Looking out to the World – June

We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.

The top most polluted countries are India, Zambia, Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Peru. In these countries people are dying or getting seriously ill from drinking chemically contaminated water and breathing in coal and sulfuric air. Pollution is the contamination of air, soil and water by substances harmful to life. Types of water pollution include man-made such as oil and chemicals that spill on oceans and the industrial waste that seeps into the soil. But both are equally destructive to the environment. People have to understand that plants need air and water but absorb toxins. The oceans that are home to marine life will become acidic. Bacteria from sewage, pesticides, poison have seeped from the soil and they will reach water sources. And the drilling for natural gas contributed to water pollution as well. The life-giving air is heavy with noxious gases. All are threats to humans and all forms of living organisms. According to statistics on air pollution, an estimated 800,000 people die prematurely from lung cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases caused by air pollution. Pollution leads to depletion of the ozone layer, global warming and climate change.

June 5 is the World Environment Day. The first World Environment Day was on 1973 and it’s similar to Earth Day. This day is hosted every year by a different city with a different theme and is commemorated with an international exposition. Theme of 2012 is the Green Economy.

Edited by Ilona Kaszanyi

Tagged Environment, environment gallery, Environmental protection, most polluted countries, ozone layer, pollution