cause air pollution to increase chop-chop. When volcanoes erupt, they eject volcanic ash and gases into the atmosphere. Volcanic ash tin discolor the sky for months. After the eruption of the Indonesian volcano of Krakatoa in 1883, ash darkened the sky around the world. The dimmer sky caused fewer crops to exist harvested as far away every bit Europe and N America. For years, meteorologists tracked what was known as the "equatorial smoke stream." In fact, this fume stream was a jet stream, a current of air loftier in Earth's temper that Krakatoa'southward air pollution made visible.

Volcanic gases, such equally sulfur dioxide, can kill nearby residents and brand the soil infertile for years. Mount Vesuvius, a volcano in Italia, famously erupted in 79, killing hundreds of residents of the nearby towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Virtually victims of Vesuvius were not killed by lava or landslides caused by the eruption. They were choked, or asphyxiated, by deadly volcanic gases.

In 1986, a toxic deject developed over Lake Nyos, Republic of cameroon. Lake Nyos sits in the crater of a volcano. Though the volcano did not erupt, it did eject volcanic gases into the lake. The heated gases passed through the water of the lake and collected as a cloud that descended the slopes of the volcano and into nearby valleys. As the toxic cloud moved across the landscape, it killed birds and other organisms in their natural habitat. This air pollution as well killed thousands of cattle and as many as 1,700 people.

Most air pollution is not natural, however. It comes from called-for fossil fuels—coal, oil, and natural gas. When gasoline is burned to power cars and trucks, it produces carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless gas. The gas is harmful in loftier concentrations, or amounts. Urban center traffic produces highly concentrated carbon monoxide.

Cars and factories produce other common pollutants, including nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrocarbons. These chemicals react with sunlight to produce smog, a thick fog or haze of air pollution. The smog is so thick in Linfen, People's republic of china, that people tin can seldom see the sunday. Smog can exist chocolate-brown or grayish blue, depending on which pollutants are in information technology.

Smog makes animate hard, especially for children and older adults. Some cities that suffer from extreme smog issue air pollution warnings. The regime of Hong Kong, for case, volition warn people not to go outside or appoint in strenuous physical action (such every bit running or swimming) when smog is very thick.

When air pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide mix with moisture, they change into acids. They then fall dorsum to earth as acid pelting. Wind often carries acid rain far from the pollution source. Pollutants produced past factories and power plants in Spain can fall as acrid rain in Norway.

Acid pelting tin kill all the copse in a wood. It can also devastate lakes, streams, and other waterways. When lakes become acidic, fish tin't survive. In Sweden, acrid rain created thousands of "dead lakes," where fish no longer live.

Acid rain also wears abroad marble and other kinds of stone. Information technology has erased the words on gravestones and damaged many historic buildings and monuments. The Taj Mahal, in Agra, Bharat, was once gleaming white. Years of exposure to acid rain has left it pale.

Governments accept tried to prevent acid rain by limiting the corporeality of pollutants released into the air. In Europe and North America, they have had some success, but acid rain remains a major problem in the developing world, specially Asia.

Greenhouse gases are another source of air pollution. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane occur naturally in the atmosphere. In fact, they are necessary for life on Earth. They absorb sunlight reflected from Earth, preventing it from escaping into space. By trapping rut in the atmosphere, they keep Earth warm enough for people to live. This is called the greenhouse effect.

Simply human activities such equally burning fossil fuels and destroying forests take increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This has increased the greenhouse effect, and boilerplate temperatures across the globe are rising. The decade that began in the yr 2000 was the warmest on record. This increment in worldwide boilerplate temperatures, caused in part by human action, is chosen global warming.

Global warming is causing ice sheets and glaciers to cook. The melting ice is causing sea levels to rise at a rate of 2 millimeters (0.09 inches) per yr. The rising seas will eventually flood low-lying littoral regions. Entire nations, such as the islands of Republic of the maldives, are threatened by this climate change.

Global warming likewise contributes to the phenomenon of bounding main acidification. Bounding main acidification is the process of ocean waters absorbing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Fewer organisms can survive in warmer, less salty waters. The ocean food spider web is threatened as plants and animals such as coral fail to adapt to more acidic oceans.

Scientists accept predicted that global warming volition cause an increase in astringent storms. It volition also crusade more droughts in some regions and more than flooding in others.

