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Environmental Studies
simplified
Third Edition
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Benny Joseph graduated in Civil Engineering from Regional
Engineering College, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu. He obtained a
master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from College of
Engineering, Trivandrum, Kerala, and a PhD from Anna University,
Chennai. He has been teaching graduate and postgraduate courses
in various engineering colleges since 1990 and his subjects include
Environmental Engineering, Air and Noise Pollution, Environmental
Safety, Environmental Pollution, Environmental Impact Assessment,
Integrated Water Resources Management, and Environmental Science.
Currently he is working as Principal of Vimal Jyothi Engineering College, Kannur, Kerala.
He has more than 10 research papers in diverse fields to his credit.
Environmental Studies
SIMPLIFIED
Third Edition
Benny Joseph
Principal
Vimal Jyothi Engineering College
Kannur, Kerala
McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited

CHENNAI
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Environmental Studies: Simplified, 3e
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Dedicated to
My Beloved Parents and Wife
CONTENTS
Preface xv
Visual Walkthrough xviii
1. Introduction 1
1.1 General 1
1.2 Importance of Environmental Education 2
1.3 Environmental Engineering 4
1.4 Environmentalism 5
1.4.1 The Gaia Theory 5
1.5 Environmental Studies—The Subject and its Multidisciplinary Nature 6
1.6 Components of the Environment and their Interactions 7
1.7 Humans and the Biosphere 10
1.8 Impacts of Development on the Environment 11
1.8.1 Environmental Impacts of Urbanization 11
Review Questions 15
Objective-Type Questions 15
Short-Answer Questions 17
Descriptive Questions 18
Answers to Objective-Type Questions 19
2. Natural Resources 20
2.1 Forest Resources 20
2.1.1 Key Benefits of Intact Forests 22
2.1.2 Deforestation 22
2.1.3 Causes of Deforestation 23
2.1.4 Effects of Deforestation 23
2.1.5 Solutions to the Problems of Deforestation 24
2.1.6 Mining 25
2.1.7 Mineral Resources of India 26
viii Contents
2.2 Dams 27
2.2.1 Dams and Civilization 27
2.2.2 Purposes of Dams 27
2.2.3 Benefits of Dams 27
2.2.4 Problems with Dams 28
2.2.5 Socio-economic Impacts of Dams 28
2.2.6 Controversy on Hydropower 29
2.2.7 Possible Solutions to Improve the Acceptability of Dam Projects 30
2.3 Water Resources 30
2.3.1 Drought 31
2.3.2 Conflicts Over Water 32
2.4 Food Resources 32
2.4.1 Global Food Problems 32
2.4.2 Food Security 32
2.4.3 Adverse Effects of Modern Agriculture on Soil and Water Resources 33
2.4.4 Problems with Fertilizers 34
2.4.5 Pesticides 35
2.4.6 Alternative Methods of Insect Control 36
2.4.7 Organic Agriculture 36
2.4.8 Advantages of Organic Fertilizers 36
2.5 Energy Resources 37
2.5.1 Types of Energy 38
2.5.2 Energy Characteristics 40
2.5.3 Energy and the Environment 40
2.5.4 Fuel Cell 40
2.5.5 Saving Energy 42
2.6 Land Resources 42
2.6.1 Land Degradation 43
2.6.2 Soil Erosion 44
2.6.3 Desertification 45
2.6.4 Landslides 45
Review Questions 47
Contents ix
3. Ecology 54
3.1 Ecosystem 54
3.2 Ecosystem–Anthroposystem Comparison 57
3.3 Biome and Ecosystem 57
3.4 Energy Flow Through an Ecosystem 58
3.5 Ecological Succession 59
3.6 Food Chains and Webs 59
3.7 Ecological Pyramids 60
3.8 Biological Magnification or Biomagnification 61
3.9 Human Versus Natural Food Chains 62
3.10 Biogeochemical Cycles 62
3.11 Water Cycle (Hydrologic Cycle) 63
3.12 Carbon Cycle 63
3.13 Oxygen Cycle 65
3.14 Nitrogen Cycle 66
3.15 Phosphorus Cycle 68
3.16 Sulphur Cycle 69
3.17 Forest Ecosystems 69
3.17.1 Vertical Structure—Vegetation Layers 70
3.17.2 Horizontal Structure 71
3.17.3 Environmental Influences 71
3.17.4 Forest Ecosystem Processes 71
3.17.5 Biomass and Productivity 72
3.17.6 Functions of Forest Ecosystems 72
3.18 Grassland Ecosystems 72
3.19 Aquatic Ecosystems 73
3.19.1 Environmental Factors Affecting the Aquatic Ecosystem Performance 73
Review Questions 74
4. Biodiversity 79
4.1 Introduction 79
4.2 Genetic Diversity 80
4.3 Species Diversity 81
4.4 Ecosystem Diversity 81
x Contents
4.5 Value of Biodiversity 82

4.6 Value of Genes 84
4.7 Biopiracy 84
4.8 Biogeographical Classification of India 85
4.9 India as a Mega Diverse Nation 86
4.10 Endemic Species of India 87
4.11 Threats to Biodiversity 87
4.12 Hotspots of Biodiversity 88
4.12.1 Hotspots in India 89
4.13 Endangered Species of India 89
4.14 Conservation of Biodiversity 90
4.14.1 In-situ and Ex-situ Conservation 90
4.14.2 Preservation and Conservation 90
4.14.3 Project Tiger 91
4.14.4 Project Elephant 91
4.15 Genetic Engineering and Biodiversity 91
Review Questions 93
5. Environmental Pollution 96
5.1 Air Pollution 96
5.1.1 General 96
5.1.2 Sources of Air Pollution 97
5.1.3 Major Air Pollutants 97
5.1.4 Effect of Air Pollution on Animals, Plants and Property 99
5.1.5 Toxic Air Pollution 99
5.1.6 Primary and Secondary Air Pollutants 100
5.1.7 Smog 100
5.1.8 Photochemical Smog 100
5.1.9 Automobile and Air Pollution 100
5.1.10 Air Pollution Control Technologies 101
5.1.11 Catalytic Converter 104
5.2 Water Pollution 105
5.2.1 Major Forms of Water Pollution 105
5.2.2 Sources of Water Pollution 106
Contents xi
5.2.3 Point and Non-point Sources 106

5.2.4 Groundwater Pollution and its Control 106
5.2.5 Management of Municipal Sewage 106
5.3 Soil Pollution 118
5.3.1 Control of Soil Pollution 118
5.4 Marine Pollution 118
5.5 Noise Pollution 120
5.5.1 Sources of Noise 120
5.5.2 Measurement of Noise 120
5.5.3 Effects of Noise 120
5.5.4 Noise Pollution Control 121
5.6 Thermal Pollution 121
5.7 Solid Waste Management 122
5.7.1 Solid (Non-Hazardous) Waste 122
5.7.2 Refuse 122
5.7.3 Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) 122
5.7.4 Hazardous Waste 122
5.7.5 Illegal Dumping 122
5.7.6 MSW Management Practices 122
5.7.7 Source Reduction 130
5.7.8 Recycling 130
5.7.9 Composting 130
5.7.10 Classification of Composting Based on Oxygen Use 131
5.7.11 Vermicomposting 131
5.7.12 Landfills 131
5.7.13 Combustion/Incineration 132
5.7.14 Disposal and Recycle Options 132
5.7.15 Prohibited Wastes 133
5.8 Hazardous Waste Management 133
5.8.1 Hazardous Waste 133
5.8.2 General Hazardous Waste Management Strategies 134
5.8.3 Treatment Technologies for Hazardous Wastes 134
5.8.4 Land Disposal Methods for Hazardous Wastes 135
5.8.5 Radioactive Wastes 135
5.8.6 Not In My Backyard Principle (NIMBY) 135
5.8.7 Guidelines for Handling Household Hazardous Chemicals 136
5.8.8 Disposal Methods for Household Hazardous Wastes 136
5.8.9 Chemical Waste 137
xii Contents
5.8.10 Chemical Incompatibilities 137

