Page 65 - (DK) Danger! Open with Extreme Caution!

TOXIC RATING

Soil pollution
TOXIC Litter
Toxic chemicals get into the soil in all
VERY TOXIC sorts of ways—from industrial waste, leaky
underground storage tanks, and landfill
DEADLY TOXIC
sites to pesticides sprayed on crops. Once
in the soil, the chemicals are absorbed by
plants, affecting the whole food chain
as they move from worms and insects
19
to birds and eventually humans.
19. Litter can choke and suffocate
Water pollution many sea animals. Plastics are Pesticide
the worst, as they do not rot or
This type of pollution is possibly the world’s biggest killer, disintegrate. A bottle dropped on
a beach can be carried thousands of
as about 500 million people around the world do not
miles (kilometers) by ocean currents.
have access to safe drinking water and have to use
contaminated water. Untreated sewage is a breeding ground 20. Designed to kill insects, pesticides
for deadly diseases, such as cholera and typhoid fever, while can also have a devastating effect on
other animals. One pesticide, called
factories, mines, and oil wells can all release acids, salts,
DDT, almost wiped out bald eagles
and other toxic chemicals into rivers, lakes, and oceans. in the U.S. before its ban in 1972. 20
Mercury Mine leak Sewage Light Noise

13 14 15 21 22

Algae bloom PCB Oil slick Thermal Visual

16 17 18 23 24

13. From 1932 to 1968, 30 tons 14. In 1996, about 300,000 Sensory pollution
(27 tonnes) of mercury-laced waste truckloads of mining waste leaked
were dumped in the sea near Minamata, from an abandoned mine into Every day, our senses are bombarded by
Japan. More than 2,000 victims died two rivers in the Philippines,
after eating the poisoned seafood. causing flash floods. bright lights, loud noises, and foul smells.
A recent report in the Netherlands found
15. Raw sewage is a source of 16. Water pollution can lead to harmful that 600 people a year die from stress-related
dangerous micro-organisms, blooms of algae that form “red tides,” diseases caused by sleepless nights owing to
such as E. coli, and, in 2007, five releasing poisons that enter shellfish
people drowned when a sewage (deadly if eaten by humans) and using noise pollution. Too much loud music
pool swamped a Palestine village. up all the oxygen in the water, killing fish. can make you permanently deaf.

17. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) 18. When oil spills, it forms a thick
leaked into rivers from electrical black slick that kills large numbers 21. Artificial lights confuse many 22. Thanks to machines, we live
equipment factories and were banned of birds and other sea animals. More animals. Turtle hatchlings in Florida rely in a noisy world. At night, the hum
in 1978 after suspicions they caused than 200,000 sea birds died after on moonlight to guide them to water, but of sonar equipment on modern
cancer in those who ate polluted fish. the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. bright lights near the beach can make ships is enough to wake residents
them head in the wrong direction. 15 miles (20 km) from the coast!
23. When a power plant first opens, 24. Having to look at billboards,
the heat given off by its cooling power lines, cell-phone masts,
towers warms up local lakes and and towering concrete buildings
rivers so much that it can kill fish won’t kill you, but it does drive
and other animals. some people crazy!

POLLUTION 65
(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.