Faced with the challenges of pollution and global warming , we feel powerless and want to know "whose fault is it". Who are the main culprits? Heavy industries, fashion , digital technology , transport, agriculture , industrial farming?
To identify the most polluting industries on the planet, a thorough investigation must be conducted. First, analyze the origins of soil, air and water pollution to then assess the responsibility of each polluter. Fortunately, today, pollution indicators are increasingly numerous and precise to identify the main culprits, the biggest polluters on the planet.
First of all, what is pollution?
Pollution means degrading an ecosystem, the environment or destroying it entirely by introducing elements that are unsuitable for it and that will harm it. This could be plastic in the ocean, toxic products in the soil or rivers, particles in the air or even waste in nature. Ecosystems are by definition in perpetual evolution: they can therefore adapt to the addition of these materials but only up to a certain point. In all cases, pollution threatens their fragile balance and this is not always what we think. For example, green algae can proliferate due to human activities to the point of suffocating the rest of the aquatic environment that they colonize. This is another form of pollution for which man is responsible, although the algae are of natural origin.
The difference between pollution and CO2
When we talk about pollution, we systematically talk about carbon dioxide, CO 2 , today. However, we produce CO 2 ourselves by breathing! The problem is therefore not really its presence in the air, which is natural, but the consequences of its excess emissions, mainly due to the combustion of fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal). Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming if it is in excess in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases are so called because they prevent infrared rays emitted by the Earth from escaping into space by placing themselves above them like a lid, which raises the temperature below in the atmosphere, like in a greenhouse. This phenomenon is natural and has allowed life to appear on Earth, but human activities adding enormous quantities of greenhouse gases to the system create an imbalance that disrupts the climate machine.
Who pollutes what?
It is not easy to assess the extent of the impact of each polluting industry: What is the quantity of greenhouse gases that it emits? How can we assess its plastic pollution ? Its chemical pollution? It is better to think by source of pollution – soil, air, water – and by sector of activity – automobile, transport, industry, agriculture and livestock farming.
Who pollutes the soil?
A soil is considered polluted when it has received chemicals that contaminate the fauna and flora. This type of pollution comes mainly from chemical discharges from industrial activities, intensive breeding and agriculture because of phytosanitary products and the famous weedkillers (glyphosate type) and other chemical fertilizers, used by farmers. Pollution can also come from large quantities of droppings from industrial livestock that saturate the environment and become toxic (see below). But it can also be chemicals from a factory, wastewater from drug manufacturers then saturated with active pharmaceutical ingredients that spread into the soil, but also hydrocarbons that leak near a gas pump for example.
Who pollutes the air?
The emission of CO2 by vehicles, planes and other ships is not strictly speaking a pollutant: it is not responsible for fine particles, which are extremely harmful, and this in a direct way, for us humans. When we talk about air pollution, we are referring to these particles that enter the body through the respiratory tract and the skin. They are the cause of many respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and cancers. And in France, fine particle pollution is the second leading cause of preventable death after tobacco.
- The car of course emits a lot of fine particles, but not so much because of the engines, today equipped with fairly efficient filters. Automobile pollution comes mainly from the friction of the brake discs and the wear of the tires on the road. These two frictions generate a fine dust of particles mainly made up of carbon black and heavy metals such as copper, barium, nickel, chromium, lead, zinc, highly toxic.
- Maritime transport is the other major culprit, along with aircraft: the "supertankers", these giant ships that transport, export and import almost all the goods in the world, generate absolutely gigantic pollution in sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and ultrafine particles... mainly because of their fuel which is one of the dirtiest in the world, a heavy oil residue that is difficult to burn.
- Coal-fired power plants, which are often forgotten to be mentioned, are one of the worst sources of fine and ultrafine particles that infiltrate very deeply into our bodies. They are legion in Asia, but also in Europe such as Poland or Germany where 25% of electricity comes from coal-fired power plants. In France, coal-fired power plants have almost completely disappeared because more than 70% of electricity comes from nuclear power, which emits almost no CO2 or fine particles.
