ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Name: Evelyn Morelia Casillo Marín

Pollution of the environment is caused by anthropogenetic activities, this is a
complex problem of global, political, economic, scientific, technological and
cultural proportions that interact in such a close way that it often makes it
difficult to carry out corrective actions, and worldwide because there is
practically no place on the planet to escape its consequences
In this article some general aspects of the pollution problem are analyzed and
an approach that scientists propose for their study is described.. The concepts
of ecology and environmental science are described in a brief historical outline.
The way in which society has perceived the environmental problem is identified
as a means of linking its political, economic, scientific and cultural aspects.
Likewise, placing ourselves in the scientific and technological field. Finally, we
describe the contribution of this discipline to solving the pollution problem.
SOME HISTORY
In our history the use of fire by man dates back to around 6,000 years ago and
4,500 years ago, when the Greeks already mined copper and made bronze
pieces. This stage was followed by that of iron, around 1,000 BC, until the end
of the eighteenth century the steam engine appeared which, together with coal,
led to the monitoring of the Industrial Revolution.
The danger of the civilizations before the Industrial Age could only have
repercussions of environmental contamination at the local level, causing the
depredation of the areas surrounding the populated centers. Large industries
motivated the generation of huge industrial cities, whose coal-generated smoke
emerged from a profusion of smokestacks.
The comforts of big cities and well-paying jobs caused the emigration of people
from the countryside to the city. In the mid-19th century, the population of the
main industrialized countries began to be more urban than rural. During the
20th century, a surprising scientific and technological advance began that
consolidated a growing trend in population growth, urban planning and large-
scale production in developed countries. Throughout the entire process and
until the 1960s, planet Earth still maintained the ability to provide food and
material resources to the growing population.
ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
ecology is the branch of science that studies organisms in relation to
themselves and their surroundings; seeks to determine the qualitative and
quantitative cause-effect relationships that occur between the subjects being
studied. His method requires observation, classification, and experimental
testing. This requires systematic observation over long periods of time since the
size of the rooms under study is very large and often requires very sophisticated
measurement methods and equipment. The laboratory of ecology is planet
Earth as a whole.
The human being is included in the word organism and the social, political,
economic and humanistic sciences, these involved in ecology, regarding the
form in the organism called "human"; it is related to other similar organisms.
Also the natural sciences: physics, chemistry, biology, medicine and
mathematics, with their respective technological and health applications and in
terms of the way in which human beings "relate to", "and use", their peers and
with what surrounds him. The latter is called the environment.
Unlike essentially reducing disciplines, ecology has integrating and synthesizing
characteristics that do not allow its delimitation within the conventional sciences.
The ecologist, in his way of seeing and understanding the world, can move
through the natural and social sciences and the rest of the humanities, to
philosophy and politics.
Now, as a first approach to the environmental problem, it is to interpret the
deterioration of the environment as an isolated phenomenon, fortuitous but
inevitable in the course of life. Environmental disorders are seen as accidents,
miscalculations or consequences of ignorance, indifference, irresponsibility or
human negligence. The political implications are relatively few and minor,
including warning, education, indoctrination, and a few legal penalties, such as
laws that prohibit littering outdoors in the fields, on the side of the roads, as well
as a ban on causing annoying fires, noises or odors. The policy in this case
tends to make up the problem is carried out by reforestation, cleaning and
painting campaigns, analysis of municipal ordinances, exhortation to residents
to separate garbage, etc. These actions are broad and traditionally accepted.
With them, the citizen "feels" that the environmental problem is solved.
As a second perception is that environmental problems are generally
involuntary, but caused by an inadequate organization of economic and public
affairs. Technology is not thought to have been well used to solve them.
Government intervention is necessary to prohibit behaviors that deteriorate the
environment; decrease discharges into the environment; control the emission of
pollutants by automobiles and regulate land use. International agreements and
strategies for the mandatory observance of a set of measures are designed with
the aforementioned content. National and international organizations and
bureaucracies are generated that will act in different government agencies or
civil associations related to the environmental problem, such as administrators,
legislators, scientific researchers, educators, police, etc.
And finally, the third perception considers the previous two as a useful part for
controlling environmental deterioration, but emphasizes that the roots of the
problem must be sought as basic causes. This action marks a greater division
of the movement for the environment, among those who believe that sufficient
action to achieve sustainable environmental conditions is within the current
capitalist technological, social and economic order and those who identify that
same order as the fundamental cause of deterioration ecological.
POSSIBLE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM
now, the problem of pollution and its ecological consequence is conceived as a
global issue that requires urgently global solutions and measures. Currently, a
diverse group of nations, especially developed ones, make efforts within their
territory to restore and preserve national ecological health and seek to reach
agreements with other nations to extend them to the entire planet. In addition,
various solution proposals are being generated. Political and scientific
technological components are observed in all of them. Policies are directed
towards the legislative type mechanisms that governments have, to modify the
behavior patterns of society; The scientific-technological ones are oriented to
the study and development of environmental defense techniques.
To date, the solution trend that seems to prevail is to modify "sustainable
development". The first of them implies the idea of limited economic growth
through the constant increase in the production and consumption of goods and
services, while in the second, economic growth and the consequent social
welfare must be achieved without deteriorating the environment and avoiding
irrational exploitation of the planet's natural resources.
This trend is based on the belief that there is no problem in the environmental
relations of humanity, that science, technology, politics or economics cannot
solve. Especially in democracies with free market economies, technique is now
seen as a natural power. It has become a conceptual successor to progress,
conceived as a power and agent of social change that cannot be stopped.
However, the concept of sustainable development is not contemplating
substantive actions to limit population growth and urban planning in all cities,
tending to stabilize the planet's population and, in addition, preserves and
perhaps reinforces economic liberalism.
Until now, history has taught us that traditional science and technology, together
with liberal policies of development and progress, led to the Industrial Age, the
consequences of which we are all experiencing today in general.
ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL THEME
As we all know the environmental problem, from the point of view of Industrial
Engineering, it is useful to classify it according to the three physical states of the
materials present throughout the biosphere. Each section can be studied
separately and then integrate the reciprocal interactions between the study of
water, air and soil contamination. The nature of this for hazardous waste and
energy, potentially affects any of the previous physical states, so that it merits
separate issues.

