We live in a world where pollution is destroying everything in nature, and we’re seeing terrible effects like acid rain and global warming. It would be splendid if we could reside on this remarkable planet without destroying it in the process. For city-dwellers it must seem like a tantalising mirage to think of inhaling cool, clean air into their lungs, with no harmful poisons or toxins. We’re already paying the price, though, for the toxins we keep creating; the environment and our physical well-being is being made vulnerable by the air’s toxicity.
All varieties of life found in that enormous body of water, our oceans, which total 70% of planet earth’s surface, are being ravaged by pollutants such as oil and chemical spillage, which inevitably affects us as well. Fishing used to provide many people with livings, but pollution is rapidly putting paid to those livelihoods. Since way back in time, fishing has fed and given economic means to a substantial segment of our population, all of which is already being taken from many. Anyone wanting to be persuaded of how destructive oil spills are, need look no further than the recent Deepwater Horizon disaster, which cost billions to subsequently fix and left many unemployed. The entire ecosystem was damaged by the large numbers of wildlife that perished, avian as well as marine, causing a backlash along the whole of the food chain. All of this just to obtain oil, a shameful instance of humans putting themselves before other creatures and the planet.