The change in boilerplate temperatures is already shrinking some habitats, the regions where plants and animals naturally live. Polar bears hunt seals from sea ice in the Arctic. The melting ice is forcing polar bears to travel farther to find food, and their numbers are shrinking.

People and governments can respond quickly and effectively to reduce air pollution. Chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are a dangerous form of air pollution that governments worked to reduce in the 1980s and 1990s. CFCs are found in gases that cool refrigerators, in cream products, and in aerosol cans.

CFCs damage the ozone layer, a region in Earth's upper atmosphere. The ozone layer protects Earth past arresting much of the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiations. When people are exposed to more ultraviolet radiations, they are more likely to develop skin cancer, centre diseases, and other illnesses.

In the 1980s, scientists noticed that the ozone layer over Antarctica was thinning. This is often called the "ozone hole." No one lives permanently in Antarctica. But Australia, the home of more 22 million people, lies at the border of the pigsty. In the 1990s, the Australian government began an effort to warn people of the dangers of as well much lord's day. Many countries, including the United States, now severely limit the production of CFCs.

H2o Pollution

Some polluted water looks dirty, smells bad, and has garbage floating in it. Some polluted h2o looks make clean, merely is filled with harmful chemicals y'all can't see or smell.

Polluted water is dangerous for drinking and swimming. Some people who potable polluted h2o are exposed to hazardous chemicals that may make them sick years later. Others consume leaner and other tiny aquatic organisms that cause disease. The United Nations estimates that 4,000 children die every day from drinking muddied water.

Sometimes, polluted h2o harms people indirectly. They get sick because the fish that alive in polluted h2o are unsafe to eat. They have too many pollutants in their flesh.

There are some natural sources of water pollution. Oil and natural gas, for instance, can leak into oceans and lakes from natural secret sources. These sites are called petroleum seeps. The globe's largest petroleum seep is the Coal Oil Point Seep, off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The Coal Oil Point Seep releases and so much oil that tar balls wash upwards on nearby beaches. Tar assurance are small-scale, sticky pieces of pollution that eventually decompose in the ocean.

Human being activity also contributes to water pollution. Chemicals and oils from factories are sometimes dumped or seep into waterways. These chemicals are called runoff. Chemicals in runoff can create a toxic environment for aquatic life. Runoff tin can also assist create a fertile environment for cyanobacteria, besides called blue-green algae. Cyanobacteria reproduce rapidly, creating a harmful algal bloom (HAB). Harmful algal blooms prevent organisms such equally plants and fish from living in the bounding main. They are associated with "expressionless zones" in the world's lakes and rivers, places where picayune life exists below surface water.

Mining and drilling tin can likewise contribute to water pollution. Acrid mine drainage (AMD) is a major contributor to pollution of rivers and streams about coal mines. Acid helps miners remove coal from the surrounding rocks. The acid is washed into streams and rivers, where it reacts with rocks and sand. It releases chemic sulfur from the rocks and sand, creating a river rich in sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid is toxic to plants, fish, and other aquatic organisms. Sulfuric acrid is also toxic to people, making rivers polluted by AMD dangerous sources of water for drinking and hygiene.

Oil spills are some other source of water pollution. In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, causing oil to gush from the body of water floor. In the post-obit months, hundreds of millions of gallons of oil spewed into the gulf waters. The spill produced large plumes of oil under the sea and an oil slick on the surface as large as 24,000 square kilometers (9,100 foursquare miles). The oil slick coated wetlands in the U.S. states of Louisiana and Mississippi, killing marsh plants and aquatic organisms such every bit crabs and fish. Birds, such as pelicans, became coated in oil and were unable to fly or access food. More than than 2 million animals died every bit a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Cached chemical waste material tin can also pollute water supplies. For many years, people disposed of chemical wastes carelessly, not realizing its dangers. In the 1970s, people living in the Beloved Canal area in Niagara Falls, New York, suffered from extremely high rates of cancer and nascence defects. It was discovered that a chemical waste material dump had poisoned the area'south water. In 1978, 800 families living in Love Canal had to abandon their homes.

If non disposed of properly, nuclear waste from nuclear power plants tin can escape into the environment. Radioactive waste can harm living things and pollute the h2o.

Sewage that has not been properly treated is a common source of water pollution. Many cities effectually the world have poor sewage systems and sewage handling plants. Delhi, the capital of Bharat, is home to more than 21 million people. More than one-half the sewage and other waste produced in the city are dumped into the Yamuna River. This pollution makes the river dangerous to use as a source of water for drinking or hygiene. It as well reduces the river's fishery, resulting in less food for the local customs.

