UNIT-I

INTRODUCTION
The environment is defined as the whole physical and biological system surrounding man and
other organisms along with various factors influencing them. The factors are soil, air, water,
light, temperature etc. These are called Abiotic factors. Besides the abiotic factors, the
environment is very much influenced by biotic factors which include all forms of life like plants,
animals, microorganisms etc.

Man is thus an inseparable part of the environment. Man and Environment have very close
relationship with each other. The social life of man is affected by environment. This is the reason
for various types of social and cultural activities around the world. The hilly people have
different life styles than people in the plain area. Similarly people around the world differ in their
food, cloth, festivals etc. All these are influenced by the factors around him.

COMPONENTS OF ENVIRONMENT

The environment has three important constituents. These are:

(a) Physical

(b) Biological

(c) Social

(a) The Physical Constituent of environment includes soil, water, air, climate, temperature, light
etc. These are also called abiotic constituents of the environment. This part of the environment
mainly determines the type of the habitat or living conditions of the human population. This
physical constituent of the environment is again divided into three parts.

These are:

(i) Atmosphere (gas)

(ii) Hydrosphere (liquid)

(iii) Lithosphere (solid)

These three parts represent the three important states of matter constituting the environment. This
physical component of environment only consists of non-living things like air, water and soil. All
these nonliving things influence much to all living organisms including man. Water and
temperature are the most important abiotic components affecting living beings. Larger proportion
of body’s weight is due to water.
All living organisms require water for their survival. Besides water is the main vital fluid to keep
optimum temperature of the body. All life activates work in a particular range of temperature.
When temperature will be in excess of necessity, living beings will die.

Air is main physical component which provides oxygen for respiration. All living beings
including plants & animals require oxygen for their existence. Oxygen is taken into the body by
respiration process and comes out in from of carbon dioxide. Plants, on the other hand takes in
carbon dioxide for food preparation during photosynthesis and gives out oxygen to the
surrounding.

Soil is the most important for all living beings to create their habitat. It is the soil in which plant
grows and man constructs houses to live in. It is the ground water present in the soil which
provides for drinking and other farming activities.

(b) The biological constituent of environment is also called biotic component of environment.
This component consists of all living things like plants, animals and small micro-organisms like
bacteria. This component interacts with the abiotic component of the environment. This
interaction of two components forms various ecosystems like pond ecosystem, marine
ecosystem, desert ecosystem etc.

The self sufficient large ecosystem of the earth is called Biosphere. All ecosystems consist of
three different types of living organisms.

These three types are named as:

(a) Producers

(b) Consumers

(c) Decomposers.

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

(c) The social constituent of environment mainly consists of various groups of population of
different living organisms like birds, animals etc. Man is the most intelligent living organism.
Like other living creatures, man builds house, prepares food and releases waste materials to the
environment. Man is a social animal as told by Greek philosopher, Aristotle. He makes various
laws, policies for the proper functioning of the society.
The three components of the environment give rise to four important zones. These are
Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Lithosphere and Biosphere.

There is continuous interaction among these four zones. These interactions involve the transport
of various elements, compounds and energy forms. These zones are explained as follows. [Fig. l
(A).l]

Atmosphere:

The earth’s atmosphere, a complex fluid system of gases and suspended particles, did not have
its origin in the beginning of the planet. The atmosphere as of today has been derived from the
Earth itself by chemical and biochemical reactions. Although the fluid system forms a gaseous
envelope around the Earth, its boundaries are not easily defined. They can be arbitrarily defined
as the Earth’s atmosphere interface and space interface.

The gases like Nitrogen. Oxygen, Argon, Carbon dioxide and water vapour etc. together make up
the total volume of atmosphere. Together with suspended particulates, viz. dust and soot
constitute the gaseous turbidity particularly in troposphere. However, the composition of
atmosphere and so also the structure is variable in time and space.

The vertical structure of atmosphere is very much related to radiant energy absorption and this
can be described in terms of variable of temperature [Fig. 1(A) 2]. Below 60 km. there are two
main zones of absorption at the Earth’s surface and in the Ozone layer. The absorbed energy is
redistributed by radiation, conduction and convection.
There are, therefore, two temperature maxima: at the Earth’s surface and at an elevation of 50
km. above each of these maxima there is mainly convectional mixing. Temperature in these
mixing layers decreases with height above the heat source. The lower of these two zones is
referred to as troposphere and the upper is the mesosphere.

These are separated by a layer of little mixing in which the atmosphere tends towards a layered
structure referred as the stratosphere. Between the ionosphere and the stratosphere is the
tropopause which marks the approximate upper limit of mixing in the lower atmosphere. The
average height of this is usually given as 11 km., but this varies over the earth.

