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INTRODUCTION

Everything that surrounds or affects an organism during its life time is collectively known as its
environment or simply put everything surrounding a living organism like people; place and things
constitute its environment which can be either natural or man-made. In the beginning, environment of
early man consisted of only physical aspects of the planet earth such as land (lithosphere), air
(atmosphere) and water (hydrosphere) along with biotic communities but, with the passage of time and
advancement of society man extended his environment to include his social, economic and political
functions too. The surrounding that affects an organism during its lifetime is collectively known as its
environment. In another words “Environment is sum total of water, air and land inter-relationships among
themselves and also with the human being, other living organisms and material goods”.

CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENT

 Term Environment – In English discourse, Environment borrowed from old French word
Environner (1603 AD) Environner means to encircle or to surround
 Environment means the surrounding things and conditions affecting the plants and animals by
Thomas Carlyle (1828)
 The emergence of the modern concept of environment started from Thomas Carlyle‟s translation of
Goethe‟s work in1828.
 Environment: is defined as sum total of all conditions that surround a particular organism at a
particular point of time in space.
 Environment: is defined as “all the physical, chemical, biological factors external to the organisms
that govern the growth and development.
 Environment: is defined as "the aggregate of all external conditions and influences affecting life and
development of an organism"

Definition of Environment:
„The term environment is used to describe, in the aggregate, all the external forces, influences and
conditions, which affect the life, nature behavior and the growth, development and maturity of living
organisms‟ (Douglas and Holland).

„Environment refers to the sum total of all conditions which surround man at a given point in space and
time‟ (C.C.Park)

The entire range of external influence acting on an organism, both the physical and biological, and other
organisms, i.e. forces of nature surrounding an individual. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Total environmental system including not only the biosphere, but also his interactions with his natural and
man-made surroundings (US Council on Environmental quality)
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TYPES OF ENVIRONMENT

Bio-physical environment: It is essential Economic environment: The economic

life-supporting environment. The bio- environment is the sum total of the
physical environment includes land, air, economic conditions and the nature of the
water, plants and animals, buildings and economy in which the people has to live and
other infrastructure, and all of the natural compete. The economic conditions of people
resources that provide our basic needs and also have a huge impact on their physical
opportunities for social and economic health, mental health and education. People
development. A clean, healthy environment with low income, don‟t have access to good
is important for people's physical and education and health facilities
emotional wellbeing. At a fundamental
level, factors such as clean air and good Psychological environment: is the
quality drinking water are vital for people's interaction of the various sources of stress in
physical health. our lives and how we respond to them, both
individually and as communities. The
Social environment: Social environment Psychological environment enables us to
includes the immediate social relationships, understand the personality of an individual.
and cultural settings within which defined
groups of people function and interact.
Components of the social environment
include built infrastructure; industrial and
occupational structure; labor markets; social
and economic processes; wealth; social,
human, and health services power relations;
government; race relations; social
inequality; cultural practices; the arts;
religious institutions and practices; and
beliefs about place and community

