COURSE: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

LESSON 1: Understanding Environment and

Environmental Science
Environment Explained

Environment means the surrounding external conditions influencing

development or growth of people, animal or plants, living or working conditions
etc. This involves the living objects in general and man and the physical attributes
or the sum total of condition such as land, water, and air that support and affect
the life in the biosphere.

Environment can be defined as the circumstances or conditions that

surround an organism or group of organisms. Alternatively, it can be defined as
the combination of social or cultural conditions that affect the individual and the
community. Since humans inhabit the natural world along with technological,
social and cultural world, together, these constitute important parts of our
environment.

The environment is anything around us. It includes energy from the sun
and all the living things and the non-living things with which we interact. Despite
humankind’s many scientific and technological advances, our lives depend on
sunlight and the earth for clean air and water, food, shelter, energy, fertile soil, a
livable climate, and other components of planet’s life-support system.

Environmental systems

The environment consists of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere,

and the biosphere. The atmosphere implies the protective blanket of gases
surrounding the earth. It sustains life on earth and saves it from the hostile
environment of outer space due to the sun’s electromagnetic radiation. The
atmosphere is composed of nitrogen and oxygen besides, argon, carbon dioxide,
and trace gases. The hydrosphere comprises all types of water resources such
as oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, streams, reservoir, polar icecaps, glaciers, and
ground water. The lithosphere is the outer mantle of the solid earth. It consists of
minerals occurring in the earth’s crusts and the soil e.g. minerals, organic matter,
air and water. Finally, the biosphere indicates the realm of living organisms and
their interactions with environment. This is where life is found and thrive.
Elements of the Environment

Environment is constituted by the interacting systems of physical, biological

and cultural elements inter-related in various ways, individually as well as
collectively.

Physical elements are landforms, water bodies, climate soils, rocks and
minerals. They determine the variable character of the human habitat, its
opportunities as well as limitations.
Biological elements such as plants, animals, microorganisms and men
constitute the biosphere.
Cultural elements such as economic, social and political elements are
essentially man-made features, which make cultural milieu.

What is environmental science?

Awareness in the field of environmental sciences is becoming a global talk.

People worldwide are realizing its importance as they are able to smell a polluted
tomorrow. Careful handling of todays’ environment would only serve as a legacy
for tomorrows’ generation. Hence, we need to be judicious in exploiting our
resources optimally. To ensure a sustainable development we need to know
something about how our environment works. Environment can be defined as the
set of conditions that surround an organism or the complex of socio-cultural
condition that affect an individual. Environmental Science is the systematic,
scientific study of the environment in combination with living organisms.

Environmental science is a study of connections in the natural

environment. It is an inter-disciplinary study of how earth works and has survived
and thrived, how humans interact with the environment, and how humans can live
more sustainably.

Environmental science is concerned with changes wrought by human

activities, and their immediate and long-term implications for the welfare of living
organisms, including humans. Environmental science acquires political overtones
and leads to controversy. If it suggests that a particular activity is harmful, then
modification of that activity may require national legislation or an international
treaty and, almost certainly, there will be an economic price that not everyone will
have to pay or pay equally. We may all be environmental winners in the long term,
but in the short term there will be financial losers and, not surprisingly, they will
complain.

Environmental science exists most obviously as a body of knowledge in its

own right when a team of specialists assembles to address a particular issue. The
comprehensive study of an important estuary, for example, involves mapping the
solid geology of the underlying rock, identifying the overlying sediment, measuring
the flow and movement of water and the sediment it carries, tracing coastal
currents and tidal flows, analyzing the chemical composition of the water and
monitoring changes in its distribution and temperature at different times and in
different parts of the estuary, sampling and recording the species living in and
adjacent to the estuary and measuring their productivity.

The science of environment studies is a multi-disciplinary science because

it comprises various branches of studies like chemistry, physics, medical science,
life science, agriculture, public health, sanitary engineering etc. It is the science of
physical phenomena in the environment. It studies of the sources, reactions,
transport, effect and fate of physical a biological species in the air, water and soil
and the effect of from human activity upon these.

Issues in the Environment

The following are some of the pressing issues concerning the environment
today. They are issues that have local, national, and international importance.

Rapid population growth. Human populations have grown at an alarming

rate in this century, from 2.5 billion in 1950 to 7.8 billion as of March 2020. Unless
birth rates are balanced with the death rates, it may reach 10-11 billion by 2050
and 14 billion by 2100. Most of the growth is in developing countries where
resources and services are already strained by present populations. A population
of over thousands of millions is growing at 2.11 per cent every year. Over 17
million people are added each year. It puts considerable pressure on its natural
resources and reduces the gains of development. Hence, the greatest challenge
is to limit the population growth. Although population control does automatically
lead to development, yet the development leads to a decrease in population
growth rates.

