ProWritersHub Contest - W2 | Topic 7: Protect Yourself from Air, Land and Water Pollution

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If the environment is dirty and untidy, it will breed diseases and other health-related problems. As such, it is essential to keep the environment green. Before we look at how to maintain a healthy environment, let's look at what causes the damage.

The focus:
🔹What is pollution?
🔹How is the air, land and water in your city polluted?
🔹Why is pollution dangerous to health?
🔹What can you do to protect yourself from different forms of pollution.
🔹Ways the government can help to fight pollution.

Pollution is the action or process of making land, water, air, etc, dirty and not safe or suitable to use. When the environment is contaminated or polluted with man-made waste, it affects the earth and its inhabitants. Pollution can occur when these man-made wastes are emitted into the air, land, or water.

How is the air, land and water in Uyo polluted?

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The city of Uyo is one of the cleanest cities in Nigeria and this is possible because of the law enacted by the present-day government. The monthly sanitation held every last Saturday of the month encourages residents to clean out the gutters, cut off excess weeds and maintain a tidy environment. However, one cannot say that the state is rid of pollution. One way the land is polluted is through the wrong disposal of waste. Littering makes the environment look filthy temporarily and when this debris gains access to gutters, drainages and waterways, they tend to restrict the flow of water, thus, leading to floods during rainy days. Next is the use of generating sets due to frequent power cuts. Recently, there has been an improvement in the supply of electricity, however, most businesses are still forced to burn their generators daily to maintain a steady power supply.

Why is pollution dangerous to health?

1. Sicknesses and diseases – Littering gives room for rodents and insects to attack.
2. Diarrhoea – This is a waterborne disease that occurs when people drink from or use contaminated water.
3. Ozone depletion –The fumes emitted from generating sets, fuel-operated vehicles, power plants and the petroleum industry destroys not only the lungs but also release excess carbon dioxide into the air. When it gets to the atmosphere, it brings about the depletion of the ozone layer which later results in global warming. Subsequently, skin cancer might become rampant.
4. Foods like fishes etc affected by the pollution become harmful to the health.

What Can You Do to Protect Yourself from Different Forms of Pollution?

Steps to Avert Air Pollution

• Plant trees: Trees take in carbon dioxide and send out oxygen. Planting trees will help purify the air at all times.
• Use clean energy: This can be quite expensive but yields better results in the long run.

Land

• Discouraging littering by placing waste bins around my home.
• Making it a duty not to litter the environment.
• Cleaning out the gutters to aid smooth water flow.

Water

• Not defecating into water bodies.
• Purify water before consuming it.
  
  
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Ways the Government Can Help to Fight Pollution

The Akwa Ibom state government had made a commendable move by banning the use of motorcyclists for commercial transport due to the excessive fume most bikes emitted. It was slowly becoming a menace. To add to the already existing rules, I will recommend that:

• Different waste products should be assigned a garbage can. By this, I mean that there should be a separate trash can for recyclable wastes like plastics, fabrics etc. Another should be for wastes that can decay such as food items. Nylons and other wastes that can not decay or are hazardous such as cans should be put differently. This will ensure that they are possibly put into judicious use like recycling or generating reusable energy like biogas.

• Stable power supply should be provided. Somehow, I believe that electricity, quality education and health care should be included as the necessities of life, as well as, the basic universal human rights. Imagine a world where the air is clean, where loud generating sets do not pollute the air or cause a lot of noise.

Final Thoughts

A clean, healthy environment can never be sustained if every hands do not work towards achieving this goal. Let's say NO to pollution and YES to a better standard of living.