Introductory Chapter: Soil Contamination and Alternatives for Sustainable Development

Abstract

Soil degradation and environmental pollution have a great impact on human life, because every year, 2 million people die worldwide due to air pollution [1]; countless numbers of people are exposed unnecessarily to chemicals in the workplace, such as in the external environment [2], because soil, air, and vegetation contain organochlorine pesticides with high carcinogenic risk [3, 4] and heavy metals [5].