Judy Hafner, age 12, of Fowler, Michigan, for her question?

Is any part of the world unpolluted?

It is nice to dream of escaping to some unspoiled realm of nature, where the air, the soil and the healthy streams are unpolluted. There are still some remote regions that appear to be free of pollution. However, scientists are researching these hopeful hideaways and first reports indicate that even they are contaminated, though perhaps to a lesser degree.

We must realize that the world of nature is governed by global systems and every source of pollution is bound to spread through the entire world. The atmosphere is circulated by global winds. Air borne pollutants are wafted aloft, carried by winds and clouds and dropped by the rains and snows in faraway places on land and sea. Dumped into the seas are countless tons of industrial pollutants, plus others washed from the soil by streams. In the world wide ocean, global currents circulate them from pole to pole. Hence, no part of our world has escaped some degree of air, water and soil pollution.