Module-1
ENVIRONMENT
General Introduction:
The word environment is derived from the French word 'environ' meaning surroundings.
Hence, everything surrounding us is called "ENVIRONMENT".
Every organism is surrounded by materials and forces that constitute its environment. It is the
environment from where every organism must derive its requirement. The environment
creates favourable conditions for the existence and development of living organisms. The
survival of any organism requires a steady supply of materials and removal of waste products
from its environment.
Environment includes all those things on which we are directly or indirectly dependent for
our survival, whether it is living component like animals, plants or non living component like
soil, air water.
The study of the interactions between different types of living organisms as well as that
between the living organisms and the non living components of the environment is called
ecology or environmental biology.
Need of Public Awareness about Environment:
In today’s world because of industrialization and increasing population, the natural resources
has been rapidly utilized and our environment is being increasingly degraded by human
activities, so we need to protect the environment.
It is not only the duty of government but also the people to take active role for protecting the
environment, so protecting our environment is economically more viable than cleaning it up
once, it is damaged.
The role of mass media such as newspapers, radio, television, etc is also very important to
make people aware regarding environment. There are various institutions, which are playing
positive role towards environment to make people aware regarding environment like BSI
(Botanical Survey of India, 1890), ZSI (Zoological Survey of India, 1916), WII (Wild Life Institute
of India, 1982) etc.
Scope of Environment:
Environment can be defined as the sum total of all social, economical, biological, physical and
chemical factors which constitute the surroundings and influence the life of a living organism
in its habitat. The scope of environmental studies includes:
(a) Creating the awareness about environmental problems among people.
(b) Imparting basic knowledge about the environment and its allied problems.
(c) Developing an attitude of concern for the environment.
(d) Motivating public to participate in environment protection and environment
improvement.
(e) Acquiring skills to help the concerned individuals in identifying and solving environmental
problems.
(f) Striving to attain harmony with Nature.
Environment consists of the following three components:
1) Abiotic or Non-living component: This consists of the lithosphere (solid earth),
hydrosphere (water component) and atmosphere (gaseous envelope).
2) Biotic or living component: This consists of all living organisms.
3) Energy component: This includes solar energy, geochemical energy, thermo-electrical
energy, hydro-electrical energy, nuclear energy, etc.
Segments of environment
The environment consists of four segments as under:
1. Atmosphere: The atmosphere implies the protective blanket of gases, surrounding the
earth:
(a) It sustains life on the earth.
(b) It saves it from the hostile environment of outer space.
(c) It absorbs most of the cosmic rays from outer space and a major portion of the
electromagnetic radiation from the sun.
(d) It transmits only here ultraviolet, visible, near infrared radiation (300 to 2500 nm) and
radio waves. (0.14 to 40 m) while filtering out tissue-damaging ultra violate waves below
about 300 nm.
(e) It absorbs part of infrared radiation emitted by the sun and also that re-emitted by the
earth. It thereby maintains the thermal balance of the earth.
(f) It acts as the source of oxygen for living organisms, CO 2 for plants and nitrogen for plants,
nitrogen fixing bacteria, etc.
The atmosphere is composed of nitrogen and oxygen. Besides, argon, carbon dioxide, and
trace gases. It acts as the vital carrier of water from the oceans to land as part of the
hydrological cycle.
The different layers of the atmosphere:
The Troposphere
This is the lowest part of the atmosphere - the part we live in. It contains most of our weather
- clouds, rain, snow. In this part of the atmosphere the temperature gets colder as the
distance above the earth increases, by about 6.5°C per kilometre. The actual change of
temperature with height varies from day to day, depending on the weather.
The troposphere contains about 75% of all of the air in the atmosphere, and almost all of the
water vapour (which forms clouds and rain). The decrease in temperature with height is a
result of the decreasing pressure. If a parcel of air moves upwards it expands (because of the
lower pressure). When air expands it cools. So air higher up is cooler than air lower down.
The lowest part of the troposphere is called the boundary layer. This is where the air motion
is determined by the properties of the Earth's surface. Turbulence is generated as the wind
blows over the Earth's surface, and by thermals rising from the land as it is heated by the sun.
This turbulence redistributes heat and moisture within the boundary layer, as well as
pollutants and other constituents of the atmosphere.
