Yesterday, we introduced the topic of Waste & Litter. In particular, our talk centered around man-made plastics and other materials that are negatively effecting the environment. They clog our rivers, they pollute our oceans, and they look pretty darn ugly… but at least they can’t hurt us, right? Wrong. There is a type of pollution that can hurt us. It’s called toxic waste.

Toxic waste is generally produced by factories, automobiles, and other modern technologies. And although laws help us keep these pollutants in check, they have a bad habit of accumulating in our environment. Meanwhile, cancer rates and the incidence of birth defects have doubled in the past 30 years. This is no coincidence. Recently, a study by Woodruff, Zofa, and Schwartz found toxic chemicals in over 99% of pregnant women.

Toxic waste is yet another way that humans are fouling the environment. But it’s not because we’re bad people. Many of today’s pollutants are left over from 50 or 100 years ago, long before we understood their adverse health effects. But change hasn’t come fast enough. Today, toxic chemicals are still being produced by factories and automobiles. And that’s what makes environmental education so important. The first step to solving a problem is knowing that there is one.

Resources:
May 13 – Toxic Waste (pg709).docx
May 13 – Toxic Waste PowerPoint.pptx