Quote: "Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change."
Pollution control measures refer to policies and strategies that are aimed at reducing the amount of pollution in the environment, such as limiting industrial emissions, effluent discharge, and other forms of waste disposal activities that can harm the air, water, and land.
Environmental Policy: The study of government policies, regulations, and laws that aim to promote sustainable development, conservation of natural resources, and pollution control.
Air Pollution Control: The study of the causes, effects, and prevention of air pollution, including the control of emissions from industrial processes, transportation, and other sources.
Water Pollution Control: The study of the sources, causes, and effects of water pollution and various mitigation techniques such as wastewater treatment, industrial pollution control and stormwater management.
Soil Pollution Control: The study of the causes and effects of soil pollution and various techniques used to mitigate its effects, including soil conservation techniques, bioremediation, and phytoremediation.
Hazardous Waste Management: The study of how to manage, transport and dispose of hazardous waste, including regulations, safety protocols, and waste reduction techniques.
Environmental Impact Assessment: The process of evaluating the potential environmental impacts of a proposed project or activity before it is carried out, and suggestions for sustainable practices and remedial measures that mitigate the adverse impacts.
Ecological Risk Assessment: The study of the potential effects of environmental pollutants on ecological systems, including risk assessment, environmental modeling.
Green Chemistry: The study and development of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances in commercial applications thereby reducing the risk of pollution.
Sustainability: The study of the relationship between humanity and the natural environment, considering the social, economic, and environmental factors and its interrelations.
Environmental Law and Policy Implementation: The study of how environmental laws and policies are implemented, enforced, and monitored to reduce harmful environmental impacts of human activities at regional or national scales.
Pollution Prevention: This approach aims to prevent pollution from occurring by using cleaner technologies, reducing waste and emissions, and developing sustainable policies.
End-of-Pipe Control: This approach focuses on treating or mitigating pollution after it has been created, such as wastewater treatment plants, air filters, or hazardous waste disposal facilities.
Command-and-Control Regulations: This form of regulation establishes mandatory pollution reduction targets, emissions limits, or standards that firms must meet. Non-compliance results in fines or legal action.
Market-based Instruments: This approach involves creating economic incentives for firms to reduce pollution or innovate sustainable methods. Examples include cap-and-trade schemes, effluent taxes, and subsidies for cleaner technologies.
Voluntary Agreements and Partnerships: This approach encourages firms to voluntarily commit to reducing pollution. They often involve negotiations between government and industry representatives where goals are set and monitored.
Third-Party Certification and Labelling: This approach involves independent certification organisations that verify environmental claims made by firms. Examples include Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance or the Marine Stewardship Council.
Public Participation: This approach involves involving the public in environmental decision-making processes, allowing citizens to participate in identifying and mitigating pollution problems.
International Environmental Agreements: These agreements establish global targets for reducing pollution, such as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change or the Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting substances.
Adaptive Management: This approach involves monitoring the effectiveness of pollution control measures and making improvements where necessary. It recognises the complexity of environmental problems and the need for ongoing research and innovation.
Litigation: This approach involves using the court system to hold polluters accountable for environmental harm they have caused. It can include suing for damages or seeking injunctions to stop harmful practices.
Quote: "Major forms of pollution include air pollution, light pollution, litter, noise pollution, plastic pollution, soil contamination, radioactive contamination, thermal pollution, visual pollution, and water pollution."
Quote: "The word pollution generally implies that the contaminants have an anthropogenic source – that is, a source created by human activities, such as manufacturing, extractive industries, poor waste management, transportation, or agriculture."
Quote: "Pollution is often classed as point source or nonpoint source pollution."
Quote: "Many sources of pollution were unregulated parts of industrialization during the 19th and 20th centuries until the emergence of environmental regulation and pollution policy in the later half of the 20th century."
Quote: "Pollution has widespread consequences on human and environmental health, having a systematic impact on social and economic systems."
Quote: "In 2019, pollution killed nine million people worldwide (one in six deaths), a number unchanged since 2015."
Quote: "Air pollution accounted for 3⁄4 of these earlier deaths."
Quote: "A 2022 literature review found that levels of anthropogenic chemical pollution have exceeded planetary boundaries and now threaten entire ecosystems around the world."
Quote: "Pollutants frequently have outsized impacts on vulnerable populations, such as children and the elderly, and marginalized communities."
Quote: "This outsized impact is a core reason for the formation of the environmental justice movement."
Quote: "Because of the impacts of these chemicals, local, country and international policy have increasingly sought to regulate pollutants, resulting in increasing air and water quality standards, alongside regulation of specific waste streams."
Quote: "Regional and national policy is typically supervised by environmental agencies or ministries."
Quote: "International efforts are coordinated by the UN Environmental Program and other treaty bodies."
Quote: "Pollution mitigation is an important part of all of the Sustainable Development Goals."
Quote: "Sites where historically polluting industries released persistent pollutants may have legacy pollution long after the source of the pollution is stopped."
Quote: "Polluting industries and toxic waste sites tend to be collocated with populations with less economic and political power."
Quote: "International efforts are coordinated by the UN Environmental Program and other treaty bodies."
Quote: "Regulation of pollutants has resulted in increasing air and water quality standards."
Quote: "Microplastics, agricultural runoff, and persistent pollutants" (These are examples of specific pollutants that are mentioned in connection to nonpoint source pollution and legacy pollution).