INTRODUCTION OF ENVIRONMENT

DEFINITION

 The sum total of all surroundings of a living organism,

including natural forces and other living things, which
provide conditions for development and growth as well
as of danger and damage.

 Types of environment:
 Physical environment
 Chemical environment
 Biology environment
 Physical Environment

 consists of physical features that occur naturally.

 4 major components:

 Water (rivers, seas, oceans)

 Natural Vegetation
 Landform and rocks
 Weather and climate
 Chemical Environment

 Chemical processes occurring in the environment which

are impacted by humankind's activities.

 These impacts may be felt on a local scale, through the

presence of urban air pollutants or toxic substances
arising from a chemical waste site, or on a global scale,
through depletion of stratospheric ozone or global
warming.
 Biological Environment

 The natural biological factors (such as wild animals and

plants or bacteria) that affect human life (as in a
particular place or period).

 Example:

 “Friendly” bacteria, such as acidi and bifidus live in our

organism. They play a big role in a digestion process.
COMPONENTS OF ENVIRONMENT
 BIOTIC

 Ecosystems are made up of the interactions between

the living and non-living components within them.

 The living components of an ecosystem are known as

the “biotic factors” - living biological factors that
influence the other organisms or environment of an
ecosystem.

 Biotic factors interact as : Producers, consumers,

detrivores, decomposers, parasite, host, predator,
competitor, herbivore, symbiant and pathogen.
 Example:

 A tree in a woodland is a producer providing the basic

unit of energy for the rest of the ecosystem. But at the
same time it competes for light with other trees and may
be the host to parasitic plants such as mistletoe or
decomposing fungi. During the annual cycle in the wood,
the tree will at times take water and mineral nutrients
from the soil and at others return nutrients from fallen
wood and leaves.
 ABIOTIC

 The abiotic components are also known as the abiotic

factors.

 The abiotic factors in ecology consist of the non-living

and physical factors of the environment.

 Non-living components like pH value, solids, water,

intensity of light as energy source, temperature of the
atmosphere, humidity, physical factors of land like
altitude, gradient and region and microclimate.
 The abiotic components have a strong influence on the
distribution, behavior, relationship and structure of the
living organisms.
 IMPLICATION BETWEEN HUMANS TO THE
ENVIRONMENT

 The interaction between humans and the environment is

a fundamental theme for world history.

 The environment shaped human societies, but,

increasingly, human societies also affected the
environment.

 During prehistory, humans interacted with the

environment as hunters, fishers and foragers, and human
migrations led to the peopling of the earth.
 As the revolution began, humans exploited their
environments more intensively, either as farmers or
pastoralists.

 Environmental factors such as rainfall patterns, climate,

and available flora and fauna shaped the methods of
exploitation used in different regions.

 Human exploitation of the environment intensified as

populations grew and as people migrated into new
regions.
 As people flocked into cities or established trade
networks, new diseases emerged and spread, sometimes
devastating an entire region.

 During the Industrial Revolution, environmental

exploitation increased exponentially.

 In recent centuries, human effects on the environment

and the ability to master and exploit it — increased with
the development of more sophisticated technologies, the
exploitation of new energy sources and a rapid increase in
human populations.
IMPLICATION BETWEEN ENVIRONMENT TO
THE HUMANS
TECHNOLOGY

 Technologies can create “order” in the human economy

(i.e., order as manifested in buildings, factories,
transportation networks, communication systems, etc.)
only at the expense of increasing “disorder” in the
environment.
TRANSPORT

 The environmental impact of transport is significant

because it is a major user of energy, and burns most of
the world's petroleum. This creates air pollution,
including nitrous oxides and particulates, and is a
significant contributor to global warming through
emission of carbon dioxide, for which transport is the
fastest-growing emission sector. Road transport is the
largest contributor to global warming.
MINING

 The environmental impact of mining includes erosion,

formation of sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, and
contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water by
chemicals from mining processes. In some cases,
additional forest logging is done in the vicinity of mines
to increase the available room for the storage of the
created debris and soil. Besides creating environmental
damage, the contamination resulting from leakage of
chemicals also affect the health of the local population.
MANUFACTURED PRODUCT

 Nanotechnology

– Nanotechnology's environmental impact can be split into two

aspects: the potential for nanotechnological innovations to help
improve the environment, and the possibly novel type of
pollution that nanotechnological materials might cause if
released into the environment.