A major source of water pollution is fertilizer used in agronomics. Fertilizer is fabric added to soil to make plants grow larger and faster. Fertilizers usually contain large amounts of the elements nitrogen and phosphorus, which help plants grow. Rainwater washes fertilizer into streams and lakes. In that location, the nitrogen and phosphorus crusade cyanobacteria to form harmful algal blooms.

Rain washes other pollutants into streams and lakes. It picks up beast waste product from cattle ranches. Cars drip oil onto the street, and rain carries it into tempest drains, which lead to waterways such as rivers and seas. Rain sometimes washes chemical pesticides off of plants and into streams. Pesticides can too seep into groundwater, the water beneath the surface of the Globe.

Rut can pollute water. Ability plants, for example, produce a huge amount of heat. Power plants are oftentimes located on rivers then they tin use the h2o every bit a coolant. Cool water circulates through the found, absorbing heat. The heated water is and then returned to the river. Aquatic creatures are sensitive to changes in temperature. Some fish, for instance, can only alive in cold water. Warmer river temperatures forbid fish eggs from hatching. Warmer river water also contributes to harmful algal blooms.

Some other type of h2o pollution is unproblematic garbage. The Citarum River in Indonesia, for example, has so much garbage floating in it that you cannot run into the water. Floating trash makes the river hard to fish in. Aquatic animals such as fish and turtles mistake trash, such as plastic numberless, for food. Plastic numberless and twine tin can impale many bounding main creatures. Chemical pollutants in trash can also pollute the water, making it toxic for fish and people who utilise the river as a source of drinking water. The fish that are caught in a polluted river oftentimes have high levels of chemical toxins in their flesh. People absorb these toxins as they consume the fish.

Garbage too fouls the sea. Many plastic bottles and other pieces of trash are thrown overboard from boats. The air current blows trash out to body of water. Ocean currents carry plastics and other floating trash to certain places on the globe, where information technology cannot escape. The largest of these areas, chosen the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is in a remote role of the Pacific Body of water. According to some estimates, this garbage patch is the size of Texas. The trash is a threat to fish and seabirds, which mistake the plastic for food. Many of the plastics are covered with chemic pollutants.

Land Pollution

Many of the same pollutants that foul the water also harm the land. Mining sometimes leaves the soil contaminated with dangerous chemicals.

Pesticides and fertilizers from agronomical fields are blown by the wind. They can harm plants, animals, and sometimes people. Some fruits and vegetables absorb the pesticides that help them abound. When people swallow the fruits and vegetables, the pesticides enter their bodies. Some pesticides can cause cancer and other diseases.

A pesticide called DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) was once usually used to kill insects, peculiarly mosquitoes. In many parts of the world, mosquitoes comport a affliction called malaria, which kills a one thousand thousand people every year. Swiss chemist Paul Hermann Muller was awarded the Nobel Prize for his understanding of how DDT can control insects and other pests. DDT is responsible for reducing malaria in places such equally Taiwan and Sri Lanka.

In 1962, American biologist Rachel Carson wrote a book called Silent Leap, which discussed the dangers of Ddt. She argued that it could contribute to cancer in humans. She also explained how it was destroying bird eggs, which acquired the number of bald eagles, brown pelicans, and ospreys to drib. In 1972, the United States banned the utilize of Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane. Many other countries likewise banned it. But DDT didn't disappear entirely. Today, many governments back up the use of DDT because it remains the most effective way to combat malaria.

Trash is some other form of land pollution. Around the world, paper, cans, drinking glass jars, plastic products, and junked cars and appliances mar the landscape. Litter makes it difficult for plants and other producers in the food spider web to create nutrients. Animals can die if they mistakenly eat plastic.

Garbage often contains unsafe pollutants such equally oils, chemicals, and ink. These pollutants can leech into the soil and impairment plants, animals, and people.

Inefficient garbage collection systems contribute to land pollution. Frequently, the garbage is picked up and brought to a dump, or landfill. Garbage is cached in landfills. Sometimes, communities produce so much garbage that their landfills are filling upwards. They are running out of places to dump their trash.

A massive landfill near Quezon City, Philippines, was the site of a country pollution tragedy in 2000. Hundreds of people lived on the slopes of the Quezon City landfill. These people made their living from recycling and selling items found in the landfill. However, the landfill was not secure. Heavy rains acquired a trash landslide, killing 218 people.

