Pollution

1. The element is unwanted by society.

2. The element is characteristically harmful to human health and/or the environment OR the element is harmful to human health and/or the environment when present in sufficient quantities, even if it is not harmful in certain limited quantities.

3. The element can be tangible (like solid waste) or intangible (like light).

4. The element is a direct or indirect result of human activity.

(Eblen and Eblen, 1994, p. 542)

Pollution means different things to different people. For instance, an economist may think of pollution as the left-over aspects of production due to inefficiency, while to the environmentalist, pollution is the product of human activity that damages human health and the environment.

Compiled by Alex Ogilvie