UNIT 1: Concept of Environmental Studies

UNIT 1

VERY SHORT TYPE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

1. What do you mean by environment?

Ans: 'Environment' means surroundings which provide all the organisms the necessary conditions to live in harmony with each other.

2.    What is original term of ecology?

Ans : The original term of ecology is 'oekologie’.

3.    Who first defined ecology?

Ans : German zoologist Ernst Haeckel.

4.    What is the meaning of 'ecology'?

Ans: The term 'ecology' means 'the study of house'.

5.    What is the thickness of biosphere?

Ans : It extends 6 km above the earth's surface and 6 km below of the sea level.

6.  Do you think 'Environmental Studies' is a subject matter of science only?                                        

Ans : Cannot think.  

7.  What kind of impact is made by the increase in population on environment?

Ans : Due to the rise in population, nature is exploited to meet the demands of the growing population and on account of the pressure of such exploitation the environment is polluted.

8.  Why should we protect the bio-diversity in nature? Give reasons.

Ans: Nature has given us all the necessary requirements and therefore it is our duty to love and care the nature.

9. Do you think public awareness is necessary for the protection of environment? How can this awareness be created?

Ans : Yes.

SHORT TYPE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

1. What is biological environment?

Ans: The biological environment is consisted of the plants,animals, insects and human beings. The existence of all living organisms is completely dependent upon biological environment

2. What are the main causes of environmental degradation?

Ans: Increasing populations, industries, motor-cars and destruction of forests are the main causes of environmental degradation.

3. What are the main elements of biosphere?

Ans : The plants, animals and all living organisms are the main elements of biosphere. There are about 10 lakh species of plants and 3 lakh species of animals including man in biosphere.

4. What is an environmental study?

Ans : Environmental studies means the study of human beings, the interrelations of man and environment and how to change and develops this relation.

5. What is environment?

Ans : All the physical, social and cultural factors and conditions which influence the existence, sustenance and development of living organisms is called environment.

6. Name the types of environment?

Ans : There are two types of environment :

(a)        Physical environment.

(b)        Biological environment.

7.    What is ecology?

Ans: The scientific study of the interrelationship of various organisms and the physical environment under the domain of a subject is called ecology.

8.     What is biosphere?

Ans: The part of the earth in which life forms and exists is called biosphere. It extends upto 6 km above the earth's surface and 6 km below the sea level.

9.     Define the term environment.         
Ans: The term 'environment' literally means surroundings of an object. The surroundings which provide conditions for all the organisms live in harmony with one another is called 'environment'.

10.     What does physical environment mean?

Ans : The environment which consists of air, water, land, solar radiation, rainfall, water vapour, humidity, temperature, wind velocity, wind direction and duration of sunshine is called physical environment.

11.     Describe the biosphere.

Ans : The biosphere is a region of the earth in which life originates and exists. It is a biological envelope which supports life without the help of artificial systems. Biosphere extends upto 6 km above the earth's surface and 6 km below the water surface (sea level). The number of plant and animal species in the biosphere are about 10,00,000 and 3,00,000 respectively. Plants and animals are interdependent. Man depends more on plants and animals. So, our existence depends upon proper handling of the biosphere.

12.  Define and explain the term 'ecology'?

Ans : The scientific study of the interrelation of various organisms and the physical environment under the domain of a subject is a called ecology. The term' ecology' was defined first by the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel, 'the body of knowledge concerning the economy of nature, the investigations of the total relations of the animals to its inorganic and organic environment.' The term 'ecology' is coined by the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel. The word ecology originally comes from the Greek word 'oekologie'. The Greek word 'oikos' means 'house' and 'logos' means 'study of. So the term 'ecology' means 'he study of house'.

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Q.1 : What do you mean by environment? Explain its scope.

Ans : Environment means a surroundings which provide to all the organisms the necessary conditions to live in harmony with each other.

As the environment itself is a wide term and its study needs knowledge inputs from various disciplines and hence it is said to be multidisciplinary subject, so, the scope of environmental studies is quite broad based and it encompasses a large number of areas and aspects. They may be broadly listed as below:                                                                 •       Natural resources - their conservation and management.

•       Ecology and biodiversity.

•       Environmental pollution and control.

•       Social issues in relation to development and environment.

•       Human population and environment.

These fundamental aspects of environmental studies have a direct and inseparable bearing on day to day life of the society. There are some fields of the environmental studies which can be further advanced and made specialized and they are mostly technical in nature, like environmental science, environmental engineering. Environmental management, environmental biotechnology etc.

Q.2: What are the objectives of environmental education?

Ans: The objectives of environmental education are as follows:

a)    Awareness: To help individuals and social groups acquire an awareness of and sensitivity to the total environment and its allied problems.

b)    Knowledge: To help individuals and social groups acquire basic understanding of the total environment, its asso­ciated problems and humanity's critically responsible presenceand role in it.

c)     Attitude: To help individuals and social groups acquire social values, strong feelings of concern for the environment and the motivation for actively participating in its protection and improvement.

d)    Skills: To help individuals and social groups acquire the skills for solving environmental problems.

e)    Evaluation ability: To help individuals and social groups evaluate environmental measures and education programmes m terms of ecological, political, economic, social aesthetic and educational factors.                                      

f)     Participation: To help individuals and social groups develop a sense of responsibility and urgency regarding envi­ronmental problems to ensure appropriate action to solve these problems.

