Once Upon a Time a Planet…
11 December 2017 (Wall Street International)— Sorry for disturbing you at this time of the day! But….
Pollution, Pollution, Pollution Everywhere
Human-made pollution today is pervasive and persistent. While the world has achieved significant economic growth over the past few decades, it has been accompanied by large amounts of pollution, with significant impacts on human health and ecosystems and the ways, in which some of the major Earth system processes, such as the climate, are functioning.
Though some forms of pollution have been reduced as technologies and management strategies have advanced, approximately 19 million premature deaths are estimated to occur annually as a result of the way societies use natural resources and impact the environment to support production and consumption.
If consumption and production patterns continue as they are, the linear economic model of “take-make-dispose” will seriously burden an already-polluted planet, affecting current and future generations, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) asserts.
Pollution is not a new phenomenon—that’s true. It is largely controllable and often avoidable, but considerably neglected.
In fact, pollution can -and does- have negative impacts and disproportionate burdens on women and men, and particularly on the poor and the vulnerable such as the elderly, children and the disabled, affecting their rights to health, water, food, life, housing and development.
Many toxic dumpsites are located in poor areas, leading to environmental injustice. Pollution has significant economic costs from the point of view of health, productivity losses, health-care costs and ecosystem damages.
These costs, already substantial, are expected to rise over time, not only because of the direct effect of pollution on health, but also the impact of weakened livelihoods, as well as the longer-term impact on ecosystem services, that in turn affect local communities, societies and economies.
Baher Kamal‘s article was published in Wall Street International on 11 December 2017. Go to Original
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2017 Human Wrongs Watch
Source: https://human-wrongs-watch.net/2017/12/13/once-upon-a-time-a-planet/