In tropical latitude its average height is 16 km. and in polar latitude it is only 10 km. There is one
further zone of heating, above the mesosphere and more than 90 km. from the Earth’s surface
where shortwave ultraviolet radiation is absorbed by many oxygen molecules present at this
height. This is referred to as thermosphere.

Within this layer, ionization occurs which produces charged ions and free electrons. Beyond the
thermosphere, at a height of approximately 700 km, lies the exosphere where the atmosphere has
an extremely low density. At this level there are increasing numbers of ionization particles which
are concentrated into bands referred to as the Van Allen radiation belts.
However, this simple model of vertical structure can be simplified to provide a model of the
atmosphere as two concentric shells the boundaries of which are defined by the stratopause at
approximately 50 km. above the Earth’s surface and a hypothetical outer limit of the atmosphere,
at approximately 80,000 km.

Below the stratopause, in the stratosphere and troposphere, there is 99% of the total mass of the
atmosphere and it is at this level that atmospheric circulatory systems operate. Beyond the
stratopause a layer of nearly 80,000 km. thick contains only 1 % of total atmospheric mass and
experiences ionization by high-energy, short wavelength solar radiation. The temperature
profiles of atmospheric layer are given in Fig. 1(A).2.

Hydrosphere:

It includes the surface water and its surrounding interface. It is vital for life molecule to survive.
Water possesses a number of physical and chemical properties that help the molecule to act as
best suited medium for life activities. The movement of water from earth surface to atmosphere
through hydrological cycle appears to be a close system.

Water is the most abundant substance on the Earth’s surface. The oceans cover approximately
71% water of the planet, glaciers and ice caps cover additional areas. Water is also found in lakes
and streams, in soils and underground reservoirs, in the atmosphere, and in the bodies of all
living organism. Thus, water in all its forms- ice, liquid, water and water vapour- is very familiar
to us.

We use water at home, in industry, in agriculture, and for recreation. These applications differ
widely in the quantity and quality of the water that they require. In one way or another we use all
available sources- inland waters, ground water, and even oceanic water.

The demand for global water resources are increasing day-by-day though availability pure fresh
water has been decreasing severely. Thus there is needed to make precious use of pure fresh
water and their fruitful storage and conservation. A simplified outline of hydrological cycle is
given in Fig. 1(A).3.
Lithosphere:

It is the outer boundary layer of solid earth and the discontinuity within the mantle. The outer
boundary forms a complex interface with the atmosphere and hydrosphere and is also the
environment in which life has evolved. The inner boundary is adjacent to rock, which is near its
melting point and is capable of motion relative to the lithosphere above.

Basically lithosphere is nothing but a crustal system composed of various layers: Core, mantle
and outer crust. Various elements constitute such crustal layer in mixture of different
proportions. In general, the earth curst is composed of three major classes of rocks (as classified
on the basis of their mode of origin):

Igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks and metamorphosed rocks. There are two types of crusts –
continental crust which is composed of granitic rocks in silicon aluminum and with a mean
density of 2.8; the other oceanic crust which is basaltic in composition consisting of more basic
minerals and has a mean density of 3.0. Overall, the average density of the earth is 5.5 gm/c.c.

Interaction between the crustal system of the lithosphere, atmosphere and biosphere takes place
where continental crust is exposed above sea-level. At the land/air interface crustal material
becomes exposed to inputs of solar radiant energy, precipitation and atmospheric gases. These
inputs are often modified by or operate through the effects of the living systems of the biosphere.
Under the influence of these inputs, crustal rocks are broken down by weathering process and are
transferred to fine porus crustal layers called soil.

An outline of earth layers and composition of crustal materials is given in Fig. 1(A).4.
Biosphere:

The biosphere encompasses all the zones on the Earth in which life is present, i.e. entire bio-
resources of the earth. It develops on earth since 4.5 billion year through evolutionary process.
At the top of the lithosphere, throughout the hydrosphere and into the lower atmosphere, life of
diverse type exists. These bio-resources and their surrounding constitute the “Biosphere” where
mankind acts as the most evolved creature.

The steps involved in the origin of life on earth are very complex and require several centuries.
Considerable uncertainty surrounds the details of atmospheric composition, the processes
involved and even the sequence of some events leading to formation of living cells. The
conventional view held that the earliest organism on the plant were heterotrophic prokaryotic
bacteria. Subsequently, autotrophic prokaryotes & eukaryotes start appearing as stepwise
evolutionary changes. The major steps of origin of life in primitive earth are depicted in Fig.
1(A).5.
Life on Earth requires water, a source of energy (sun light) and various nutrients found in the
soil, water and air. Suitable combinations of these essentials cannot be found high in the upper
atmosphere or deep underground. These exist only in a narrow layer near the surface of the
Earth.