Sometimes, landfills are not completely sealed off from the land around them. Pollutants from the landfill leak into the earth in which they are buried. Plants that grow in the earth may be contaminated, and the herbivores that eat the plants also become contaminated. So exercise the predators that consume the herbivores. This process, where a chemical builds upwardly in each level of the food spider web, is chosen bioaccumulation.

Pollutants leaked from landfills besides leak into local groundwater supplies. There, the aquatic food web (from microscopic algae to fish to predators such every bit sharks or eagles) can suffer from bioaccumulation of toxic chemicals.

Some communities do not accept acceptable garbage collection systems, and trash lines the side of roads. In other places, garbage washes up on beaches. Kamilo Embankment, in the U.Southward. state of Hawaii, is littered with plastic bags and bottles carried in by the tide. The trash is unsafe to bounding main life and reduces economic action in the area. Tourism is Hawaii'south largest industry. Polluted beaches discourage tourists from investing in the surface area's hotels, restaurants, and recreational activities.

Some cities incinerate, or burn, their garbage. Incinerating trash gets rid of it, but it can release unsafe heavy metals and chemicals into the air. So while trash incinerators tin help with the trouble of land pollution, they sometimes add together to the problem of air pollution.

Reducing Pollution

Effectually the world, people and governments are making efforts to combat pollution. Recycling, for example, is becoming more mutual. In recycling, trash is processed and so its useful materials can be used once more. Glass, aluminum cans, and many types of plastic can be melted and reused. Paper tin be broken down and turned into new paper.

Recycling reduces the amount of garbage that ends up in landfills, incinerators, and waterways. Austria and Switzerland have the highest recycling rates. These nations recycle between fifty and 60 percent of their garbage. The Usa recycles about xxx percent of its garbage.

Governments tin combat pollution by passing laws that limit the amount and types of chemicals factories and agribusinesses are allowed to use. The smoke from coal-called-for power plants can be filtered. People and businesses that illegally dump pollutants into the land, h2o, and air tin exist fined for millions of dollars. Some government programs, such equally the Superfund program in the United States, tin force polluters to clean upwards the sites they polluted.

International agreements can also reduce pollution. The Kyoto Protocol, a United nations agreement to limit the emission of greenhouse gases, has been signed by 191 countries. The United States, the globe'due south 2d-largest producer of greenhouse gases, did non sign the agreement. Other countries, such as Cathay, the world'due south largest producer of greenhouse gases, have non met their goals.

Even so, many gains have been made. In 1969, the Cuyahoga River, in the U.South. state of Ohio, was so clogged with oil and trash that information technology defenseless on burn down. The fire helped spur the Clean Water Act of 1972. This law limited what pollutants could be released into h2o and set up standards for how make clean h2o should be. Today, the Cuyahoga River is much cleaner. Fish have returned to regions of the river where they once could not survive.

But even as some rivers are becoming cleaner, others are becoming more than polluted. As countries around the world become wealthier, some forms of pollution increase. Countries with growing economies usually need more power plants, which produce more than pollutants.

Reducing pollution requires environmental, political, and economical leadership. Developed nations must piece of work to reduce and recycle their materials, while developing nations must piece of work to strengthen their economies without destroying the surround. Developed and developing countries must piece of work together toward the common goal of protecting the surround for future utilise.

pollution

Garbage in, garbage out.

Light Pollution
Lite pollution is the excess amount of low-cal in the night sky. Calorie-free pollution, also called photopollution, is most always institute in urban areas. Calorie-free pollution tin disrupt ecosystems past disruptive the distinction betwixt dark and day. Nocturnal animals, those that are active at night, may venture out during the day, while diurnal animals, which are active during daylight hours, may remain active well into the nighttime. Feeding and sleep patterns may be confused. Light pollution likewise indicates an backlog employ of energy.

The dark-sky movement is a campaign by people to reduce light pollution. This would reduce energy use, allow ecosystems to function more normally, and allow scientists and stargazers to discover the atmosphere.

Noise pollution
Noise pollution is the constant presence of loud, disruptive noises in an area. Usually, noise disturbance is caused by construction or nearby transportation facilities, such as airports.

