Pollution

Pollution is contamination of the environment by a chemical or other agent, such as noise

or heat, that is harmful to health, survival, or activities of humans or other organisms.

Pollution Types

Point sources
Point sources are single, identifiable sources
the smokestack of a coal-burning power or industrial plant
a factory drainpipe, or
the exhaust pipe of an automobile

Nonpoint
Nonpoint sources are dispersed and often difficult to identify.
pesticides blown from the land into the air
the runoff of fertilizers, pesticides, and trash from the land into streams and lakes

The tragedy of the commons

overexploiting shared renewable resources
Possible solutions:
Use a shared renewable resource at a rate well below its estimated sustainable yield
by using less of the resource
regulating access to the resource, or both.
To convert open-access renewable resources to private ownership
This is not practical for global resources such as the atmosphere and the oceans.
Ecological deficit means the ecological footprint is larger than the biological capacity to
replenish its renewable resources and absorb the resulting wastes and pollution.
Humanity is living unsustainably
By depleting their natural capital instead of living off the renewable supply or income provided by it.