5.8.11 Biomedical Waste 137
5.8.12 Infectious Waste 138
5.8.13 Central Pollution Control Board Standards 138
5.8.14 Computer and Electronic Scrap Recycling 138
5.8.15 Technology for Processing Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) 139
5.9 Pollution Prevention 139
5.10 Disaster Management 140
5.10.1 Major and Minor Calamities 140
Review Questions 141
6. Social Issues and the Environment 151
6.1 From Unsustainable to Sustainable Development 152
6.1.1 Sustainability: Theory and Practice 152
6.2 Urban Problems Related to Energy 155
6.2.1 Urban Energy Crisis 155
6.2.2 Renewable Energy 155
6.3 Water Conservation 156
6.3.1 Some Ancient Indian Methods of Water Conservation
and Harvesting 156
6.3.2 Rainwater Harvesting 156
6.3.3 Reducing Water Demand in Agriculture 157
6.4 Watershed Management 159
6.5 Environmental Ethics 159
6.6 Green Chemistry and its Twelve Principles 159
6.7 Acid Rain 160
6.7.1 Effects of Acid Rains 161
6.8 Ozone-Layer Depletion 161
6.8.1 Chlorofluorocarbons 163
6.8.2 Measuring Ozone Depletion 163
6.8.3 Impacts of Ozone Depletion 164
6.8.4 Steps to Protect the Ozone Layer 164
6.9 Greenhouse Effect, Global Warming and Climate Change 165
6.9.1 Effects of Global Warming 167
Contents xiii
6.9.2 Solutions for Global Warming 167

6.10 Pollution Control Boards and Control Pollution Acts in India 169
6.10.1 Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) 169
6.10.2 The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 169
6.10.3 The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 170
6.10.4 The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 170
6.10.5 The Wildlife Protection Act, 1971 170
6.10.6 The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 170
6.10.7 Constitutional Provisions 171
6.11 Nuclear Hazards and Accidents 171
6.11.1 Facts About Radiological Accidents 172
6.11.2 Ways to Minimize Radiation Exposure 172
6.12 Environmental Impact Assessment 173
6.12.1 Different Types of Impact Assessments 173
6.12.2 The Benefits of EIA 174
6.12.3 The EIA Process 175
6.12.4 Contents of a Typical Environmental Impact Assessment 175
6.12.5 Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation 176
6.13 Risk Management 177
6.14 Precautionary Principle 178
6.15 Polluter-Pays Principle 178
6.16 The Beneficiary-Pays Principle 178
6.17 The ISO 14000 Series of Environmental Management Standards 178
6.18 Economy and Environment 180
6.18.1 Environmental Economics 180
7. Human Population and the Environment 186
7.1 Population Growth 186
7.1.1 Population Variations among Nations 188
7.1.2 Population Pyramids 189
7.1.3 Problems of Population Growth 190
7.2 Human Rights 197
7.2.1 Human Rights as Inspiration and Empowerment 197
xiv Contents
7.2.2 Human Right Act, 1993 198

7.2.3 Amnesty International 203
7.3 Value Education 204
7.4 HIV/AIDS 205
7.4.1 Process of Infection 206
7.4.2 HIV Test 207
7.4.3 Transmission of HIV 207
7.4.4 Survival of HIV Outside the Body 208
7.4.5 HIV and AIDS in India 208
7.5 Environment and Human Health 209
7.5.1 A History of Pandemics 209
7.6 Family Welfare Programmes 209
7.7 Women and Child Welfare 210
7.7.1 Subjects Allocated to the Department 210
7.7.2 Child Development 211
7.8 Role of Information Technology in Environment and Human Health 212
Appendix 1 International Conventions and Protocols 218
Appendix 2 Glossary 223
Index 240
PREFACE
Introduction to the Course
A course on Environmental Studies or Environmental Science and Engineering is offered

with the intention of imparting an understanding of the impact of technological solutions
in societal and environmental contexts, and to enable the students to demonstrate the
knowledge of, and need for sustainable development. Basic topics such as natural resources,
ecology, biodiversity, and environmental pollution are dealt in detail in this book. In
addition to these topics, the concept of sustainable development and population growth
related issues are also discussed.
Target Audience
This textbook is designed to cater to the needs of all the discerning learners of this course
at undergraduate level in Indian universities. Efforts are made to accommodate the widest
possible variations in the background of the students.
Objective of the Revision
Since the first edition of Environmental Studies, the level of environmental awareness
among the general public and graduate students of India have gone up extensively, and
hence it was felt that a lot of introductory explanations and details in the earlier edition
were becoming incongruous. The above perspective is the rationale behind this edition
and it is also kept in mind that the course on Environmental Studies should not be felt
as a difficult requirement or unnecessary academic hurdle by the students. The main
objective of this revision is to ease the learning curve and to reduce the amount of time to
complete the course successfully without omitting the core concepts. The strategy adopted
for attaining the above objective is the conversion of considerable amount of theory to
graphical representations. In addition to the above, facts and figures are updated based
on recent developments around the world.
xvi Preface
Roadmap to Target Courses
For courses offered in engineering programmes, all the topics dealt in this book may be
taken up with careful details. For other degree programmes, some of the topics such as
water treatment, wastewater treatment, air pollution control equipment, municipal solid
waste management, etc. may be dealt with a lesser rigorousness.
What is New in This Edition
A large number of illustrations and tables are added to this version for easy understanding
by converting the existing knowledge base. Every chapter is provided with learning
outcomes to make the learning process more focused and conclusion based.
Organization of the Book
Chapter 1 tries to sensitize the students about the importance of Environmental Studies
and its multidisciplinary nature. It also draws a broader picture of the role of human beings
in biosphere and major environmental issues that our planet is currently facing.
Chapter 2 deals in major natural resources such as water, forest, minerals and energy
resources. It also highlights the current issues affecting these natural resources and
possible ways for conservation. Topics relating to food security and land resources are
also discussed in detail.
Chapter 3 discusses ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles. The material and energy flow
in an ecosystem is illustrated and the same is compared with that of an anthroposystem.
Chapter 4 looks at biodiversity, its importance, threats to biodiversity, and conservation
efforts. India as a mega biodiverse nation is discussed and some of the endemic species
facing extinction are also highlighted.
Chapter 5 on environmental pollution discusses air, water, soil and marine pollution
in detail with their causes, effects and solutions. Some associated topics such as noise
pollution and thermal pollution are also discussed. The issue of management of municipal
solid waste and hazardous waste is illustrated in detail.
Chapter 6 introduces the concept of sustainable development and looks at the underlying
social concerns behind the environmental issues. Topics such as climate change and ozone
hole are dealt in detail here.
Preface xvii
Chapter 7 considers the universal issues relating to human population changes (both
growth and reduction) in various parts of the globe. Topics such as human rights, HIV and
value education are also dealt here.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to place on record his heartfelt thanks to the entire editorial team of
McGraw Hill Education, India, for their hand-holding during the revision process with a
special mention of Ms Piyali Chatterjee and Mr Atul Gupta. I would express my gratitude
to Ms Shobhika Puri for painstakingly making all the illustrations within the chapters.
I would also like to acknowledge various reviewers who took out time to review this book
and gave their valuable feedback and suggestions. Their names are given below.
Himanshu Sharma Meerut Institute of Engineering and Technology, Meerut,
Uttar Pradesh
Laiju A.R. National Institute of Technology Uttarakhand, Uttarakhand
Kritanjali Jaiswal Girijananda Chowdhury Institute of Management and Technology,
Guwahati, Assam
Arup Ratan Biswas Techno India University, Kolkata, West Bengal
Prasant Rath Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
Manoj H. Mota Sharad Institute of Technology, Kolhapur, Maharashtra
Thirumala Prasad Kota DVR & Dr. HS MIC College of Technology, Kanchikacherla,
Andhra Pradesh
H. Ramamohan Aditya Institute of Technology and Management, Srikakulam,
Andhra Pradesh
Debapriya Dey MCKV Institute of Engineering, Howrah, West Bengal
Benny Joseph
VISUAL WALKTHROUGH
The readers can take a tour of this book through the visual walkthrough given below. It
highlights different elements present within the chapters and also gives a brief introduction
about them.
3 ECOLOGY
“The first law of ecology is that everything is related to everything else.”

