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Pollution is a global problem, yet represented by numerous smaller issues at a local level. Greenhouse warming is a global issue that despite its increasing impact remains debated. Regionally, acid rain damaged the forests and lakes of Europe and North America, but was successfully addressed by controlling emissions. Nevertheless, it persists and has become characteristic of China and India. The upper parts of the atmosphere are contaminated by chlorine derived from refrigerants that enhance ozone depletion, though international agreements have reduced this problem. Biomass burning, volcanoes, and windblown dust are seemingly natural processes, yet cause widespread health problems and disrupt air traffic. In the oceans, oil pollution has long been a major problem, although in the current decade it is plastic pollution that has come to dominate public concern. Local air pollution problems typify cities, but are also found around large industrial plants. Air pollutants arise directly as exhaust gases, but are also formed from reactions in the atmosphere, which lead to photochemical smog. Cities additionally suffer from urban runoff that runs across hard surfaces, such as roads and leads to flooding and polluted water. Factories, sewage works, and large point sources add to water pollutants. Legal and fiscal responses, add to technical controls as potential solutions to environmental problems.

Arguably, to nourish or take care of the needs of all of humankind — sustainable and affordable access to clean water, safe sanitation, and clean air, together with a sufficiency of energy, food, and shelter — should be universally available. Yet, many humans do not enjoy such access or availability, even though it has been 70 years since the 1948 United Nations (UN) declaration on human rights proclaimed “that all human beings are equal, and have inherent rights.” However, only food and shelter were explicitly mentioned in the initial declaration. Others were recently added to the UN list, but not air and energy. Nevertheless, basic human needs do not have to be declared as a human right before national actions are taken. Today’s key driver is the UN 2030 Agenda, a plan to eradicate all global poverty and set the world onto a “sustainable and resilient path,” through the achievement of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adopted by all UN members, the 2030 Agenda in essence, is a 21^st century version of the 1948 proclamation. The SDGs explicitly detail, or implicitly in the case of clean air, all the necessary needs for the nourishing of tomorrow. To achieve the plan will likely require, at least, changes in national cultural values, eliminating inequalities and disparities, developing more appropriate governance strategies, and meaningful technical innovation. In this chapter, these requirements are discussed against a backdrop of presently known deficiencies in global nourishment needs.