Basics of Environmental Studies

Basics of Environmental Studies
(110007)

Introduction to Environment,
Ecology, Ecosystem
Unit-1

Syllabus
• Definition and Inter-relationships amongst
and between them
• Components of Environment, Relationship
between different components
• Man-Environment relationship
• Impact of Technology on the environment
• Environmental Degradation

Important Questions
• Definitions
• Environment, Ecology, Ecosystem
• Define Environment and Explain Its Components.
• Explain Man Environment Relationship.
• Explain Impact of Technology on Environment.
• Write a S.N. on Environmental Degradation.
• Explain Importance of Environmental Education.
• Explain IPAT Equation.
• Discuss Biotic and Abiotic Components of Environment.
• Discuss the physical components of environment
• What is the role of Environmental Engineer ?

Environment
• Environmental Science: “The systematic & scientific study of our
environment and our role in it. This branch include the knowledge
of Pure science & to some extent Social Sciences”.
• Environmental Studies: “The branch of Study concerned with
environmental issues. It has a broader coverage than environment
science and includes the social aspects of the environment”.

Environment
• Definition:- “All the living and non living factors affecting an
organism and ultimately determining its form and survival is
known as Environment.”
• Some other Definitions of Environment:-
• “ All the external factors influencing the life and activity of people,
plant and animals”.
• “ All the things (i.e. Object & Circumstances) surrounding us is
known as Environment”.

Most Precise Definition of
Environment
• Environment is Define as “The Complex of Physical, Chemical &
Biotic factors affecting an organism and ultimately determining
its form and survival” is known as Environment.

Ecology
• Definition:- Ecology is derived from two Greek words “Oikos” &
“Logos”
• Ecology= Oikos + Logos
• Oikos means house or dwelling place
• Logos means study of
• Thus Ecology can be define as “Study of organisms with respect to
their house or dwelling place”.

Ecosystem
• Definition:- Ecosystem is Define as “Natural Functional
Ecological Unit Comprising of living organisms & their non living
environment which interact to form a self supporting system” is
known as Ecosystem.

Components of Environment
Biotic
i.e. Living
Components
Abiotic
i.e. Non-Living
Components
Environment
• Environment can be divided into following Components

Components Of Environment
• Biotic: It Includes all the living organisms.
e.g. plants, animals, birds etc.
• Abiotic: All the non living things are included in this category.
e.g. Climatic conditions, soil, minerals etc.

Hydrosphere Biosphere
Environment
LithosphereAtmosphere
•Environment can also be classified into various Physical Components

• Atmosphere: The region surrounding the earth is known as
atmosphere.
Atmosphere is generally a mixture of gases surrounding the
earth.
• Hydrosphere: All the water bodies on the earth surface are
included in hydrosphere. It includes Oceans, rivers, glaciers,
lakes, ponds, etc.

• Lithosphere: The uppermost part of the earth crust is
known as Lithosphere. Lithosphere includes, soil and its
particles, rocks, metal. etc.
• Biosphere: The life supporting mantle of the earth
extending from few kilometer into the atmosphere to the
deep ocean is known as Biosphere
The region of the earth where life exist is known as
Biosphere.

Importance Of Environmental
Education
• Environmental education is a integral process which deals with
man’s interrelationship with his nature and man made
surroundings including the relation of population growth,
pollution, resource allocation and depletion, conservation,
technology, and urban and rural planning to the total human
environment.
• Environmental education is a study of the factors influencing
ecosystem, mental & physical health, living and working
conditions, decaying cities and population pressure.
Environmental education is intended to promote among citizens
the awareness and understanding of the environment, our
relationship to it, and the concern and responsible action
necessary to assure our survival and to improve the quality of
life.