Barry Commoner
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Learning Outcomes
Chapters are organized into multiple
learning objectives which help students
� Explain the concept of ecosystem and compare it with anthroposystem.
and instructors to indulge in planned � Illustrate the terms Food Chain, Food Web and Ecological Pyramid.
and focussed learning of concepts. � Sketch and explain the major biogeochemical cycles.
�
3.1 ECOSYSTEM
Ecology is the study of the relationship between organisms and their environment.
An ecosystem is a biotic assemblage of plants, animals, and microbes, taken together with
their physico-chemical environment. In an ecosystem the biological cycling of materials
Visual Walkthrough xix
FIGURES AND TABLES

The figures illustrate the various concepts
discussed in the chapter. This makes the
learning process stimulating. Details pertaining
to different concepts have been presented in
tabular form at various places.
A typical rainwater harvesting facilty for a building is shown in Fig. 6.4.
Fig. 6.4 Typical Rainwater Harvesting Facility for a Building
Table 2.2
Energy type Advantages Disadvantages

Renewable � Wide availability � Unreliable supply
� Lower running cost � Usually produced in small quantities
� Decentralized power production � Often very difficult to store
� Low pollution � Currently per unit cost of energy is
� Available for the foreseeable future more compared to other types
Non-renewable � Available in highly concentrated form � Highly polluting
� Easy to store � Available only in a few places
� Reliable supply � High running cost
� Lower cost per unit of energy produced � Limited supply and will one day get
as the technology is matured exhausted
Sustainable � Highly reliable � Risk of radioactivity
(Nuclear power) � Produces large amounts of energy � High waste disposal costs
with very little CO2 emissions � High capital investment and
� Uses small amount of raw material maintenance cost
per unit energy production
xx Visual Walkthrough
CASE STUDIES AND BURNING TOPICS

Latest case studies and burning topics are also
covered in book for better understanding of
different topics.
CASE Canada: Education, Migration, Divorce

STUDY Cause, Fall in Birth Rate
Canada’s birth rate fell to 10.5 births for every 1,000 people, down by 25% in the last decade of 20th
century. Women are having the same 1.5 babies that they’ve been having for the past 10 years but
there are fewer women in the fertile age group 25 to 30. Experts point to an array of factors, including
increasing education for women, the urbanization of society and the breakdown in family units. Where
a new generation was born every 20 years, it’s now closer to 30. When you increase the time between
generations, there will be fewer children. All agree that the fertility rate has seen a decline over the
last 40 years. One factor is higher education that has given women career opportunities that caused
women to delay pregnancies until their careers have been established. Education has also given women
better knowledge about birth control products. The move to urban living has an effect as agrarian
societies, babies are viewed as a source of future labour supply but in urban settings, children are
more likely to be economic drains on their parents. Urban parents rely on pension plans, rather than
their children. Many working class women are putting off children because they simply can’t afford
to support them. Family change, such as divorce, cohabitation and looseness of relationships, comes
with fewer children because there’s less security.
BURNING
Climate Change: An Inconvenient Truth
TOPIC
Weather is the mix of events that happen every day in our atmosphere including temperature, rainfall
and humidity. Climate is the average weather pattern in a place over many years.
Climates will change if the factors that influence them fluctuate. To change climate on a global scale,
either the amount of heat that is let into the system changes, or the amount of heat that is let out of
the system changes. For instance, warming climates are either due to increased heat let into the Earth
or a decrease in the amount of heat that is let out of the atmosphere.
In the early 19th century, scientists discovered that trace amounts of atmospheric gases, including
carbon dioxide and methane, were responsible for retaining some of the sun’s heat in the lower
atmosphere. They theorized that without these gases, the earth’s temperature would not support the
variety of life found on this planet. However, the huge amount of fossil fuels burned since the Industrial
Revolution has increased the atmospheric concentration of these gases and dramatically changed the
energy balance of the planet, retaining heat that otherwise would be radiated out into space. Like the
glass in a greenhouse, this raises the average air temperature in the lower atmosphere.
The gases responsible for this phenomenon are known as greenhouse gases (GHG). CO2 is the
major GHG and the other gases that could contribute this effect are identified as CH4, N2O, HFCs
(hydrofluorocarbons), PFCs (perfluorocarbons) and SF6 (sulphur hexafluoride) (Fig. 6.11).
Visual Walkthrough xxi
CHAPTER-END EXERCISE
More than 400 chapter-end exercises are con-
structed to assess the student’s understanding
of concepts discussed in each chapter. These
are formed as objective-type questions, short-
answer questions and descriptive questions.
Answer to MCQs have been provided at the
end of each chapter.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
Objective-Type Questions
1. As per the FAO definition the minimum percentage of depletion of tree crown
cover, that can be considered as deforestation is
(a) 50% (b) 60%
(c) 70% (d) 90%
2. Which of the following statements about the forest is not correct?
(a) Reduces soil erosion
(b) Provides recreational opportunities
(c) Provides a source of economic development
Short-Answer Questions
(d) None of the above
3. Which of the following1. type
Define
ofthe term extraction
timber deforestation.
is least damaging to the
environment? 2. Differentiate between deforestation and forest degradation.
(a) Clear felling 3. Cite examples for aesthetic, recreational, economic, historical, cultural and religious
(b) Reduced impact loggingvalues of forests around your place.
(c) Mechanized logging4. List the effects of deforestation.
(d) Hand logging
5. List the possible social impacts of mining on local communities.
6. Write a short note on the mineral resources of India.
7. Identify the core causes of currentt water crisis in the world.
8. Define meteorological drought.
Descriptive Questions
9. Define food security. 1. Describe the history of population growth on earth mentioning the factors
contributing to it.
10. Enumerate the desired qualities off an ideal pesticide.
2. Draw a typical population pyramid of a developing country and discuss how it is
11. Define organic farming. likely to differ from that of a developed country.
12. List the advantages of organic agriculture
riculture over thethe
3. Explain conventional one.problems posed by population explosion.
environmental
13. What are the major energy sourcess of4.planet earth?
Discuss the salient features of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by UN.
14. Differentiate between renewable, non-renewable
5. Explainand
thesustainable
steps that sources of energy
are being taken in India to impart value education from
with examples. school days.
h h l 6. Discuss the process of HIV infection.
7. What are the modes of transmission of HIV and how can it be prevented?
8. What are the steps that have to be taken to control the AIDS epidemic in India?
9. Discuss the role of Information Technology in the protection of environment
and human health.
Answers to Objective-Type Questions

1. (c) 2. (b) 3. (b) 4. (b) 5. (b) 6. (d) 7. (a)
8. (b) 9. (d) 10. (c) 11. (d) 12. (b) 13. (b) 14. (a)
15. (d)
xxii Visual Walkthrough
APPENDICES
∑ Book-end appendix will give the reader

