Pollution Management (DP IB Environmental Systems & Societies (ESS))

Pollution Management

• Human activities, such as farming and industrial practices, urbanisation, development of transport, and energy production, are the major causes of pollution

  • The amount of material released into the environment determines the impact

• There are three main stages leading to the impact of pollutants on the environment

  • Stage 1: Human activity producing the pollutant

  • Stage 2: Releasing of the pollutant into the environment

  • Stage 3: The impact of the pollutant on ecosystems

The main stages leading to the impact of pollutants

• There are three strategies for managing the impacts of pollution (which relate to the stages of pollutant impact shown above):

  • Changing human activity

  • Regulating and reducing quantities of pollutants released at the point of emission

  • Cleaning up the pollutants and restoring the ecosystem after pollution has occurred

• Modern technology can reduce the impact of pollution by managing these three stages of pollutant impacts, for example:

  • Stage 1 could be managed by introducing electric and hybrid cars that use less fossil fuel

  • Stage 2 could be managed by fitting catalytic converters to car exhaust systems or adding scrubbers to industrial chimneys to remove toxic chemicals and allow for their reuse

  • Stage 3 could be managed by using synthetic membranes to capture chemical spills (e.g. mats designed to capture and hold hydrocarbons)

The main strategies for managing the impacts of pollution