Objectives of Environmental
Education
• Awareness: To help individuals and social
groups to acquire basic awareness of and
sensitivity towards the environment & its related
problem.
• Knowledge: To help individuals and social
groups to acquire basic understanding of the
environment, its associated problems and their
responsible role towards the betterment of the
environment.
• Attitude: To help individuals and social groups
to acquire social values, strong feeling of concern
for the environment and the motivation for
actively participating in its protection and
improvement.

• Skills: To help individuals and social
groups to acquire the skills for solving
environmental problems.
• Evaluation ability: To help individuals
and social groups to evaluate
environmental measures and education
program in terms of ecological, political,
economical, social, aesthetic and
education factors.
• Participation: To help individuals and
social groups to develop a sense of
responsibility and urgency regarding
environmental problems to ensure
appropriate action to solve those
problems.

Role of Environmental Engineer
• Environmental engineer are the technocrats who are committed to
protect human beings from the harmful effects of environmental
degradation caused by the pollution in the environment due to
population growth, rapid industrialization and urbanization.
• Environmental engineer generally acts to build a bridge between
engineering, technology and biology. Following are the duties of an
environmental engineer.
• Environmental engineer basically make environmental strategies
like evaluation of environmental quality, steps for improvement in
quality of water, air and food as well as suggestions regarding the
proper collection and disposal of solid and liquid wastes from the
city.
• Environmental engineers do the design, construction and operation
of treatment facilities for water, air, and solid waste. These treatment
facilities, which are designed by the environment engineers are
mainly based on the assimilating capacity of lithosphere, atmosphere
and hydrosphere.

Role of Environmental Engineer
• Environmental engineers design the different processes to handle large
volumes of pollutants with the principles of optimization, socio-
economic effects and rapid treatment to convert any objectionable
material to a less objectionable material.
• Environmental engineer also keep in mind to protect natural resources
from the effect of disposal of hazardous waste, toxic chemicals and
radioactive waste.
• Environmental engineer have a special role of having good
coordination with other technocrats and engineers to make rapid
advancement in cleaning up the environment with eco-friendly
techniques.
• The basic challenging role of an environmental engineer is to make
public aware about the environmental degradation and also to impart
training in such a way, so that people participate in the programs of
keeping the environment clean.

Man –Environment Relationship
Q. Man and environment relationship.
• Environment Man
The relationship between humans and environment has varied from the
early periods of human settlement on the earth to the present day. The
relationship between environment and human beings has also being
varying from place to place at any given period of time. For example, early
humans considered the environment to be dominant. They were afraid of
lightning and thunder, dense forests, wild animals, vast oceans and large
rivers, to name a few.
The environment has considerably affected human beings right from his
evolution. The environment affects humans in many ways. Population on
the earth varies due to variation in the environment. The main factors
which affect the distribution of population and human settlement are:

1) Topography of Land
The populations in the high mountainous areas, such as the
Himalayas in India, Andes in South America, Rocky in North
America, etc., have very low settlement level. This is because the
relief is rugged here which represents obstacles in the construction
of roads, railways and communication. Due to steep slopes,
agriculture is done with a great difficulty and industries also could
not be established. These places having very less economic activity
have less population and hence have small isolated settlements.
Whereas the plain areas of the world are most suitable for human
settlement. Fertile plains of Ganga in India, Indus in Pakistan,
Hwang-Ho in China and plains of Europe have huge population
concentration having compact or huge semi-compact type of
settlement.

2) Climate
Most of the areas of the earth having density less than two
persons/sq. km are not favorable for settlement because of their
unfavorable climate.
Areas of cold climate-North Siberia, North Canada, Alaska etc. have
low density of population. Hot and arid regions of -Sahara, Kalahari
Desert in Africa, Great Australian Desert etc. are not suitable for
human settlement. In tropical regions due to heavy rain and
temperature, the density of population is very low, example in
Amazon basin population density is less than two persons/sq. km.
But places with favorable climate and favorable terrain, have dense
population and hence have compact settlement.