knowledge about major International
Environmental Conventions and Environ-
mental Protocols.
∑ Glossary of technical terms frequently used APPENDIX INTERNATIONAL
in environmental science has been included
at the end of book. This will help readers
improve their vocabulary on the subject.
1 CONVENTIONS
AND
PROTOCOLS
In order to deal with regional and global environmental changes, it is necessary to develop
new scientific and political mechanisms that could operate at the international level. An
international convention is intended to build an international consensus that a particular
ecological, wildlife or pollution problem exists. The convention is worded in general terms
to allow all countries to “sign on” recognizing that the problem exists and that there is
some need for concern and multinational action.
Once a convention has been established, countries can then begin to negotiate specific
control actions. The protocol mechanisms allow large problems to be broken down into more
achievable steps. The protocol mechanism allows for a wide range of actions to be agreed
upon including the control
contr of emissions, the control of production, trade in substances of
concern, and financial aid
ai mechanisms. It would not be possible to negotiate all of these
items at one time or with
within one time frame but the protocol process allows for substantial
APPENDIX progress to be made in sspite of great complexities of the overall actions being taken.
The protocol process can virtually supersede the convention itself. In the case of
2 GLOSSARY
stratospheric ozone depletion,
dep
leading to the Montreal Protocol.
the Vienna Convention which was the umbrella agreement
I. MAJOR INTERNATIONAL
INTERN ENVIRONMENTAL
CONVENTIONS
CONVENTION
Ramsar Convention (Convention
(Co on Wetlands of International Importance especially
as Waterfowl Habitat)
Most of the waterfowl th
that inhabit marshes or swamps are migratory birds. International
cooperation to preserve
preserv the marshlands has been regarded as necessary in order to
A
Abiotic: A non-living (physical or chemical) component of the environment.
Abatement: The reduction in degree or intensity of pollution.
Acid rain: Precipitation which has a pH of less than 5.6.
Acute toxicity: Any poisonous effect produced within a short period of time, resulting in
severe biological harm and often, death.
Adsorption: The adhesion of a substance to the surface of a solid or liquid. Adsorption
is often used to extract pollutants, by causing them to be attached to adsorbents such as
activated carbon or silica gel. Hydrophobic, or water-repulsing adsorbents, are used to
extract oil from waterways in oil spills.
Advanced wastewater treatment: The removal of any dissolved or suspended contaminants
beyond secondary treatment. Often, it is the removal of the nutrients—nitrogen and/or
phosphorus.
Aeration: The process by which air is circulated through, mixed with or dissolved in a
liquid or substance.
Aerobes: Organisms which require molecular oxygen as an electron acceptor for energy
production.
Agricultural pollution: The liquid and solid wastes from farming, including runoff from
pesticides, fertilizers, and feedlots; erosion and dust from plowing; animal manure and carcasses.
1 INTRODUCTION
“The earth provides enough to satisfy every person’s need but not every
person’s greed.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Learning Outcomes
On successful comple on of this chapter, students will be able to:
Demonstrate an understanding of the significance of environmental educa on.
Outline the Gaia theory in the context of environmentalism.
Comprehend the mul disciplinary nature of the course Environmental Studies.
Illustrate the components of the environment and its interac ons.
Outline the causes, effects and management op ons for various environmental
problems related to air, water and land.
1.1 GENERAL
Throughout history, humankind has adapted to the natural variations of the earth’s system
and its climate. However, in the last century, human population and consumption of
various natural resources have increased significantly and this essentially is the root cause
of all the environmental issues. Figure 1.1 shows some of the current impacts of human
activities on the environment.
2 Environmental Studies: Simplified
Fig. 1.1 Impacts of Human Activities on the Environment
Environmental awareness among the public and policymakers has been growing since
the 1960s, when it became widely recognized that human activities were having harmful
and largescale effects on the environment.
1.2 IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Environment is the physical and biotic habitat that surrounds us. Environmental issues
affect, and are affected by, all our activities to varying degrees. The need to have a
working knowledge of environmental issues is not confined to environmental scientists,
engineers and policymakers. In our society, all the educated citizens need to have a
working understanding of the fundamental principles involved in environmentally
Introduction 3
responsible decision-making to protect planet earth. Figure 1.2 lists some of the functions
of environmental education.
Fig. 1.2 Functions of Environmental Education
The following are some of the guiding principles and features suggested for effective
environmental education.
Environmental Education
Considers the environment in its totality, i.e., ecological, political, natural,
technological, sociological, aesthetic and built environments.
Develops awareness of the importance, beauty and wonders that can be found in
these aspects of the environment.
Explores not only the physical qualities of the human relationship with the
environment, but also the spiritual aspect of this relationship.
Is a response to the challenge of moving towards an ecologically and socially
sustainable world.
Is concerned with the interaction between the quality of the biophysical environment
and the socio-economic environment.
Transcends the division of knowledge, skills and attitudes by seeking commitment
to action in an informed manner to realistic sustainability.
Recognizes the value of local knowledge, practices and perceptions in enhancing
sustainability.
Supports relevant education by focusing on learning local environments.

Considers the global as well as the local environment. Since the world is a set of inter-
related systems, there is a need for a world perspective on environmental issues.
Focuses on current and future perspectives on environmental conditions.
Is interdisciplinary and can be taught through and used to enhance all subjects in
the curriculum.
Emphasizes participation in preventing and solving environmental problems and
revokes the passive accumulation of information about the environment.
Environmental literacy is the capability for a contextual and detailed understanding of an
environmental problem in order to enable analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and ultimately sound
and informed decision-making at a citizen’s level.
1.3 ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

Environmental Engineering is one of the most complex and fastest growing disciplines
of Engineering. The scope of this field includes issues from public health protection to
aesthetics, and from impact on business development to the development of legislation,
standards, regulations, and guidelines, to their enforcement and environmental protection.
A challenging aspect of Environmental Engineering is the rapid changes in the field
due to the rate of knowledge increase in the fields of science, technology and health.
Figure 1.3 illustrates some of the core areas of Environmental Engineering.
Fig. 1.3 Some Core Areas of Environmental Engineering

Introduction 5
1.4 ENVIRONMENTALISM
Although it can be argued that environmental consciousness is ancient, and forms part of
many religions, it was not until the 1960s that environmentalism became an organized
force. The milestone marking the birth of the environmental movement was the publication
of the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in 1962 in the USA. Silent Spring inspired a
new public awareness that human beings were harming the environment. Since the 1960s,
the movement has grown dramatically. In Silent Spring, Carson exposed the perils of the
indiscriminate use of pesticides, particularly DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane).
Fig. 1.4 Silent Spring by Rachel Carson – The book that marked the Birth of Environmental Movement
1.4.1 The Gaia Theory

Named after the Greek mother Earth goddess, Gaia, the theory was developed in the 1960s
by scientist Dr James Lovelock. This theory suggests a holistic view of the world, where all
life on earth interacts with the physical environment to form a complex system that can
be thought of as a single super organism. Thus, the earth acts as a superorganism with the
ability to regulate environmental conditions needed to sustain itself, as much as the human
body keeps its water content, temperature, and other conditions at a relatively constant
state to keep the body alive. Lovelock believed that the earth is a self-regulating system
and is able to keep its climate and chemical composition comfortable for living organisms.
In particular, it regulates the chemistry of the oceans, composition of the atmosphere and
the surface temperature. The film Avatar (2009) is an illustration of the Gaia theory where
a world (Pandora) functions like a single organism.
Fig. 1.5 Lovelock and the Gaia Theory
Fig. 1.6 Daisyworld Mathematical Model
1.5 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES—THE SUBJECT AND

ITS MULTIDISCIPLINARY NATURE
Environmental Studies is a distinct programme that gives the students an opportunity
to experience the interdisciplinary nature of the subject. Environmental Studies educate
students in the fundamentals of environmental and social sciences along with major
environmental issues.
An understanding of the working of the environment requires the knowledge from
wide-ranging fields. Table 1.1 shows a list of topics dealt commonly in air pollution and
Introduction 7
the related traditional fields of knowledge, illustrating the interdisciplinary nature of the
subject.
Table 1.1 Interdisciplinay Nature of the Subject—Air Pollution
Environmental issue/Topic Major subject/ Topic knowledge required

Nature and reactions of air pollutants Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Effects of air pollutants on human beings, animals, Zoology and Botany and various branches of life
plants and materials science, Physics, and Chemistry
Effect of climate on air pollution Meteorology, Thermodynamics, Geography,
Mathematical modelling, etc.
Air pollution control devices Physics, Chemistry and various branches of
Engineering
History of air pollution and air pollution episodes History
Economic impacts of air pollution Economics, Demography
Sociological impacts of air pollution Sociology
Alternative fuels Various branches of physical sciences
Conservation of resources and pollution control Various branches of physical and political sciences
Ozone hole and global warming Almost every branch of study has got something to
contribute to the understanding of this phenomenon.
1.6 COMPONENTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND

THEIR INTERACTIONS
Chemicals on earth are distributed among four major environmental components or
conceptual spheres—atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. While such a
classification of nature is arbitrary, it helps in organizing and extending our knowledge of
distribution and flow of chemicals. A schematic representation of the four environmental
components and their interrelationships is shown in Fig. 1.7. The circles represent the
spheres and the curved arrows the flow pathways of the matter. In the diagram, circles
and curved arrows are used instead of boxes and straight line connections to emphasize
the close, dynamic, inseparable, organic coupling among the environmental components.
If one component or linkage changes, all other components respond. In this conceptual
frame, every sphere has a two-way linkage to every other sphere, including itself. The two-
way linkage signifies that the matter may flow from one component to another in both
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accepted money and turned every cent of it into the party treasury
for honest propaganda work. But once admit this conduct to be
justifiable and the day of such leaders will soon be over. Inevitably
they must be succeeded by less scrupulous politicians who will sell
public property and betray public interests right and left, and, after
deducting large sums to feather their own nests, still be in a position
to contribute to the support of the party more largely than any
conscientious leader. Under these conditions the political influence of
wealthy corporations or wealthy men will be limited solely by the
amount of money they are willing to spend. No matter with what
reservations and good intentions such practices are entered upon,
they will mean in the end nothing more and nothing less than that
government is on hire or on sale to the highest bidders. There is no
easier road by which democracy may pass over into plutocracy; and
it is indeed fortunate that the American people in its recent attitude
toward the question of campaign contributions has begun to show an
adequate realisation of the danger confronting it.
To sum up the argument presented in the foregoing pages, it

