Pollution

Click the buttons below to learn more about the specific kinds of pollution and what you can do to help prevent them and/or minimize their impact.

Air Pollution

Ozone

Disposable Products

Solutions

Food Waste

A staggering percentage of food is wasted. First we waste resources on farms and in fisheries where inefficent foods are grown, wasting more space, water, and nutrients than we'd have to spend for nutritious and eco-friendly alternatives. We dump around 1/3rd of fish back into the ocean where they die, and give a third of the remaining catch to livestock even though scientists say 90% of that amount would be more efficiently used if fed straight to humans. 

There is waste throughout the production line, in shipping, and again in shops and restaurants. After food makes it into our homes, we forget about it, or it may be wasted due to improper planning, power cuts, or other unforeseen problems. 

Some of the resources can be recaptured via composting, but reducing waste from the farm all the way to our fridges and tables will have a bigger impact than composting. Composting only slightly reduces the amount of green house gases produced compared to food waste that is thrown in landfills.

Manmade Chemicals

Synthetic materials can serve many useful functions, but they generally don't break down naturally, meaning they are now building up in the environment, our food chains, and our bodies. Legislation is probably the best way to handle them, but you can click the buttons in this section to learn how to avoid using or buying them, and even learn how to help remove them from the environment.

Waste Management

Precious Plastic is a growing, global network that is helping everyday people become part of the solution for the plastic crisis.

Pollution Inside Our Homes

Air Pollution 

Air pollution can be worse inside homes than outside due to particles from technology, fire-retardant chemicals in furniture, gas stoves and furnaces, or even natural but toxic gases that waft up out of the ground, especially in homes with basements.

Lead 

While we're constantly told to reuse items, that antiques were made with better quality, and that it's great to pass things down through the generations, we're now learning this isn't always accurate. 

Clay, porcelain, and even some types of glassware was often made with toxic levels of lead, arsenic, and other toxic chemicals which leach into food. Chemicals like lead can leach worse over time, especially now that we abuse them with microwaves and washing machines, which damage the kitchen ware and help these chemicals leach out even faster. Acids like tomato sauce or storing food in these items also puts us at increased risk of lead and other types of poisoning.

Kids are at even greater risk as lead can harm their development and cause lasting damage including hearing loss and lower IQs. 

Antique and vintage toys have been tested as positive for lead, cadmium, arsenic and other dangerous chemicals in some surprisingly common childhood toys that many baby boomers have held onto for their grand and great grand children to play with.

Resources

Resources

International

Europe

UK

North America

USA

Organizations

International

Maps

International

Grants & Funding

North America

USA