3) Soils
Fertile alluvial soils encourage dense population which in turn
gives rise to compact type of settlement. This is so because alluvial
soils give rise to agricultural activities. Java Islands of Indonesia has
fertile soil of young volcanic material and agriculture is an
important activity, hence dense and compact settlements are found
here. Whereas in Sumatra, due to infertile soil, the population
density is very low.

4) Mineral Deposits
Mineral wealth is yet another factor responsible for population
distribution and density. The presence of coal and iron-ore in
different parts of the world has attracted huge population. Coal
mining regions have become regions of dense population for
example, Jharkhand in India and gold mines in Australian desert.

5) Water supply
Population distribution is very much affected by water
supply. The earliest settlements or civilizations developed on the
banks of major rivers, example-Nile, Indus, etc. Adequate water
supply provides irrigation facilities to farmers and hence
population increases due to increase in primary activities. In dry
regions, population is concentrated in those areas where there is
water, hence nucleated- circular settlements are found.

• Thus it can be said that the environment plays an important role
in deciding population distribution, density, settlement type and
pattern.
• The Industrial Revolution which provided mechanical power,
invention of steam engine and other machinery, greater use of
metals etc. gave them opportunities to modify the environment.
At the same time agriculture provided abundant food so that
they could settle down permanently. The family grew in size and
people migrated to different parts, via rail, road and sea, because
of improvement in transport system, example the new lands in
America and Australia were settled by people from Europe.
• Another development which enabled humans to survive was the
use of preventive and cumulative steps taken to protect them
from epidemics and diseases-it increased the span of human life
and reduced death rate.

• Man Environment
• With increase in the knowledge and skill and development of human
economy there was a gradual increase in carbon dioxide content. It is
estimated that carbon dioxide content has increased by 25% in last
100yrs and the global temperatures have risen between 0.3 degree
Celsius to 0.7 degree Celsius. Increase in carbon dioxide is attributed to
large scale deforestation and will lead to increase in sea level causing
submergence of coastal regions.
• Burning of coal, oil and petroleum adds sulphur dioxide to the
atmosphere. Lead, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide are added to
the atmosphere from automobile exhaust. These gases result in acid rain
which affects aquatic life, example acid rain in industrial regions of
Europe and North America.
• Even now substances which were not present previously, are introduced
into the air, water and soils. The most dangerous one is radioactive
substance spewed into the atmosphere by nuclear explosions. They have
adverse effects on organisms including man and cause death,
impairment of limbs, diseases and psychological disorders.

• The catastrophe of nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in Ukraine
(1988) is a burning example of adverse environmental effects of
use of minerals like uranium, thorium etc. through most
advanced and sophisticated technology.
• The environment has already been degraded to such an extent in
certain areas that people are forced to migrate. They are facing
scarcity of resources like food and energy.
Man's impact on environment has resulted in pollution of
environment which not only affects air, water and land but also
organisms of biosphere. The main points summing up the
impact of man on environment are:

Air pollution-burning of fossil fuels in large quantities from jet aircraft, CFCs used in aerosol spray
cans, refrigerators and farm blowing are responsible for depletion of ozone to 3-4% in last 100
years.
Water pollution- leakage of petroleum from huge ships and oil tankers into the sea, causes oil
slicks which spread rapidly over water and spell disaster to marine life and to human depending on
marine resources..
The most widespread source of water pollution is disposal of sewage of urban centers into rivers.
The Ganga and Yamuna are polluted in this way and the same rivers provide domestic water supply
as well. Ocean waters are polluted by discharge of sewage from cities located along the coast.
Land degradation-dumping of solid waste from urban centers and waste materials from mining
centers renders the land unsuitable for any use. Surface run-off from such areas pollutes streams
and ground water seepage. Saline encrustation of irrigated lands is another example of land
degradation. In the semi-arid region, wind action causes deposition of sand on a large scale over
cultivated land rendering them unfit for cultivation. This marks the beginning of the process of
desertification.

