Question

Mention the causes of land pollution.

Answer 1

Causes of Land Pollution:

(1) Deforestation and soil erosion:

• Deforestation carried out to create drylands is one of the major concerns.
• Land that is once converted into the dry or barren land, can never be made fertile again, whatever the magnitude of measures to convert it.

(2) Agricultural activities:

• With the growing human and pet animal population, demand for food has increased considerably.
• Farmers often use highly toxic fertilizers and pesticides to get rid off insects, fungi, and bacteria from their crops.
• However, the overuse of these chemicals results in contamination and poisoning of land.

(3) Mining activities:

• During extraction and mining activities, several land spaces are created beneath the surface.

(4) Landfills:

• Each household produces tons of garbage each year due to changing economic lifestyle of the people.
• Garbage like plastic, paper, cloth, wood, and hospital waste gets accumulated.
• Items that cannot be recycled become a part of the landfills that cause land pollution.

(5) Industrialization:

• Due to increasing consumerism more industries were developed which led to deforestation.
• Research and development paved the way for modem fertilizers and chemicals that were highly toxic and led to soil contamination.

(6) Construction activities:

• Due to urbanization, a large number of construction activities are taking place.
• This has resulted in large waste articles like wood, metal, bricks, plastic.
• These are dumped at the outskirts of urban areas that lead to land pollution.

(7) Nuclear waste:

• The leftover radioactive materials, harmful and toxic chemicals affect human health.
• They are dumped beneath the earth to avoid any casualty.