Ecology is the scientific study of the abundant distributions and interactions of

organism with the environment. It includes the study of flora and fauna and
ecosystem.
An ecosystem can be defined as geographical area where a system of ecology
works. It is a chain of animals, plants, and non-living things works together
with landscape and weather to form lives. Ecosystems contain biotic or living,
parts, as well as abiotic factors, or non-living parts. Biotic factors include
plants, animals, and other organisms. Abiotic factors include rocks,
temperature, and humidity. The basic thing of ecosystem is every factor
depends on every other factor, either directly or indirectly.
physical environment is everything that is around us. This can be living and
non-living and in this it includes living, physical, chemical things and other
natural forces. These things interact with each other and adapt themselves to
the conditions of the environment and these different interactions happen
between animals, plants and water and other things.
Ecocriticism In England it is called as “green” criticism and in US as Ecocriticism
and it is also known as environmental criticism. At present time it is a rapidly
emerging field in literary study. It contemplates the relationship that human
beings have to be with the environment in literature. As Glotfelty says
“ecocriticism is relationship between physical environment and literature”
Ecocritics try to explore how nature and the natural world are imagined
through literary texts.
In India, writers such as R. K. Narayan, Manohar Malgonkar, Raja Rao, Kamala
Markandaya, and Anita Desai have invoked Nature and nature-elements for
expressing their views, their contemporary regional and social atmospheres,
nature and its elements were invoked in their novels.
R. K. Narayan presents nature at the backdrop of his novels. Kamla Das
considers nature as wild animal and thinks it as preserver and destroyer,
Nectar in a Sieve, is the fine example of it. Anita Desai uses external landscapes
to portray interior states of mind. Kiran Desai in The Inheritance of Loss has
focused on the issue of environment. Her approach is eco-centric and eco-
critic. She has also focused the environment of east-west encounter, racial
prejudice, political turbulence and its harmful effect on the balance of eco-
system.
Ecocriticism is an umbrella term. This is used to focus environmental related
issues in the literature and art. It is the recent critical approach to study the
environmental dimensions in the literature. It concerns for ecological issues
and nature as a central force in the literature and deals these environmental
problems like pollution, global warming, deforestation, pollution, climate
change and exploitation of land and forest in literary text. Ecocritics thinks
literature is the best medium to spread the environmental awareness.
Pramod K Nayar writes in Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory: From
Structuralism to Ecocriticism what ecocriticism seeks to study-
1. Nature writing in literary canon and cultural studies.
2. The role of non-human world in the literature.
3. Environmental awareness in canonical texts.
4. The portrayal of the human non-human relationship in literary text.
5. The subtext of literary works that reveal anthropocentric, patriarchal and
capitalist attitude towards the non-human, women, nature and landscape,
6. The superiority of rationality over emotions worsening the environmental
situation.
7. Environmental activism in literature
William Rueckert in his essay “Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in
Ecocriticism” coined the term ‘Ecocriticism’ for the first time in 1978. He writes
that Ecocriticism involves “application of ecology and ecological concepts to
the study of literature”
Ecocriticism is the outcome of the harsh reality of socio-cultural analysis of
imperialism and colonization that are mixed with environmental issues. It is
difficult to separate ecology and environment from the modern text. At
present discussing the ecocriticism it means earth is facing serious problems. It
deals with harsh experiences that man has faced while living in the society and
nature. It is related with the experiences of happiness, distresses, hopes,
ambition, disasters as presented in the literary works dealing with nature.
There are four radical forms of environmentalism developed in 1970s which
are Deep Ecology, Social ecology, Ecofeminism and Eco-philosophy and
among these four forms of Environmentalism.