Noise disturbance is unpleasant, and can be dangerous. Some songbirds, such every bit robins, are unable to communicate or find food in the presence of heavy noise pollution. The sound waves produced by some noise pollutants tin disrupt the sonar used by marine animals to communicate or locate nutrient.

How Long Does It Final?
Different materials decompose at different rates. How long does it have for these common types of trash to interruption down?

  • Paper: 2-4 weeks
  • Orangish skin: 6 months
  • Milk carton: 5 years
  • Plastic bag: xv years
  • Tin can tin: 100 years
  • Plastic bottle: 450 years
  • Drinking glass bottle: 500 years
  • Styrofoam: Never

Indoor Air Pollution
The air inside your house tin can be polluted. Air and carpeting cleaners, insect sprays, and cigarettes are all sources of indoor air pollution.

acid

Noun

chemical chemical compound that reacts with a base to form a salt. Acids can corrode some natural materials. Acids have pH levels lower than vii.

acid mine drainage

Noun

flow of acid or acidic liquid from metallic mines or coal mines.

acrid rain

Substantive

precipitation with loftier levels of nitric and sulfuric acids. Acid rain can be manmade or occur naturally.

accommodate

Verb

to arrange to new surroundings or a new situation.

adequate

Adjective

suitable or skillful enough.

droplets can

Noun

container of liquid material nether loftier pressure level. When released through a pocket-size opening, the liquid becomes a spray or cream.

agribusiness

Noun

the strategy of applying profit-making practices to the operation of farms and ranches.

Noun

the fine art and science of cultivating state for growing crops (farming) or raising livestock (ranching).

Noun

harmful chemicals in the temper.

algae

Plural Noun

(singular: alga) various group of aquatic organisms, the largest of which are seaweeds.

aluminum

Noun

argent, reflective metallic element with the symbol Al.

Antarctic

Noun

region at World'due south farthermost s, encompassed by the Antarctic Circle.

aquatic

Adjective

having to practice with water.

choke

Verb

to choke or suffocate.

Noun

layers of gases surrounding a planet or other celestial body.

Plural Noun

(singular: bacterium) single-celled organisms found in every ecosystem on Earth.

ban

Verb

to prohibit or not let.

Noun

narrow strip of country that lies along a trunk of h2o.

bioaccumulation

Noun

process past which chemicals are captivated by an organism, either from exposure to a substance with the chemic or past consumption of food containing the chemical.

biologist

Noun

scientist who studies living organisms.

birth defect

Noun

concrete disorder present at birth and non developed subsequently.

blue-green algae

Noun

type of aquatic bacteria (not algae) that tin can photosynthesize low-cal to create free energy. Also chosen cyanobacteria and (in freshwater habitats) swimming scum.

cancer

Noun

growth of aberrant cells in the body.

Substantive

city where a region's authorities is located.

carbon dioxide

Noun

greenhouse gas produced past animals during respiration and used by plants during photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide is also the byproduct of burning fossil fuels.

carbon monoxide

Noun

colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly less dense than air. Information technology can be toxic to humans.

cattle

Noun

cows and oxen.

chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)

Noun

chemic compound mostly used in refrigerants and flame-retardants. Some CFCs have destructive effects on the ozone layer.

circulate

Verb

to move around, often in a pattern.

Clean Water Act

Substantive

(1972) federal law protecting water from pollution.

Noun

gradual changes in all the interconnected weather elements on our planet.

Noun

visible mass of tiny water droplets or ice crystals in Earth's atmosphere.

Substantive

night, solid fossil fuel mined from the earth.

Coal Oil Point

Noun

identify in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the U.S. land of California that naturally emits gases such as methane; a seep field.

Substantive

edge of state forth the sea or other large body of water.

concentration

Noun

measure out of the corporeality of a substance or grouping in a specific identify.

contaminate

Verb

to poison or make hazardous.

coolant

Noun

substance, usually a liquid or gas, that reduces the temperature of a system or piece of mechanism.

Substantive

tiny ocean animal, some of which secrete calcium carbonate to form reefs.

Noun

bowl-shaped low formed by a volcanic eruption or impact of a meteorite.

Noun

agricultural produce.

Substantive

steady, predictable menstruum of fluid within a larger body of that fluid.

blue-green alga

Noun

type of aquatic bacteria that tin can photosynthesize light to create energy. As well called blue-light-green algae (even though it is not algae) and (in freshwater habitats) pond scum.

