The most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials. This pollution is for the most part irrecoverable; the chain of evil it initiates not only in the world that must support life but in living tissues is for the most part irreversible. In this now universal contamination of the environment, chemicals are the sinister and little-recognized partners of radiation in changing the very nature of the world--the very nature of its life.

Rachel Carson; Silent Spring (1962)

Humankind has lived with the realities and effects of pollution for a very long time. There are probably few people who have not witnessed or been affected by the waste products of civilization and industrialization.

Life on earth is part of a great and interdependent system. All living things (organic life) interact with and depend on the non-living (inorganic) components of the planet: the oceans, freshwater, the atmosphere, the rocks and the soil. Of these interdependent systems, the oceans, and atmosphere are polluted, freshwaters are polluted in many areas and soil is polluted in some areas.

ARIC Atmospheric Research & Information Centre
http://www.doc.mmu.ac.uk/aric/eae/Atmosphere/Older/Pollution.html

Although atmospheric pollution can have natural sources, for example volcanic eruptions, the term is usually used to refer to the gaseous by-products of man-made processes such as energy production, waste incineration, transport, deforestation and agriculture.

ARIC Atmospheric Research & Information Centre
http://www.doc.mmu.ac.uk/aric/eae/Atmosphere/Older/Pollution.html

"Air pollution can result in poor air quality both in cities and the countryside. Some air pollutants make people sick, causing breathing problems and increasing the likelihood of cancer. Others are harmful to plants, animals, and the ecosystems in which they live".

"Some air pollutants return to Earth in the form of acid rain which corrodes statues and buildings, damages crops and forests, and makes lakes and streams unsuitable for fish and other plant and animal life".

"Man-made air pollution is also changing the Earth's atmosphere so that it lets in more harmful radiation from the Sun. Although we have now banned products which can harm the Earth's ozone layer, ozone holes over Antarctica and the Arctic still form every year".

"At the same time, mankind is releasing more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, preventing heat from escaping back into space and leading to a rise in global average temperatures. Global warming will raise sea levels and change climates all over the world. Some places will become hotter and drier, others wetter. The incidence of severe storms and flooding is likely to increase. Global warming will also affect food supply and increase the spread of tropical disease".

The National Park Service
The Effects of Air Pollutants on Wildlife and Implications in Class I Areas

"Metals have been reported to affect the circulatory, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems of animals. Often organs such as the kidney, liver, and brain are targeted. Entire populations can be affected as metal contamination can cause changes in birth, growth, and death rates".
http://www.aqd.nps.gov/ard/wildl.htm

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Air Quality Program

"Air quality is important--not only to our health, but also to the health of fish and wildlife species and their habitats. These natural resources can be harmed by the air pollution emitted by power plants, factories, paper mills, cars, trucks, and other sources. Air pollutants can have serious effects on animals, plants, lakes, streams, soils, and visibility on the millions of acres managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)".
http://www.aqd.nps.gov/ard/fwspost/

Water pollution is a term that encompasses the pollution of saltwater, freshwaters and groundwater. It can result from point sources (e.g. leakage from storage tanks and accidental spills, like an oil spill at sea) or non-point sources (e.g. runoff). Water can also be polluted with debris.

Ground Water Pollution:

Environment Canada
Management of Water
http://www.ec.gc.ca/water/en/manage/poll/e_howgrd.htm

"Groundwater contaminants come from two categories of sources: point sources and distributed, or non-point source. Landfills, leaking gasoline storage tanks, leaking septic tanks, and accidental spills are examples of point sources. Infiltration from farm land treated with pesticides and fertilizers is an example of a non-point source".
"Most toxic chemicals are discharged directly into our waterways as waste, but many also enter the water after everyday use in the home, agriculture and industry. They constantly change the chemical composition of our waters. One way is seepage: the chemicals soak through the earth into the groundwater from waste disposal sites and agricultural lands, for example. Another way is runoff: the chemicals are washed into bodies of water from the land where they were used or spilled, or from the air into which they were emitted".