This biosphere layer extends over most of the surface of the Earth. It includes the upper layers of
the Earth’s crust and the thick layer of soil that supports plant life. This zone of life also extends
about 8 km. up into the atmosphere (air borne biota) and much as 8 km. down into the depths of
the sea. Living organisms are not distributed uniformly on globe: few organisms live on polar ice
caps and glaciers, whereas many live in tropical rainforests (Fig. 1(A).6).
 ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

Environmental ethics refers to the issues, principles and guidelines relating to human interactions
with their environment. It is rightly said, The environmental crisis is an outward manifestation of
the crisis of mind and spirit. It all depends on how do we think and act. If we think Man is all
powerful and the supreme creature on this earth and man is the master of nature and can
harness it at his will, it reflects our human-centric thinking. On the other hand, if we think
Nature has provided us with all the resources for leading a beautiful life and she nourishes us
like a mother, we should respect her and nurture her; this is an earth-centric thinking.

The first view urges us to March ahead gloriously to conquer the nature and establish our
supremacy over nature through technological innovations, economic growth and development
without much botheration to care for the damage done to the planet earth. The second view urges
us to live on this earth as a part of it, like any other creation of Nature and live sustainably. So,
we can see that our acts will follow what we think. If we want to check the environmental crisis,
we will have to transform our thinking and attitude. That in turn, would transform our deeds,
leading to a better environment and better future.

These two world-views are discussed here in relation to environmental protection:

(a) Anthropocentric Worldview: This view is guiding most industrial societies. It puts
human beings in the center giving them the highest status. Man is considered to be most capable
for managing the planet earth. The guiding principles of this view are:

 Man is the planets most important species and is the in-charge of the rest of nature.
 Earth has an unlimited supply of resources and it all belongs to us.
 Economic growth is very good and more the growth, the better it is, because it raises our
quality of life and the potential for economic growth is unlimited.
 A healthy environment depends upon a healthy economy.
 The success of mankind depends upon how good managers we are for deriving benefits
for us from nature.

(b) Eco-centric Worldview: This is based on earth-wisdom. The basic beliefs are as
follows:

 Nature exists not for human beings alone, but for all the species.
 The earth resources are limited and they do not belong only to human beings.
 Economic growth is good till it encourages earth-sustaining development and discourages
earth-degrading development.
 A healthy economy depends upon a healthy environment.
 The success of mankind depends upon how best we can cooperate with the rest of the
nature while trying to use the resources of nature for our benefit.
Environmental ethics can provide us the guidelines for putting our beliefs into action and help us
decide what to do when faced with crucial situations. Some important ethical guidelines known
as Earth ethics or Environmental Ethics are as follows:

 You should love and honour the earth since it has blessed you with life and governs your
survival.
 You should keep each day sacred to earth and celebrate the turning of its seasons.
 You should not hold yourself above other living things and have no right to drive them to
extinction.
 You should be grateful to the plants and animals which nourish you by giving you food.
 You should limit your offsprings because too many people will overburden the earth.
 You should not waste your resources on destructive weapons.
 You should not run after gains at the cost of nature, rather should strive to restore its
damaged majesty.
 You should not conceal from others the effects you have caused by your actions on earth.
 You should not steal from future generations their right to live in a clean and safe planet
by impoverishing or polluting it.
 You should consume the material goods in moderate amounts so that all may share the
earth’s precious treasure of resources.

If we critically go through the above Ten Commandments for earth ethics and reflect upon the
same, we will find that various religions teach us the same things in one form or the other. Our
Vedas have glorified each and every component of nature as gods or goddesses so that people
have a feeling of reverence for them. Our religious and cultural rituals make us perform such
actions that would help in the conservation of nature and natural resources. The concept of
ahimsa (non-violence) in Buddhism and Jainism ensure the protection and conservation of all
forms of life, thereby keeping the ecological balance of the earth intact. Our teachings on having
fewer wants ensure to put limits to growth and thus, guide us to have an eco-centric life style.
 INTERDISCIPLINARY NATURE OF ENVIRONMENT

The environment is not a single subject. It is an integration of several subjects that include both
Science and Social Studies. To understand all the different aspects of our environment we need
to understand biology, chemistry, physics, geography, resource management, economics and
population issues. Thus the scope of environmental studies is extremely wide and covers some
aspects of nearly every major discipline.