• Depletion of resources-population growth in the recent past has resulted
in rapid depletion of all kinds of resources. The most striking example of
such resource depletion is the food deficit faced by about 100 countries of
the world.
• Forest and soil resources are getting depleted at a fast rate owing to
population pressure. Tropical forests are depleting at a rate of 2% per
annum. It is estimated that the world is losing 7% of top soil per decade.
• Depletion of resources is most significant in respect of non-renewable
mineral and power resources. The world is facing energy crisis as existing
oil resources may last for a few decades. Though coal reserves are
adequate for a few centuries but it cannot replace oil, especially for
transport.
• Humans have come to realize that their economic activities are threatening
their survival on earth. Their survival depends on their realization that
they have to live in harmony with the various elements of environment
which are interconnected. An understanding of the components and
processes which take place in environment, the relationship between
biotic and abiotic components, and the assessment of resources with
reference to need of people in a region is essential for their survival.

Impact of Technologies on
• New and better technology is being introduced, by each passing
day. In every field, new technology is introduced very frequently.
This advancement of technology is beneficial, but has also
created adverse effects on the environment.
• Advancement of technology & machines, has increased
industrialization and increased pollution as a result of which
environment has deteriorated.
• Advancement in weapon technology had also considerably
affected the environment.
• New technology means more production and more consumption
like vehicles, which creates pollution.
• Thus technology, on one hand can be beneficial, but can create a
bad impact on the environment.
Environment

• If we discuss the effect of machines on environment. More and
better machines mean that there will be rapid industrialization.
No doubt industrialization is beneficial for the economy, and as
well as for the people living in the country. But,
• Industrialization would create pollution including; noise
pollution, air pollution and water pollution
• With development in technology and industrialization , many
areas with natural beauty will be destroyed, in order to establish
industries, thus creating bad impact on environment.
• Improvement in technology will improve the production of
weapons, and when these weapons will be tested and used; then
also the environment will get polluted. Increased use of cars will
increase the pollution and destroy the environment.
Environment

• Improvement in technology has also led to pollute children's
mind. Media and the computers are the source of technology, but
they have led in polluting the mind, and destroying their health
and environment of studies.
• Children spend more time watching television or using
computers, so less time for studies & recreation; which has
affected their physical & mental growth.
Environment

• Technology has also created problem for peoples. As
environment is polluted, different and fatal diseases are being
given 'birth'. These diseases are very dangerous for humans. Due
to the cost of health products, pollution and the different
diseases, which attack people, health costs have increased. On
the other hand, the government are also facing problems, as they
would have to give health subsides, and try to overcome the fatal
diseases, their costs would rise too; Because of people illnesses
they would be unable to work, thus again problems for
government as per head GDP, would decrease
(and production would also fall.)
Environment

• We discussed about the negative impact of technologies on
environment. Now, if we say that is technology beneficial? The
answer would most likely be yes! But depends upon the people
and government, that how they use the technology.
• If we consider improvement in technology then as mentioned
earlier that it would increase industrialization. Industrialization
is most likely beneficial, as production would increase, supply
would increase and ultimately the prices would be less. When
there would be more production, then it means businesses
would expand; thus, employment rate will increase too.
• Standard of living will improve as income would be more.
• Exports would increase, as production would be more (and
imports will fall) Thus beneficial for the economy.
• So, we can say technology can be beneficial, but it depends on
the way it has been used. Remedies can be that government
should make laws about how to use technology; so that it does
not affect the environment.

Classification of Impacts
• Direct Impact: The impacts which directly affect the
environment due to deforestation, urban development, rapid
industrial growth.
• Indirect Impacts: These impacts will indirectly affect the
environment ,which may be called as chain impact. For e.g. the
indirect impact of deforestation may result in extinction of some
species in forest and other consumers at later stage.
• Cumulative Impacts: These impacts will be the result of direct
& indirect impacts. The ultimate effect on the environment will
be very dangerous as it progresses at slow rate.

