Environmental Hazards in Australia

Introduction to Australia
Australia is ranked the sixth largest country in the World and one of the most appealing tourist attractions. The country consists of over ten thousand beautiful beaches as the island is surrounded by both the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Australia produces over ninety-percent of the World's precious opals, exports the most beef throughout the World, and is well known for a unique mammal: the kangaroo. (2006, Tourism).

According to the 2001 Census conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia has a population of 18,972,350 residents. The population increased by 1,079,927 from 1996 and is projected to be 20,713,653 in 2006. (2001, Census). For being one of the largest countries in the World, Australia has one of the lowest increases of populous as it us ranked the third least populated country in the World. (2006, Australia). This fact is surprising as Australia is close in size to the United States. The United States is the third largest country with a projected population of 300,324,026 in the year 2006. (2006, U.S. Census).

Environmental Hazards
Environmental safety programs and personal effort is fundamental and a key factor in maintaining a clean and healthy Earth for future generations. The World pollutes the environment in various ways which include water, air, and land pollution. The water we drink and bathe in, the air we breathe to live, and the food we grow to eat and survive are at risk of contamination due to hazardous and non-hazardous wastes.