2. • This course on the environment is
unlike any other.
• It is not only a collection of facts or
information about the environment.
• It is about the way we all should live.
• It is expected to have a concern for your
own environment.
• Act at your own level to protect the
environment we all live in
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3. 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.
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4. • The natural environment encompasses all living and
non-living things.
• This environment encompasses the interaction of all
living species, climate, weather, and natural
resources that affect human survival and economic
activity.
• Environmental studies is multi-disciplinary because it
comprises various branches of studies like
chemistry, physics, medical science, life science,
agriculture and public health.
• Environmental studies deals with every issue that
affects an organism.
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5. Self- Reading and Explain
• As we look around at the area in which we live, we see that our
surroundings were originally a natural landscape such as a forest, a river, a
mountain, a desert, or a combination of these elements.
• Most of us live in landscapes that have been heavily modified by human
beings, in villages, towns or cities. But even those of us who live in cities get
our food supply from surrounding villages and these in turn are dependent
on natural landscapes such as forests, grasslands, rivers, seashores, for
resources such as water for agriculture, fuel wood, fodder, and fish.
• Thus our daily lives are linked with our surroundings and inevitably
affects them. We use water to drink and for other day-to-day activities.
• We breathe air, we use resources from which food is made and we depend
on the community of living plants and animals which form a web of life, of
which we are also a part.
• Everything around us forms our environment and our lives depend on
keeping its vital systems as intact as possible.
• Our dependence on nature is so great that we cannot continue to live
without protecting the earth’s environmental resources. Thus most traditions
refer to our environment as ‘Mother Nature’ and most traditional societies
have learned that respecting nature is vital for their livelihoods
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6. Components of Environment
1.Biotic environment: Animals, birds, woods, insects,
reptiles, and microorganisms such as algae, bacteria,
fungi, and viruses are all included.
2.Abiotic environment: It comprises everything that
isn’t alive, such as air, clouds, dust, land, mountains,
rivers, temperature, humidity, water, water vapor, sand,
and so on.
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7. Biotic Components
Biotic components refer to all living components in an ecosystem. Based on nutrition,
biotic components can be categorized into autotrophs, heterotrophs and saprotrophs
(or decomposers).
• Producers include all autotrophs such as plants. They are called autotrophs as
they can produce food through the process of photosynthesis. Consequently, all
other organisms higher up on the food chain rely on producers for food.
• Consumers or heterotrophs are organisms that depend on other organisms for
food. Consumers are further classified into primary consumers, secondary
consumers and tertiary consumers.
• Primary consumers are always herbivores as they rely on producers for food.
• Secondary consumers depend on primary consumers for energy. They can
either be carnivores or omnivores.
• Tertiary consumers are organisms that depend on secondary consumers for
food. Tertiary consumers can also be carnivores or omnivores.
• Quaternary consumers are present in some food chains. These organisms prey
on tertiary consumers for energy. Furthermore, they are usually at the top of a
food chain as they have no natural predators.
•Decomposers include saprophytes such as fungi and bacteria. They directly thrive on the
dead and decaying organic matter. Decomposers are essential for the ecosystem as they
help in recycling nutrients to be reused by plants.
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10. Abiotic Factor
Abiotic factors are non-living components of an ecosystem. They are important in
designing ecosystems since the interaction of biotic and abiotic forces is required for the
ecosystem’s stability. Abiotic elements include air, weather, water, temperature, humidity,
altitude, pH, soil level, varieties of soil, and more
Biotic Components vs Abiotic Components
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Factors Biotic Components Abiotic Components
Definition
Living things in ecosystem
are known as biotic
components.
Abiotic factors are non-living
elements, like physical
circumstances and chemical
elements.
Example
Biotic components have all
forms of vegetation and
wildlife.
Includes sunlight, water, air,
humidity, precipitation,
temperature, soil, etc.
Dependence
Abiotic factors are important
for the survival as well as the
reproduction of biotic factors.
Abiotic factors include those
apart from biotic factors.
Origin
Biosphere provides the basis
for biotic factors.
The lithosphere,
hydrosphere, and
atmosphere are important
sources of abiotic
11. Activity 1:
Take any article that you use in daily life – a
bucket full of water, or an item of food, a table,
or a book.
• Trace its components journey backwards
from your home to their origins as natural
resources in our environment.
• How many of these components are
renewable resources and how many non-
renewable?
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12. Scope and Importance
• Environment Studies enlighten us about the
importance of protection and conservation of
our environment.
• We live in landscapes that have been heavily
modified by human beings, in villages, towns or
cities.
• But even those of us who live in cities get our
food supply from surrounding villages and
these in turn are dependent on natural
landscapes such as forests, grasslands,
rivers, seashores, for resources such as water
for agriculture, fuel wood, fodder, and fish.
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13. • Thus, our daily lives are linked with our
surroundings and inevitably affects them.
• The industrial development and intensive
agriculture that provides the goods for our
increasingly consumer oriented society uses up
large amounts of natural resources such as
water, minerals, petroleum products, wood, etc.
• Non renewable resources, such as minerals and
oil are those which will be exhausted in the future
if we continue to extract these without a thought
for subsequent generations.
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14. • Renewable resources, such as timber and
water, are those which can be used but can
be regenerated by natural processes such
as re- growth or rainfall.
• However, these too will be depleted if we
continue to use them faster than nature
can replace them.
• Deforestation leads to floods in the
monsoon and dry rivers once the rains are
over.
• What we should implement is Sustainable
Development
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15. • Sustainable Development
• Sustainable development can be defined as an “approach
to the economic development of a country without
compromising with the quality of the environment for
future generations”
• Our natural resources can be compared with
money in a bank. If we use it rapidly, the capital
will be reduced to zero. On the other hand, if we
use only the interest, it can sustain us over the
longer term. This is called sustainable utilisation
or development.
• In the name of economic development, the price of
environmental damage is paid in the form of land
degradation, soil erosion, air and water pollution,
deforestation, etc.
• Ex: Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Hydro, Geothermal, etc.
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16. Needs for awareness
Need to do something for our environment ?
What you guys can do?
• Join a group to study nature, such as WWFI or
BNHS, or another environmental group.
• Begin reading newspaper articles and periodicals
such as ‘Down to Earth’, WWF-I newsletter, BNHS
Hornbill, Sanctuary magazine, etc. that will tell you
more about our environment
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17. • Join local movements that support activities such as
saving trees in your area, go on nature treks, recycle
waste, buy environmentally friendly products.
• Practice and promote good civic sense such as no
spitting or tobacco chewing, no throwing garbage on the
road, no smoking in public places, no urinating or
defecating in public places.
• Institutions Working for Environmental Protection:
• Orissa Environmental Society
• Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Mumbai
• World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-I), New Delhi
• Center for Science and Environment (CSE), New
Delhi
• Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun
• Botanical Survey of India (BSI)
• Zoological Survey of India (ZSI)
18. Activity 2:
• Think of all the things that you do in a day.
• List these activities and identify the main
resources used during these activities.
• What can you do to prevent waste, reuse
articles that you normally throw away, what
recycled materials can you use?
• Think of the various energy sources you use
everyday. How could you reduce their use?
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19. Activity 3:
• Exercises in self learning about the
environment
• Attempt to assess the level of damage to the
environment due to your actions that have
occurred during your last working day, the
last week, the last year.
• Then estimate the damage you are likely to
do in your lifetime if you continue in your
present ways.
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20. 20
Activity 4:
List out some of the internationally well known
environmental thinkers
And also from India who have bought significant impact
of environment conservation, policy implementation,
etc.
