Environment unit i

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UNIT I
CONCEPT AND RELEVANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
Environment
The term environment has been derived from the word, “environ”, which means
‘surround’. Everything which surrounds us may be collectively termed as environment. The
surrounding may include non-living or abiotic and living or biotic components.
In short, ‘environment is the sum total of all living and non-living things around us
which influence one another’.
Types of environment
Environment is of two types,
 Natural environment
 Man-made environment
Components of environment
Natural environment
Natural environment has two components, Biotic (all living components) and abiotic
(all non-living components). The biosphere indicates the entire life in the Earth.
Environment
Natural environment Man-made environment
Biotic Abiotic Economic Cultural Psychosocial
Atmosphere
(Air)
Hydrosphere Lithosphere
Air Water Soil

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Biotic component
The Biotic components include atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water), and lithosphere
(soil).
Atmosphere
The gaseous envelop surrounding the Earth is called atmosphere. It filters
sunlight before reaching the earth, affects climatic and acts as a reservoir of several elements
essential for the maintenance of life. The atmosphere surrounding the earth consists of a
series of layers – troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and ionosphere.
Troposphere
Troposphere is the lowermost layer of atmosphere. This extends to a
level of about 11 km. The cold layer (-560C) at the top of troposphere is called tropopause.
The cold region causes condensation of water vapour.
Stratosphere
The layer just above the troposphere is the stratosphere. It is a very
stable region, where the temperature increases with altitude. The ozone content of the
stratosphere is very significant because this shields the earth from the harmful UV radiation.
It extends up to an altitude of 50 km.
Mesosphere
Above stratosphere, there is another layer, mesosphere which extends
up to an altitude of 85 km.
Thermosphere
The layer above mesosphere is the thermosphere which extends from
85 km.
Ionosphere
Above thermosphere is the ionosphere where matter exists in an
ionized state.
Hydrosphere
About three-fourth of the earth’s surface is covered by hydrosphere, the main
component of which is water. It includes liquid water, water vapour and snow. Waters in the
oceans, in rivers, in lakes and ponds, in ice sheets, glaciers and snow fields, in the saturated
and unsaturated zones below ground and in the air above ground are all part of the
hydrosphere.

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Lithosphere
The solid part of the earth is called lithosphere. The lithosphere is
multilayered, the layers being crust, mantle and outer and inner core. The outermost layer is
the crust with soil supporting rich and varied biological communities.
Man-made environment
Man-made environment has three components- economic, cultural and psychosocial.
Economic component
Made by man to satisfy needs through production, exchange, consumption,
urbanization and industrialization.
Cultural component
It is the customs and beliefs, art/way of life and social organization of
particular country or group.
Psychosocial component
Behaviour and character, morality etc of individual. These characters are by
social environment. Social interactions are in the form of co-operation, competition, conflict
etc.
Ecosystem
Any area or unit of nature that includes living organisms and non-living substances
interacting to produce an exchange of material between living and non-living parts is an
ecosystem.
An ecosystem may be defined as a specific unit of all the organisms occupying a
given area which interact with physical environment producing distinct trophic structure and
material cycling.
Types of ecosystem
On the basis of nature, ecosystem may be of the following two types,
Natural ecosystem
It is self-regulating ecosystem without any major interference by man. Forests,
lakes, rivers etc., are examples of natural ecosystem.
Artificial ecosystem
It is man-made and is maintained artificially by planned manipulation.

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Components of an ecosystem
Biotic
Biotic component constitute the living components of the ecosystem. The various
biotic components of the environment can be grouped as follows.
Producers
The living organisms which prepare food their own are called producers. All
green plants are capable of utilizing solar energy to produce starch from water and carbon
dioxide by the process of photosynthesis. So all green plants are producers.
Consumers
The organisms which depend on producers either directly or indirectly for
their survival are consumers.
Herbivores
The organisms who directly consume the producers are called herbivores
Ecosystem
Biotic Abiotic Energyflow Nutrientflow
Biotic
Producers Consumers Decomposers
Consumers
Herbivores Carnivores Omnivores

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Eg: cow, deer etc.
Carnivores
The organisms which feed up on the herbivores are called carnivores. The flesh eating
organisms are called carnivores.
Eg: lion, tiger, fox etc.
Omnivores
The organisms which eat both green plants as well as meat are called omnivores.
Eg: human beings
Primary consumer – organism feed on producers
Secondary consumer – organism feed on primary consumers
Tertiary consumer – organism feed on secondary consumers
Decomposers
These are the microbes who act on the dead bodies of producers and consumers. The
organisms which feed on the dead bodies are generally termed as decomposers.
Abiotic components
It constitutes all the non-living components in ecosystem. The abiotic components can
be classified into three.
Inorganic compound
About 40 elements are required in the various life process. Some of these
elements are Na,K,Ca, P,S,H,O, etc.
Grass Grasshopper Frog Snake Eagle
Abiotic
Inorganiccompound Organiccompound Climaticfactors