Q.3: What is the need for studying environmental is­sues?

Ans : "Environment, as defined in Environment (Protec­tion) Act. 1986, is the sum total of water, air and land, interre­lationship among themselves and also with the human beings, other living organisms and property." Thus, environment is important to all and everyone's activities have direct or indi­rect, effect on environment and vice versa. It is a global issue and since environment has no boundary, any damage/problems created in one corner will no doubt have to be borne every­where. All major issues like global warming, depletion of ozone layer, dwindling forest cover and energy resources, loss of biodiversity etc. have bearing on whole mankind as well as the plant and animal kingdoms, and there is no chance to re­strict in one.

Environmental studies are very important to us since they are intimately concerned with the fundamental issues like safe and clean drinking water, hygienic living conditions, clean and fresh air, fertile land etc. and their sustainable development Environmental laws, business administration, and environmental engineering are opening new avenues for career opportunities. Unless we know the environmental laws properly, their implementation will be always a dream and we will fail to strive for safer earth with pure air and water.

Q.4: Environmental Studies being a multidisciplinary subject, mention the other subjects which have relation with it. Explain.

Ans: Environment is the sum total of water, air and land, interrelationships among themselves and also with the human beings, other living organisms and property.

As the environment includes all the physical and biological surroundings and their consequent reactions, it needs inputs of knowledge from various disciplines for it study. The biotic components and its interactions are understood with the help of life sciences which include Botany, Zoology, Microbiology, Genetics, Biochemistry and Biotechnology. The abiotic energy transfer and flow can be realized with the help of basic concepts of physics, chemistry, geology, oceanography, geography, mathematics, atmospheric sciences etc. Computer science has a great role in data processing, environment modeling and its management. Socioeconomic aspects with various developmental activities can be aptly with dealt with the subjects like education, economics, sociology, mass-communication, history etc. Environmental engineering, civil engineering, hydraulics, chemical engineering etc provide bases for various technologies dealing with the control of environmental pollution, waste treatment and their development Effective management and proper protection can only be achieved through proper environmental laws.

Q.5: How would environmental awareness help to pro­tect our environment?

Ans: Unplanned human activities have inflicted considerable damages to our planet forcing the mankind to live in polluted and deteriorating environment for which some scrupulous steps are immediately asked for to check the growing diabolic harm to our environment before we would become the last creature on this earth as Sir Barnard Shaw once cautioned. The first and foremost step in this regard is the "environmental awareness among the mass. It includes basic aspects of life i.e. air, land and water, how they get polluted and the adverse impact of it. The United Nation Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 have highlighted the main issues of the global environment and drawn the public attention towards degrading environment

Unless people are made aware of the ecological as well as environmental issues no step on the part of government for amelioration of the damage would prove successful. People should be intimated with every sort of adverse impact on envi­ronment which may not be experienced or noticed earlier until its limit is crossed.

With a view to creating environmental awareness among the people, the Supreme Court in 1991 issue directive to make the entire educational curriculum environmental oriented.

Q.6: 'Environmental Awareness' helps to protect our environment.

Ans: Unplanned human activities have been inflicting con­siderable damages on the planet forcing the mankind to live in a polluted and deteriorating environment some scrupulous steps are immediately asked for to check growing diabolic harms to our environment before we happen to become the last crea­tures on this earth as Barnard Shaw once cautioned. The first and formost step in this regard is the 'environment awareness' among the masses. It includes basic aspects of life i.e. air, water and land, how they get polluted and the adverse impact of it. The UNCE&D in Rio-de- Janeiro in 1992 which is popu­larly known as "Earth Summit" and the World Summit on Sustainable Development at Johannesburg in 2002 have highlighted the main issues of the global environment and drawn the public attention towards degrading environment

Unless people are made aware of the ecological as well as environmental issues no steps on the part of the govt, would be successful. They should be intimated with the adverse impact of environment which are not experienced or noticed earlier until its limit is crossed.

With a view to creating environment awareness among the public Supreme Court in 1991 issued directive to make all educational curricula environment oriented although it is in re­sponse to a PIL filed by M.C. Mehta in 1998.

LONG TYPE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS :

1. Mention a few factors responsible for environ­mental problems.

Ans: Some factors responsible for the major environmen­tal problems are as follows:                      

a.   Rapid population growth.

b.   Simplification and degradation of parts of earth's life support systems.

c.   Poverty, which can drive poor people to use potentially renewable resources.

d.   Widespread use of relatively cheap and environmentally damaging fossil fuels.

e.   Rapid and wasteful use of resources with too little emphasis on pollution prevention and waste reduction.

f.    Overuse and degradation of global common-property resources, which are owned by none and available to all.

g.   Failure to encourage earth-sustaining forms of economic development and to discourage earth-degrading forms of economic growth.