should be noted that while it is comparatively easy to formulate a
definition of corruption, to point out the difference between the legal
and ethical conceptions of the matter, to distinguish between bribery
and auto-corruption and, in general, to mark out the logical
boundaries of the field, the application of these definitions and
distinctions is made immensely difficult by the variety of political
institutions, the divergence of political practices and the conflict
between general opinion and class opinions. A number of
conclusions would nevertheless seem to deserve at least tentative
expression.
(1) The prevalence of charges of corruption and of actual
corruption in American politics is not of itself proof of our inferiority in
political morality to the other great nations of the world.
(2) Considering opportunities and temptations, our current political
morality is at least not yet proven to be inferior to our business and
social morality in general.
(3) Unsupported charges of corruption are too frequently indulged
in by practical politicians, reformers, and conservatives, the results
being a popular moral callousness and a loss of social confidence
which render all constructive work more difficult.
(4) Acts involving corrupt motives range in current social
estimation all the way from heinous felonies to minor foibles. The
view that there are only a few “corruptionists,” all of whom richly
deserve criminal sentences and might receive them without unduly
crowding our penitentiaries, is a grotesque misconception. Instead of
this we must recognise frankly that self-interest and social interests
are inextricably bound up as motive forces of our social machinery,
often working in harmony and reinforcing each other, but sometimes
colliding and presenting new questions for moral determination and
social protective action.
(5) From among such cases of collision between social and self-
interest we must endeavour to single out those most obviously
harmful to society and the state, and, not content with branding them
as morally bad, we must formulate legal prohibitions supported by
penalties severe enough to check the evil. Particularly important in
this field of work is a thorough solution of the whole problem of
campaign contributions.
(6) Certain cases in which political action is determined by corrupt
considerations may be more effectively combated with moral than
with legal sanctions. These are cases which threaten no very serious
consequences, cases in which the corrupt considerations are not
directly material in character, cases in which personal advantage is
not so much sought as the advantage of some social group, and all
other cases of so subtle or undecided a character that definite legal
action, at least under existing conditions, is impossible. In the
presence of many such difficulties we can only plead for a clearer
recognition by the individual of duty to the state and to society as a
whole. On the other hand, society and the state as now constituted
fall short of a full and humane ideal of justice and hence are partly
responsible for existing corruption.
Finally it should be said that all effective work against corruption
must be two-fold. On the one hand we must endeavour to raise
moral and legal standards to a higher level. On the other hand we
must unrelentingly prosecute actual offences to the full extent of
existing law. Work of the first sort must be either impersonal or
based upon well authenticated facts. Work of the second sort must
above all things be subjected to a wise restraint; sweeping charges
resting merely upon suspicion must be scrupulously avoided; direct
and well-founded charges must be put into legal form and fought to
the last resort. Reformers should learn to bring down all direct and
personal accusations to the level of existing law, until they have
succeeded in bringing the level of the law up to their ideal standard.
FOOTNOTES:
[15] Other illustrations of auto-corruption may be found in
speculation by inside officials on the basis of crop reports not yet
made public, and in real-estate deals based on a knowledge of
projected public improvements.
[16] Misperformance and neglect of duty do not clearly include
cases of usurpation with corrupt motives; hence the addition of
this clause to the definition. Some usurpations may of course be
defended as involving high and unselfish motives, and hence free
from corruption.
[17] Mr. Seeley has shown, of course, that no actual despotism,
so-called, really conforms to this conception, but for purposes of
argument, at least, the assumption may be permitted to stand.
[18] Political Science Quarterly, vol. xix (1904), p. 673.
[19] Cf. C. Howard, “The Spirit of Graft,” Outlook, vol. lxxxi
(1905), p. 365.
[20] Outlook, 65:115 (May 12, 1905).
[21] Political Science Quarterly, vol. xviii (1902), p. 188.
[22] Atlantic, vol. xcv (1905), p. 781.
[23] J. E. C. Bodley, France, bk. iii, ch. vi, p. 306.
CORRUPTION: A PERSISTENT PROBLEM OF
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL LIFE
III
CORRUPTION: A PERSISTENT PROBLEM OF POLITICAL
AND SOCIAL LIFE
In its broadest significance, corruption has been defined as “the

