Chemical pollution in everyday life and in the garden

We never worry about chemical pollution as much as we should, accustomed as we are to believing that it is all on the shoulders of industrial production and that, somehow, it does not concern us. That it does not depend on us and our actions, but is the result of a stain we cannot stop, over which we have no power with our consumption choices and our daily actions. This, however, is not what the European Environment Agency says, which has recently announced its intention to take stringent measures regarding the use of many everyday products which, through their production, cause irreparable damage to the environment.

This type of pollution, in fact, concerns the creation of countless products and services that are part of our daily lives and, above all, has direct but invisible consequences on each of us. It causes damage through the food we eat, the air we breathe, and even inside our gardens, the first exposed to chemical pollution. Fortunately, even in this case, there is something we can do: measures we can take to protect the environment around us, starting from the products we choose to buy, all the way to our lawns and balconies, and how we take care of them. It takes very little to avoid harmful products and replace them with an eco-friendly alternative.

What is chemical pollution The European Environment Agency's measure Where is chemical pollution and why does it also concern us Avoiding chemical pollution in the garden

What is chemical pollution

Chemical pollution is defined as the presence or increased presence in the environment of contaminating chemical substances. We are therefore talking about substances that are not naturally present in an environment, and which risk damaging water resources, air, and soil, altering ecosystems, having negative effects in both the short and long term, and causing irreparable damage to various animal and plant species. Obviously, most of the substances that contribute to chemical pollution are directly human responsibility, which with its industries and unlimited production, actively contributes to the contamination of soil, water, and air.

The consequences, however, also concern our health. The direct effects on humans are of different types depending on the polluting chemical agent, but also on the exposure time and the manner in which contact occurred. Leaving aside the extreme cases of very serious exposure that should not concern people's daily lives, the long-term damage of the contained but prolonged exposure we experience every day certainly emerges. The consequences for our health can range from allergies to respiratory diseases, all the way to infertility or cancer. In short, chemical pollution harms the environment as much as those who inhabit it, from plants to animals, all the way to humans.

The European Environment Agency's measure

According to the European Environment Agency, to successfully achieve the ecological transition, one cannot dispense with a concrete battle against chemical pollution. From the last European summit meeting, a general will emerged to ban many hazardous substances, with the aim of limiting the impact on the environment and health.

This measure was issued following some worrying data regarding the quantity of hazardous substances released into the environment. According to an estimate compiled at the beginning of the year by some experts, chemical pollution has exceeded the planetary boundary. This means that the quantity of external and potentially toxic chemical agents dispersed in the environment has exceeded the tolerance limit, beyond which the destruction of ecosystems is inevitable. Only immediate action can prevent the most serious damage, and that is why the EEA decided to draw up a list, which will be updated by 2027, of substances to limit and ban as soon as possible. And, contrary to what one might think, it is not just about strange chemical substances used in industries and which we will never come into contact with, but about products, substances, and elements that directly concern us.

Where is chemical pollution and why does it also concern us

In our imagination, chemical pollution consists of greenish liquids coming out of the discharge systems of large oil refineries or other substances that we identify as toxic. However, this is not the only image, far from picturesque, to which the genesis of chemical pollution can be traced. In fact, this term refers to all chemical substances that end up dispersed in the environment. And these agents are found in many everyday products.

Microplastics, hydrocarbons, and heavy metals are everywhere, and with our unconscious use of products that contain them, we are guilty of chemical pollution. These substances are present, for example, in cosmetics which, through their use, inevitably end up dispersed in the environment. Even paints and detergents, cleaning products in general, obviously contain chemical agents. But not only that! Unsuspected everyday objects, such as toys and other children's products, or chemically bleached products, such as napkins. In short, chemical pollution concerns all of us, because with our consumption we contribute to producing it.

As always, in these cases, our consumption choices can make a difference. Buying organic products, completely natural cosmetics, recycled paper napkins that are not chemically bleached, can significantly reduce the release of such harmful substances into the environment. And we must not forget that even the way we take care of our garden can be problematic. Because, among the many problematic products, there are obviously also the most intimate false friends of the garden: pesticides.

Avoiding chemical pollution in the garden

If, therefore, there are many actions we can take to reduce chemical pollution through our purchasing choices, the same ecological decisions cannot be missing in the care we put into our gardens.

The use of pesticides to keep pests away, and herbicides to keep weeds away, is precisely what makes the care of a garden absolutely non-ecological. If, in fact, one thinks that having a green space is good for nature and the climate crisis “regardless,” one makes a serious mistake, because there is nothing worse than putting highly toxic substances into the soil, which will certainly contaminate the food we eat and the water we drink.

Recent studies have indeed shown that chemical pesticides are not disposed of, do not degrade in any way after use, and remain in the soil, water, and atmosphere for many years. The excessive use that humans have made of them in the last century, with the aim of increasing production making, however, the soil less healthy and fertile, has created an extremely dangerous accumulation of pollution.

However, there is not only the environmental interest among the reasons to give up chemical fertilizers and fertilizers in the management of your own garden or home vegetable patch. With our work, guided by an environmentalist philosophy, we always advise against the use of such substances also in view of the consequences on the soil's water requirements. By feeding it in an unnatural way, you end up causing a “forced” prosperity of the little plants, due to which the water requirement increases considerably. The concept is the same as when the human body consumes very salty meals or meals rich in mineral salts, and consequently needs to supplement with a greater quantity of water. “Artificially feeding the soil and plants with artificial products not only pollutes the soil, but also requires an incomparable and absolutely avoidable waste of water.

However, when the harmful effects that such substances can have on the environment are highlighted, one often ends up asking what the alternative could be. In the care of our gardens, in fact, we are often tempted by the desire to grow a certain type of plant, or to have lush lawns all year round, without really realizing how undesirable these artificial conditions actually are, and how the fact that harmful substances are needed to obtain them is a clear indication of how wrong all this is.

Instead, we recommend favoring a garden rich in plants suitable for the local climate, which may be susceptible to seasonality, therefore more or less lush, more or less flowering, depending on the time of year, but which constitute a natural and healthy garden that does not need harmful substances to be lush. Only in this way, and by giving up the use of small but extremely harmful artificial tricks, could we truly take care of the environment.