After reading this essay we will discuss about:- 1. Meaning of Environment 2. Man and Environment Interaction 3. Global Environmental Problems.
Essay on the Meaning of Environment:
The ‘environment’-defined as that whole outer physical and biological system in which man and other organisms live-is a whole, albeit a complicated one with many interacting components. The wise management of that environment depends upon an understanding of those components: of its rock, minerals and waters, of its present and potential vegetation, of it animal life and potential for livestock husbandry and of its climate.
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It demands positive and realistic planning that balances human needs against the potential environment has for meeting them.
It has long been held that environmental science deals with the study of the atmosphere, the land, the oceans and the great chemical cycles that flow through the physical and biological systems. Currently it was noticed that modern environmental science is increasingly becoming interdisciplinary, preparing people for global citizenship and training them to be flexible, yet competent, analytic and decision-takers.
Three branches of sciences interact, along with their own developmental arena; the attractive research areas are by no means found only on the margins where an element of joint disciplinarily takes place (Fig. 1.1).
But it is possible for the climate system to be studied this way, with much success, and for the emerging field of environmental economics and ecology. A more formal multidisciplinary is often found in the ever-widening area of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
Man and Environment Interaction:
All organisms modify their environment, and humans are no exception. As the human population has grown and the power of technology has expanded, the scope and nature of this modification has changed drastically.
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Until recently, the term “human-dominated ecosystems” would have elicited images of agricultural fields, pastures or urban landscapes; now it applies with greater or lesser force to all of Earth. Many ecosystems are dominated directly by humanity, and no ecosystem on Earth’s surface is free of pervasive human influence.
The growth of the human population and growth in the resource base used by humanity is maintained by a suite of human enterprises such as agriculture industry, fishing and international commerce.
These enterprises transform the land surface (through cropping, forestry and urbanisation), alter the major biogeochemical cycles, and add or remove species and genetically distinct populations in most of Earth’s ecosystems. Many of these changes are substantial and reasonably well quantified.
All are on-going. These relatively well-documented changes in turn entrain further alterations to the functioning of the Earth system, most notably by driving global climatic change and causing irreversible losses of biological diversity. The human alteration in the Earth system as operating through the interacting processes are summarised in Fig. 1.2.
Recognition of the global consequences of the human enterprise suggests three complementary directions. First, we can work to reduce the rate at which we alter the Earth system. Humans and human- dominated systems may be able to adapt to slower change, and ecosystems and the species they support may cope more effectively with the changes we impose—if those changes are slow.
Our footprint on the planet (54) might then be stabilized at a point where enough space and resources remain to sustain most of the other species on Earth, for their sake and our own. Reducing the rate of growth in human effects on Earth involves slowing human population growth and using resources as efficiently as is practical.
Often it is the waste products and by-products of human activity that drive global environmental change.
Second, we can accelerate our efforts to understand Earth’s ecosystems and how they interact with the numerous components of human-caused global change.
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Ecological research is inherently complex and demanding:
It requires measurement and monitoring of populations and ecosystems; experimental studies to elucidate the regulation of ecological processes; the development, testing, and validation of regional and global models: and integration with a broad range of biological, earth, atmospheric, and marine sciences.
The challenge of understanding a human-dominated planet further requires that the human dimensions of global change—the social, economic, cultural, and other drivers of human actions—be included within our analyses.
Finally, humanity’s dominance of Earth means that we cannot escape responsibility for managing the planet. Our activities are causing rapid, novel, and substantial changes to Earth’s ecosystems. Maintaining populations, species, and ecosystems in the face of those changes, and maintaining the flow of goods and services they provide humanity (55), will require active management for the foreseeable future.
There is no clearer illustration of the extent of human dominance of Earth than the fact that maintaining the diversity of “wild” species and the functioning of “wild” ecosystems will require increasing human involvement.
Essay on Global Environmental Problems:
Environmental problems are always interrelated. Often solution to one problem actually creates another problem! For example, when people are sick and dying from disease, it is natural to want to improve human health.
When health is improved and mortality is reduced, a population explosion may result. To feed this growing population, natural habitats are often converted into farmland. In turn, the destruction of natural habitats eliminates the native wild species of plants, predatory animals and parasites.
The outbreak of insect pests becomes more common. Subsequently, farmers use pesticides to control the pests and protect the crops, but they also pollute the environment. The development of this entire cycle in itself consumes irreplaceable fossil fuel supplies and, when fuels are burned, air pollutants are generated in turn!
On the whole, the major environmental problems can be divided into following categories:
1. Over-population:
It causes human suffering directly and amplifies all other environmental problems;
2. Pollution:
It makes vital resources less useful and reduces the quality of life;
3. Depletion of resources:
It makes things that are vital to human existence more expensive or impossible to obtain;
4. Global changes:
This results from human activities and may permanently alter the Earth in unpredictable ways;
5. War:
This may be caused by or may cause all other environmental problems—modern (chemical/ biological) warfare threatens the survival of the human species.
Thus, individuals act in ways that promote their own short term welfare, which often conflicts directly with the long-term environmental interests of present and future generations. This “tragedy of commons” is the main factor that limits the effectiveness of voluntary action as a solution to environmental problems.
At present the world is very crowded, more polluted, less stable, ecologically fragile and vulnerable to disruption. Serious stresses involving population, resources and environment are clearly visible ahead. Despite greater material output, the world’s people will be poorer in many ways than they are today.
Regional water shortage will become more severe. Significant losses of world forests will continue over the next 20 years as demand for forest products and fuel wood increases. The world’s forests are currently disappearing at the rate over 20 million hectares per year, with most of the loss occurring in the humid tropical forests of Africa, Asia and South America.
Serious deterioration of agricultural soils will occur worldwide, due to erosion, loss of organic matter, desertification, salinization, alkalization and water-logging. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and ozone depleting chemicals are expected to increase at rates that could alter the world’s climate and upper atmosphere significantly by 2050.
Acid rain from increased combustion of fossil fuels threatens and causes damage to lakes, soils and crops. Radioactive and other hazardous materials present health and safety problems in increasing numbers of countries. Extinction of plant and animal species will increase dramatically. More than 20 per cent of all species on earth will be irretrievably lost from their habitats and thus vanish, especially in tropical forests.