intentional misperformance or neglect of a recognised duty, or the
unwarranted exercise of power, with the motive of gaining some
advantage more or less directly personal.” Evil of this sort may occur
not only in the state, but also in the church, the family, in business
associations, and every other kind of social body. One may infer
from the nature of corruption itself that if developed to an extreme
degree it will cause the dissolution of any organisation affected by it.
Every social body requires as a prime condition of its existence a
certain subordination of individual interest to the general interest.
Corruption essentially means the preference of the former to the
latter. If self-interest continuously grows more potent while group
interest pari passu declines, evidently the social organisation so
affected will weaken and finally die. “The king by judgment
establisheth the land: but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it.”
Universally triumphant corruption, therefore, would destroy the body
from which it had drawn the sustenance for its own parasitic life.
Anarchy would be far preferable to the extreme logical
consequences of corruption. For anarchy seeks to destroy only the
compulsory political forms of human society, leaving men free to
associate voluntarily in all other ways, whereas ultimate corruption
would loosen every social bond and reduce humanity to the state of
nature as Hobbes conceived it:—bellum omnium contra omnes.
Corruption, then, is a social disease that may terminate fatally.
Social death does not always occur because of it, but from the social
point of view it is always a pathological condition. Few of the great
tragedies of history involving the fall of nations or of mighty
institutions can be explained fully without reference to the
antecedent corroding influence of corruption. It had a part in the
decline of Greece and Rome, in the Protestant Reformation, the
overthrow of the Stuart dynasty in England, the partition of Poland,
and the French Revolution. Other causes contributed to these events
and were perhaps more largely instrumental in bringing them about,
—ignorance, inefficiency, tyranny, immorality, extravagance, and
obstinacy,—but in each instance corruption was also present on a
large scale. Even in cases of historical catastrophes where the
crushing force was applied from the outside it is usually possible to
discern how the victor’s path was smoothed by the disintegrating
effect of corruption upon the social structure of the vanquished.[24]
For this reason Europe fell more easily before Napoleon from 1796
to 1812, imperial France before Germany in 1870-’71, and Russia
before Japan in 1904-’05.
While the disastrous consequences of widespread corruption as
shown by such instances are not to be lightly underestimated, it is
evident, on the other hand, that corrupt conditions may exist even on
a considerable scale without bringing about the extreme penalty of
disintegration or conquest. Recoveries little short of the miraculous
are sometimes noted in this field of social pathology. It
would be difficult to conceive a lower stage of degradation than that
reached by the English ministry and parliament during and
immediately following the time of Walpole, yet to-day England enjoys
the reputation of possessing one of the most honest and efficient
governments in the world. American municipal reformers sometimes
despair of any efficacious remedy for the corruption which prevails in
our cities. They should take heart upon observing the degraded
conditions which prevailed in Prussian municipalities prior to Stein’s
Städteordnung of 1808, and in England prior to the Municipal Reform
Act of 1835. In both instances formerly corrupt conditions have been
succeeded by honest and efficient municipal systems which are
observed with envy and commented upon with admiration the world
over.
The conclusion which the foregoing illustrations seem to warrant is
that while corruption is a pathological condition which in an extreme
degree may lead to social death, it is also susceptible to treatment
which may bring about recovery with renewed and even enhanced
vigour. Between these two extremes every degree of partial strength
or weakness may exist in a social body as a result of the presence or
after effects of corruption. The Roman Church suffered a
tremendous loss of influence in Western and Northern Europe as a
result of the Reformation. It has never recovered this territory, but it
survived as an institution which, modified by internal reforms, has
acquired a greater influence and a greater number of communicants
than the mediæval church ever dreamed of. Spain, partly through
corruption, lost her colonial empire, but the mother country remains
intact. True Lord Salisbury called it a “decadent nation,” but at least it
is not in ruins. Germany was victor over corrupt imperial France in
the last great European war. The progress of the Vaterland since
that event seems phenomenal, but already uneasy voices, troubled
at contemporary conditions, particularly in the army and the
emperor’s immediate entourage, are raising the question: “What
does the future hold for us,—Jena or Sedan?” Conquered in
1870-’71, the French, in Gambetta’s deathless words, nevertheless
remained “a great nation which does not wish to die.” The history of
the Third Republic has been besmirched at times by scandals of the
most offensively corrupt character. Yet in spite of this and other
national weaknesses the outside world is probably altogether too
much inclined to underestimate the latent strength of modern
France.
Contemplation of the general evils which may result from
corruption suggests the possibility of eliminating it from social life.
While such a condition of affairs may be looked upon as an ideal, it
will nevertheless remain an ultimate ideal which can be
approximated rather than realised, and that only by the most patient,
determined, and continued effort. Every social organisation, as we
have seen, presupposes the subordination in some measure of
personal to broader interests. But no matter how far social
integration is carried, and social duty correspondingly emphasised,
there will always remain a field for individual effort. Absolute
communism in which the state shall be everything and the individual
nothing is unthinkable. Even where the individual as such is but little
regarded, he will remain a member of small social groups, as e.g.,
the family or business corporation, the interests of which are almost
if not quite as close to him as the interests of his naked ego. The
lines bounding the two great fields of individual interest and social
interest are variously drawn in different countries and at different
times. No doubt they will be redrawn in the future, probably greatly to
the extension of social functions if one may judge from the present
drift. Always, however, the two great fields will remain, and the best
results in each will depend partly upon the activities of the other. In
the main these activities do not conflict, indeed they strongly
reinforce one another. When the individual pursues his daily work
diligently and intelligently, although primarily with a selfish end in
view, he is nevertheless adding to national wealth and welfare. So
also with most of the activities of the family, the church, the club, and
the business corporation. In each of these cases, however, it is
inevitable that conflicts will sometimes occur between individual and
narrow group interests on the one hand, and broader social interests
on the other. These conflicts may gradually take on less selfish and
less dangerous forms, but will hardly disappear so long as the
character of the individual and the constitution of society remain
fundamentally unchanged. The problem of corruption, therefore, is a
persistent one. There will always remain the possibility of moral
struggle for improvement; there will never be absolute perfection in
these extensive and involved relationships.
A very striking implication of the persistent character of the
problem may be found in the fact that much of the current
terminology of political science implies the presence of corruption as
a common factor in the life of the state. To modern students Greek
classifications of forms of government appear rather naive,
considered simply as classifications, but many of the separate terms
employed in them nevertheless remain in general use. Plato, for
example, describes the decline of the pure Republic ruled by
philosophers who are actuated by the highest motives, first into
Timarchy, next into Oligarchy, then into Democracy in the sense of
mob rule, and finally into Tyranny. We must infer that in the real
world, as the Philosopher saw it, the number of perfect Republics,
granting that such beatific political entities or any acceptable
approximation to them could exist, would be far less than the number
of degenerate states. The common characteristic of all the latter from
Timarchy to Tyranny is the predominance of some form of personal
or narrow group interest over the highest interests of the state. In
other words the great majority of state forms as classified by Plato
are to be distinguished by the degree and kind of corruption they
exhibit. Aristotle’s distinction between pure forms of constitutions,—
Royalty, Aristocracy, and Polity,—and the corresponding perverted
forms,—Tyranny, Oligarchy, and Democracy,—is based
fundamentally upon the existence of purity or corruption in the
sovereign, whether it be composed of the one, few, or many. Dealing
as he was largely with actual constitutions, Aristotle makes it clear
that in the world as he knew it, the corrupt forms of government,
particularly oligarchy and democracy, were much more common than
the pure forms, that, in fact, some degree of corruption was frequent,
and purity, on the other hand, exceptional in political life. Other
classifications of states regardless of their moral condition are, of
course, possible. Mr. Seeley has given us one that, for modern
purposes, is certainly much more useful than the Aristotelian. The
continued use of the latter in common speech and, to a somewhat
less extent in historical and scientific discussion, is evidence,
however, of a high degree of availability in describing actual political
conditions or what are believed to be such. And since this
terminology implies the existence of corruption as an ordinary
accompaniment of political life, its wide acceptance and continued
use strengthens the conviction that corruption in some form is a
persistent problem of politics.
While the general problem bids fair to remain with us always, the
particular forms and extent of corruption will be subject to change in
the future as in the past. History justifies the hope that these
changes will be for the better.[25] Many of the grosser forms of
corruption current in earlier periods are impossible now. Charles II.
was not the only king of his century who accepted corrupt subsidies
from foreign monarchs. At the present time it is impossible to doubt
that the essential loyalty of the executive heads of the principal
civilised countries of the world would be demonstrated unmistakably
in case they should be approached by corrupt solicitation from the
outside. The modern spirit of nationality and patriotism would wreak
tremendous vengeance upon any royal offender against it. The
loyalty of contemporary monarchs, however, is probably due in very
slight degree, if at all, to the fear of punishment. In addition to the
responsibility enforced upon constitutional kings, a keener sense on
their part of participation in the national spirit and higher standards
both of personal rectitude and of international dealings make
corruption of this sort well nigh unthinkable in the modern world. To a
large measure also these virtues have been extended over the
whole administrative service of civilised states and absorbed as a
part of current moral practice. Hence even in the case of inferior
officials who have been seduced by foreign bribes, as e.g., the sale
of military plans and secrets, a heavy penalty of popular obloquy is
added to the severe penalty of the law.
The mention of Charles II. suggests another form of corruption, the
earlier wide extension of which is familiar to every reader of history.
In times past royal mistresses appeared openly at court, secured
titles of nobility and grants of land for themselves, their children, and
their favourites, dictated appointments in the civil and military
service, and overruled decisions of internal and foreign policy. It may
be admitted that the sexual morality of some contemporary
monarchs is not above reproach. Yet the evil, so far as it exists to-
day, is largely personal, and is chiefly objectionable because of its
unfavourable influence upon the family life of the people at large. No
modern king ruling over a civilised country, it is safe to say, could
openly flaunt his mistresses and allow it to be seen that his passion
for them affected his policies as head of the state.
As another illustration of the disappearance of certain forms of
corruption once extremely common the famous case of Lord Bacon
may be cited. His offence as Lord Chancellor consisted not in the
taking of presents from suitors, for to do so after judgment was the
open practice of the time. Inadvertently, however, Bacon accepted a
present before a case was decided, and this was made the basis of
the charge of corruption which brought about his downfall. The
morality of the time had reached a stage at which it perceived clearly
the corrupting effect upon the judicial mind of presents in advance of
a decision, and held them to be bribes. It had not reached the
modern point of view that the expectation of a present after giving
decision is also corrupting, particularly since the present of one of
the litigants is very likely to be larger than that of the other. One can
safely maintain that the open receipt of presents by judicial officers
of higher rank is extremely rare in English speaking countries and in
Western Europe at the present time. Judges of our own lower courts
are sometimes accused of truckling to the party influences to which
they owe their election, but so far as it exists this is a much more
subtle and surreptitious form of corruption than present giving, or as
it would frankly be called nowadays, bribe-giving by litigants.[26] Any
approach, or even appearance of approach, to offences of the latter
sort would call forth sharp expressions of condemnation. In his “Four
Aspects of Civic Duty,” President Taft presents a very striking and
acute argument on the necessity of the exercise of extreme
circumspection by judicial officials which will serve to illustrate the
progress in morals from Lord Bacon’s time to the present:
“A most important principle in the success of a judicial system and
procedure is that the administration of justice should seem to the
public and the litigants to be impartial and righteous, as well as that it
should actually be so. Continued lack of public confidence in the
courts will sap their foundations. A careful and conscientious judge
will, therefore, strive to avoid every appearance from which the always
suspicious litigants may suspect an undue leaning toward the other
side. He will give patient hearing to counsel for each party, and,
however clear the case may be to him when stated, he will not betray
his conclusion until he has heard in full from the party whose position
cannot be supported. More than this, it not infrequently happens,
however clear his mind in the outset, that argument, if he has not a
pride of first opinion that is unjudicial, may lead him to change his
view.
“This same principle is one that should lead judges not to accept
courtesies like railroad passes from persons or companies frequently
litigants in their courts. It is not that such courtesies would really
influence them to decide a case in favour of such litigants when justice
required a different result; but the possible evil is that if the defeated
litigant learns of the extension of such courtesy to the judge or the
court by his opponent he cannot be convinced that his cause was
heard by an indifferent tribunal, and it weakens the authority and the
general standing of the court.
“I knew of one judge who indignantly declared that of course he
accepted passes, because he would not admit, by declining them, that
such a little consideration or favour would influence his decision. But
in the view I have given above a different ground for declining them
can be found than the suggestion that such a courtesy would really
influence his judgment in a case in which the railroad company giving
the courtesy was a party.”[27]
The intimate relation between present giving and bribery, suggests