The top of the troposphere is called the tropopause. This is lowest at the poles, where it is
about 7 - 10 km above the Earth's surface. It is highest (about 17 - 18 km) near the equator.
The Stratosphere
This extends upwards from the tropopause to about 50 km. It contains much of the ozone in
the atmosphere. The increase in temperature with height occurs because of absorption of
ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun by this ozone. Temperatures in the stratosphere are
highest over the summer pole, and lowest over the winter pole.
By absorbing dangerous UV radiation, the ozone in the stratosphere protects us from skin
cancer and other health damage. However chemicals (called CFCs or freons, and halons)
which were once used in refrigerators, spray cans and fire extinguishers have reduced the
amount of ozone in the stratosphere, particularly at polar latitudes, leading to the so-called
"Antarctic ozone hole".
Now humans have stopped making most of the harmful CFCs we expect the ozone hole will
eventually recover over the 21st century, but this is a slow process.
The Mesosphere
The region above the stratosphere is called the mesosphere. Here the temperature again
decreases with height, reaching a minimum of about -90°C at the "mesopause".
The Thermosphere and Ionosphere
The thermosphere lies above the mesopause, and is a region in which temperatures again
increase with height. This temperature increase is caused by the absorption of energetic
ultraviolet and X-Ray radiation from the sun.
The region of the atmosphere above about 80 km is also caused the "ionosphere", since the
energetic solar radiation knocks electrons off molecules and atoms, turning them into "ions"
with a positive charge. The temperature of the thermosphere varies between night and day
and between the seasons, as do the numbers of ions and electrons which are present. The
ionosphere reflects and absorbs radio waves, allowing us to receive shortwave radio
broadcasts in New Zealand from other parts of the world.
The Exosphere
The region above about 500 km is called the exosphere. It contains mainly oxygen and
hydrogen atoms, but there are so few of them that they rarely collide - they follow "ballistic"
trajectories under the influence of gravity, and some of them escape right out into space.
2. Hydrosphere:
A hydrosphere is the total amount of water on a planet. The hydrosphere includes water that
is on the surface of the planet, underground, and in the air. A planet's hydrosphere can
be liquid, vapor, or ice.
On Earth, liquid water exists on the surface in the form of oceans, lakes and rivers. It also
exists below ground—as groundwater, in wells and aquifers. Water vapor is most visible
as clouds and fog. The frozen part of Earth's hydrosphere is made of ice: glaciers, ice caps
and icebergs. The frozen part of the hydrosphere has its own name, the cryosphere. Water
moves through the hydrosphere in a cycle - water cycle.
The Hydrosphere comprises all types of water resources oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, streams,
reservoir, polar icecaps, glaciers, and ground water.
(i) Nature 97% of the earth’s water supply is in the oceans,
(ii) About 2% of the water resources is locked in the polar icecaps and glaciers.
(iii)Only about 1% is available as fresh surface water-rivers, lakes streams, and ground
water fit to be used for human consumption and other uses.
3. Lithosphere:
The lithosphere is the rocky outer part of the Earth. It is made up of the brittle crust and the
top part of the upper mantle. The lithosphere is the coolest and most rigid part of the Earth.
Soil, in fact, comprises of a mixture of minerals, organic matter, weathered rocks, air and
water. Rocks consist of various minerals like asbestos, gypsum, clay, haematite, calcite,
quartz, etc.
Components of soil:
Soil is composed of both biotic—living and once-living things, like plants and insects—and
abiotic materials—nonliving factors, like minerals, water, and air. The most common minerals
found in soil that support plant growth are phosphorus, and potassium and also, nitrogen gas.
Other, less common minerals include calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. The biotic and abiotic
factors in the soil are what make up the soil’s composition.
The basic components of soil are minerals, organic matter, water and air. The typical soil
consists of approximately 45% mineral, 5% organic matter, 20-30% water, and 20-30% air.
These percentages are only generalizations at best. In reality, the soil is very complex and
dynamic. The composition of the soil can fluctuate on a daily basis, depending on numerous
factors such as water supply, cultivation practices, and/or soil type.
4. Biosphere: Biosphere indicates the realm of living organisms and their interactions with
environment, viz atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere. Thus, in the biosphere, living
organisms, e.g., plants and animals, live together being dependent on each other and also
interact with other segments of the environment.