DDT

Noun

(dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) toxic chemical used as an insecticide just illegal for most uses in the U.South. since 1972.

dead lake

Noun

body of h2o where fish or other aquatic organisms no longer live below the surface due to natural or manmade pollution.

Substantive

area of depression oxygen in a body of water.

decompose

Verb

to decay or interruption down.

Deepwater Horizon

Noun

oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that exploded in 2010.

descend

Verb

to become from a higher to a lower identify.

devastate

Verb

to destroy.

developing earth

Noun

nations with depression per-capita income, little infrastructure, and a small centre class.

discourage

Verb

to disapprove or encourage someone not to practise something.

dispose

Verb

to throw away or get rid of.

drab

Adjective

dull or boring.

drill

Verb

to make a pigsty using a rotating excavation tool.

Noun

period of greatly reduced precipitation.

Noun

our planet, the third from the Sun. The Earth is the only place in the known universe that supports life.

economic

Describing word

having to do with coin.

eject

Verb

to get rid of or throw out.

electricity

Noun

set of concrete phenomena associated with the presence and catamenia of electrical charge.

environment

Noun

weather condition that surround and influence an organism or community.

erupt

Verb

to explode or suddenly eject fabric.

exhaust

Noun

gases and particles expelled from an engine.

expel

Verb

to squirt or strength out.

manufacturing plant

Noun

1 or more buildings used for the manufacture of a product.

fertilizer

Noun

nutrient-rich chemical substance (natural or manmade) practical to soil to encourage found growth.

fine

Verb

to punish, usually by charging an economic penalty or fee. Or, the penalty or fee itself.

fishery

Noun

industry or occupation of harvesting fish, either in the wild or through aquaculture.

Substantive

overflow of a sea onto land.

Substantive

clouds at ground level.

Noun

textile, commonly of plant or animal origin, that living organisms utilize to obtain nutrients.

Noun

all related food chains in an ecosystem. Also chosen a food cycle.

forest

Noun

ecosystem filled with copse and underbrush.

fossil fuel

Noun

coal, oil, or natural gas. Fossil fuels formed from the remains of ancient plants and animals.

gasoline

Noun

liquid mixture made from oil and used to run many motor vehicles.

generate

Verb

to create or begin.

Noun

mass of ice that moves slowly over state.

gleam

Verb

to shine brightly.

Substantive

increase in the average temperature of the World's air and oceans.

government

Noun

system or order of a nation, state, or other political unit of measurement.

gravestone

Noun

rock marking a person's burial place, oftentimes engraved with the person's name and dates of birth and death.

Noun

area of the Due north Pacific Ocean where currents have trapped huge amounts of droppings, generally plastics.

Noun

phenomenon where gases allow sunlight to enter Earth's atmosphere merely make information technology difficult for heat to escape.

greenhouse gas

Noun

gas in the temper, such as carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and ozone, that absorbs solar heat reflected by the surface of the Earth, warming the atmosphere.

Substantive

water plant in an aquifer.

Noun

environs where an organism lives throughout the year or for shorter periods of time.

harmful

Adjective

damaging.

harmful algal blossom (HAB)

Substantive

rapid growth of algae, leaner, or other plankton that can threaten an aquatic environment by reducing the amount of oxygen in the h2o, blocking sunlight, or releasing toxic chemicals.

harvest

Noun

the gathering and collection of crops, including both plants and animals.

risk

Noun

danger or risk.

haze

Noun

group of solid and liquid particles in the air that makes it difficult to meet.

heavy metal

Substantive

chemic substance with a specific gravity of at least 5.0.

Noun

organism that eats mainly plants and other producers.

hydrocarbon

Substantive

compound made entirely of the elements hydrogen and carbon.

hygiene

Noun

science and methods of keeping clean and salubrious.

Noun

thick layer of glacial ice that covers a large surface area of land.

incinerate

Verb

to burn up entirely.

industry

Substantive

activity that produces goods and services.

inefficient

Adjective

not able to perform a job well.

infertile

Describing word

unproductive or barren.

ink

Noun

dark liquid used for printing or artwork.

invest

Verb

to contribute time or money.

invisible

Adjective

unable to be seen.

Noun

body of country surrounded by water.

issue

Verb

to distribute, give away, or sell.

Noun

winds speeding through the upper atmosphere.

Krakatoa

Noun

isle in Indonesia, site of major volcanic eruption in 1883. Also called Krakatau.