Poverty. The poverty and environmental degradation have a connection

between them. The vast majority of people are directly dependent on the natural
resources basic needs such as food, fuel shelter and fodder. Many people are still
below the poverty line. Environment degradation has adversely affected the poor
who depend upon the resources of their immediate surroundings. Thus, the
challenge of poverty and the challenge environment degradation are two facets of
the same challenge. The population growth is essentially a function of poverty.

Food shortage and famines. These are too familiar in many places and
may increase in frequency and severity if population growth, soil erosion, and
nutrient depletion continue at the same rate in the future as they had in the past.
Food security often is linked to poverty, democracy, and equitable distribution
than it does with the amount of food available.
 Agricultural Growth. People must be acquainted with the methods to
sustain and increase agricultural growth without damaging the environment. High
yielding varieties have caused soil salinity and damage to physical structure of
soil. Unfortunately, mono-cropping type of farming has posed serious damage to
the environment by converting forests into huge plantations, polluting the water
bodies surrounding them, and loss of biodiversity. Some agricultural practices
such as the use of toxic and hazardous chemicals in for fertilization and pest and
weed control create impacts on the quality of air and water.

Need to Ground water. It is essential of rationalizing the use of

groundwater. Factors like community wastes, industrial effluents and chemical
fertilizers and pesticides have polluted our surface water and affected quality of
the groundwater. It is essential to restore the water quality of our rivers and other
water bodies as lakes is an important challenge. It so finding our suitable
strategies for consecration of water, provision of safe drinking water and keeping
water bodies clean which are difficult challenges is essential.

Degradation of Land. Worldwide record of degradation of the condition of

land has been noted due to excessive and conventional farming, mining and
quarrying, pollution, infrastructure development, urban sprawl, and many others.
Land degradation affects people and ecosystems throughout the planet and is
both affected by climate change and contributes to it.

Reduction of Genetic Diversity. Proper measures to conserve genetic

diversity need to be taken. At present most wild genetic stocks have been
disappearing from nature. Wilding including the Asiatic Lion are facing problem of
loss of genetic diversity. The protected areas network like sanctuaries, national
parks, biosphere reserves are isolating populations. So, they are decreasing
changes of one group breeding with another. Remedial steps are to be taken to
check decreasing genetic diversity.

Consequences of Urbanization. Nearly 27 per cent Indians live in urban

areas. Urbanization and industrialization has given birth to a great number of
environmental problem that need urgent attention. Over 30 percent of urban
Indians live in slums. Out of India’s 3,245 towns and cities, only 21 have partial or
full sewerage and treatment facilities. Hence, coping with rapid urbanization is a
major challenge.

Water shortage. Water deficits and contamination of existing water

supplies are threatening the environment in the future for agricultural production
as well as domestic and industrial uses. Many countries already have serious
water shortages and more than one billion people lack access to clean water and
proper sanitation. This may lead to violent conflicts over control of natural
resources. Majority of our industrial plants are using outdated and population
technologies and makeshift facilities devoid of any provision of treating their
wastes. A great number of cities and industrial areas that have been identified as
the worst in terms of air and water pollution. Acts are enforced in the country, but
their implement is not so easy. The reason is their implementation needs great
resources, technical expertise, political and social will. Again, the people are to be
made aware of these rules. Their support is indispensable to implement these
rules.

Depletion of non-renewable fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are rapidly

depleting due to their overutilization by the growing population along with growth
in industrialization all over the world. Their use is leading to air pollution and
damage to the environment. Cleaner renewable energy resources like solar, wind,
thermal, and biomass together with conservation may replace environmentally
destructive energy sources if appropriate technologies are applied.

Deforestation and threat to biodiversity. Deforestation of tropical

forests, coral reefs, wetlands and other biologically rich landscapes is causing an
alarming loss of species and a reduction of biological variety and abundance that
could severely limit our future options. Many rare and endangered species are
threatened directly or indirectly by human activities like agriculture, building of
dams, factories, highways, mining operations and many others.

Improper disposal of solid and hazardous wastes. Mountains of solid

and hazardous wastes are becoming an overwhelming problem throughout the
world. We produce millions of tons of these hazardous materials annually and
much of it is disposed of in dangerous and irresponsible ways.

References:

Allaby, M. (2000). Basics of environmental science. Routledge. New York, NY.

Gadi, R., Rattan, S., and Mohapatra, S. (2016). Textbook of environmental
studies. S.K. Kataria & Sons. New Delhi, India.
Miller. G.T. and Spoolman, S. (2019). Environmental Science. 16 th Ed. Cengage.
Boston, MA.
Olsson, L . and Barbosa, H. (2019). Chapter 4: Land Degrdation. IPCC SRCCL.
https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2019/08/2e.-Chapter-4_FINAL.pdf
Singh, Y.K (2006). Environmental science. New Age International, Limited
Publishers. New Delhi, India.