Environmental pollution:
Developmental activities such as construction, transportation and manufacturing not only
deplete the natural resources but also produce large amount of wastes that leads to pollution
of air, water, soil, and oceans; global warming and acid rains. Untreated or improperly treated
waste is a major cause of pollution of rivers and environmental degradation causing ill health
and loss of crop productivity. In this lesson you will study about the major causes of pollution,
their effects on our environment and the various measures that can be taken to control such
pollutions.
Human activities directly or indirectly affect the environment adversely. A stone crusher adds
a lot of suspended particulate matter and noise into the atmosphere. Automobiles emit from
their tail pipes oxides of nitrogen, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and a
complex mixture of unburnt hydrocarbons and black soot which pollute the atmosphere.
Domestic sewage and run off from agricultural fields, laden with pesticides, pollute water
bodies. Effluents from tanneries contain many harmful chemicals and emit foul smell. These
are only a few examples which show how human activities pollute the environment.
Pollutants :
A pollutant may be defined as, “anything, living or non-living or any physical agent (e.g. heat,
sound etc.), that in its excess makes any part of the environment
(air, soil, water, or other natural resource) undesirable. In general, substance or energy
introduced into the environment that has undesired effects, or adversely affects the
usefulness of a resource. A pollutant may cause long- or short-term damage by changing the
growth rate of plant or animal species, or by interfering with human amenities, comfort,
health, or property values. Pollutants may be classified by various criteria:
(1) By the origin: whether they are natural or man-made (synthetic).
(2) By the effect: on an organ, specie, or an entire ecosystem.
(3) By the properties: mobility, persistence, toxicity.
(4) By the controllability: ease or difficulty of removal.
Examples of pollutants: Natural
1. Volcanoes:
With large eruption, volcanoes tend to change the climate for years. Volcanic eruption spew
out not just lava and ash but also gases – SO 2. Once it gets into the stratosphere, SO2 mingles
with water forming tiny sulphate particles. The effect of ash fall from the volcano on natural
waters have thereby lead to an increase in turbidity, which is the ash suspended in water.
Also the ashes travel a great distance and when in contact with the vegetables, surface water
and soil and ground water it will contaminate it with Cadmium, Arsenic and Copper and
nonmetal contaminants like Fluorine à Bioaccumulation.
2. Algae:
They are responsible for water pollution in many ways. The introduction of plant
nutrients(nitrates and phosphates) - significant growth in the algal species à Eutrophication
- algal bloom (blue-green species). The algae in water pollution can be toxic to humans,
animals, and fish who are consuming polluted water. Algae play an important role in the food
chain of aquatic life.
Algae is said to be one of the best Bioindicators, that is used to identify the quality and effects
of pollution in the ecosystem and how long such issues may persist. Large amount of
dissolved oxygen gets depleted for algal biological activities and this again leads to
destruction of aquatic organisms.
Examples of pollutants: Anthropogenic
Acid rain: rain containing a high level of acid that can damage the environment. It is caused
by pollution in the air.
Carbon dioxide: a gas without colour or smell, produced when you breathe out or when
substances containing carbon are burnt. The fact that the earth is getting hotter because of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is called the greenhouse effect.
Chlorofluorocarbon: a gas used in fridges and in some aerosol containers. CFCs are not often
used anymore because they damage the ozone layer of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Commonly speaking, the term pollutant is applied to non-living , man-made substances and
other nuisances and it refers to their being in excess in a particular location. For example,
nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium are extensively used in agriculture to increase crop
yield but sometimes, these in higher concentration cause pollution in lakes and rivers
promoting algal growth. This adverse effect of pollution is more severe when the pollutants
are man-made rather than natural preparation. In short, the unserviceable or residues of
things which the humanity manufactures, uses and throws away, can also be regarded as
pollutants.
Contaminant:
The unfavourable substances which do not occur in nature but are introduced by human
activity into the environment (affecting its composition) are known as contaminant. The
process by which contaminants are introduced in our fresh environment is known as
contamination. A contaminant is called a pollutant when it exerts detrimental effect on
human health. It is also a pollutant.