Kyoto Protocol

Noun

(1997) international understanding to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Noun

trunk of h2o surrounded by land.

landfill

Noun

site where garbage is layered with clay and other absorbing textile to prevent contamination of the surrounding country or h2o.

state pollution

Substantive

introduction of harmful materials into the surface environs.

Noun

the geographic features of a region.

Noun

the autumn of rocks, soil, and other materials from a mountain, hill, or gradient.

lava

Noun

molten rock, or magma, that erupts from volcanoes or fissures in the Earth's surface.

leech

Noun

carnivorous or bloodsucking worm.

Love Canal

Noun

New York town and the site of a former toxic waste dump.

lung

Noun

organ in an animate being that is necessary for breathing.

malaria

Substantive

infectious affliction caused past a parasite carried by mosquitoes.

mar

Verb

to spoil or damage.

marble

Noun

blazon of metamorphic rock.

marine

Adjective

having to do with the sea.

Noun

wetland surface area usually covered past a shallow layer of seawater or freshwater.

massive

Adjective

very large or heavy.

meteorologist

Noun

person who studies patterns and changes in Earth's atmosphere.

methane

Noun

chemical compound that is the basic ingredient of natural gas.

microbe

Noun

tiny organism, normally a bacterium.

microscopic

Adjective

very small.

mine

Verb

to excerpt minerals from the Earth.

Noun

process of extracting ore from the Globe.

monument

Substantive

big structure representing an effect, idea, or person.

Noun

political unit fabricated of people who share a common territory.

natural disaster

Noun

an upshot occurring naturally that has large-calibration effects on the environs and people, such as a volcano, convulsion, or hurricane.

Noun

blazon of fossil fuel made up mostly of the gas methane.

nitrogen

Noun

element with the symbol Due north, whose gas form is 78% of the Earth's temper.

nitrogen oxide

Noun

ane of many chemical compounds made of different combinations of nitrogen and oxygen.

Nobel Prize

Noun

one of v awards established by the Swedish businessman Alfred Nobel in 1901. Nobel Prizes are awarded in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace.

Substantive

substance an organism needs for free energy, growth, and life.

bounding main acidification

Noun

decrease in the sea's pH levels, acquired primarily by increased carbon dioxide. Ocean acidification threatens corals and shellfish.

oil

Noun

fossil fuel formed from the remains of marine plants and animals. Also known as petroleum or crude oil.

oil rig

Substantive

complex series of machinery and systems used to drill for oil on country.

oil slick

Substantive

smooth, dark coating on the surface of a body of water caused by an oil spill or leak.

oil spill

Noun

adventitious release of petroleum products into a torso of water, either by an oil tanker or an offshore oil rig.

ozone hole

Noun

round blueprint, ordinarily located near the Antarctic, of sparse atmospheric ozone, which absorbs harmful ultraviolet sunlight.

Substantive

layer in the atmosphere containing the gas ozone, which absorbs most of the sun's ultraviolet radiations.

particle

Noun

small piece of material.

Paul Hermann Muller

Substantive

(1899-1965) Swiss chemist and man of affairs.

pelican

Noun

big marine bird with a big pecker.

permanent

Adjective

constant or lasting forever.

pesticide

Substantive

natural or manufactured substance used to kill organisms that threaten agriculture or are undesirable. Pesticides tin be fungicides (which kill harmful fungi), insecticides (which kill harmful insects), herbicides (which kill harmful plants), or rodenticides (which kill harmful rodents.)

Noun

fossil fuel formed from the remains of ancient organisms. Besides called crude oil.

petroleum seep

Noun

place where oil or natural gas from the Earth'southward interior leaks to the surface naturally.

phenomenon

Substantive

an unusual act or occurrence.

phosphorus

Noun

chemical element with the symbol P.

plastic

Noun

chemical textile that can exist easily shaped when heated to a loftier temperature.

plume

Noun

single, upward flow of a fluid, such as water or smoke.

poison

Substantive

substance that harms wellness.

pollutant

Noun

chemical or other substance that harms a natural resource.

Substantive

introduction of harmful materials into the environment.

power plant

Noun

industrial facility for the generation of electric energy.

predator

Noun

creature that hunts other animals for food.

Rachel Carson

Noun

(1907-1964) American biologist and author.

radioactive

Adjective

having unstable atomic nuclei and emitting subatomic particles and radiation.

