MULTIDISCIPLINARY NATURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

Madhuben Sharma

College of Engineering UPES. Dehradun.

Environment \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\]\\\\\\\\\]
An envelop which surrounds all living and non living beings and effects, directly or indirectly the sustenance of life on green and living planet earth.

Environment
The combination of external physical conditions that affect and influence the growth, development, and survival of organisms

Environment
Is the sum total of water, air and land and the interrelationships that exist among them and with the human beings ,other living organisms and materials.

Environment is a multidisciplinary Science which includes study of :

Chemistry Physics Geology Climatology Earth Sciences Engineering Modelling of weather/ecosystem Remote Sensing Maths Zoology Botany etc. etc...

OBJECTIVES: The environment can be protected by adopting the following strategies:

Maintenance of environmental quality

Balancing the ecosystem To restrict and regulate the exploitation of natural resources

To adopt engineered technology without creating adverse effects on the environment

To control over population and over consumption of resources To promote environmental education and training among people To formulate laws and regulations to control pollution

OBJECTIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION To help children and general public towards: Awareness: acquire sensitivity to the total environment and its allied problems. To create an overall understanding of the impacts and effects of behaviors and lifestyles - on both the local and global environments, and on the short-term and long-term Skill: acquire skills environmental problems. for identifying

To help individuals, groups and societies acquire the action competence or skills of environmental citizenship - in order to be able to identify and anticipate environmental problems and work with others to resolve, minimize and prevent them Knowledge. To know conservation of natural resources. To help individuals, groups and societies gain a variety of experiences in, and a basic understanding of, the knowledge and action competencies required for sustainable development

 Evaluation ability: to evaluate environs measures and education programmes in terms of social, economic, ecological and aesthetic factors. Values - to help individuals, groups and societies acquire feelings of concern for issues of sustainability as well as a set of values upon which they can make judgments about appropriate ways of acting individually and with others to promote sustainable development

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 Participation - to provide individuals, groups and societies with opportunities to be actively involved in exercising their skills of environmental citizenship and be actively involved at all levels in working towards sustainable development.

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 Reasons for including environmental education in engineering Curricula:

As future planners designers, builders and decision makers students shoulder special responsibility in protecting the integrity of nature and the natural environment.

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Four Environmental Spheres embedded with living Systems

Atmosphere

Hydrosphere

ENVIRONMENT Lithosphere

Biosphere
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KEY CONCEPTS AND DEFNITIONS: MATTER: Substance, which occupies space and has mass. CHEMISTRY: The science of matter- the study of the composition, structure and properties of matter and the changes that matter undergoes. ENERGY: The capacity to do work, such as causing a body of matter to move. The rate at which energy is transferred or moved. That is energy per unit time is called power. RESOURCES: Matter of specific kinds and energy needed by humans for their well being or existence.

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CLIMATE: The overall, long term characteristics of weather, including temperature, precipitation and, storms and wind patterns in an area.
POLLUTANT: A substance present in greater than natural concentration as a result of human activity and having a net detrimental effect upon its environment or upon something of value in that environment. BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITY: The total of all living organisms inhabiting in the specified area. A biological community and the environmental conditions that characterize it are termed a biome. A group of organisms of the same species in a biological community is called population. PRODUCTIVITY: Rate of production of biomass per unit time per unit area by organisms called productivity.
autecologythe study of individual species in relation to the environment
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Biotic : living components of the system, in nature.

Abiotic: non-living components of any system in nature

Industrial Ecology is the study of the relationship of living

organisms with their environment (industry).

Autotroph : is an organism that produces organic compounds from carbon dioxide as a carbon source, using either light or reactions of inorganic chemical compounds as a source of energy.
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Autecologythe study of individual species in relation to the environment Allee Effect is a phenomenon which describes a positive relation between population density and the per capita growth rate.

In other words, for smaller populations, the reproduction and

survival of individuals decreases. This effect usually saturates or disappears as populations get larger. * It is named after W. C. Allee.
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ECOLOGY
Original definition given by : Haeckel

Ecology = oikos logos (Greek words)

Oikos (house or dwelling place) & logos (the study of)

Ecology is the study of the relationship of organisms with their environment.

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Ecology is the scientific study of the processes influencing the distribution and abundance of organisms, the interactions among organisms, and

the interactions between organisms and the

transformation and flux of energy and matter.

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Industrial Ecology
Industrial Ecology is the scientific study of the driving forces that influence the flow of selected materials among economic processes, energy and matter.

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Domains of Industrial Ecology 1. Material extractor

Material Extractor Material Processor

2. Material processor / Manufacturer 3. Consumer 4. Waste processor

Waste processor

Consumer

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GREEN HOUSE EFFECT:

Atmospheric carbon dioxide, and a host of other gases, such as methane, nitrous oxide, troposphoric ozone and chlorofluorocarbons ( CFCs) transmit short wavelength radiations from the sun, while at the same time absorb long wavelength radiations from the earth.

As the concentration of these gases increases, less of earths long wavelength radiations escape into space.
The result is that the earths atmosphere is warming up. This global warming called Greenhouse effect, is said to be one of the most important environmental problems.

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DEFORESTATION: Removal of forests is called Deforestation. Deforestation is a worldwide phenomenon. *Every year about 11 trillion hectares of forests, an area larger than Australia, are destroyed. *In India, the pace of deforestation is estimated to be 1.5 billion hectare annually. i.e., every five years, forest area equivalent to the size of Haryana vanishes. Plant use large quantities of atmospheric carbon dioxide in photosynthesis. As a result of deforestation, an important sink of carbon dioxide is being eliminated.

Deforestation adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere in two ways: => firstly most of the trees are either burned or decomposed by bacteria, emitting carbon dioxide directly to the air. => Secondly, the deforested land is unable to restore carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. 23

EUTROPHICATION Natural eutrophication is the process by which lakes gradually age and become more productive.

It normally takes thousands of years to progress. However, humans, through their various cultural activities, have greatly accelerated this process in thousands of lakes around the globe. Cultural or anthropogenic "eutrophication" is water pollution caused by excessive plant nutrients.
Humans add excessive amounts of plant nutrients (primarily phosphorus, nitrogen, and carbon) to streams and lakes in various ways. Runoff from agricultural fields is one source of these nutrients. Untreated, or partially-treated, domestic sewage is another major 24 source.

Why Environmental Studies in UPES, A University with Oil

and Energy Domain

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<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2491317.stm>

Environmental Biology : The Science of LIFE

Environmental Biology is the science of life in relationship with corresponding environment.

World Environment day National wildlife week was

5 June 1-7 October

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