Environment and its integration with cultures

1. Integration of Culture with
Environment
By- Dr Ashwani Asthana

2. Meaning:
Integration ……………………….. एकीकरण
Culture ……………………………… संस्कृ ति
Environment …………………….. पर्यावरण
Definition of Integration :
It is the action or process of successfully joining or mixing with a different group of
people.
Definition of culture : The integrated total sum of learned behavioral traits that are
manifest and shared by members of society.
Definition of Environment : the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is
surrounded.
What Is Cultural Integration?
• This is when the people from a culture adopt the essence of another culture, such
as its attitudes and ceremonies, while at the same time maintaining their own
culture. This happens in many immigrant homes as a survival tool, regardless of
where the individual moves to or is from. Individuals maintain the familiar, usually at
home and the community, while they adopt the core practices of the new culture in
public.

3. • Another facet of cultural integration is people from other cultures introducing
elements of their own culture to their new one. This can come in the form of
music, food, attitudes, religion, arts and many other cultural characteristics.
Examples:………
Approaches to the study of culture:
1. Anthropological approach:
The anthropologist, though a time consuming process, considers behavior in the
light of experiencing it at first hand. In order to understand beliefs, motives and
values, the anthropologist studies the area in question anthropology and unearths
the reasons for what, apparently, appears strange.
2. Ethnographical approach:
3. Archaeological / Material culture approach:
4. Language:
5. Aesthetics:
Aesthetics refer to the ideas in a culture concerning beauty and good taste as
expressed in the arts -music, art, drama and dancing and the particular
appreciation of colour and form.
6. Education
• Education refers to the transmission of skills, ideas and attitudes as well as training
in particular disciplines. Education can transmit cultural ideas or be used for
change

4. 7. Religion:
• Religion provides the best insight into a society's behavior and helps answer the
question why people behave rather than how they behave.
8. Attitudes and values:
• Values often have a religious foundation, and attitudes relate to economic
activities. It is essential to ascertain attitudes towards marketing activities which
lead to wealth or material gain.
9. Social Organisation:
• Refers to the way people relate to each other, for example, extended families,
units, kinship. In some countries kinship may be a tribe and so segmentation may
have to be based on this. Other forms of groups may be religious or political, age,
caste and so on. All these groups may affect the society in his planning.
• There are other aspects of culture, but the above covers the main ingredients. In
one form or another these have to be taken .
9. Cultural Diffusion: ripple example…….

16. Mehrgarh, Pakistan - 9000 BP (7000 or
6500 BC) seasonal settlement at the base
of the Bolan pass
Early food producing era:
beginnings of the long term
processes that provide the stable
foundation of a state level society

17. Mehrgarh wild animals
Mehrgarh domesticated animals

19. Mehrgarh house types

20. Mehrgarh, Chalcolithic period (5500-
3300 BC) - goods interred with the
dead decrease, very few ornaments or
utensils, - terracotta figurines show
increasing amounts of ornaments
Regionalization Era: beginning of
the short term changes that define
the nature of integration and the
dominant communities who
maintain social order

21. Terracotta figurines reveal
distinctive personal
ornamentation and clothing, and
headdress styles
Mehrgarh, Baluchistan

23. Early Harappan Sites
Regional Settlement patterns
- two or three levels of settlement
hierarchy, large regional centers,
smaller villages, and camps of
pastoral communities or traders
Sothi / Kalibangan
Kot Dijian
Amrian
RSW / B&RW
Nal
Faiz Mohd. Grey

25. Dancing girl, bronze
figurineFemale burials with
shell bangles

26. Contacts with Mesopotamia

27. Impression of an Akkadian cylinder seal,
the inscription states that it belonged to
“Su-ilisu, Meluhha interpreter”

28. Religious Practices
Sacrifice – yajna (1.1.4; III.12.2)
Following another form of worship –
anyavrata (V.20.2; VIII.70.11; X.22.4)

32. Now what is to be done in present Scenario
Causes of Environmental Degradation.
The primary cause of environmental degradation is human disturbance. The degree of the environmental
impact varies with the cause, the habitat, and the plants and animals that inhabit it.
Environmental degradation is a result of socio-economical, technological and institutional activities.
Degradation occurs when Earth's natural resources are depleted. These resources which are affected
include:
Water, Air, Soil
How Environmental Degradation Occurs
Environmental changes are based on many factors including:
Urbanization
Population growth
Economic growth
Intensification of agriculture
Increase in energy use
Increase in transportation

33. •1) High quantity of Exhaust gases:
•The biggest reason by far for all kinds of environmental degradation is the exorbitant amount of
gases, harmful to the environment, which is released by the various industries. Prime amongst
these gases are C02, S02 and NH3. Of course there are many more, and these are the main culprits
for ozone holes and global warming.

