Nature Smart Library: Pollution

Alexander Street Video: 2:07
You may have heard of first and second-hand smoke but did you know about third hand and after smoke? NIST scientists have measured how much chemical airborne emissions we are exposed to once a cigarette but has been extinguished.

Films on Demand: 1:25
According to the Environmental Defense Fund air pollution is now the biggest environmental risk for early death. Find out how this hazard might impact your health.

Alexander Street Video: 23:05
The power of technology to build a better world - incredible people beating the odds to follow their dreams, and the remarkable new technologies enabling them and others to thrive.

Alexander Street Video: 5:00
The consumer movement against plastic food and beverage packaging is gathering momentum, and companies are beginning to respond. The FT's Anna Gross takes a closer look at some of the more innovative products available, including reusable takeaway cups and compostable packaging.

Films on Demand: 5:23
The Ganga River, known as the Ganges under British rule, is one of the most revered waterways in the world -- and also among the most polluted. Stretching from the Himalayan foothills to the Bay of Bengal, it provides water to nearly half a billion people, more than any other river in the world. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from India on the latest efforts to clean the river.

Alexander Street Video: 3:33
Demystified video for light pollution.

Alexander Street Video: 5:06
Discover the major kinds of pollution: air, land, and water pollution; plastic pollution; light, noise, and heat pollution.

Alexander Street Video: 22:59
For 30 years, French bio-acoustic engineer Michel Andre has been measuring ocean noise pollution to help mitigate its impact on marine wildlife. Learn how he listens to our planet in order to protect it.

ProQuest Video: 18:14
The New Earth team joins pro surfer Koa Smith to learn about the problem of microplastics on Oahu’s North Shore, what efforts are underway to fix the issue and innovative ways entrepreneurs are utilizing what is being reclaimed.

Alexander Street Video: 6:00
The world produces an average of 430 million metric tons of plastic each year. The United States alone produces tens of millions of tons of plastic waste annually. Yet on average, only about 5 to 6 percent of plastic in the U.S. is recycled. NPR correspondent Michael Copley joins Ali Rogin to discuss a new report on the plastic industry’s tactics to push recycling and avoid regulation.

Films on Demand: 53:16
Did the plastic industry use recycling to sell more plastic? With the industry expanding like never before and the crisis of ocean pollution growing, FRONTLINE and NPR investigate the fight over the future of plastics.

Films on Demand: 1:52:39
The dramatic and inspiring story of ordinary women who fought against overwhelming odds for the health and safety of their families. In the late 1970s, residents of Love Canal in Niagara Falls, NY, discovered that their homes, schools and playgrounds were built on top of a former chemical waste dump. Housewives activated to create a grassroots movement that galvanized the landmark Superfund Bill.

Films on Demand: 2:46
This short program looks at the causes and dangers of pollution on our planet.

Films on Demand: 4:43
The scope of decarbonization isn’t just limited to power generation and transportation. The approach extends to industries including steel, cattle, and cement manufacturing. All will require major change in order to slow global warming.

(World Health Organization) Air pollution is contamination of the indoor or outdoor environment by any chemical, physical or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere... WHO data show that almost all of the global population (99%) breathe air that exceeds WHO guideline limits and contains high levels of pollutants, with low- and middle-income countries suffering from the highest exposures.

(U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Climate change is increasing ground-level ozone and particulate matter air pollution in some locations. This leads to many negative impacts on human health.

(National Institute of Environmental Health Services) Air pollution is a familiar environmental health hazard. We know what we’re looking at when brown haze settles over a city, exhaust billows across a busy highway, or a plume rises from a smokestack. Some air pollution is not seen, but its pungent smell alerts you.

(American Lung Association) The burden of air pollution is not evenly shared. Poorer people and some racial and ethnic groups are among those who often face higher exposure to pollutants and who may experience greater responses to such pollution.

(UCAR Center for Science Education) Air pollution affects all things. It is harmful to our health, and it impacts the environment by reducing visibility and blocking sunlight, causing acid rain, and harming forests, wildlife, and agriculture. Greenhouse gas pollution, the cause of climate change, affects the entire planet.

(United States Environmental Protection Agency) Ozone can be “good” or “bad” for health and the environment depending on where it’s found in the atmosphere. Stratospheric ozone is “good” because it protects living things from ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Ground-level ozone, the topic of this website, is “bad” because it can trigger a variety of health problems.
EPA regulations help states reduce ozone levels in outdoor air. Learn more about ground-level ozone.

(Center for Biological Diversity) Plastic accumulating in our oceans and on our beaches has become a global crisis. Billions of pounds of plastic can be found in swirling convergences that make up about 40 percent of the world's ocean surfaces. At current rates plastic is expected to outweigh all the fish in the sea by 2050.

(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Each year, billions of pounds of trash and other pollutants enter the ocean. Where does this pollution come from? Where does it go?

(New York State Department of Health) Particle pollution from fine particulates (PM2.5) is a concern when levels in air are unhealthy. Breathing in unhealthy levels of PM2.5 can increase the risk of health problems like heart disease, asthma, and low birth weight. Unhealthy levels can also reduce visibility and cause the air to appear hazy.

(U.S. Department of State) Plastic pollution is a global problem that affects our natural world and its biodiversity. It impacts our environment, health, food security, and economies.

(National Geographic) Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. These harmful materials are called pollutants.

(National Wildlife Federation) Every day the byproducts of our daily lives—sewage, exhaust, trash, agricultural and lawn chemicals, industrial and powerplant emissions, and more—make their way via the air and water into the natural environment and become pollutants. As big as our planet is, it's not big enough to dilute or absorb all the waste, chemicals, and nutrients that billions of people are continuously producing.

(World Bank Group) Industrialization, use of pesticides and nitrogen-based fertilizers, crop residues in agriculture, urbanization, forest fires, desert dust, and inadequate waste management have intensified environmental health risks and pollution, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

(United States Environmental Protection Agency) Pollution prevention (P2), also known as source reduction, is any practice that reduces, eliminates, or prevents pollution at its source prior to recycling, treatment or disposal.
Learn more about P2 and why the U.S. Congress declared it the most desirable approach for addressing pollution whenever feasible.

(Soil Science Society of America) In its original state, soil was an uncontaminated substance covering the earth. But humans have intentionally and accidentally poured harmful products onto it in some areas. The waste can hurt the soil and possibly human, plant, and animal health. This section covers the most common soil contaminants, how they got there, and how they can pose problems for human health.

(UN Environment Programme) Click on the boxes to get an overview of each different type of pollution, including air, freshwater, land and social, chemical, etc.