Environmental Pollution – A Threat to Human Life

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Shahid Awan

World is rapidly developing, and with the advancement in technology, more and more it could take out of natural resources. Consumption of Natural Resources is not a free take away. It costs destruction of eco system, calls on the Environmental misbalance and pollution of all kind. Major Developed and industrially well-established cities have more pollution to suffer. Factories dump poisonous gases in air, poisonous wastes in water.
Air pollution is a threat to life as life survives on inhaling oxygen, but with the increases dump of carbon in air, Lungs are effected mostly. Respiratory related diseases have caught over millions around the globe. These factors accumulate and cause a global threat to life. A very existence of Life on this planet we call ‘Home’.
Air pollution has caused very Toxic breathes for millions, but this is not it, Noise pollution is another threat. Loud Noises effect cells and Membranes of ear which causes hear loss.
Water pollution is most widely effecting phenomena, Contaminated drinking water causes more than 480,000 children to lost their lives. Water pollution is multi-dimensional as being due to not only factories dumping their waste in water canals. But also plastic and other carbon fiber materials contaminate water. Half of world’s population is deprived of clean drinking water.
Causes of pollution on one side, remedies are being slowly adopted. Tree Plantation is said to be most effective way of catering the environmental pollution. Environmental hazards have caused Ultra-violet rays to reach Earth, raising its temperature. Rising temperature is causing ice on the polar caps to melt rapidly. This causes a chain reaction to start. Melting Ice raises the sea level putting “Island Countries” at higher risk. The continuously melting glaciers might wipe them out of the face of earth. Cities like Karachi are among those cities in the red circle.
Rising Temperature has caused seasons to expand or contract unexpectedly and has misbalanced the predictability of weather. This puts millions on risk of loosing their lives in a 50 years or so.
World is not sensitized about remedies to be incorporated to escape this slow poison. Pakistan has responded to the world call very effectively, recent Million Tree Tsunami project has brought a fruitful change, it has enhanced the Forests of the country and gave a break to International calamity. For this very reason, Pakistan is among the leaders of world climate change initiatives. International Conference on Environmental Pollution is scheduled to be held on June 5, 2021.
Pakistan will not only host this august conference but also will be an example for participants. This recognition is yet another affirmation of Prime Minister’s efforts and understanding of this climate change phenomena. Islamabad being the capital is among the world’s most Beautiful capitals, it comprises of beautiful Margalla hill top forests, as the jewel of its crown. This jungle is caught fire every year, recently this year too. Causing Timber Mafia to stand ahead in profits and forests to diminish. This is not the only factor effecting the beauty of the
Capital City, Islamabad. Crushing Mafia on the other end of the Margalla Hills near Taxila have already wiped out Hills. After cries of the locals being heard by the court, they were seized to work in the area. But the found new sanctuary not far from Taxila and Wah Cities.
Villages Pathar Garh and Babarki of Tehsil Hassan Abdal, once being the beautiful gate ways to the famous Beautiful North of Pakistan. But Now are sanctuary for the Crushing Mafia, who has installed machines to crush Hills in the area and what not. Use of blasts to cut through the hills and convert large chunks into crush for concrete use of the city. Inhabitants of Pathar Garh and Babarki are widely effected by the blasting, as noises of blasts are causing them fear, Dust is now their ordinary wind, which is causing their lungs to swell out. Asthama and other Respiratory Diseases are common. Large Trucks, even larger than the village roads are plying in this area frequently.
Their lives are at risk; their water resources are contaminated which is causing fuel to fire, their lives are at risk. They are not safe even at home. This negligence of the concerned authorities has made them die out slowly. Malik Amin Aslam, SAPM, being native of the area and flag bearer of the environmental initiatives of Government of Pakistan, is duly urged to take on this issue. Concerned authorities and crush Mafia to be irked and this illegal activity must be stopped forthwith. The inhabitants of this area are facing a lot of problems due to crushing mafia activities. The concerned dept. should cancel the lease for crushing purposes. This action would certainly give a sigh of relief to the people of this area and natural beauty of these mountains can be preserved.
The rapid development of the world’s most populous cities has created major problems by polluting the environment, where the waste from factories in these cities is openly dumped, causing toxic gases to dissolve in the atmosphere. This pollution has polluted the waters of the seas, rivers and lakes, which have started affecting people badly.
Toxic umes from machines as well as vehicles have caused many diseases in the airs, destroying the natural beauty of air pollution, even the beauty of a beautiful building like the Taj Mahal in India has been severely affected by a nearby chemical factory. Vehicle fumes contain nitrogen oxide gas. n 1984, in the Indian city of Bhopal, 3,000 people were killed by pesticide smoke and toxic gas emissions.