34. •2) Deforestation:
Close second comes the deforestation all over the world, to harness forest
resources, to clear land, for wood and for various other reasons. Deforestation causes
major problems for one simple reason; it decreases the number of trees, which clean
the environment, provide oxygen and also affect rain patterns. This is the major
reason why there are calls for tree plantation; it is to make up for this loss.

35. •3) High number of industries such as mining:

36. •4) Chemical effluents: Effluents are another by-product of industries which poses threat
to the environment, leather and tanning industries, petroleum industries and chemical
manufacturing industries create major waste products which are released directly into
nearby streams without treatment, creating river pollution and causing harm to aquatic life.

37. •5) Transport: As the spending power of the population increases and as cars become
available more, the number of vehicles on the road increases. The amount has grown
exponentially in countries like India, Brazil and China and this is a point form of pollution
which directly affects humans. Smog is a nuisance that is created because of vehicular
pollution, and Hydro-Carbons released from engines are the cause of creation of lower
level ozone that is harmful to humans.

38. •6) Unprecedented Construction:
•Urban Heat Island is a direct cause of the unprecedented construction activities
that are being carried out right now, and urban heat island causes trapping of
pollutants. Urban Heat island is an effect caused due to trapping of solar
radiation by concrete and cement which are materials which trap heat extremely
well. Construction causes removal of vegetative cover which usually allows for
better exchange of heat. This heat island effect causes constricted circulation of
air, which traps pollutants released in urban areas and does not allow for mixing
of the air, thus decreasing the air quality.

39. •7) Secondary Pollutants: Secondary pollutants are ones that are not directly
emitted; however they get created when primary pollutants react amongst
themselves. Major amongst them is the creation of ozone from reaction between
non-burnt Hydrocarbons and Nitrous Oxides. There are various other secondary
pollutants and the reaction between these pollutants cause reactions that lead to
formation of ozone holes. Stratospheric clouds are the main reaction sites for such
pollutants.

40. •8 ) Ruinous agricultural policies: Overloading the land with fertilizers, overgrazing and
shifting agriculture are ruinous agricultural policies that degrade land, creating soil
erosion that leads to silting in major rivers and reservoirs. Soil degradation is a
continuous cycle and it ultimately leads to desertification and degradation of land quality
by allowing the direct action of eroding agents on cultivable land.

41. •9) The Population Explosion:
•The increasing population creates a load that the entire environment has to
support, not only in terms of food and lodging, but also in terms of the amount of
waste that it generates and the ability of the environment to sustain this growth.
All major activities are carried out to support this growing population, and whilst
this is unavoidable, what is required is the proper planning that should come with
this explosion.

42. •10) Unplanned Land-use policies:
•Land models are available these days which help in proper planning and use of
land resources. However, failure to use these models and land management
policies can lead to land pollution and degradation of the worst kind. Extraction
from mines renders them unusable for habitation and if rehabilitation work is
not carried out, the piece of land is sure to lose all its value and become unusable.
Land classification is one of the major activities that help in proper land use, and
it should be followed with utmost care.

43. Unfortunate Impacts of Environmental Degradation
When factories produce harmful chemicals and toxic waste into bodies of
water, humans suffer. Pesticides and fertilizers can also get into a region's
water system and pollute it. Drinking water is contaminated. Some residing
in third-world countries are highly affected by the degradation of our planet
and these unhealthy practices cause the following:
Illnesses
Death in children
Death in adults

44. How to Stop Environmental Degradation for the survival of next generation:
There are ways which you can help to decrease degradation in our environment. Some of these
include:
•Purchase recycled products
•Conserve water
•Do not litter or toss waste into inappropriate places
•Conserve energy
•Join an awareness group
•Talk with others about the impacts of environmental degradation
•Be an advocate to save our planet!

45. Thanks for hearing the lecture on the topic
Integration of Culture with Environment