Environmental Education Chapter 1 PDF

UNIT -1 BASIC CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENT Environment. The term environment means surroundings. It comes from the French word environner (toencircle or to surround ). It is a composite term for the conditions in which organisms live and thus consists of air, water, soil and sunlight which are th...

UNIT -1 BASIC CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENT Environment. The term environment means surroundings. It comes from the French word environner (toencircle or to surround ). It is a composite term for the conditions in which organisms live and thus consists of air, water, soil and sunlight which are the basic needs of all living beings and plant life to carry on their life functions. The environment also includes temperature, wind, energy etc. Thus it consists of both biotic and abiotic components. Environment creates favourable conditions for the existence and development of living things. Environment may be defined in a number of ways - e It can be defined as the circumstances or conditions that surround an organism or a group of organisms. Environment is the sum of all social, economical, biological, physical or chemical factors which constitute the surroundings of man, who is both the creator and moulder of his environment. Components of Environment : Environment consists of the following three components 1. Abiotic component or non-living component 2. Biotic component or living component 3. Energy component The abiotic or physical environment is subdivided into three categories i. Lithosphere (solid) ii. Hydrosphere (liquid) ii. Atmosphere (gas) The biotic component consists of flora and fauna including man. The energy component includes solar energy, geothermal energy, hydroelectrical energy, atomic energy etc.  2 Environmental Education Environmental Segments : There are four segments of the environment. 1. Atmosphere 2. Hydrosphere 3. Lithosphere 4. Biosphere 1. Atmosphere : The earth is the only planet in the solar system capable of supporting life. The supporting property of our planet is due to its unique atmosphere. It is the protective blanket of gases surrounding the earth which sustains life on earth and saves it from the hostile environment of the outer space. It absorbs most of the cosmic rays from the outer space and a major portion of the electromagnetic radiation from the sun. It filters out tissue damaging ultra violet radiations. The atmosphere plays a key role in maintaining the heat balance of the earth through absorption of infra red radiation emitted by the sun and reemitted from the earth. Composition of the atmosphere : Major components Nitrogen, N, (78.09 % ) Oxygen, 0,(20.94 9% ) Minor components Argon, Ar (9.34 x 10% ) Carbon dioxide, CO, (3.25 x 102% ) Trace gases Neon, helium, methane, water vapour, krypton, nitrous oxide, Xenon, hydrogen, sulphurdioxide, ozone, ammonia, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide etc. The atmosphere is the source of oxygen, essential for life on earth. The atmosphere is the source of carbon dioxide, essential for  Basic Concept of Environment 3 plant photosynthesis. The atmosphere also supplies nitrogen to yield chemically bound nitrogen ( protein ) essential for life. The atmosphere may be broadly classified into four regions. Region Altitude Temp. Important range (Km) range (°C) chemical species |Troposphere 0-11 15 to -56 N,0,Co,H,0 Stratosphere 1| 50 -56 to -2 0, Mesosphere 50 - 85 -2 to -92 0,, NO* Thermosphere 85 500 -92 to 1200 0,, 0*, NO+ The ozone (0,) present in the stratosphere plays an important role for us. It acts as a protective shield for life on earth from the injurious effects of the sun's ultra violet radiations. 2. Hydrosphere The hydrosphere includes all types of water resources - oceans, seas,rivers, lakes, reservoirs, glaciers, polar icecaps and ground water (water below the earth's surface ). Earth is flooded with water, a total volume of about 1400 million cubic kilometres cover 71% of earth's surface. Yet, in many locations, it is still difficult to obtain desired amount of water of suitable quality. About 97% of the earth's water supply is in the ocean, which is unfit for human consumption and other uses because ofits salinity. Only 3% is fresh water. 79% ofthis 3% is locked in the polar icecaps and glaciers, 20% is locked as underground water and only 1% is readily available water (found in rivers, lakes, streams, reservoirs) for direct human use. 3.Lithosphere : This is the outer mantle of the solid earth consisting of minerals and soil. Soil comprises a complex mixture of minerals, organic matters, air and water. The soil is the most important part of the lithosphere. The soil is a storehouse of minerals, reservoir of water,  4 Environmental Education conserver of soil fertility, producer of crops, home of wildlife and livestock. 4. Biosphere: Biosphere is the layer on the earth in which life can exist. The layer extends about 6 - 8 km up into the atmosphere and as much as 8-10 km below into the depth of the sea. Thus it denotes therealm of living organisms and their interactions with the environment i.e. atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere. The biosphere and the environment are influenced considerably by each other. Environmental Education : There was a time when everything around us was pure and safe. The air, water and soil were in balanced condition. The nature itself was very much enjoyable. In primitive days, the limited needs of man did not disturb the harmony with nature. Because population was less. But in subsequent years, the population has increased manifold. Science and technological advancement accelerated and the environmental degradation started. With the increase in population, the attempts to make life more and more comfortable, man destroys the forests thoughtlessly, pollutes air and water recklessly, spoils the nature ruthlessly. Environmental problems have attracted the attention of a wide section of people