another illustration somewhat similar to the preceding. Readers of
the famous diary of Samuel Pepys are familiar with the fact that in
his official capacity as Clerk of the Acts and Surveyor General of the
Victualling Office he often accepted presents. In one instance we
find him quoting with grave approval the sage observation of his
patron, Lord Sandwich, to the effect that “it was not the salary of any
place that did make a man rich, but the opportunity of getting money
while he is in the place.”[28] Venal as it may appear to the modern
reader Pepys undoubtedly lived up to this precept, and owed to its
consistent practice the very considerable property which he
afterwards amassed. Yet one would be over hasty to conclude that
the author of the “Diary” was an arch corruptionist. On the contrary
he was so distinctly superior, both in efficiency and honesty, to most
of his colleagues, that he won much well-merited recognition and
succeeded in retaining office practically throughout the whole
Restoration period in spite of the many upheavals and intrigues of
that troublous time. While Pepys frankly admits that he accepted
presents he insists that he never forgot the “King’s interest.” The
manifest danger of allowing an official to measure in this way the
quality of service due a sovereign, does not seem to occur to the
diarist. On the other hand, he refers frequently, and usually in terms
of condemnation, to many contemporaries in the administrative
service who, at least in his opinion, were much less scrupulous than
they should have been in determining the “King’s interest.” Thus he
records the utterances of a certain Cooling, the Lord Chamberlain’s
secretary and a veritable drunken roaring Falstaff of corruption, who
boasted that “his horse was a bribe, and his boots a bribe; and told
us he was made up of bribes, as an Oxford scholar is set out with
other men’s goods when he goes out of town, and that he makes
every sort of tradesman to bribe him; and invited me home to his
house, to taste of his bribe wine.”[29] Sometimes, indeed, Pepys
became involved in transactions where the “King’s interest,” as he
measured it, received less than its due share of attention. We find
him fearing investigation in such cases, and withdrawing from them
with the resolution not to allow himself to become similarly involved
again. Yet on the whole there is every evidence of a conscious
feeling on his part of rectitude superior to the administrative morals
of the time. That it was largely justified in spite of the receipt of gifts
may be seen from Dr. Wheatley’s comment to the effect that “public
men in those days, without private property, must have starved if
they had not taken fees, for the King had no idea of wasting his
money by paying salaries. At the time of Pepys’s death there was a
balance of £28,007, 2 s. 1¼ d. due to him from the Crown, and the
original vouchers still remain an heirloom in the family.”[30]
Appointments to public office have been a fruitful field for
corruption in many forms. In his “Civil Service in Great Britain,” Mr.
Dorman B. Eaton sums up the whole history of the disposal of
patronage in England in the following statement:—“From the
despotic system, under the Norman kings, through various spoils
systems under arbitrary kings—through a sort of partisan system
under Cromwell—through fearful corruption under James and
Charles—through a sort of aristocratic spoils system under William
and Anne—through a partisan spoils system under George I. and II.,
and a part of the reign of George III.—through the partisan system in
its best estate in later years—we have traced the unsteady but
generally ascending progress of British administration; and, in 1870,
we shall find it to have reached a level at which office is treated as a
trust and personal merit is the recognised criterion of selection for
office.”[31] It would be a most absurd anachronism to regard all the
earlier practices referred to by Mr. Eaton with the horror of a modern
civil service reformer. Richard the Lion-Hearted could hardly have
comprehended the advantage of competitive literary examinations
open to all classes of his subjects as a means of selecting his
subordinates. When under the Plantagenets and Tudors “charters
and monopolies, in a fit of good nature, were tossed by a king to
some borough, great officer, or favourite that had pleased him; and,
in a fit of anger or drunkenness—as arbitrarily revoked,”[32] it must
be remembered that neither the law nor the morals of the time
severely condemned such actions. No wonder, therefore, that “the
old system was bold, consistent, and outspoken—not pretending to
make selections for office out of regard for personal merit or
economy, or the general welfare. It plainly asserted that those in
power had a right and duty to keep themselves in power and
preserve their monopoly in any way which their judgement should
approve, and that the people were bound to submit.”[33] Further “the
right to appoint to office and to sell the appointment openly for
money became also, and long remained, hereditary; sometimes in
great families and sometimes in the holder for the time being of the
offices themselves.”[34] No doubt the exercise of such rights of
purchase was once regarded generally as no more objectionable
than the sale of a private physician’s practice or the sale of the good
will of a business at the present time. But while the various earlier
methods of disposing of the patronage as sketched by Mr. Eaton
must be judged with reference to contemporary political morality, it is
true that each of them in turn fell into disrepute, was abolished—
often only after several trials—and finally superseded by a less faulty
system. Even as far back as Magna Charta the existence of a faint
conception of the modern civil service principle is made plain by the
Forty-fifth Article, according to which the King engaged not to “make
any justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs, but of such as know the
law of the realm.” All the great subsequent uprisings of English
history were directed in part against certain other abuses of the
corrupt patronage system. The Tyler and Cade Rebellions in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the great Civil War, the expulsion
of James II., the overthrow of Walpole, the failure of George III.’s
attempt at personal government,—each marked a higher standard of
public sentiment on the question. Between 1820 and 1870, the great
modern civil service reform orders were passed, resulting in the final
establishment of open competition for over 80,000 positions under
the English government. Opportunities for corrupt practices in
connection with appointment to office are, of course, not entirely
excluded even by so thoroughgoing a system as that which now
exists in England, but they are few and unimportant indeed
compared to the possibilities of selfish abuses under former régimes.
It is by no means necessary to review the whole sweep of a
nation’s history in order to observe the discarding of old, and the
evolution of newer and usually less dangerous forms of corruption.
Such a career as that of Tweed would be impossible in any
American city to-day. The crude methods he employed,—raising
bills, throwing contracts to members of the Ring, keeping false
books, delaying financial reports,—would certainly and promptly
send any one who attempted them at the present time to the
penitentiary. Indeed no small part of existing municipal legislation
can be traced back to the specific misdeeds of Tweed and others of
his ilk. On the other hand it must be admitted that the ablest
corruptionists sometimes show skill little short of genius in devising
new schemes to avoid the pitfalls of existing law and in keeping
always just beyond the grasp of new enactments. Mr. Steffens tells a
story of Chris Magee, former boss of Pittsburgh, to the effect that he
visited and made a most careful study of the machines of
Philadelphia and New York and particularly of their defects, finally
returning to his own city with the conviction that a “ring could be
made as safe as a bank.”[35] In this field, as in the ethics of business
management and elsewhere, there will probably always be a running
duel between anti-social action and legislation designed to check it.
Novel methods of corruption will constantly require novel methods of
correction. In the nature of the case the law will usually be slightly
behind the artifices of the most skilful corruptionists: abuses must
exist and be felt as such before the government can successfully
define and punish them. On the other hand this constant
development of the law should make corrupt practices increasingly
difficult for the less gifted rascals who must always constitute the
great majority of would-be offenders. As things are now the ignorant
heeler, and even the crooked tool who has received an ordinary
education, realise that they cannot play the game alone. Their only
hope of escaping the penitentiary is in the service of the machine
whose leaders understand the legal requirements of the situation,
and possess the skill or influence necessary to circumvent them.
While the consequences of corruption must in general be
weakening and disintegrating, their full import may be concealed or
postponed owing to the limitation of the evil condition to certain
branches or spheres of government which for the time being are not
called upon to function to their full capacity. A chain is no stronger
than its weakest link, but it may serve very well so long as no great
tensile strain is applied to it. The military arm of a government
otherwise honest and efficient might conceivably become well nigh
paralysed by corruption without any particular evil consequences so
long as hostilities were avoided. All the more terrible, on the other
hand, would be the awakening in case of the advent of war. The
reverse case is suggested by Tennyson:
“Let your reforms for a moment go!

