| What Causes Pollution ?
When pollutants enter the environment, be it water, soil, atmosphere or water, and end up making the environment unsuitable for living organisms, then it is termed as pollution. Chemicals, heat, light, noise, smoke and fumes are all pollutants. Sometimes, some pollutants like heavy metals are naturally present in the environment but in low levels. |
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Therefore, they do not pose a risk to humans, plants and animals. However, due to human activities, the levels of these pollutants increase substantially and that is when they pose a danger.Many environmental experts blame the Industrial Revolution for the pollution that is prevalent today. With this revolution, the world saw factories and manufacturing units coming up which used fossil fuels to power their operations. The fuels were responsible for causing air pollution, while the chemicals discharge along with human waste was responsible for air, soil and water pollution. Chicago and Cincinnati were the first cities in the US to pass environmental laws for clean air way back in 1881. Other cities in the US followed suit, but only in the early part of the 20th century. Los Angeles and Donora in Pennsylvania were two cities that suffered from severe smog in the 1940s that started the other cities to enact laws for clean air.
Today, the US government has enacted many laws like the Clean Air Act, Noise Control Act, National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act. Most of these laws were passed between the 1950s and 1970s, and they have been periodically updated based on the prevailing pollution situation in the country.
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What Causes Pollution ?