allover the world during the last few decades. People are becoming increasingly conscious of the variety of environmental problems today. Nature's precious resources are getting depleted because of indiscriminate and unplanned activities of man. World educators and the environmental specialists have repeatedly pointed out that any solution to the environmental crisis will require environmental awareness and clear understanding of the problem and hence the answer of all these is the Environmental Education Education always plays a vital role for creating healthy attitude, skills and dissemination of knowledge. That is why the Stockholm  Basic Concept of Environment 5 conference on human environment in 1972 emphasized the need for environmentally oriented education. It is not a new discipline and should not be treated as new discipline rather a new dimension in education system. In short, it can be said that environmental education is education through environment, about environment and for the environment. Environmental education is the educational process dealing with man's relationship with his natural and man-made surroundings and includes the relation of population, pollution, resource allocation and depletion, conservation, transportation technology and urban and rural planning to the total human environment. Environmental education is the process of recognizing values and clarifying concepts in order to develop skills and attitudes necessary to understand and appreciate the interrelatedness among man, his culture and his biophysical surroundings. The report of the first intergovernmental conference of environmental education held at Tbilisi ( USSR,1977 ) is the single most important document which provides broad guidelines for environmental education. The declaration decreed that environmental education should: be interdisciplinary in its approach consider the holistic environment be continuous, beginning at preschool level and continuing through all the formal and non formal stages examine the major environmental issues critically from the local, regional, national and international points of view dwell on the current and future environmental trends and scenario help learners discover the symptoms and real causes of environmental problems and plan accordingly finally strive to promote the value and necessity of local, national and international cooperation in solving environmental problems.  6 Environmental Education The objectives and the guiding principles for environmental education are - 1. Awareness and sensitivity to the environment and environmental challenges 2. Knowledge and understanding of the environment and environmental challenges 3. Attitude of concern for the environment and motivation to improve or maintain environmental quality 4. Skills to identify and help resolve environmental challenges 5. Participation in activities that lead to the resolution of environmental challenges. Multidisciplinary nature : Environmentaleducation is amultidisciplinary subject. In order to know the environment and its different complex phenomena, one requires knowledge from various disciplines. Subjects like botany, zoology, biotechnology, bioengineering, microbiology, genetics, biochemistry etc. help in understanding biotic components and their interactions. The basic knowledge ofphysics, chemistry, mathematics, statistics help in understanding the different phenomena in the environment. Computer science and information technology is a part and parcel of environmental education. Similarly, for control of pollution, environmental engineering is essential. Other branches of engineering e.g. chemical, civil, mechanical including new innovative technologies have been involved in protecting the environment. Green chemistry finds its distinct and well specific role in protecting the degraded environment. Subjects like sociology, economics, education, philosophy are involved in a number of ways. Environmental laws are always enacted for the protection of the environment. So environmental education carries the multidisciplinary nature where different aspects are dealt with holistic approach.  Basic Concept of Environment Need for environmental awareness : The world today is confronted with the great problem of environmental degradation and pollution. Different types ofpollution, fast depleting forest resources, rapid population explosion, expanding industrialization, unplanned urbanization, mining, soil erosion etc have created ecological imbalances in recent years. Man's quest for economic development has been mainly responsible for the ruthless exploitation of natural resources. Moreover highly materialistic, greedy and luxurious life style attitude ofhuman race indiscriminately exploited or imprudently destroyed the natural resources. All these activities have become a threat to the very existence of a number of living organisms So creation of public awareness is must to protect the environment from further deterioration. Environmental problems can be best addressed if the people become environmentally aware. No Government can solve these problems by simply implementing certain environmental protection rules if people are not co-operating. People are to be environmentally educated. They should be able to learn that if wedegrade our environment today, we will have to suffer tomorrow and our future generation willbe in great danger. We are a part of the environment and it is our duty to protect it. Questions What is environment ? 2 What are the different components of the environment ? 3 What are the different segments of the environment ? 4 Mention the major components of the atmosphere. 5 What is the role of ozone present in the stratosphere ? 6 What do you mean by environmental education ? 7. What are the broad guidelines of environmental education ? 8. Mention the basic principles of environmental education. 9. Discuss the multidisciplinary nature of environmental education. 10. How do environmental awareness help to protect our environment ?