We live in a world in which natural resources are limited. Water, air, soil, minerals, oil, the
products we get from forests, grasslands, oceans and from agriculture and livestock, are all a part
of our life support systems. Without them, life itself would be impossible. As we keep increasing
in numbers and the quantity of resource improving this situation will only happen if each of us
begins to take actions in our daily lives that will help preserve our environmental resources. We
cannot expect Governments alone to manage the safeguarding of the environment, nor can we
expect other people to prevent environmental damage. We need to do it ourselves. It is a
responsibility that each of us must take on as one’s own.

The productive value of nature: As scientists make new advances in fields such as biotechnology
we begin to understand that the world’s species contain an incredible and uncountable number of
complex chemicals. These are the raw materials that are used for developing new medicines and
industrial products and are a storehouse from which to develop thousands of new products in the
future. The flowering plants and insects that form the most species-rich groups of living
organisms are thus vital for the future development of man. If we degrade their habitat these
species will become extinct. If one sees being sold or used, a product that comes from an
illegally killed wild species, if we do not inform the authorities, we become a party to its
extinction. Once they are lost, man cannot bring them back. When we permit the destruction of a
forest, wetland or other natural area and do not protest about it, future generations are being
denied the use of these valuable resources and will blame us for these rash and negligent actions
towards the environment.

Thus the urgent need to protect all living species is a concept that we need to understand and act
upon. While individually, we perhaps cannot directly prevent the extinction of a species, creating
a strong public opinion to protect the National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries in which wild
species live is an important aspect of sustainable living. There is a close link between agriculture
and the forest, which illustrates its productive value. For crops to be successful, the flowers of
fruit trees and vegetables must be pollinated by insects, bats and birds. Their life cycles however
frequently require intact forests.

Aesthetic/Recreational value of nature: The aesthetic and recreational values that nature
possesses enliven our existence on earth. This is created by developing National Parks and
Wildlife Sanctuaries in relatively undisturbed areas. A true wilderness experience has not only
recreational value but is an incredible learning experience. It brings about an understanding of
the oneness of nature and the fact that we are entirely dependent upon the intricate functioning of
ecosystems.

The beauty of nature encompasses every aspect of the living and non-living part of our earth.
One can appreciate the magnificence of a mountain, the power of the sea, the beauty of a forest,
and the vast expanse of the desert. It is these natural vistas and their incredible diversity of plant
and animal life that has led to the development of several philosophies of life. It has also inspired
artists to develop visual arts and writers and poets to create their works that vitalize our lives.

A wilderness experience has exceptional recreational value. This has been described as nature
tourism, or wildlife tourism, and is also one aspect of adventure tourism. These recreational
facilities not only provide a pleasurable experience but are intended to create a deep respect and
love for nature. They are also key tools in educating people about the fragility of the
environment and the need for sustainable lifestyles.
In an urban setting, green spaces and gardens are vital to the psychological and physical health of
city dwellers. It provides not only an aesthetic and visual appeal but the ability to ensure that
each individual is able to access a certain amount of peace and tranquillity. Thus urban
environmental planners must ensure that these facilities are created in growing urban complexes.
Another important conservation education facility in urban settings includes the need to set up
well designed and properly managed zoological parks and aquariums. These have go great value
in sensitizing school students to wildlife. Many young people who frequented zoos as young
children grow up to love wildlife and become conservationists.

In the absence of access to a Protected Area, a botanical garden or a zoo, one concept that can be
developed is to create small nature awareness areas with interpretation facilities at district and
taluka levels. These areas can be developed to mimic natural ecosystems even though they could
be relatively small in size. Such nature trails are invaluable assets for creating conservation
education and awareness. They can be developed in a small woodlot, a patch of grassland, a
pond ecosystem, or be situated in an undisturbed river or coastal area. This would bring home to
the visitor the importance of protecting our dwindling wilderness areas.

The option values of nature: While we utilise several goods and services of nature and enjoy its
benefits, we must recognize that every activity that we do in our daily lives has an adverse
impact on nature’s integrity. Thus if we use up all our resources, kill off and let species of plants
and animals become extinct on earth, pollute our air and water, degrade land, and create
enormous quantities of waste, we as a generation will leave nothing for future generations. Our
present generation has developed its economies and lifestyles on unsustainable patterns of life.
however, nature provides us with various options on how we utilize its goods and services. This
is its option value. We can use up goods and services greedily and destroy its integrity and long-
term values, or we can use its resources sustainably and reduce our impacts on the environment.
The option value allows us to use its resources sustainably and preserve its goods and services
for the future.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Sustainable development is defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This definition was given by the
Norwegian Prime Minister, G.H. Brundtland, who was also the Director of World Health
Organization (WHO). Today sustainable development has become a buzz word and hundreds of
programmes have been initiated in the name of sustainable development. If you want to test
whether or not a proposal will achieve the goals of sustainability just try to find out the
following. Does it protect our biodiversity? Does it prevent soil erosion? Does it slow down
population growth? Does it increase forest cover? Does it cut off the emissions of CFC, SOx,
NOx and CO2? Does it reduce waste generation and does it bring benefits to all? These are only a
few parameters for achieving sustainable growth.