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Organic compounds
Major organic compounds are carbohydrates, proteins, lipid.
Climatic factors
Climatic factors include temperature, humidity, rainfall, sunlight. The proper
level of these factors is essential for the survival of the living beings and ecosystem as a
whole.
Energy flow
Living organisms require energy to perform all of their biological activities. Energy
flow from one organism to another in an ecosystem. The ultimate source of entire energy
used by living organisms is the solar energy. The green plants convert this solar energy into
chemical energy through the process of photosynthesis and thus stored as food energy. This
food energy is consumed by all other organisms.
Nutrient flow
The cycling of nutrients acts as a link between biotic and abiotic components. Any
food or element required by an organism to live, grow or to reproduce is called a nutrient.
Depending on the amount it needed, the nutrients are classified into macro and micro
nutrients.
Macro nutrient – which are needed in large quantity
Eg: carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen etc.
Micro nutrient – which are needed in small quantity
Eg: iron, copper, zinc, iodine etc.
Ecological balance
The ecological balance is the equilibrium between and harmonious co-existence of
organisms and their environment. Ecological balance can be defined as a state of dynamic
equilibrium within a community of organisms in which genetic, species and ecosystem
diversity remain relatively stable, subject to gradual changes through natural succession. In
short it is the stable balance in the number of each species in an ecosystem.
Nutrients
Macro nutrient Micro nutrient

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Environmental education
Environmental education is regarded as a permanent process. Through this process,
individuals and the community gain awareness of their environment and acquire knowledge,
values, skills and experiences about it.
Definition
UNESCO working committee (1970) defined environment education as,
“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. It also entails
practice in decision-making and self-formulation of a code of behaviour about problems and
issues concerning environmental quality”.
According to Mishra (1993),”Environmental education appears to be a process
that equips human being with awareness, knowledge, skills, attitudes and commitment to
improve environment”.
National environmental education advisory council defines environmental
education as, “environmental education is a learning process that increases people’s
knowledge and awareness about the environment and associated challenges, develops the
necessary skills and expertise to address these challenges, and fosters attitudes, motivations
and commitments to make informed decisions and take responsible action.
Scope of environmental education
The scope of environmental education can be studied in four components
 Awareness
 Real life situation
 Conservation
 Sustainable development
Awareness
In this, an effort is made to make the individual conscious about physical,
biological and cultural aspects of environment. The environment is linked with the life
support system comprising of 6 components- air, land, water, flora, fauna and sunlight.
Real life situations
This situation link environment to life. As conditions are location- specific,
problems and priorities of each area are different.

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Conservation
This encompasses utilization of natural resources not only by the present but
also by the future generations. It does not include the process of exploitation.
Sustainable development
This process aims at the sensible utilization of resources for development. All
resources are finite and there is also a limit to the growth of the living system. In effect, one
should utilize the limited natural resources wisely and with intelligence.
The general scope of environmental education can be summarized as follows,
a. Environment education should be a continuous lifelong process.
b. It should adopt an interdisciplinary approach
c. Promote international cooperation in the prevention and solution of environmental
problems
d. Ensure that environmental aspects have a place in plans for development and growth.
e. Enable learners to discover the symptoms and real causes of environmental problems.
Importance of environmental education
The importance of environmental education can be stated as follows,
1. It is essential for the self-fulfillment and social development of the child and the adult.
2. It is essential for understanding the different food chains and the nature’s ecological
balance.
3. It plays an important role in understanding and appreciating how the environment is
used for making a living and promoting material culture.
4. It enables one to appreciate and enjoy nature and society.
5. It inculcates a concern for the systematic change of environment for the distant and
the immediate welfare of mankind.
6. It makes one conscious of the problems of population explosion, depletion of natural
resources, global warming etc.
Need for environmental education
Environmental stress may or may not touch people’s lives in ways which are
conscious and about which they can protest, but they are always the sum total of living
things, the biosphere. Acid rain, desertification, global warming, ozone layer depletion,
pollution of air, water and soil, radioactive contamination of large areas, and species
extinction are some of the most urgent environmental threats to be dealt with now and in the
future. These problems are serious, interdependent and characterized in most cases by a
dimension in space and time.
Today, environmental education is an important segment within the educational
system. In some countries, it also constitutes a political-pedagogical action programme to be
developed and pursued by social groups, government, the scientific community and