Non-point Source Pollution:

EPA
Office of Water
http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/qa.html

"Non-point source (NPS) pollution, unlike pollution from industrial and sewage treatment plants, comes from many diffuse sources. NPS pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground sources of drinking water. These pollutants include:

• Excess fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides from agricultural lands and residential areas;
• Oil, grease, and toxic chemicals from urban runoff and energy production;
• Sediment from improperly managed construction sites, crop and forest lands, and eroding streambanks;
• Salt from irrigation practices and acid drainage from abandoned mines;
• Bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet wastes, and faulty septic systems;

Atmospheric deposition and hydromodification are also sources of nonpoint source pollution".

Debris:

Government of Tasmania
Department of Primary Industries
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/SJON-52H88D?open

"Floating plastic and other solids are not only ugly but also harmful. They may suffocate or choke birds, animals and fish and reduce the amount of light and oxygen available to aquatic life. Plastic rubbish is not biodegradable and persists for a long time in the environment".

Falklands Conservation
Effects of Marine Debris on Wildlife
http://www.falklandsconservation.com/wildlife/conservation_issues/debris.html

"Entanglement can either constrict growth and circulation, causing eventual slow death, or trap marine animals within large debris, leading to asphyxiation, starvation or predation. At the very best it increases their drag coefficient through the water, and animals simply starve due to their inability to catch prey".

"Ingestion also has a wide range of lethal or sub-lethal effects. Physical damage can occur to the digestive tract, or mechanical blockage of the digestive system which leads to starvation and death. Some man made plastics may also be a source of toxic pollutants, which can be gradually released as the animal attempts to break it down. All of these effects in turn lead to a reduced ability to reproduce successfully, catch prey and avoid predation. In the natural environment, this leads to certain death".

University of Texas
Global Contamination, Wildlife Health and Biotechnology Biotech
http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/pages/wildlife.html

"Not all of the pollutants that threaten our wildlife and wilderness ecosystems are complex synthetic compounds like the PCBs, dioxins and organochlorine pesticides. Radioactive elements and heavy metals like lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic also contaminate waterways and soils. In North America, migratory birds are poisoned by ingesting lead from gunshot, fishing sinkers, and old paint chips in the environment. Some metals are toxic in their elemental form; others become more toxic when they are chemically reduced in nature. For example, the mercury used for mining gold in the Amazon River Basin changes to a highly toxic form, methyl mercury, which accumulates in fish and wildlife".

"Environmental contaminants such as dioxin and lead are known to produce an astounding spectrum of damage to fish and wildlife. Chronic, low-level exposure to these toxic pollutants causes reduced fertility and hatching rates, birth defects, malformed genital organs, retarded growth, cancer, anemia, metabolic abnormalities, poor immune responses and neurological abnormalities. There is mounting scientific evidence that organic pollutants and some heavy metals interfere with the endocrine system of fetuses and young animals. Substances with these effects are called endocrine disruptors. Many pollutants with widespread global distribution are suspected to cause endocrine disruption".

Environment Canada
General - Effects Monitor Newsletter, Emergencies, Environmental Assessment, Pollution Data, Recycling
Air Pollution - Air and Toxics Issues Section, Acid Rain, Air Quality, Greenhouse Gases, Ozone, Smog, General

The Encyclopedia of the Atmospheric Environment
The information website of ARIC (The Atmosphere, Climate and Environment Information Programme (United Kingdom), is one of the best information sources on the internet. The Encyclopedia is a one-stop source of information, for younger and older users alike, on a range of atmospheric issues, including air quality, acid rain, global warming and ozone depletion.

The National Park Service
The Effects of Air Pollutants on Wildlife and Implications in Class I Areas

University of Texas
Global Contamination, Wildlife Health and Biotechnology Biotech

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Air Quality Program. Air quality is important--not only to our health, but also to the health of fish and wildlife species and their habitats. These natural resources can be harmed by the air pollution emitted by power plants, factories, paper mills, cars, trucks, and other sources. Air pollutants can have serious effects on animals, plants, lakes, streams, soils, and visibility on the millions of acres managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

Environment Canada
The Management of Water: water pollution link (in French and English)

Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water
EPA's Office of Water Website offers information on water pollution: What Is NPS Pollution; NPS Categories; Clean Water Act; Coastal Zone Act; Publications and Information Resources; Information for Students and Administrators.