Until now development has been human-oriented, that too mainly, for a few rich nations. They
have touched the greatest heights of scientific and technological development, but at what cost?
The air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat have all been badly polluted. Our
natural resources are just dwindling due to over exploitation. If growth continues in the same
way, very soon we will be facing a doom’s day - as suggested by Meadows et al (1972) in their
world famous academic report The Limits to Growth This is unsustainable development which
will lead to a collapse of the interrelated systems of this earth.

Although the fears about such unsustainable growth and development started in 1970 s, yet a
clear discussion on sustainable development emerged on an international level in 1992, in the
UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), popularly known as The Earth
Summit, held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Rio Declaration aims at a new and equitable global
partnership through the creation of new levels of cooperation among states . Out of its five
significant agreements Agenda-21 proposes a global programme of action on sustainable
development in social, economic and political context for the 21st Century

These are the key aspects for sustainable development:

(a) Inter-generational equity: This emphasizes that we should minimize any adverse impacts
on resources and environment for future generations i.e. we should hand over a safe, healthy and
resourceful environment to our future generations. This can be possible only if we stop over-
exploitation of resources, reduce waste discharge and emissions and maintain ecological balance.
(b) Intra-generational equity: This emphasizes that the development processes should seek to
minimize the wealth gaps within and between nations. The Human Development Report of
United Nations (2001) emphasizes that the benefits of technology should seek to achieve the
goals of intra-generational equity. The technology should address to the problems of the
developing countries, producing drought tolerant varieties for uncertain climates, vaccines for
infectious diseases, clean fuels for domestic and industrial use. This type of technological
development will support the economic growth of the poor countries and help in narrowing the
wealth gap and lead to sustainability.

Measures for Sustainable Development: Some of the important measures for sustainable
development are as follows:

 Using appropriate technology is one which is locally adaptable, eco-friendly, resource-

efficient and culturally suitable. It mostly involves local resources and local labour.
Indigenous technologies are more useful, cost-effective and sustainable Nature is often
taken as a model, using the natural conditions of that region as its components. This
concept is known as design with nature.

The Technology should use less of resources and should produce minimum waste.

 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle approach: The 3-R approach advocating minimization of

resource use, using them again and again instead of passing it on to the waste stream and
recycling the materials goes a long way in achieving the goals of sustainability. It reduces
pressure on our resources as well as reduces waste generation and pollution.
  Prompting environmental education and awareness: Making environmental education the
centre of all learning process will greatly help in changing the thinking and attitude of
people towards our earth and the environment. Introducing the subject right from the
school stage will inculcate a feeling of belongingness to earth in the small children. Earth
thinking will gradually get incorporated in our thinking and action which will greatly
help in transforming our life styles to sustainable ones.
 Resource utilization as per carrying capacity: Any system can sustain a limited number of
organisms on a long-term basis which is known as its carrying capacity. In case of human
beings, the carrying capacity concept becomes all the more complex. It is because unlike
other animals, human beings, not only need food to live, but need so many other things to
maintain the quality of life.

Sustainability of a system depends largely upon the carrying capacity of the system. If the
carrying capacity of a system is crossed (say, by over exploitation of a resource), environmental
degradation starts and continues till it reaches a point of no return.

Carrying capacity has two basic components:

 Supporting capacity i.e. the capacity to regenerate

 Assimilative capacity i.e. the capacity to tolerate different stresses.

In order to attain sustainability it is very important to utilize the resources based upon the above
two properties of the system. Consumption should not exceed regeneration and changes should
not be allowed to occur beyond the tolerance capacity of the system.

The Indian Context

India has still to go a long way in implementing the concept of sustainable development. We
have to lay emphasis on framing a well-planned strategy for our developmental activity while
increasing our economic growth. We have tremendous natural diversity as well as a huge
population which makes planning for sustainable growth all the more important and complex.
The National Council of Environmental Planning and Coordination (NCPC) set up in 1972 was
the focal agency in this regard. The Ministry of Environment & Forests, set up in 1985 has
formulated guidelines for various developmental activities keeping in view the sustainability
principles.