CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 POLLUTION A GLOBAL CRISIS 10 CHAPTER 2 Air PoLLUTION 22 CHAPTER 3 WATER AND LAND POLLUTION 35 CHAPTER 4 OTHER TYPES OF POLLUTION 48 CHAPTER 5 THE DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS 58 CHAPTER 6 THE PROBLEM OF DESERTIFICATION 69 77 79 CONCLUSION GoSSARY For MORE INFORMATION BIBLIOGRAPHY 84 INDEX 85
It s an ill bird that fouls its own nest English proverb e live in an age of marvels ideas people and goods speedily fly around the world Stores are crammed with tempt ing goods such as cell phones computers and exotic foods But when we buy new things our planet is paying a price too That price can be fragile environments destroyed by overfarming streams poi soned by factory toxins and filthy air from fossil fuels spewing from the trucks carrying our goods to market Modern humans and their indus trial ways are an outsized burden on the planet One reason is that there are just so expenses many of us The United Nations predicts that by 2050 almost 9 2 billion people will be living on Earth almost four times the number of people living on Earth in 1950 I It isn't just our numbers though We have forgotten the early childhood lesson If you make a mess clean it up In this volume you willlearn howcities like Los Angeles are frequently shrouded
INTRODUCTION with brown smoggy skies caused by the burning of fossil fuels especially gas emis sions from cars Acid rain precipitation mixed with gases released from coal burning plants kills fish and forests and dam ages many structures including important I An aerial photo taken on Oct 8 2010 shows a reservoir of red sludge pouring through the walls of a dam at an aluminum plant near Kolontar Hungary The ecological disaster began five days earlier when the walls gave way allowing waves of toxic red mud to sweep through the nearby small village killing five people Attila Kisbenedek AFP Getty Images