 Paint

 Traditional painting materials and processes can have harmful

effects on the environment, including those from the use of lead
and other additives.
 Paper

 With the use of modern technology such as the printing press and
the highly mechanised harvesting of wood, paper has become a
cheap commodity. This has led to a high level of consumption and
waste.

 Pesticides

 Pesticide contaminates land and water when it escapes from

production sites and storage tanks, when it runs off from fields,
when it is discarded, when it is sprayed aerially, and when it is
sprayed into water to kill algae. Some pesticides contribute to
global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer.
ENERGY INDUSTRY

 Biodiesel

 The environmental impact of biodiesel is diverse. It includes

greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, biodegradation,
biodegradation in aquatic environments, and carbonyl emissions.

 Nuclear power

 The environmental impact of nuclear power results from the

nuclear fuel cycle processes including mining, processing,
transporting and storing fuel and radioactive fuel waste. Released
radioisotopes pose a health danger to human populations, animals
and plants as radioactive particles enter organisms through
various transmission routes.
 Oil shale industry

 The environmental impact of the oil shale industry includes the

consideration of issues such as land use, waste management,
and water and air pollution caused by the
extraction and processing of oil shale. Surface mining of
oil shale deposits causes the usual environmental impacts of
open-pit mining. In addition, the combustion and thermal
processing generate waste material, which must be disposed
of, and harmful atmospheric emissions, including carbon
dioxide, a major greenhouse gas.
AGRICULTURE

 Fishing

 The environmental impact of fishing can be divided into issues

that involve the availability of fish to be caught, such as
overfishing, sustainable fisheries, and fisheries management;
and issues that involve the impact of fishing on other elements of
the environment, such as by-catch.

 Meat production

 The environmental impact of meat production includes pollution

and the use of resources such as fossil fuels, water, and land.
 Topsoil loss

 The industrialization of agriculture during the last 150 years,

specifically the widespread use of fossil fuel powered farm
machinery for plowing, has resulted in massive top soil loss.
Soils are currently lost at the rate of inches per decade while it
takes hundreds of years for one inch of new topsoil to form.
IMPROVING ENVIRONMENT QUALITY

 Approaches to Environment Protection.

 Voluntary environmental agreements

In industrial countries, voluntary environmental agreements
often provide a platform for companies to be recognized
for moving beyond the minimum regulatory standards and
thus support the development of best environmental
practice.
In developing countries, such as throughout Latin America,
these agreements are more commonly used to remedy
significant levels of non-compliance with mandatory
regulation.
 Ecosystems approach

An ecosystems approach to resource management and

environmental protection aims to consider the complex
interrelationships of an entire ecosystem in decision making
rather than simply responding to specific issues and challenges.
Ideally the decision-making processes under such an approach
would be a collaborative approach to planning and decision
making that involves a broad range of stakeholders across all
relevant governmental departments, as well as representatives of
industry, environmental groups and community which ideally
supports a better exchange of information, development of
conflict-resolution strategies and improved regional conservation.
 International environmental agreements

Many of the earth’s resources are especially vulnerable

because they are influenced by human impacts across
many countries. As a result of this, many attempts are
made by countries to develop agreements that are signed
by multiple governments to prevent damage or manage
the impacts of human activity on natural resources. This
can include agreements that impact factors such as
climate, oceans, rivers and air pollution.
COPENHAGEN SUMMIT
 7- 18 December, representatives from over 200
countries attempted to forge a legally binding
international environmental agreement at the
United Nations Climate Change Conference in
Copenhagen, Denmark. Some 45,000 others
participated directly or indirectly at the sidelines.