New Perspectives in Science Education

Environmental pollutions have serious impact on human health, climate change, agriculture, atmospheric chemistry, water chemistry and overall our ecosystem. An undesirable change in the chemical composition of the atmosphere, water or soil that adversely affects the survival or natural activities of humans or other organisms and causes a loss of biodiversity. Scientists from different disciplines like Chemistry, Biology, Earth science, Physics, and Social sciences can play a significant role for better understanding the environmental problem and also mitigate environmental issues. Bangladesh is the top most country in the World for the death due to the environmental problem. Almost one third of the deaths occur in low and middle income countries for the environmental pollution. Air pollution had the biggest impact accounting for two thirds of total deaths from pollution. Most of the deaths were caused by noninfectious diseases linked to pollution, such as heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and respiratory infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is the main hazard because it is small enough to penetrate deep into human airways, lungs and brain.  More than 90% of the world’s population- about 7.0 billion people is exposed to outdoor pollution above the WHO guideline limit of 10 µgm-3 of PM2.5 (annual average). Around 4.5 million people die each year from the effects of outdoor air pollution. Two thirds of the Earth is covered by water bodies and water is becoming polluted by various ways. Many peoples die every year by water born diseases due to taking polluted water. Water pollution may be defined as alteration in physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of water, which may cause harmful effects on human and aquatic life. Individuals and the masses should be educated about the significance of quality of water and its impact on the economy, the society, and ecology. Emphasis will be given to discuss the role of chemists in the protection of the environment during the presentation.

Keywords: Environment, outdoor air pollution, human health, particulate matters (PM _2.5), ecosystem;