Is pollution an irreversible process or it can be reversed?

Answer 1

Pollution is an entropy growing process, we cannot reverse this process. It is thermodynamically impossible. That is: we cannot remedy the damage done.

For example, if you put salt into fresh water, then want to recover the fresh water, you have to input energy to do so. You use a couple of calories to put salt into water but you have to input hundreds of calories to recover the original state of the water. For complex pollution you need much more energy and material to do so. That is the reason why waste water treatment plants all just doing the filtering, depositing, aerating, then sent the water into natural environment to be naturally treated (such as a wet land) then sent into ocean to be diluted (actually accumulated there).

And worse thing is this damage will oscillating and echoing in the eco system and cause largely amplified damages. But even nature cannot sufficiently deal with these manmade chemical pollutants. They will stay in the environment for long time and doing harm to the system. So if you hear someone says: "We have to pollute first to earn the money, when we got the money we will donate some money to compensate the damage. There is nothing money cannot fix." You know it is a lie --- even all the money they earned cannot compensate the damage, how can they compensate the damage with a small part of the money? Or you want to be a collaborator in the interest chain as a petty player to get a small share? That seems a win win deal that benefiting both sides of the deal.

That is exactly the modern economy operating --- economic activities are conducted exclusively between the dealing parties but others and the whole world are externalized as irrelevant factors and negativities --- the whole world and future generations take the negativities but the dealing parties take the benefit. Here they are trying to convert an irreversible damage --- pollution, into a reversible solution --- money payment. And it is an under payment. They cannot take this responsibility, because all the money they earned from this pollution process cannot compensate a little fraction of the damages.

So the best way to deal with the pollution is --- don't pollute. But why that cannot be done in spite of years of education and champagne? Because over using resources and pollution is a natural tendency driven natural process and that is proceeding in a natural social system. They have spontaneous thermodynamic stability and behavioral strategic stability. So unless we use our rational thinking directed rational efforts to build a rational social system and carry out rational process in it, we cannot turn the tide of destruction driven by natural tendency driven natural processes that leading to human distinction. It is not a time that "opportunities have never been greater" but a time that human future has never been so in danger.