Pollution and it's Impact

While playing the game Civilization IV I realized that the over-industrialized cities had a great amount of pollution that negatively impacted the people living there, a truth that should be applied to our own society before it is too late. Pollution has always been a great truth that has been either largely denied or ignored, a horrific problem that will only get worse if things continue the way that they are. We live in a world where people care so much about money and products that they are willing to destroy the environment around us to have them. The government does not help this situation, especially with a president who makes ignorant statements such as "I do not believe that global warming exists." There is no reason that any person, especially an educated person, should feel this way within a society where there has been overwhelming research resulting in evidence that proves that global warming very much does exist. During the game when a city becomes over industrialized a green sick face is shown to let the player know that the people are unhappy and ill because of the pollution. If the person playing the game is smart they will attempt to fix this problem, by eliminating some of the industry or finding another way to reduce the pollution. However, when the pollution is ignored the population continues to grow unhappy and ill and eventually the production rate is so low that the city is virtually costing more than it is making. Unfortunately, in the real world there is no automated way of showing the negative effects of pollution, no sick and sad face that shows up on the presidents computer whenever he turns it on. But, even without the sad face, the effects of pollution can be seen and should not be ignored, clear examples like the elimination of our atmosphere, leading to deadly diseases such as skin cancer. In addition, drinking water has been contaminated leading to many health problems, birth defects and mental retardation. Even worse, the air we breathe continues to get worse every year, leading to mass amounts of asthma and other breathing defects, even problems within the lungs. Is the president so stupid that he needs to see the sad face before he does something? Or will he possibly take action before it is too late and the entire United States population becomes ill or in some other way negatively effected by the pollution surrounding them? All of the answers to these questions lay in the future, but hopefully something will be done before it is too late, instead of just ignoring or denying that a problem even exists. While money may be important, if pollution gets too far money will not be able to buy anything, because the world as we know it may not even exist.