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Environmental Pollution

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Environmental Geoinformatics

Part of the book series: Environmental Science and Engineering ((ENVSCIENCE))

Abstract

There exist various definitions to the word pollution depending on one’s jurisdiction and the laws of a particular country. Springer (1977, see references therein) looks at the meaningful concept of defining pollution in international law by posing the questions: “What are you talking about when you are talking about pollution? What is pollution? How would you define it if you are going to remove the concept of damage from it?” These questions are not easily answerable and as Springer (1977) acknowledges, the term pollution is a word whose precise meaning in law, particularly international law, is not easily discerned Springer (1977). It has been used in a wide variety of contexts, from international conventions to pessimistic speeches about the state of the environment, to describe different levels and kinds of man-induced changes in the natural world Springer (1977).

“People blame their environment. There is only one person to blame–and only one–themselves.”

Robert Collier.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Spatial Sciences, Curtin University of Technology, P.O. Box U1987, Perth, WA, 6845, Australia

    Joseph L. Awange

  2. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Joseph L. Awange

  3. Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Joseph L. Awange

  4. School of Environment, Maseno University, Kisumu, Kenya

    Joseph L. Awange

  5. Geospatial and Space Technology, University of Nairobi, Harry Thuku Way, Nairobi, 30197, Kenya

    John B. Kyalo Kiema

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  1. Joseph L. Awange
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  2. John B. Kyalo Kiema
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Correspondence to Joseph L. Awange .

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© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Awange, J.L., Kyalo Kiema, J.B. (2013). Environmental Pollution. In: Environmental Geoinformatics. Environmental Science and Engineering(). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-34085-7_27

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