Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The history of environmental pollution traces human-dominated ecological systems from the earliest civilizations to the present day. [1] This history is characterized by the increased regional success of a particular society , followed by crises that were either resolved, producing sustainability , or not, leading to decline.
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause harm. [1] ... Pollution introduced by light at night is becoming a global ...
Air pollution is the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to humans and other living beings, ... introduced in 1963. [11] [12] ...
In 1967, Roderick Nash published Wilderness and the American Mind, a work that has become a classic text of early environmental history.In an address to the Organization of American Historians in 1969 (published in 1970) Nash used the expression "environmental history", [4] although 1972 is generally taken as the date when the term was first coined. [5]
A pollutant or novel entity [1] is a substance or energy introduced into the environment that has undesired effect, or adversely affects the usefulness of a resource. These can be both naturally forming (i.e. minerals or extracted compounds like oil) or anthropogenic in origin (i.e. manufactured materials or byproducts).
The atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen introduced the term "Anthropocene" in the mid-1970s. [21] The term is sometimes used in the context of pollution produced from human activity since the start of the Agricultural Revolution but also applies broadly to all major human impacts on the environment.
An ecotax allows governments to better manage the pollution caused directly or indirectly by industry. The polluter pays principle underpins environmental policy such as an ecotax , which, if enacted by government, deters and essentially reduces greenhouse gas emissions .
Radioactive contamination, also called radiological pollution, is the deposition of, or presence of radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids, or gases (including the human body), where their presence is unintended or undesirable (from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) definition).