Look to your butts and take good aims!
Better a rotten borough or so
Than a rotten fleet and a city in flames!”
Here the point is that a corrupt local government need occasion little
or no disadvantage during a state of war provided the army can be
relied upon thoroughly. Further the poet warns against agitation for
the reform of internal abuses lest it might weaken the country in the
presence of a foreign foe. Doubtless both points are well taken so far
as an immediate emergency is concerned. If war is not imminent,
however, that government would certainly be making the best
preparation against future trouble which sought to establish the
highest standard of honesty in both its civil and military services.
Thus the Freiherr vom Stein immeasurably strengthened Prussia for
the final conflict with Napoleon by reforming the rotten boroughs of
his country and appealing on the basis of this reform to the
patriotism of the liberal classes of his fellow citizens. Moreover there
would seem to be little real danger of urging internal reforms so
violently during periods of warfare as to cripple military strength. Of
course if a government has been reduced to the last extremity of
unpopularity by past mismanagement, revolutionists might take
advantage of a declaration of war to tear it to pieces, hailing foreign
troops as allies rather than opponents. In the more advanced
countries of the modern world, however, the spirit of nationality and
patriotism is so highly developed that internal reforms are instantly
relegated to the background at the least threat of foreign
embroilment. To such peoples the poet’s adjuration to
“Let your reforms for a moment go”
is hardly needed.
Definite instances of corruption affecting certain spheres or
departments of government particularly may readily be suggested.
There is much that is significant in the corruption of the judicial
officials of China. Ultimately they became so rapacious that
merchants feared to come before them, preferring to leave
commercial differences to be settled by the arbitration of officers of
guilds of which the business men themselves were members. Thus
corruption of one social organ may lead to its atrophy and the
corresponding strengthening of another social organ which takes
over the functions of the former. Assuming that the function is as well
performed in the second case, the internal life of the whole structure
in which the transition takes place may be very little affected except
while the change is going on. If, however, the state is continually
weakened by such transfers while at the same time the functions
remaining to it become rotten with corruption it may finally reach the
condition of abject defencelessness which China has shown in its
relations with other nations.
Another very curious case of corruption limited to certain spheres
of government is furnished by Japan. In his authoritative work on that
country,[36] Captain Brinkley expresses the opinion that the higher
and lower official classes are free from corruption while the middle
grade is more or less given over to it. The passage containing this
statement is so germane to the present discussion that it may be
quoted in full:
“There is an old and still undecided controversy among foreign
observers as to bribery in Japan. Many Japanese romancists
introduce the douceur in every drama of life, and historical annals
show that from the seventeenth century downward Japanese rulers
legislated against bribery with a degree of strenuous persistence
which seems to imply conviction of its prevalence. Not only were
recipients of bribes severely punished, but informers also received
twice the amount in question. Japanese social relations, too, are
maintained largely by the giving and taking of presents. Visits to make
or renew an acquaintance are always accompanied by gifts; the four
seasons of the year are similarly marked; even deaths call for a
contribution to funeral expenses; nearly all services are ‘recognised,’
and guests carry back from their entertainer’s house a box of
confectionery or other edibles in order that the households may not be
entirely excluded from the feast. The uses of such a system evidently
verge constantly on abuses, and prepare the observer to find that if
the normal intercourse of life sanctions these material aids, abnormal
occasions are likely to demand them in much greater profusion. All
evidence thus far obtained goes to prove that Japanese officials of the
highest and lowest classes are incorruptible, but that the middle ranks
are unsound. A Japanese police constable will never take a bribe nor
a Japanese railway employé a pour boire, and from Ministers of State
to chiefs of departmental bureaux there is virtual freedom from
corruption. But for the rest nothing can be claimed, and to the case of
tradespeople, inferior agents, foremen of works, contractors, and so
on, the Japanese proverb may probably be applied that ‘even hell’s
penalties are a matter of money.’”
A third illustration of the uneven distribution of corruption
throughout a political structure may be found in our own case. In the
United States, as is well known, the general opinion of the honesty
and efficiency of the federal government is extremely high; state
government enjoys considerably less repute; and municipal
government is pretty commonly and indiscriminately condemned.
Even in the case of the latter, however, it is worth while to observe
that in some cities otherwise considered almost hopelessly bad,
certain departments, notably public schools and fire protection, are
recognised as being managed on a much higher plane than other
branches of the municipal service. In such cases public recognition
of the importance of the departments concerned has led to an
insistence on efficiency and honesty that has proven effective. The
conclusion would seem to be well founded, therefore, that a proper
recognition by our city population of the vital importance of other
branches of the service, such as sanitation, refuse disposal, water
supply, building and housing inspection, letting of contracts, and so
on, would go far toward bringing about much needed improvements.
It would also appear that corruption may be omnipresent and yet
not extremely harmful because of the moderation of its demands. A
practical politician once remarked that “the people will never kick on
a ten per cent rake off.” It is quite possible that the effort to wipe out
so modest a tribute by a reform agitation opposed to the principle of
the thing might cost more in effort or even in campaign expenses
than would be represented by the saving to the municipal treasury or
public. Obviously, however, the advisability of an effort for the
establishment of honest government is not to be calculated in
financial values only. The moral effect of a corrupt exaction of ten per
cent which no one thinks it worth while to attack may be worse than
the moral effect of a fifty per cent exaction which is vigorously
condemned. A purely Machiavellian machine leader may also
discern a degree of danger lurking in a government ten per cent
corrupt due to the very fact that the electorate accepts it with
quiescence. Under such conditions it is difficult to convince the more
greedy minor politicians that while they can get ten per cent without
a murmur they could not take twenty or even fifteen per cent without
serious trouble. The great expenses of political management which
the leaders are called upon to meet must also incline them at times
to exactions beyond the verge of prudence.
From the point of view of an organisation politician, therefore, the
determination of the limits within which corruption seems safe is a
serious and ever present problem. Certain features of the situation
may be noted as exerting an influence in favour of a moderate policy.
One of these is the contractual nature of many corrupt practices that
are alleged to be common. For example, franchises sought by
dishonest means usually possess a value which is pretty exactly
known to the intending purchasers. The amount which they are
actually willing to pay may be determined only after close bargaining
and the allowance of a large discount owing to the danger
inseparable from this method of acquisition. Immunity to carry on
businesses under the ban of the law is subject to the same rule.
The “Gambling Commission” which was said to exist in New York
in 1900-’01, and to have been “composed of a Commissioner who is
at the head of one of the city departments, two State Senators, and
the dictator of the pool-room syndicate of this city,”[37] owed its
partial exposure to a violation of this rule. The “Commission” was
alleged to have established a regular tariff for the various forms of
gambling as follows:—Pool Rooms, $300 per month; Crap Games,
and Gambling Houses (small), $150 per month; Gambling Houses
(large), $1000 per month; Envelope Games, $50 per month. These
rates would seem sufficiently high to provoke complaint from those
who had to pay them. Nevertheless the exposure, which came from
the gamblers themselves, was not so much due to the size of the
exactions as to the great increase in the number of the gambling
houses which the “Commission” licensed in order to secure larger
revenues. In the end, as one member of the sporting fraternity
phrased it, “there were not enough suckers to go ’round.” The whole
incident illustrates the principle, if the word can be used in such an
unhallowed connection, that in order to enjoy any permanent
success, corruption must by all means avoid extreme rapacity; it
must endeavour to keep alive that which it feeds on. Castro, for
example, was a highwayman rather than a grafter. He lacked the
moderation, the fine sense of proportion, necessary to qualify one for
success in the latter rôle. To paraphrase a familiar principle of
taxation, a part of income may be taken but corrupt encroachments
on capital sums are dangerous.
Prudential considerations restraining corruption are apt to be much
more keenly felt by a thoroughly organised machine than in cases
where corruption is practised by disorganised groups and individuals
each seeking its or his own advantage regardless of any common
interest. The “cohesive power of public plunder,” as President
Cleveland ponderously phrased it, may thus come to operate as a
moderating force. Notoriously corrupt city governments have not
infrequently distinguished themselves by maintaining extremely low
tax rates, or at least rates which appear to be low. Largely on this
basis a quasi-philosophic defence of corrupt municipal rule was
made several years ago by Daniel G. Thompson.[38] Arguing that

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4.5 Value of Biodiversity 82

5.2.3 Point and Non-point Sources 106

5.8.10 Chemical Incompatibilities 137

6.9.2 Solutions for Global Warming 167

7.2.2 Human Right Act, 1993 198

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Organization of the Book

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FIGURES AND TABLES

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Fig. 6.4 Typical Rainwater Harvesting Facility for a Building

Energy type Advantages Disadvantages

CASE STUDIES AND BURNING TOPICS

CASE Canada: Education, Migration, Divorce

Answers to Objective-Type Questions

∑ Book-end appendix will give the reader

Fig. 1.1 Impacts of Human Activities on the Environment

1.2 IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Fig. 1.2 Functions of Environmental Education

Supports relevant education by focusing on learning local environments.

1.3 ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

Fig. 1.3 Some Core Areas of Environmental Engineering

1.4.1 The Gaia Theory

Fig. 1.5 Lovelock and the Gaia Theory

Fig. 1.6 Daisyworld Mathematical Model

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1.6 COMPONENTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND

To sum up the argument presented in the foregoing pages, it

AND SOCIAL LIFE

In its broadest significance, corruption has been defined as “the

The intimate relation between present giving and bribery, suggests

“Let your reforms for a moment go!

“Let your reforms for a moment go”

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