ABIOTIC ENVIRONMENT & BIOTIC ENVIRONMENT

The term Environment can be broadly defined
as one‟s surroundings. To be more specific
we can say that it is the physical and
biological habitat that surrounds us, which
can be felt by our physical faculties (seen,
heard, touched, smelled and tasted.)
The two major classifications of environment
are:
Physical Environment: External physical
factors like Air, Water, and Land etc. This is
also called the Abiotic Environment.
Living Environment: All living organisms
around us viz. plants, animals, and
microorganisms. This is also called the
Biotic Environment.
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Earth‟s environment can be further
subdivided into the following four segments:
1. Lithosphere
2. Hydrosphere
3. Atmosphere
4. Biosphere.
LITHOSPHERE
The earth‟s crust consisting of the soil and
rocks is the lithosphere. The soil is made up
of inorganic and organic matter and water. The
main mineral constituents are compounds or
mixtures derived from the elements of Si,
Ca, K, Al, Fe, Mn, Ti, O etc. (Oxides,
Silicates, and Carbonates). The organic
constituents are mainly polysaccharides,
organo compounds of N, P and S. The
organic constituents even though form only
around 4% – 6% of the lithosphere, they are
responsible for the fertility of the soil and
hence its productivity.
HYDROSPHERE
This comprises all water resources both surface
and ground water. The world‟s water is found
in oceans and seas, lakes and reservoirs,
rivers and streams, glaciers and snowcaps in
the Polar Regions in addition to ground
water below the land areas. The distribution
of water among these resources is as below.
The water locked up in the Oceans and
Seas are too salty and cannot be used
directly for human consumption, domestic,
agriculture or Industrial purposes. Only less
than 1% of water resources are available for
human exploitation. Water is considered to
be a common compound with uncommon
properties. These uncommon properties (e.g.
anomalous expansion of water) are mainly
responsible for supporting terrestrial and
aquatic life on earth.
BIOSPHERE
The biosphere is a capsule encircling the
earth‟s surface wherein all the living things
exist. This portion extends from 10000 m
below sea level to 6000 m above sea level.
Life forms do not exist outside this zone.
The biosphere covers parts of other segments
of the environment viz. Lithosphere,
Hydrosphere and Atmosphere. Life sustaining
resources like food, water and oxygen present
in the biosphere are being withdrawn and
waste products in increasing quantities are
being dumped
ATMOSPHERE
It is the gaseous envelope surrounding the
earth and extends upto 500 kms above the
earth‟s surface. The composition of the
atmosphere is given below.
The atmosphere, which is a gaseous cover,
protects the earth from cosmic radiations and
provides life sustaining Oxygen, the
macronutrient Nitrogen and Carbon dioxide
needed for photosynthesis. The atmosphere
screens the dangerous UV radiations from
the sun and allows only radiations in the
range of 300 nm – 2500 nm (near UV to
near IR) and radio waves. The atmosphere
plays a major role in maintaining the heat
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balance of the earth by absorbing the re- These three types are named as:
emitted radiation from the earth. In addition
the atmosphere is the medium of carriage of (a) Producers
water from the oceans to the land in the (b) Consumers
hydrological cycle. (c) Decomposers.

Producers are generally green plants and other

photosynthetic bacteria which produces various
organic substances such as carbohydrates,
proteins etc. with the help of water, soil and light
energy. Consumers depend for their nutrition on
the organic food produced by the green plants
Decomposers bring about the decomposition of
dead plants and animals and return various
important minerals for the running of the
biogeochemical cycles.

BIOTIC ENVIRONMENT:

The biological constituent of environment is also

called biotic component of environment. This
component consists of all living things like
plants, animals and small micro-organisms like
bacteria. This component interacts with the
abiotic component of the environment. This The three components of the environment
interaction of two components forms various (physical, biological and social) give rise to four
ecosystems like pond ecosystem, marine important zones. These are Atmosphere,
ecosystem, desert ecosystem etc. Hydrosphere, Lithosphere and Biosphere. There
is continuous interaction among these four
The self-sufficient large ecosystem of the earth
zones. These interactions involve the transport
is called Biosphere. All ecosystems consist of
of various elements, compounds and energy
three different types of living organisms.
forms. These zones are explained as follows

ELEMENTS OF ENVIRONMENT
Environment is constituted by the interacting systems of physical, biological and cultural elements
interrelated in various ways, individually as well as collectively. These elements may be explained as
under:
(1) Physical elements: Physical elements are as space, landforms, water bodies, climate soils, rocks and
minerals. They determine the variable character of the human habitat, its opportunities as well as
limitations.
(2) Biological elements: Biological elements such as plants, animals, microorganisms and men constitute
the biosphere.
(3) Cultural elements: Cultural elements such as economic, social and political elements are essentially
manmade features, which make cultural milieu.
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ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD
Environmental hazard is a substance, state or heavy metals, pesticides, biological
event which has the potential to threaten the contaminants, toxic waste, industrial and home
surrounding natural environment or adversely chemicals
affect people's health,
including pollution and natural disasters such as
storms and earthquakes.