Contaminants can be man-made substances produced by factories, such as DDT or
toxaphene. It is the substance's long life and its ability to spread over a wide area that makes
an industrial contaminant such a problem. Chemicals used in other parts of the world enter
into the upper atmosphere and end up falling to the ground here, contaminating our
homelands. Contaminants may be found in soil, plants, air, water, sea animals, land animals,
and birds.
CFC (Chlorofluoro carbon) one of the most important contaminant is introduced in nature due
to the use of the re-frigerator, circular, etc.
The radioactive contamination is radioactive substances on surfaces, or within solids, liquids
or gases (including the human body), where their presence is unintended or undesirable, or
the process giving rise to their presence in such places.
The types of contaminants measured in wildlife include: organochlorines (OCs), heavy metals,
and radionuclides.
Organochlorides are almost always human-made chemicals. They can be pesticides or
industrial chemicals used in processes such as making plastics. They may be present in old
electrical transformers, and they may be formed when burning garbage. OCs dissolves in fats
and oils, therefore they are found in the fat of animals. OCs tends to be the contaminants of
greatest concern in the food chain. The most common OCs measured in Arctic wildlife are
pesticide endosulphan, DDT, and chlordane.
Heavy metals are found as elements naturally present in rocks and soils. They include
mercury, cadmium, and lead. Metal mining and smelting can result in additional human-made
releases of metals, such as cadmium and mercury. Also, the creation of reservoirs can cause
mercury to be released from flooded areas.
Radionuclides are radioactive elements that, like heavy metals, are naturally present in rocks
and soils. They may also be human-made. Certain kinds of radionuclides have been released
to the environment because of activities such as atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons,
nuclear waste dumping, and incidents such as the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. Cesium is
the human-made radionuclide that is most often found in the north. Polonium is the most
commonly found natural radionuclide. Uranium is a natural radionuclide that can be found in
increased levels as a result of uranium mining. Although there are natural and local sources of
some of the above-noted contaminants within the north, most human-made contaminants
come from sources outside the north.
Receptor:
The medium which accept pollutants is called receptor. Human beings, plants are the
example of receptor. We can also say that the medium which is affected by pollutant is
known as receptor. Example: Man is a receptor of contaminated water because cholera and
gastroenteritis are caused by it.
Sink:
The medium which retains and interacts with long live pollutants.
Example: A marble wall will act as a sink for atmospheric sulphuric acid and ultimately get
damage. The oceans are the sinks for atmospheric carbon dioxide. Ground water and subsoil
water act as sinks for pesticides employed in agriculture. The sulphur oxides are converted
into sulphuric acid which combines with the limestone mineral and thus removed
considerably from the atmosphere. Thus, limestone minerals act as sink for sulphur oxides.
Vehicle for removal of a chemical or gas from the atmosphere-biosphere-ocean system, in
which the substance is absorbed into a permanent or semi-permanent repository, or else
transformed into another substance. A carbon sink, for example, might be the ocean (which
absorbs and holds carbon from other parts of carbon cycle) or photosynthesis (which converts
atmospheric carbon into plant material). Sinks are a fundamental factor in the ongoing
balance which determines the concentration of every greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. If
the sink is greater than the sources of a gas, its concentration in the atmosphere will
decrease; if the source is greater than the sink, the concentration will increase.
Types of pollutants:
Global pollutants:
Global pollution is when CFCs, mostly freon from old refrigerators, gets into the atmosphere,
and creates an ozone hole over the pole or when DDT that's good at killing bugs, makes bird
eggs so thin that they break and don't hatch.
Example for a global pollutant is green house gas. The main gases that are
termed ‘greenhouse’ gases (GHG’s) are: Ozone, Carbon dioxide, Nitrous oxide, Water vapour
and Methane. All of these are naturally occurring. These gases warm our planet; the effect
they create in the atmosphere is called as greenhouse effect.
The ‘greenhouse effect’ is an atmospheric heating phenomenon in which the Earth
experiences rise in temperature because certain gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous
oxide, and methane) in the atmosphere allow incoming sunlight to pass through but trap heat
radiated from the earth’s surface. If these gases wouldn’t trap heat in the atmosphere, the
temperature of the earth would be about 33 degrees centigrade colder on average.
