Scribd
Upload
13 views4 pages

EVS

Define

Uploaded by

srinegowsi3027
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
13 views4 pages

EVS

Define

Uploaded by

srinegowsi3027
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

.

1 DEFINITION, SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE

1.1.1 Definition

Environmental studies deals with every issue that

affects an organism. It is essentially a

multidisciplinary approach that brings about an

appreciation of our natural world and human

impacts on its integrity. It is an applied science

as its seeks practical answers to making human

civilization sustainable on the earth’s finite resources.

Its components include biology, geology, chemistry, physics, engineering,


sociology, health,

anthropology, economics, statistics, computers

and philosophy.

1.1.2 Scope

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. This has led to many cultural practices that helped traditional
societies protect and

preserve their natural resources. Respect for

nature and all living creatures is not new to India. All our traditions are based
on these values.

Emperor Ashoka’s edict proclaimed that all

forms of life are important for our well being in

Fourth Century BC.

Over the past 200 years however, modern societies began to believe that
easy answers to the

question of producing more resources could be

provided by means of technological innovations.

For example, though growing more food by


using fertilizers and pesticides, developing better strains of domestic animals
and crops, irrigating farmland through mega dams and

developing industry, led to rapid economic

growth, the ill effects of this type of development, led to environmental


degradation.

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. Nonrenewable 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 genes.

Environment is not a single subject. It is an integration of several subjects


that include both

Science and Social Studies. To understand all

the different aspects of our environment we

need to understand biology, chemistry, physics,

geography, resource management, economics

and population issues. Thus the scope of environmental studies is extremely


wide and covers

some aspects of nearly every major discipline.

We live in a world in which natural resources

are limited. Water, air, soil, minerals, oil, the

products we get from forests, grasslands, oceans

and from agriculture and livestock, are all a part

of our life support systems. Without them, life

itself would be impossible. As we keep increasing in numbers and the


quantity of resources
each of us uses also increases, the earth’s resource base must inevitably
shrink. The earth

cannot be expected to sustain this expanding

level of utilization of resources. Added to this is

misuse of resources. We waste or pollute large

amounts of nature’s clean water; we create

more and more material like plastic that we discard after a single use; and
we waste colossal

amounts of food, which is discarded as garbage.

Manufacturing processes create solid waste

byproducts that are discarded, as well as chemicals that flow out as liquid
waste and pollute

water, and gases that pollute the air. Increasing

amounts of waste cannot be managed by natural processes. These


accumulate in our environment, leading to a variety of diseases and other

adverse environmental impacts now seriously affecting all our lives. Air
pollution leads to respiratory diseases, water pollution to

gastro-intestinal diseases, and many pollutants

are known to cause cancer.

Improving this situation will only happen if each

of us begins to take actions in our daily lives

that will help preserve our environmental resources. We cannot expect


Governments alone

to manage the safeguarding of the environment,

nor can we expect other people to prevent

environmental damage. We need to do it ourselves. It is a responsibility that


each of us must

take on as ones own.

You might also like