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educational activities consciously confronting and attempting to overcome the environment
crisis.
Environmental education has a single, clearly defined and multifaceted object: the
environment crisis. Environmental learning is learning about the factors, causes and solutions
to environmental crises. Learning about the environment is immediate reaction to concrete
problems in management of natural resources.
Environmental education seeks to develop the ability to assess environmental
situations and the casual chain of relationships leading to environmental damage; the
interaction among social, economic, and physical factors; mutually related and overlapping
developments, networks and feedback; responsibility for the future generations economy and
care in the use of natural resources; respect for nature and life; recognition of the limits of
nature, human action and self-restriction and acquiring an ability to perceive nature.
Environmental education aims at ultimately far reaching and manifold behavioural
changes in everyday life and the workplace. The guiding principle and pedagogical ideal of
environmental education is the environmentally responsible consumer, industrial producer,
employee, citizen, policy-maker, traveller, athlete, tourist and the farmer- every individual
who is aware of nature and lives in harmony with it. In fact, environment is one of the key
elements of a teaching-learning exchange.
Objectives of environmental education
Awareness – To develop an awareness of environment and its allied problems.
Knowledge – Help in acquiring the knowledge of environment and associated problems.
Understanding – To develop a basic understanding of structure, process and problems of
environment.
Skill – To help in acquiring skills for identifying and solving environmental problems.
Attitude – To develop attitudes, a set of values and feelings of concern for the environment
and encouragement for active participation in protection and improvement of environment.
Participation – To provide an opportunity for the active participation working for solution of
environmental problems.
Evaluation ability – To develop an ability for evaluating the environmental components and
educational programmes in terms of economic, social, cultural and educational factors.
Principles of environmental education
 Provide environmental education from preschool from all higher levels
 It should be interdisciplinary in approach.
 Emphasizing active participation in prevention and solution of environmental
problems.

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 Examining the major environmental issues.
Environmental education at various levels.
Primary level
The main objective of primary education level is to give awareness of environment. In
this stage, emphasis should be mostly on building up awareness, followed by real-life
situations and conservation. Here attempt should be to only sensitize the child about
environment. The main aim is to develop love for nature in children’s, i.e., to bring them into
contact with beauty of nature. Colourful scenes and beautiful songs of different types of birds
may be an inspiration for them.
Activities
 Conduct visit to school garden, hills
 Encourage them to maintain garden.
 Encourage them to avoid using of plastics.
 Encourage them to keep their environment neat and clean.
 Stories and rhymes related to environment can be taught the students.
 Encourage them to prepare a picture album.
 To construct and maintain vegetables garden.
 To aware them about harmful effect of plastics and encourage them to use
ecofriendly product.
Secondary level
The main objective of secondary education level is to understand the relevance for
real-life situation of environment. The contents to be used are those used at primary school
level supplemented with general science.
Activities
 Conduct fieldtrips
 Encourage gardening
 Encourage planting of trees.
 Give guidelines for preparation of compost
 Encourage keeping school surroundings clean.
 Projects related to environmental problems can be given
 To conduct seminars related to deforestation, global warming, pollution,
natural resources, study of birds, climatic changes etc.
 Environmental day’s celebration.
 To encourage them to preserve rainwater.
 Conduct drawing, essay writing competitions related to environment.

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Higher secondary level
The main objective is to acquire skills to conservation of natural resource of
environment. Here emphasis must be on conservation, assimilation of knowledge, problem
identification action skills. The content used may be science based and action oriented work.
There should be proper teaching, practical and field work.
College level
Maximum emphasis should be on knowledge regarding sustainable development
based on experience with conservation. The content must be college based on science and
technology.
Teaching practical’s and action oriented field work is to be done.
University education
Environmental education at this level is being looked after by UGC. There are about
ten universities for teaching environmental science. The university education has three major
components.
 Teaching
 Research
 Extension programmes
At post graduate level, there are four components
 Environment engineering
 Conservation of management
 Environmental health
 Social ecology
Environment engineering
It includes subject like civil engineering, town planning, human settlement,
slum improvement, landscape architecture, industrial designing, urban ecosystem etc.
Conservation of management
It includes field like land use, forestry, agriculture, waste management, wild
life management, national park, biosphere reserves, biological diversity, water management,
mining, renewable energy development.
Environmental health
It deals with public health and hygiene, chemical engineering, toxicology,
nutrition and drug use etc.

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Social ecology
Includes subject like ecology, sociology, social planning, community
organization, psychology and counseling and environmental ethics and areas related to
humanities.
There are some institute and centres assisted by department of environment which provide
environment training in environmental areas.
 Centre for Environmental Education (CEE), Ahmedabad
 Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal
 Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (INFA), Dehradun.