Environmental Science

                                 Environmental Science

1. ENS - ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
2. ENS 301 - ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND AGROECOLOGY

Environmental Science - Introduction

The word environment is derived from the French verb ‘environner’ which means
to ‘encircle or surround’. Thus our environment can be defined as the physical, chemical
and biological world that surround us as well as the complex of social and cultural
conditions affecting an individual or community. This broad definition includes the
natural world and the technological environment as well as the cultural and social
contexts that shape human lives. It includes all factors living and nonliving that affect an
individual organism or population at any point in the life cycle; set of circumstances
surrounding a particular occurrence and all the things that surrounds us.

Objective

 Objective of this course is to develop concern for our own environment which
will lead us to act at our own leve l to protect the environment we all live in. There are
three reasons for studying the state of the environment. The first, is the need for
information that clarifies modern environmental concepts like equitable use of natural
resources, more sustainable life styles etc. Second, there is a need to change the way in
which we view our own environment, using practical approach based on observation and
self learning. Third, there is a need to create a concern for our environment that will
trigger pro-environmental action, including simple activities we can do in our daily life to
protect it. Environmental science is essentially the application of scientific methods and
principles to the study of environmental issues, so it has probably been around in some
forms as long as science itself. Environmental science is often confused with other fields
of related interest, especially ecology, environmental studies, environmental education
and environmental engineering. Environmental science is not constrained with any one
discipline and it is a comprehensive field. Environmental science is not ecology though that discipline may be included. Ecologists are interested in the interactions between some kind of organisms and its
surroundings. Most ecological research and training does not focus on environmental
problems except as those problems impact the organism of interest. Environmental
scientists may or may not include organisms on their field of view. They mostly focus on
the environmental problem which may be purely physical in nature. For eg. Acid
deposition can be studied as a problem of emissions and characteristic of the atmosphere
without necessarily examining its impact on organisms.

There are two types of environments:

1. Natural environment
2. Man made environment

Natural: 

The environment in its original form without the interference of human beings
is known as natural environment. It operates through self regulating mechanism called
homeostasis i.e, any change in the natural ecosystem brought about by natural processes
is counter balanced by changes in other components of environment.

Man made or Anthropogenic Environment: 

The environment changed or modified by the interference of human beings is called man made environment. Man is the most evolved creature on this earth. He is modifying the environment according to his requirements without bothering for its consequences. Increased technologies and
population explosion are deteriorating the environment more and more.

Reference

TNAU - Tamilnadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore Materials And TNAU - Affiliated Private College Materials, TNAU Government College Materials, ICAR - Indian Council Of Agriculture Research, New Delhi Materials to Collected.