Falklands Conservation
Falklands Conservation monitors and protects the exceptional wildlife heritage of the Falkland Islands. The Islands are one of the last great wilderness sites on Earth and form a unique bridge between the Antarctic and South American continent.
Wildlife section: read about marine debris

Government of Tasmania
Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment website.
Sink and Drain Pollution: topics included Bacteria and oxygen depletion; Nutrients and algal blooms; Oil and water; Household poisons; Toilet cleaners; Heavy metals; Solids and plastics (marine debris).

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Non-point source pollution, commonly called runoff pollution, can make river and ocean water unsafe for humans and wildlife.

National Parks Conservation Association
Many of our most scenic national parks were set aside as sanctuaries from human activity and harm, but today, many suffer from the effects of pollution. Originating both inside and outside park boundaries, pollution harms ecosystem health, wildlife, water, and the scenic vistas many park visitors seek.

National Wildlife Federation
Pollution Paralysis II: Code Red for Watersheds: download report. Report summary: Our nation's waters are in trouble: A "dead zone" the size of New Jersey stretches from the mouth of the Mississippi River hundreds of miles into the Gulf of Mexico. Deadly blooms of algae kill fish and sicken people along the Eastern seaboard, from North Carolina to Maryland. Mercury-contaminated rain falls from the sky into the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain, making fish unsafe to eat. Sediments choke rivers in the Pacific Northwest, endangering once-plentiful wild salmon.

RSPB
United Kingdom : wildlife and conservation. The sea also suffers from pollution by rubbish accidentally or deliberately discharged from land or from ships or pleasure craft. It is estimated that 1 million seabirds world-wide die each year from entanglement or swallowing rubbish, especially plastic. In recent years RSPB has helped bring about major improvements to reduce these risks to seabirds and other marine life.

University of Texas
Global Contamination, Wildlife Health and Biotechnology Biotech

Environmental Pollution Publisher

Elsevier Science

Environmental Pollution is an international journal that addresses issues relevant to the nature, distribution and ecological effects of all types and forms of chemical pollutants in air, soil and water. The Editors welcome articles based on original research, findings from re-examination and interpretation of existing data and reviews of important issues. In addition, the journal also publishes articles on new methods of detection, study and remediation of environmental pollutants. Issues 2000 to present. Online ordering, good abstracts. Subscription. http://www.elsevier.com/inca/publications/store/4/0/5/8/5/6/index.htt

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC)

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry is dedicated to furthering scientific knowledge and disseminating information on environmental toxicology and chemistry, including the application of these sciences to risk assessment. The journal is divided into three sections, each with its own editors: Environmental Chemistry Environmental Toxicology, and Hazard / Risk Assessment. Interdisciplinary in scope, the journal includes integrative studies involving components of classical toxicology, physiology, biology, microbiology, organic, environmental and analytical chemistry, anatomy, genetics, ecology, soil, water, atmospheric sciences, and economics. Subscription. http://www.setac.org/pubsjnl.html

Froglog

Newsletter of the Declining Amphibian Populations. Task Force of the World Conservation Union's Survival Commission.
http://www2.open.ac.uk/biology/froglog/

Ocean Links Newsletter

http://oceanlink.island.net/onews/onews3.html

The Guardian Newsletter

http://www.guardiannewsltr.com/links2.htm

Sierra Club Newsletter

http://www.sierraclub.org/pollution/newsletter/

EcoConnections

Center for the Environment online magazine
http://ecoconnections.catawba.edu/

National Wildlife Federation

International Wildlife is a benefit of membership. NWF's website includes interesting online articles.
http://www.nwf.org/

New Scientist

Online Magazine
http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/pollution/

The Ecologist

Established in 1970, The Ecologist is the world's longest running environmental magazine. Last year saw not only its 30th anniversary, but also its re-launch. The magazine is read in over 150 countries by people with an interest in environmental, social and economic issues. The new-look Ecologist covers a range of topical and general subjects and opens new areas of debate on everything from science and technology to the impacts of globalisation on jobs, health and the environment. The Ecologist is a non-profit making magazine and is edited by Zac Goldsmith. Searchable archives with full-text articles.
http://www.theecologist.org/

 

#Books.Name#:#Books.Name2# by #Books.Author# #Books.Scope# #Books.Format# #Books.Pub# ISBN:#Books.ISBN# [see it at amazon.com]