When the thermal radiation (or heat) arrives from the sun, some of it is bounced from the
surface of the Earth by the ozone layer (which is the reason we can safely walk out in the sun,
is this prevents the most dangerous radiation from the sun getting through the atmosphere),
leaving only some heat to make it through to heat the Earth. This heat then rises back
through the atmosphere, but most of it gets trapped by the greenhouse gases, which causes
it to remain in the Earth’s atmosphere. This principle is exactly the same as what happens in
greenhouses, hence why it is called the greenhouse effect. Although it is natural, the fact that
we are contributing to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels at such
a great rate means that we are making the greenhouse effect worse, which is having some
terrible consequences on life on Earth.
What are the causes of the greenhouse effect?
Although the greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon and is one of the reasons that life
can exist on Earth (as greenhouse gases keep the surface of the Earth warm enough for us to
live here: without them the Earth would be about 33 degrees centigrade colder on average,
rendering many places inhospitable), the greenhouse effect is getting worse. This is having
knocked on effects, causing problems such as global warming, where the average
temperature of the Earth is steadily rising over the years.
There are a number of reasons that there more of the normal greenhouse gases are being
poured into the atmosphere. We ourselves are causing a lot of those extra greenhouse gases.
There are several causes of extra greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and they are the
burning of fossil fuels, farming, deforestation etc.
Critical Need - Floating Trash:
Healthy marine and coastal ecosystems are critical to all life on earth and provide necessary
services, including food security, resources for economic growth, recreation and tourism, all
of which can hinder or benefit the welfare of the coastline itself. Roughly 8 million tons of
plastic enters the oceans each year. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has
estimated that over 70% of marine debris starts out on land. From there it makes its way into
the lakes, rivers and streams that form an extensive network that can carry trash across
continents and straight into the heart of the world's ocean. Floating trash has no geographic
or political boundaries, so solutions must involve scalable international collaboration, yet be
local in scope and reach.
Regional and local pollutants:
The primary difference between regional pollutants and local pollutants is the distance they
are transmitted. Although the damage caused by local pollutants occurs in the vicinity of
emission, for regional pollutants the damage can occur at significant distances from the
emission point.
The same substance can be both regional pollutants and local pollutants. For examples, the
sulphur emissions, the local point for most acid rain legislation, have been known to travel
some 200-600 miles from the point of emission before returning to the earth. As the
substances are being transported by the wind, they undergo a complex series of chemical
reactions. Under the right conditions both sulphur and nitrogen oxides are transformed into
sulphuric acid and nitric acid, main causes for acid rain.
Local and regional environmental issues include fresh water scarsity, desertification,
photochemical fog, sound pollution, acid rain, water borne diseases etc.
Persistent and non persistent pollutants:
The terms persistent and non-persistent refer to how long a pollutant stays in the
environment. Non-persistent pollutant breaks down in the environment more quickly than
persistent pollutant. Persistent pollutant has a greater potential to accumulate in organisms.
When a pollutant bioaccumulates, predator animals higher on the food chain accumulate
more pollutant in their body.
Persistent chemicals are those chemicals that tend to endure in the environment for years
after they are released into it. It takes longer to remove them from the environment after
their use is over. For instance, if pesticides containing persistent chemicals have been
sprayed, it is difficult to get the chemicals out of the environment even after they have served
their purpose. Examples of persistent chemicals are chlorinated hydrocarbons such as aldrin
and lindane. Nonpersistent chemicals are those chemicals that linger only for a brief period
after their release in the environment. This category of chemicals includes organophosphates
such as guthion and malathion. As well, chlorinated hydrocarbons such as endosulfan fall into
this category.
A chemical's half life is the time it takes for half the material to break down and degenerate.
In the case of persistent chemicals, their half lives could range from anywhere between
months and decades. In the case of nonpersistent chemicals, their half lives are as short as
hours and could run into weeks at most.
Nonpersistent chemicals tend to have a more immediate toxic action than persistent
chemicals. Nonpersistent chemicals tend to affect humans, causing poisoning, within a few
hours after contact. Once they degenerate, they no longer pose a toxic threat. Persistent
chemicals, on the other hand, tend to reveal their hazardous effects over the long term.
Humans exposed to persistent chemicals could develop cancer and liver disease. As persistent
chemicals linger in the environment, they tend to affect some animals more than others. For
example, there is some concern that exposure to persistent chemicals could damage the
reproductive capabilities of creatures such as the peregrine falcon and the seal.