• The environmental impact can also be categorized as:
• Positive & negative Impacts: Development of road will give
employment to the people at the same time it will result in
deforestation.
• Local & widespread Impact: For e.g. construction of road will
affect the local region while industrial development due to air
pollution may enhance the phenomenon like global warming,
acid rain, or ozone depletion.
• Temporary & Permanent impacts: Some projects may affect
the environment for temporary duration and some project may
have permanent impact on the environment.
• Short term & long term impacts:
• Random Impacts:
• Predictable impacts & non-predictable impacts:

IPAT Impact Equation
• One of the earliest attempts to describe the role of multiple
factors related to human society in determining environmental
degradation was IPAT equation.
• Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren proposed the following equation
to estimate the overall impact of economic activity on the
environment.
• The equation has since been known as “IPAT” equation or also
the” Master Equation”
• The equation describes the contribution of population (P),
affluence (A) and technology (T) to the Environment Impact (I).

• I= Environmental Impact (I) may be expressed in terms of
resource depletion or waste generation
• P= The size of Population
• A= Affluence refers to the level of resources consumed by that
population
• T= Technology refers to the processes used to obtain resources.
• In order to make IPAT equation more useful & meaningful, it has
been split into 3 parts,
• I= P1A1T1+ P2A2T2+P3A3T3

• I= P1A1T1 + P2A2T2 + P3A3T3
First World Countries Second world Countries Third world Countries
First world: Highly Developed nations ( USA, Canada, Europe,
Japan), Relative clean Technologies ( T1 ), Population is stable ( P1 ),
bur the problem is of affluence ( A1 ).
Second world: Transition nations: (Brazil, Russia, India, China)
Moderate affluence(A2), but dirty technologies (T2), for some
population (P2).
Third World Countries: Poor nations: ( Bangladesh, Pakistan) very
little affluence(A3), some dirty technologies (T3), and high
population(P3).
.

Environmental Degradation
• Definition: Deterioration of the Environment is known as
Environmental Degradation.
• Environmental degradation is caused due to following factors:
• Population
• Pollution
• Exploitation of Natural resources
• Disturbance in Ecosystem
• Waste Generation and Disposal

Population
• Increase in Population will require more food which result in
increase in more food production and more cultivation which
require more nutrients from land which will degrade the land.
Use of fertilizers will further degrade the land.
• Increase in population will require more houses or land to
reside which result in cutting of forest to build houses, as a
result of which forest ecosystem are destroyed, which results in
problem like Soil erosion, change in rainfall patterns
• Increase in population will result in increase of infrastructures
i.e. Roads, Industries, railways, houses, flyovers, etc. which will
lead to pollution of different environmental components.

Pollution
• Air pollution is causing tremendous damage to the
environment in terms of global warming, ozone depletion,
acid rains.
• Water Pollution is also contributing heavily in degradation
of Environment. Waste water from municipal and
Industries degrades the quality of fresh water.
• Land pollution occurs, due to over irrigation, soil erosion,
deforestation, waste disposal on land.
• Noise Pollution occurs due to increase in no of vehicles
and industries. It causes decrease in efficiency of Person,
and causes some serious health problems.

Exploitation of Natural Resources
Man has been using air, water, land, forest, and all the things
which are available to him naturally, which has resulted in
disturbance of ecological balance, depletion of ground water,
deforestation, endangered species, all this factor caused
degradation of Environment.

Disturbance in Ecosystem
Each organism has unique role to play in the environment,
change in the environment has proven to be harmful for these
organisms and has lead to extinction of certain species.

Waste Generation
Waste generated from household industries and municipal
sources are the major cause of air, water, noise, and land
pollution.

Activity
Make a note of Important days of Environmental Significance.
Explain what can we do to save the planet.

Assignment
Explain interrelationship between various components of the environment.
Why is Environmental Protection discussed recently?
Explain the term Clean Technology and its usefulness

Basics of Environmental Studies

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