It can include any single or combination of toxic

chemical, biological, or physical agents in the
environment, resulting from human activities or
natural processes, that may impact the health of
exposed subjects, including pollutants such as
The international pictogram for environmental hazard
Physical Pollution: - Physical pollution includes dusts, humidity, radiation, pressure, light and
noise absolute dust among others are dangerous to health and causes cancer of various forms and other
respiratory diseases.

Chemical Pollution: - Chemical pollution are the constituents of any substance that is any organism both
living and non-living chemical pollution is not new to man. But the knowledge about the impact has
until recently. Not been well understood. Among the toxic (dangerous) chemical encouraged through
breathing are lead, carbon-monoxides, sulphur (IV) oxide and oxide of Nitrogen.

Biological Pollution: - this is mainly concerned mainly with bodily discharges in relation to
communicable diseases: communicable are the types of diseases that can spread within very short time.
Such as: cholera. As man engages in activities association with living wastes are produced e.g. domestic
sewage and agriculture wastes. In a community where such wastes products are not properly disposed,
communicable disease will be rampant.

Psychological Pollution: - Although, the psychological and sociological parameters of environmental

design are not as well pronounced as biological, chemical and physical factors, there is enough
information to suggest that it is an area of serious concerns.

Interaction lack of open space, stress form work, traffic congestion and crowds, and estrangement
from the conditions and crowds natured cycles under which human evolution take place are environment
factors, which have been identified as having possible psychological and social consequences.

Environment pollution was further categorized as:

Land Pollution: - Land can be polluted by man or animal through their wastes products and though the
activities of man. through feaces or industrial waste e.g. saw mill. This cause unpleasant odour and
it‟s destroy aesthetic beauty of the environment.

Water Pollution: - Water can be polluted through the activities of man and animals e.g. the faces been
generated by man, when it rain it will be mashed into the over and as a result of that, polluted the
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water, then through domestic activities e.g. bathing, washing into the river or sources of water supply
which make the water unwholesome for human consumption.

Air Pollution: - Air can be polluted through the activities of man. Through (Co) carbon monoxides been
emitted into the air through vehicle. It cause fatigue in man and sleepless.

ECOSYSTEM

The living organisms of a habitat and their surrounding environment function together as a single unit.
This ecological unit is called as an `ecosystem'. An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in
conjunction with their environment's non-living components, interacting as a system. These biotic and
abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows.

1. Biotic components

The biotic components include all the living things. There are two major types of living things,
eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Eukaryotes are characterized by having membrane-bound organelles such as
nuclei inside their cells. For example, plants, animals, fungi, and protists. The prokaryotes are those
lacking membrane-bound organelles. For example, Bacteria and archaea.

2. Abiotic components

The abiotic components include all the non-living things, such as rocks, soil, minerals, water sources, and
the local atmosphere. Similar to biotic components, the abiotic components also have their ecological
role. For example, elements and compounds serve as sources of nutrients. They are essential to the growth
and metabolism of an organism. Apart from providing nutrients, they also provide organisms a place to
live and thrive.

CONCLUSION
We have described the environment, the components of environment, elements of environment,
environmental hazard and Ecosystem briefly these are interconnected topics as well as important topic.
We learn here that environment of present time does not remain in good shape. That‟s why there are
many changes have been taken place around the world. We need to do a lot of things for keeping good the
surrounding of us. It is high time to take step for shaping the environment because it has been told that

“We won't have a society if we destroy the environment.’’

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REFERENCE:
 Blackwell's Concise Encyclopedia of Environmental Management by Peter
Calow .Publication Date: 1999

 Encyclopedia of Disasters by Angus M. Gunn ,Publication Date: 2008

 Pollution A to Z by Richard M. Stapleton, Publication Date: 2003

Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_hazard
https://www.ugc.ac.in/oldpdf/modelcurriculum/Chapter3.pdf
www.who.int
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/5756/chapter/7