Noise Pollution

When unwanted sound created by human beings hits our ears and disturbs the environment, noise pollution is created. Chiefly, noise pollution comes from barking dogs, loud music, vehicles, aircraft and rail transport, air-conditioners, factories, amplified music and construction work.
Sources of noise: All transportation systems create noise pollution. With residences created adjacent to factories, they experience noise pollution and its adverse effects. Besides transportation noise, noise can come from factory appliances, power tools and audio entertainment systems.
Measures of noise: Noise pollution is measured in decibels. When noise is at 45 decibels, no human being can sleep, and at 120 decibels the ear is in pain and hearing begins to be damaged at 85 decibels.
Effects of noise pollution
Human health: Noise pollution disturbs our health and behavior in a number of ways including deafness causing lack of sleep, irritability, indigestion, heartburn, high blood pressure, ulcers, and heart disease. Just one noise explosion from a passing truck drastically alters our endocrinal, neurological, and cardiovascular functions in many individuals. If this is prolonged or frequent, the physiological disturbances become chronic and contribute to mental illness.
Annoyance: Sometimes, even low levels of noise are irritating and can be frustrating, and high volumes can be annoying. Natural sounds are less irritating than those we find uncontrollable but intermittent sounds such as a tap dripping water can be more irritating than the sound of falling rain.
Speech interference: Noise more than 50dB can be very difficult to hear and interpret and cause problems such as partial deafness.
Sleep interference: Very high levels of noise can wake people from their sleep with a jerk and keep them awake or disturb their sleep pattern. This could make them irritable and tired the next day.
Decreased work performance: Increased noise levels gives rise to a lack of concentration and accuracy at work, and reduce one’s productivity and performance. Difficult tasks can be impaired, and instructions or warnings difficult to be heard and interpreted, causing accidents.
How to avoid sources of noise pollution
Traffic: Don’t live or work near major intersections or roads, shopping centers and sporting facilities. Valleys and falls are noisier than flat roads.
Barking dogs: As a dog owner, you should take care to see that your dog doesn’t annoy the neighbors with its barking and yowling.
Aircraft: Before buying a home, see how far it is from the local airport.
Neighbors: Be a good neighbor by not annoying those who live next door with your music or lawn mowing.
Solving noise problems: Many noise problems can be prevented by considering others and talking through problems. Be a good and concerned neighbor by discussing a common problem calmly and in a collaborative spirit to find a common solution.

Chemical Pollution

Use of agro-chemicals has become a common practice in agriculture of these chemicals. Consumption of fruits and vegetables, harvested soon after the chemical spray is another health hazard.
To avoid this, it is necessary to educate farmers to use agro-chemicals safely and only when needed. Plant products like oil and cake of neem and pongamia, which are non-toxic to us can be used to control many crop pests. In irrigated fields, when farmers apply large quantities of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, a part of these chemicals may dissolve in water
and percolate into the wells. Thus, the water may get polluted. Drinking this water may cause sickness. In such areas, we need to persuade farmers to reduce the doses of agro-chemicals. Effluents from sugar factories and other industries let in the filed may also pollute drinking water in a similar way. Such factories should be told to treat the effluents properly.

Water Pollution:

Water pollution is a large set of adverse effects upon water bodies (lakes, rivers, oceans, groundwater) caused by human activities. Although natural phenomena such as volcanoes, storms, earthquakes etc. also cause major changes in water quality and the ecological status of water, these are not deemed to be pollution. Water pollution has many causes and characteristics. Humans and other farmed organisms produce bodily wastes which enter rivers, lakes, oceans and other surface waters. These wastes increase the solids suspended in the water (turbidity), they can increase the concentration of bacteria and viruses leading to potential health impacts.

Water pollution is a serious problem in the global context. It has been suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of death and disease, and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily.
Principal sources of water pollution are:
·    industrial discharge of chemical wastes and byproducts
·    discharge of poorly-treated or untreated sewage
·    surface runoff containing pesticides
·    surface runoff from construction sites, farms, or paved and other impervious surfaces e.g. silt
·    discharge of contaminated and/or heated water used for industrial processes
·    excess nutrients added by runoff containing detergents or fertilizers
·    underground storage tank leakage, leading to soil contamination, thence aquifer contamination.

Control Measures
The following measures can be used to stop water pollution:
·    every intelligent people should be wise enough not to pollute water in any way;
·    by research and legislation the pollution of water bodies, even though not entirely prevented, must be effectively controlled.

Pollution control

Pollution control is a term used in environmental management. It means the control of emissions and effluents into air, water or soil. Without pollution control, the waste products from consumption, heating, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, transportation and other human activities, whether they accumulate or disperse, will degrade the environment. In the hierarchy of controls, pollution prevention and waste minimization are more desirable than pollution control. In the field of land development, low impact development is a similar technique for the prevention of urban runoff.


Practices
·    recycling
Pollution control devices
·    Dust collection systems
o    Bag houses
o    Cyclones
o    Electrostatic precipitators
·    Sewage treatment
o    Sedimentation (Primary treatment)
o    Activated sludge biotreaters (Secondary treatment; also used for industrial waste water)
o    Constructed wetlands (also used for urban runoff)
·    Industrial waste water treatment
o    Powdered activated carbon treatment
o    Ultra filtration

Environmental Pollution

Environmental pollution is caused due to over-use of natural resources, presence of a large number of people and livestock in congested areas, use of agro-chemicals, setting up of factories, running of automobiles, burning of fuel, etc.
A change in the environment due to pollution also affects the ecological balance. Environmental pollution is caused both ins rural and urban areas. Pollution can cause sickness and discomfort. It also affects the productivity of natural resources, such as land, water, forests and livestock. We can prevent environmental pollution if we understand its causes.
Pollution in Rural Areas
In rural areas, pollution takes place around the houses, colonies and public places.

Pollution around Houses:
In rural areas, most of the house are poorly ventilated because of small windows and low roofs. Keeping livestock inside the house is an old practice. In the absence of toilets, villagers use open fields. As the families grow, the number of houses increase and the colonies become congested. Thus, pollution occurs in many ways.

Environment

"Environment is surrounding atmosphere/ condition for existence" - "Environment is an essential natural process or an outcome of occurrence" – "Environment is of  two types, one is negative and the other is positive":
Environment is generator: creation of life form is because of environment. Sun/moon, sea/
earth, hot/ cold and forests/ desert etc; they together made an environment that is fit for
our existence. There are two different environments one is positive and the other one is
negative, life forms in both namely, pests, insects and others are cold blooded have
different conditions which suits them to survive that may not be suitable to us, both have own identities. Most important factor is that negative positive factors have to join together to form an environment for example mother/ father for birth of a child, negative/ positive of energy for electricity. In the system of environment, both have integral role to play. Where negative dominates outlines its systems and where positive dominates forms its own.
Environment motivates to react:  We are miserable when are in desert and delighted when we are in lush garden. In a hospital we are in different mood and in disco different. Environment motivates us to change our mood and reaction is in accordance.
We also generate/alter environment in our surroundings by our practice: Depends on the behavior of the individuals.  Positive thinkers have positive feelings and negative thinkers it is negative, creates environment accordingly.  This process turns to evolutionary system when a group of people have same thinking that initiates others to follow. Human lust and excessive usage of natural wood causing deforestation, pollution heating temperature is NEGATIVE environment for us.