Is Our World Corrupting?

Madelyn Fracassa

Pollution, you can’t escape it, no matter where you go or where you are it is always there. Many people try to ignore pollution, believe it doesn’t affect anything, or just flat out don’t care.

What even is pollution? Not many people know what pollution is and how it affects us. Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that causes adverse change. Pollution makes the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the rain toxic. The toxic air can lead to asthma or even lung cancer.

In and around Westminster, the air is not too polluted, yet. In Huntington Beach, the air quality is moderate most of the time. Moderate air quality means that if you suffer from respiratory issues, it’s recommended you reduce prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion.

However, this isn’t always the case. Some places, like Beijing and China, have very unfortunate air quality since they have a lot of factories. The factories emit lots of pollutants every day, therefore the air quality becomes unhealthy fast. The conditions are so bad in parts of China that people have to wear a surgical mask, to prevent them from breathing in the hazardous particles.

In countries where most families aren’t fortunate enough to have water purifiers, people have resorted to drinking tap water. Tap water is hazardous and can make someone sick. Tap water is full of nitrogen, and excessive nitrogen intake can lead to severe health issues. The tap water comes from the lakes and rivers in those countries. The lakes and rivers, of course, fill up from the rain.

In some places, the rain can contain high levels of variant toxins. If you are somewhere with a lot of pollution in the air, the rain can become toxic or acidic. When the carbon dioxide mixes with the sulfur dioxide nitrogen oxide, it creates acidic rain. Acidic rain then fills up lakes and rivers that make up a countries’ water supplies and third world countries don’t typically have the ability to purify the water.

Now, of course, it can probably already be imagined the noxious effects of drinking acidic water, but some of the side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or in severe cases, liver disease, kidney disease, seizures, and miscarriages.

Pollution needs to be stopped before it completely ruins our world. Every day each of us has a chance to make a difference. For example, just picking up trash when you see it so that it doesn’t go into the ocean and pollute the water would make a huge difference. Or you could recycle paper, plastic bottles, et cetera because it is more environmentally safe. It’s up to all of us. We have the power to save the world.