Similar accidents have occurred in the United States, with the release of toxic gas from a chemical factory in the US state of Virginia, killing 100 people. Air pollution causes severe damage to the eyes and lungs and in some cases can lead to cancer, poisonous air pollution has killed precious and rare birds and most wildlife has become rare. Ultraviolet rays reaching our Earth due to environmental pollution and the vacuum in the ozone layer are warming the atmosphere to a dangerous level, which has increased the global temperature by one degree Celsius.
There is a serious risk of damage to plants and the spread of skin cancer in humans. If the ice at the South Pole starts to melt, it could cause terrible floods and storms. A few years ago, at an international seminar on environmental pollution in Islamabad, it was feared that some Asian countries would be severely affected. Excessive sea levels could submerge Sri Lanka and Karachi, as well as Bangladesh parts are likely to be affected. These pollutants include nitrogen dioxide, sulfur, carbon monoxide and chlorofluorocarbons.
Toxic gases can cause dangerous diseases such as pneumonia, whooping cough and influenza. According to the World Health Organization, 800 million people in the world are exposed to unusual levels of sulfur dioxide in the air. In addition to air pollution, sound enters our ears in the form of mechanical energy waves, measuring the intensity of sound is called ‘deci mill’. Noise up to 90 deci mill is not harmful, noise is more harmful to hearing closely. Loud noises can cause hearing loss for which there is no cure such a patient has to use a hearing aid.
In cities, the sound of car horns, the roar of planes, the sounds of music concerts reach 120 deci mills, which are dangerous. These sounds are dangerous for blood pressure and heart patients. People living in noisy environment are stressed, suffering from respiratory distress and insomnia. Similarly, water pollution was observed in Germany during the second world war when Germans did not drink ordinary tap water but used plain mineral water or lemon water for drinking. German doctors say that air pollution and the effects of war are still there and could not be eliminated from Germany. In some countries, chlorine is added to water to kill toxins.
Air pollution also affects people involved in swimming and boating. Foreign men and women bathe in nude clothing, the germs of various diseases are added to the water from their bodies. After bathing in the pool, it is usually recommended to take a bath with warm water with standard soap. In this regard, people are in dire need of an awareness campaign for which environmental programs should be organized on newspapers, television, informational materials, radio, etc.
The programs should be aired at 8 pm. Provide environmental education to young people, provide literature based articles written by experts on pollution control. In order to eliminate air pollution in the area, more people should be involved, the staff of the municipal corporation should be required to pick up garbage from every area on a daily basis, neighborhood committees should be formed to monitor the cleanliness in their area.
Villages and cities should be formed uniformly and they should have government patronage so that they can prevent air pollution in their respective areas through the district administration and local police. Environmental officers and workers take turns visiting every area to inform the people about the harms of environmental pollution.
Regular seminars on pollution should be organized every month so that awareness can be created. Pakistan is hosting the International Conference on Environmental Pollution on June 5, 2021. If we come to the mountains of our region, notably Margalla Mountain which is the beauty of Islamabad, which is now almost dying near Taxila but no one was interested in protecting this mountain but influential political figures patronized the crush mafia and as a result today the skyscraper peaks of Margalla mountain have collapsed and now housing colonies are being built there.
The same mafia is engaged in sabotaging the natural beauty of a beautiful historical city like Hassan Abdal, here the hill of Baba Wali Kandahari, which is famous for its spiritual fame, is being gradually eradicated, as well as the lush mountains around Pathargarh village and the area around Motorway M-1 are being ruthlessly removed. These mountains are being blasted with dynamite as a result of which dust storms from here are afflicting the residents of the adjoining villages with various diseases while the natural beauty is being destroyed.
Of course, the responsibility for this catastrophe lies with the Ministry of Minerals and Environment to stand up to these elements, but the good news is that there is now a capable person in the form of Federal Minister Malik Amin Aslam who is demonstrating his skills all over the world in the face of environmental pollution and it is a good coincidence that these areas also come under his own constituency even though Malik Amin Aslam is active for climate change in Pakistan but his first priority is should have its own district where his role in making the environment beautiful and pleasant is of utmost importance.
The international conference, which will be chaired by Federal Minister for Environment Malik Amin Aslam, needs to enact laws to crack down on those who destroy the natural environment and bring them to justice. Finally, we will ask the Federal Minister alik Amin Aslam to bring to justice those responsible for the destruction of the environment in this area, which will not only please Allah but also the survival of human and wildlife.