Editing Pollution (section)

{{short description|Introduction of contaminants that cause adverse change}}
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{{Redirect|Environmental pollution|the journal|Environmental Pollution (journal){{!}}''Environmental Pollution'' (journal)}}
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{{Pollution sidebar}}
'''Pollution''' is the introduction of [[contaminant]]s into the [[natural environment]] that cause harm.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pollution |title=Pollution – Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |date=13 August 2010 |access-date=26 August 2010}}</ref> Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). [[Pollutant]]s, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants.

Although environmental pollution can be caused by natural events, the word pollution generally implies that the contaminants [[Human impact on the environment|have a human source]], such as [[manufacturing]], [[Extractivism|extractive industries]], poor [[waste management]], transportation or [[Agricultural pollution|agriculture]]. Pollution is often classed as [[point source pollution|point source]] (coming from a highly concentrated specific site, such as a [[factory]], [[Environmental effects of mining|mine]], [[construction site]]), or [[nonpoint source pollution]] (coming from a widespread distributed sources, such as [[microplastics]] or [[agricultural runoff]]).

Many sources of pollution were unregulated parts of [[Industrialisation|industrialization]] during the 19th and 20th centuries until the emergence of environmental [[regulation]] and pollution [[policy]] in the later half of the 20th century. Sites where historically polluting industries released [[Persistent organic pollutant|persistent]] pollutants may have [[legacy pollution]] long after the source of the pollution is stopped. Major forms of pollution include [[air pollution]], [[water pollution]], [[litter]], [[noise pollution]], [[plastic pollution]], [[soil contamination]], [[radioactive contamination]], [[thermal pollution]], [[light pollution]], and [[visual pollution]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gaur |first1=Nidhi |last2=Sharma |first2=Swati |last3=Yadav |first3=Nitin |title=Chapter 2 - Environmental pollution |journal=Green Chemistry Approaches to Environmental Sustainability |date=2024 |pages=23–41 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-443-18959-3.00010-0|isbn=978-0-443-18959-3 }}</ref>

Pollution has widespread consequences on human and [[environmental health]], having systematic impact on social and economic systems. In 2019, pollution killed approximately nine million people worldwide (about one in six deaths that year); about three-quarters of these deaths were caused by [[air pollution]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dickie |first1=Gloria |author-link1=Gloria Dickie |title=Pollution killing 9 million people a year, Africa hardest hit - study |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/pollution-killing-9-million-people-year-africa-hardest-hit-study-2022-05-17/ |access-date=23 June 2022 |work=Reuters |date=18 May 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00090-0">{{cite journal |last1=Fuller |first1=Richard |last2=Landrigan |first2=Philip J |last3=Balakrishnan |first3=Kalpana |author-link3=Kalpana Balakrishnan |last4=Bathan |first4=Glynda |last5=Bose-O'Reilly |first5=Stephan |last6=Brauer |first6=Michael |last7=Caravanos |first7=Jack |last8=Chiles |first8=Tom |last9=Cohen |first9=Aaron |last10=Corra |first10=Lilian |last11=Cropper |first11=Maureen |last12=Ferraro |first12=Greg |last13=Hanna |first13=Jill |last14=Hanrahan |first14=David |last15=Hu |first15=Howard |date=June 2022 |title=Pollution and health: a progress update |journal=The Lancet Planetary Health |volume=6 |issue=6 |pages=e535–e547 |doi=10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00090-0 |pmid=35594895 |s2cid=248905224 |doi-access=free |last16=Hunter |first16=David |last17=Janata |first17=Gloria |last18=Kupka |first18=Rachael |last19=Lanphear |first19=Bruce |last20=Lichtveld |first20=Maureen |last21=Martin |first21=Keith |last22=Mustapha |first22=Adetoun |last23=Sanchez-Triana |first23=Ernesto |last24=Sandilya |first24=Karti |last25=Schaefli |first25=Laura |last26=Shaw |first26=Joseph |last27=Seddon |first27=Jessica |last28=Suk |first28=William |last29=Téllez-Rojo |first29=Martha María |last30=Yan |first30=Chonghuai|pmc=11995256 }}</ref> A 2022 literature review found that levels of anthropogenic chemical pollution have exceeded [[planetary boundaries]] and now threaten entire ecosystems around the world.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Pollutants frequently have outsized impacts on vulnerable populations, such as children and the elderly, and marginalized communities, because polluting industries and toxic waste sites tend to be collocated with populations with less economic and political power.<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 January 2016 |title=Targeting minority, low-income neighborhoods for hazardous waste sites |url=https://news.umich.edu/targeting-minority-low-income-neighborhoods-for-hazardous-waste-sites/ |access-date=11 March 2023 |website=University of Michigan News |language=en-US}}</ref> This outsized impact is a core reason for the formation of the [[environmental justice movement]],<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Schlosberg |first=David |title=Moral and Political Reasoning in Environmental Practice |work=The Justice of Environmental Justice |publisher=The MIT Press |year=2002 |isbn=0262621649 |editor-last=Light |editor-first=Andrew |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=79 |editor-last2=De-Shalit |editor-first2=Avner}}</ref><ref name="Schlosberg">Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justice: Theories, Movements, and Nature''. Oxford University Press.</ref> and continues to be a core element of [[environmental conflict]]s, particularly in the [[Global South]].

Because of the impacts of these chemicals, local and international countries' policy have increasingly sought to regulate pollutants, resulting in increasing air and water quality standards, alongside regulation of specific waste streams. Regional and national policy is typically supervised by [[Environmental agency|environmental agencies or ministries]], while international efforts are coordinated by the [[United Nations Environment Programme|UN Environmental Program]] and other [[Treaty body|treaty bodies]]. Pollution [[mitigation]] is an important part of all of the [[Sustainable Development Goals]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Environment |first=U. N. |date=21 February 2020 |title=A Global response to Pollution |url=http://www.unep.org/beatpollution/global-response-pollution |access-date=11 March 2023 |website=Beat Pollution |language=en}}</ref>