Unit 3: An Introduction to Pollution and its Effects

This bird died as a result of the Braer oil spill. January 1993, when a tanker grounded off the Shetland Islands, Scotland, spilling an estimated 619,000 barrels (26 million gallons) of oil.

Introduction

This unit provides an introduction to the concept of pollution. It investigates the sources and types of pollution and looks at how some of these affect residents of planet earth. "Pollution" is an emotive word that tends to conjure up visions of tankers spilling oil across vast areas of the coast with pictures of local wild life, particularly birds, washed up on beaches covered in crude oil. However, in order to control pollution and prosecute the "polluter" for the damage inflicted on the environment, we need to be able to identify, monitor and quantify this term more clearly. This becomes particularly important when we communicate with other nations. Pollution does not respect international boundaries!!, burning fossil fuel in one country can lead to "acid rain" damaging forests in neighboring countries, thus pollution is a global issue, that requires co-ordinated effort if we are to address the problem successfully.

Task 1: Before reading further define briefly in your own words the term pollution