2. Mention the factors on which success of environ­mental education depends.

Ans : The success of environmental education would depend on internalizing th following principles-

a.     Environmental education considers environment in its totality.

b.     Environmental education is not a one shot learning.

c.     Environmental hazards are controllable and every citizen has a moral obligation.

d.     Formal and non-formal education system and programmes must work in union.

e.     Promote the value and necessity of local, national and interpersonal cooperation.

3. What are the environmental problems due to over utilization of natural resources?

Ans : We are having the following problems-

a.     Population exploitation.

b.     Wasteful use of resources.

c.     Destruction and degradation of wildlife habitats.

d.     Depletion and contamination of surface and ground water.

e.     Depletion of non-renewable fuels or minerals.

f.      Deforestation.

g.     Soil-erosion.

h.     Conversion of productive crop lands and grazing land .to deserts and desertification.

i.      Loss of biodiversity due to species extinction etc.

4. Justify the need of studying environment.

Ans : Environmental studies means the study of human being, the interrelations of man and environment. Following are the necessities of environmental studies.

(i) Environmental studies help to give a general concept of environment to the people of all classes.

(ii) It helps to create awareness among the people of the society about the environmental problems.

(iii) It also helps the Government and other organizations who are taking different schemes of stop the environmental degradation and for its development.

(iv) Through environmental studies the social units can able to acquire the knowledge of the environmental problems.

(v) It helps people to know about the techniques, their applications and so on, necessary for the environmental control and development and for the solution of environmental problems.

(vi) Environmental studies is necessary in cooperating in the scheme, taken to prevent air, water and sound pollution etc.

(vii) It also helps the people to understand the environmental problems.

(viii) It also helps the people to emphasizing the feeling like liberty, truth, justice, fraternity etc.

(ix) It also helps to understand about the correlation between different stage of life and different problems related to environment.

5. Write on the necessities of environmental studies. Ans : Following are the necessities of environmental studies :

·      Environmental studies is necessary to help the Govt. and other organizations who are taking different schemes to stop the environmental degradation, and for its development.

·      It is necessary to keep clean the neighboring places.

·      It is necessary to create awareness among different units of the society about the environmental problems.

·      Through environment studies each and every individual of the society can acquire the knowledge of the environmental problems.

·      Through environment studies each and every individual of the society can able to ignorant concepts of the environment, natural wealth and the ways to preserve them.                                                                                         

·      It is very essential in cooperating in the schemes, taken to prevent air, water and sound pollution.

·      It also necessary to helps the people to know about different aspects, emphasizing upon the cleanliness of the environment, admiring the nature's contribution, instructing the tolerance in the field of religion and culture, emphasizing the feeling like liberty, truth, justice, fraternity etc.

·      Environmental studies is necessary to helps to give a general concept of environment to the people of all classes.

·      It is necessary to create the interest and feelings among the people to understand the environmental problems.

6. Write in brief on different types of Environment?

Ans: Environment can be divided into three. These are discussed in brief as below :

·   Natural Environment: Natural environment is the ecological conditions around us can be taken together such as climate, hills, mountains, oceans, sky, air, rivers, sun, moon, seas etc .

·   Social Environment: Social environment means our parents, brothers and relatives to homes, families, social and international organizations together known as social environment

·   Mental Environment: Mental environment means social and physical aspects which increase the intellects, hobbies, attention and interest of human beings and help them to be guided in right direction.

7.  What measures can be undertaken to create public awareness for the protection of environment?

Ans : Following measures can be undertaken to create public awareness for the protection of environment.

a.     To create public awareness for the protection of environment declaration of the flood policy and its application, preparing the industrial policy etc should be adopted by the Govt.

b.     Public awareness can be created through emphasising upon environmental security through media distribution of booklets regarding the effects of Environmental security.

c.     To create public awareness for the protection of environment the Govt, and the other organizations can conducting meetings, conference, seminars, celebration of the festival of different animals, brids etc.

d.     Through the voluntary associations different steps can be taken for environmental security by increasing general awareness.

e.     To enhance public awareness for the protection of environment the Govt can take some scheme like introducing the environmental studies in the curriculum

f.      Public awareness can be enhanced through rewarding the participants of activities of environmental security, conveying knowledge of environmental degradation through street play, cinema, and drama.

g.     The non-govt. organizations can form public opinion against the factors responsible for environmental degradation.

h.     The non-govt. organizations can take the responsibility for the success of the governmental schemes related to environmental Security.

i.      To enhance public awareness for the protection of environment the NGOs can arrange seminars, exhibitions, documentary, workshop etc.

j.      To create public awareness for the protection of environment steps against the bird killing and the preservation, movement against the deforestation can be taken.

k.     The NGOs can publish more efficiently among the public and can take legal actions against environmental degradation, etc.

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