Noun

liquid precipitation.

recycle

Verb

to clean or procedure in lodge to brand suitable for reuse.

reduce

Verb

to lower or lessen.

Noun

any expanse on Earth with 1 or more mutual characteristics. Regions are the basic units of geography.

remote

Adjective

distant or far away.

resources

Noun

available supply of materials, goods, or services. Resources tin can be natural or man.

rock

Noun

natural substance composed of solid mineral thing.

Substantive

overflow of fluid from a farm or industrial factory.

sand

Noun

small, loose grains of disintegrated rocks.

sea ice

Substantive

frozen bounding main water.

Noun

base level for measuring elevations. Sea level is determined past measurements taken over a nineteen-year cycle.

seep

Verb

to slowly flow through a border.

seldom

Adverb

not very oftentimes.

sewage

Noun

liquid and solid waste material material from homes and businesses.

sewage treatment

Noun

procedure of removing harmful pollutants and contaminants from h2o discarded by homes and businesses, then the h2o is safe for most uses.

Silent Bound

Noun

(1962) nonfiction volume past Rachel Carson that documented the consequences of a polluted surroundings, especially the use of the pesticide Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane.

Noun

type of air pollution common in manufacturing areas or areas with high traffic.

smoke

Substantive

gases given off by a called-for substance.

soil

Noun

elevation layer of the World's surface where plants can abound.

spew

Verb

to eject or discharge violently.

stone

Noun

piece of rock.

tempest

Noun

severe atmospheric condition indicating a disturbed state of the atmosphere resulting from uplifted air.

storm drain

Noun

system to empty streets of excess rainwater. Storm drains flow into local creeks, rivers, or seas.

Noun

body of flowing h2o.

strenuous

Adjective

energetic or requiring a lot of activity.

sulfur

Noun

element with the symbol S.

sulfur dioxide

Noun

greenhouse gas that can cause acrid rain.

sulfuric acid

Substantive

toxic chemical fabricated of hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen.

Superfund

Noun

federal plan to clean upward hazardous waste matter sites in the U.S. Also called the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).

Taj Mahal

Noun

(1632) large, white mausoleum complex in Agra, Bharat, built past Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz.

tar ball

Noun

small, gummy slice of tar emitted by a natural or manmade oil spill that floats in the sea and oft washes upward on beaches.

Substantive

degree of hotness or coldness measured by a thermometer with a numerical scale.

Noun

ascension and fall of the ocean's waters, caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and lord's day.

tourism

Noun

the industry (including food, hotels, and amusement) of traveling for pleasure.

toxic

Adjective

poisonous.

traffic

Noun

movement of many things, often vehicles, in a specific area.

tree

Noun

type of large establish with a thick trunk and branches.

twine

Noun

strong thread made from at least two strings twisted together, ofttimes made of plastic.

ultraviolet radiation

Noun

powerful lite waves that are too short for humans to come across, but can penetrate Earth'southward temper. Ultraviolet is oft shortened to UV.

United Nations

Noun

international system that works for peace, security and cooperation.

Noun

developed, densely populated surface area where most inhabitants have nonagricultural jobs.

valley

Noun

depression in the Earth between hills.

vast

Adjective

huge and spread out.

visible

Adjective

able to exist seen.

Substantive

fragments of lava less than 2 millimeters across.

volcanic gas

Noun

gas such as water vapor or carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere by a volcano.

Noun

an opening in the Earth's chaff, through which lava, ash, and gases erupt, and likewise the cone built by eruptions.

water pollution

Noun

introduction of harmful materials into a body of water.

waterway

Noun

body of h2o that serves as a road for transportation.

Noun

area of land covered by shallow h2o or saturated by water.

wildlife

Noun

organisms living in a natural environs.

Substantive

move of air (from a high pressure zone to a depression pressure level zone) caused past the uneven heating of the World by the lord's day.

  • Credits

    Media Credits

    The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to some other page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

    Writers

    Diane Boudreau
    Melissa McDaniel
    Erin Sprout
    Andrew Turgeon

    Illustrators

    Mary Crooks, National Geographic Club
    Tim Gunther, Illustrator

    Editors

    Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing
    Kara West

    Educator Reviewer

    Nancy Wynne

    Producer

    Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Gild

    Sources

    Dunn, Margery G. (Editor). (1989, 1993). "Exploring Your Earth: The Adventure of Geography." Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.

    Concluding Updated

    Aug. 18, 2011

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