Frequently, the manufacturing industry is associated with fireplaces. In effect,

the energy necessary to carry out most of the industrial processes comes from
the burning of fuels, the result of which as a mandatory waste are a series of
pollutants that will give air.
This results in the problem of prevention and control of these emissions
generated by thermal machines, whether fixed or mobile. Likewise, it also has
to do with obtaining and formulating fuels and a large number of chemical
compounds that are thrown into the ambient air.
The field of action in the field of polluting and hazardous waste involves the
identification, management and final disposal of the same. These can come
from industrial sources, such as toxic materials, alkaline acids that are generally
discharged into the water through pipelines, or they can come from other
sources, such as biological-infectious materials from hospital centers and of
health.
In this case, Peruvian legislation must recognize the need to promote education
provided with ecological content at all levels of primary, secondary and higher
education. At the higher level and in the competence of industrial and
environmental engineers, we must conduct educational research. It is
considered that a priority activity is to establish and keep updated the thematic
contents and teaching methodologies for the training of new generations of
professionals who will promote the development of clean technologies and
measures aimed at avoiding ecological damage, measures that are necessary
for our sustainable development.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AS A DETERMINING FACTOR OF HEALTH
Economic growth and globalization have produced obvious benefits, but at the
same time have caused new risks to emerge. There are difficulties and
uncertainties to accurately identify the causal relationship between environment
and health. Measuring exposure to numerous environmental factors is complex
because we do not have adequate information and health surveillance systems
that allow us to assess the magnitude and severity of risks. The information
available on diseases related to the environment comes from animal
experimentation, laboratory studies, epidemiological and toxicological studies.
The results of these research works allow extrapolating and estimating possible
risks to public health. We also know that some environmental substances below
certain levels are not dangerous. However, other agents, such as allergens,
ionizing radiation, air pollutants, carcinogenic chemical preparations, may pose
a risk at lower levels than observed. Despite this, there are some works that
have identified the relationship between certain environmental agents and
human health.
It has been estimated that in industrialized countries 20% of the total incidence
of diseases can be attributed to environmental factors1. In Europe, a large
proportion of deaths and disability-adjusted life years in the child-age group is
attributable to indoor and outdoor air pollution. A significant finding of this work2
is that 1/3 of deaths in the 0-19 age group is attributable to environmental
exposures (internal and external air pollution, water and sanitation, chemical
substances and preparations, and injuries caused by accidents. .
Respiratory diseases, asthma and allergies are associated with contamination
of the external and internal air. The relationship between air pollution and health
is increasingly known. Asthma and allergies have increased in recent decades
throughout Europe, approximately 10% of the child population suffers from
some of these diseases3. Weather may be influencing the prevalence of
childhood asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic eczema symptoms. The
environmental agents involved are nitrogen and sulfur oxides, suspended
particles, ozone, metals, volatile organic compounds and hydrocarbons. In
indoor environments, environmental tobacco smoke is the most frequent.
The evidence of the impact of climate change on health is becoming more
consistent every day. In relation to this, recent works have concluded that our
country is one of the most vulnerable to climate change and is being affected by
the impacts of this change. The impacts on human health refer to an increase in
morbidity and mortality due to heat waves that may be more frequent in
intensity and duration in the coming years. Other effects are increased pollution
by fine particles and ozone and the implantation of subtropical vectors adapted
to survive in hotter and drier climates, which may increase the incidence of
diseases such as dengue. Extreme temperatures (hot and cold) are associated
with increases in general mortality, in most cases from cardiovascular and
respiratory diseases.
The decrease in the stratospheric ozone layer and exposure to ultraviolet
radiation are associated with an increase in skin cancer, cataracts and
alterations of the immune system. Sun exposure increases the risk of skin
cancer (not melanoma), due to ultraviolet rays. Up to 90% of these tumors have
been estimated to be attributable to this exposure. Ionizing radiation causes
cancer, leukemia, burns and radiological injuries.