Environment: Meaning, Scope, Types, and Structure Explained

 

🌍 Environment: Introduction, Types, and Components

🧪 Introduction

Environmental Studies is a multidisciplinary academic field that integrates knowledge from chemistry, physics, medicine, life sciences, agriculture, public health, and engineering. It focuses on understanding the natural world and how physical phenomena affect all living organisms.

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🌱 What is Environment?

The environment includes all external factors—physical, biological, social, and cultural—that influence the development and survival of living beings. In simpler terms, it's the sum of everything around us—air, water, soil, organisms, and even social systems.

✳️ Three Key Environmental Questions:

1. What is Environment?
   It refers to all living beings, especially humans, and their interaction with their surroundings.

2. How Are We Surrounded?
   It includes physical features and natural settings such as air, water, soil, and other life forms.

3. Where Are We Surrounded?
   The environment exists in specific locations with physical components that sustain life on Earth.

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📚 Definitions of Environment

1. Boring’s Definition:
   “A person’s environment includes all stimuli received from conception to death,” including physical, economic, social, cultural, and moral forces.

2. Douglas and Holland’s Definition:
   Environment is all external influences that affect the life and growth of organisms.

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🧭 Scope of the Environment

The environment can be divided into four major components:

1. Atmosphere

The gaseous layer around Earth that:

• Supports life

• Protects from harmful radiation

• Filters ultraviolet rays

• Regulates temperature

2. Hydrosphere

Includes all water resources:

• Oceans (97%)

• Icecaps and glaciers (2%)

• Freshwater bodies (1%)

3. Lithosphere

The solid outer part of Earth that includes soil, rocks, and minerals.

4. Biosphere

The zone where life exists, including interaction between living organisms and their environment.

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⚙️ Components of Environment

The environment is made up of interlinked systems:

1. Physical Components

Space, landforms, water, air, soil, and minerals that shape our surroundings.

2. Biological Components

Living organisms like plants, animals, bacteria, and humans.

3. Cultural Components

Man-made aspects including economic, social, and political systems.

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🌐 Types of Environment

As defined by Kurt Lewin, environment can be categorized into:

1. Physical Environment

Geographic and climatic conditions that influence human life.

2. Social Environment

The social, political, and economic surroundings of individuals.

3. Psychological Environment

Each person’s unique mental and emotional interpretation of their surroundings.

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🧩 Structure of the Environment

Environment consists of both physical and biological aspects.

A. Physical Environment

Three main parts:

• Lithosphere (solid)

• Hydrosphere (liquid)

• Atmosphere (gas)

It is further divided into:

• Mountain, Plateau, Glacier, Coastal Environments, etc.

B. Biological Environment

• Flora (plants)

• Fauna (animals)
  Together they form ecosystems and influence social environments.

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🎯 Conclusion

The environment is not just the natural world around us—it is a dynamic system made up of physical, biological, and human-made components. Understanding it helps us live more sustainably and make informed decisions for a better future.