The Toxic Cost of Progress

Therefore, due to systems set up by people, rivers are intoxicating, polluting the water of their paper mill. The Yellow River has constantly changed colors because of industrial spills. It is proven that by disregarding important systems (water system) negative environmental changes occur. Similar issues exist today. In many regions, people disregard the safety of the people and ultimately add to the pollution on Earth. Whether it is by water, land or air, pollution still occurs. For example, today, many factories around the world still produce heavy levels of air pollution that both animals and humans breathe. Just like China's pollution crisis in 2008, all around the world air pollution occurs and attempts to solve it are scarce.

Lastly, Document 5 also shows the enduring issue of environmental impact. The highlight of Document 5 are the different ways water is polluted which is why many people worldwide don't have access to “improved sources of drinking water [and]... lacks improved sanitation” (Source 5). When water is polluted, it makes that water extremely unsafe to drink. However, it is still very common. This is because the environment has constantly been negatively impacted for centuries and still goes on today. For example, Document 5 states, “industry dumps an estimated 300-400 MT of polluted waste in water every year” (Document 5). Human activities is the cause of events like this. Which is why “~3.5 million people die each year” (Document 5).

Similarly, in Africa civilians are faced with a scarcity in their water supply because of other people's disregard in maintaining a clean water supply. Often times these citizens can't drink water due to insufficient filtration systems. Filtration systems are meant to clean the water so it is safe to drink. However, when water is heavily polluted it makes it difficult for these filtration systems to flush out all the toxins.

The enduring issue of environmental impact is when human activities lead to negative outcomes to the environment. To help resolve this issue, funding towards improving drinking water should increase and it should be advertised more to take care of the environment. This way, people would pollute less and be more educated on this issue. These documents all are in relation to each other by addressing the same enduring issue, environmental impact.