Who pollutes the water?
Rivers, lakes and the sea can (and are) polluted by the same substances as soils through the rainwater that drains them. A heavily polluted area can lead to the total destruction of a marsh ecosystem, if animals and plants can no longer live there. Discharges from livestock farms can also unbalance the water and lead to the spread of harmful and/or invasive species such as green algae. But in addition to this pollution, there is the waste that rivers, lakes and the sea receive directly. As for the ocean, sunscreen is a waste that suffocates the seabed, deprives it of light by forming a film on the surface (depending on the filters used in the cream) or leads to the destruction of precious coral. Added to these pollutants are toxic substances released into the sea, such as oil spills which ravage everything in their path, and above all, plastic, which forms soups of microplastics as it degrades, then absorbed by marine organisms.
Who are the biggest polluters?
A multitude of measurement methods, indicators, and increasingly sophisticated indices make it possible to analyze and, above all, quantify the polluting damage caused by different industries. And this is at a global level, because polluting industries are very different from country to country. The analysis of all this data leads to the identification of the 5 biggest polluters on the planet.
The textile industry
The textile industry, the fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is a major consumer of resources and water in particular. It also generates a lot of pollution, the main one being that due to the dyeing of textiles, which places it in second place in terms of water pollution worldwide. Indeed, the manufacture of clothing and the treatment of fibers, particularly synthetic fibers, requires an arsenal of toxic chemicals that end up in the wastewater that comes out of factories, often in poor countries that do not have sufficient regulations to put pressure on brands.
Transport
The transport sector is the main culprit for air pollution. At different levels: on average, a train journey emits 10 times less CO2 than the same journey by car and up to 50 times less CO2 than a plane. And if aircraft engines, train tires, supertankers and cars emit fine particles that are dangerous to health when burning fuel, the damage does not stop with the use of vehicles. During their manufacture, a large number of materials, waste and toxic products are used, which doubles their environmental impact, in addition to emitting record levels of CO2 .
Agriculture and intensive livestock farming
Agriculture and intensive livestock farming have one thing in common: they generate ammonia. This chemical compound comes from nitrogen fertilizers used to fertilize crops, but also from animal droppings that pose serious problems related to the practice of "spreading". This technique consists of using slurry, rich in nitrogen, on the land as fertilizer. Just like pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers that destroy biodiversity in the process, the toxic products of slurry end up in the soil and then in waterways, and in the form of nitrate in this case. A contamination that can reach the water table, making the water unfit for consumption. As a bonus, nitrogen and nitrates stimulate the proliferation of green algae that then colonize the coasts, as is the case in Brittany because of the giant pig farms located upstream of the watershed.
Digital pollution
The manufacturing of smartphones, computers, tablets, TVs, internet boxes, hard drives, etc. generates significant pollution throughout their life cycle.
First of all, to manufacture them, a great many rare metals are needed: copper, lithium, gold, cobalt… they are extracted in an often unscrupulous manner that terribly pollutes the environment, depletes resources, weakens ecosystems in addition to exploiting the inhabitants of these regions and sometimes involving child labor. This process, valid for the manufacture of digital objects, is also valid for “data centers”, these immense digital centers that store digital data and host internet content. All these tools and equipment are waste when they no longer work. They are very rarely recycled even though some of the metals they contain will soon be in short supply. In addition, the digital sector is today responsible for nearly 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions! Using the internet (streaming movies, using connected objects, using social networks with their photos and videos, and even doing simple searches on Google or consulting a website, etc.) requires data centers to consume a lot of energy which, if produced from fossil sources, will emit a lot of CO2 .
We should not say "pollution" but "pollutions". Awareness is growing and in this fight to preserve the environment, our consumption choices are at least as important as the policies put in place. This is the strength of the group . Stopping or reducing meat, preferring the train to the plane... these are the new reflexes that we must adopt before one day we simply no longer have a choice.
