UNIT – 1 Chapter – 1
The Multidisciplinary
Nature of
Environmental Studies
Q.1 Comment on Multidisciplinary nature of environmental studies.
·Environmental studies is a multidisciplinary academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment in the interests of solving complex problems.
· Environmental studies bring together the principles of the physical sciences, commerce/economics and social sciences so as to solve contemporary environmental problems. It is a broad field of study that includes the natural environment, the built environment, and the sets of relationships between them.
· The field encompasses study in basic principles of ecology and environmental science, as well as associated subjects such as ethics, geography, anthropology, policy, politics, urban planning, law, economics, philosophy, sociology and social justice, planning, pollution control and natural resource management.
· It is an interdisciplinary subject examining the interplay between the social, legal, management, and scientific aspects of environmental issues. Interdisciplinary means that issues are examined from multiple perspectives. It focuses mainly on the scientific component of these environmental issues, environmental studies investigates the scientific and the humanitarian aspects.
· Environmental studies majors must first investigate the broad range of issues that our society is facing now and in the future. Broad issues to be addressed include population and consumption concerns, energy use, biodiversity, and global climate change. Each issue requires consideration of the political, social, and economic concerns, in addition to a scientific understanding.
1.2 : Natural Resources
Q.2 What are natural
resources? Give types of natural resources.
Ans.:
·
A natural resource is
what people can use which comes from the natural environment. Examples of
natural resources are air, water, wood, oil, wind energy, natural gas, iron, and
coal. The dividing line between natural resources and man-made resources is not
clear-cut.
·
Hydro-electric energy is not a natural resource because people
use turbines to convert the energy from moving water. Petroleum and iron ores are natural,
but need work to make them into usable refined oil and steel.
·
Atomic energy comes from metallic nuclear fuels, like fissionable
uranium and plutonium, but natural rocks need technical work to make them into
these nuclear fuels.
·
Natural resources are resources that
exist without actions of humankind. This includes all valued characteristics
such as magnetic, gravitational, electrical properties and forces etc. On earth
it includes: sunlight, atmosphere, water, land (includes all minerals) along with all
vegetation, crops and animal life that naturally subsists upon or within the
heretofore identified characteristics and substances.
·
Most natural resources are limited. This means they will
eventually run out. A perpetual resource has a never-ending supply. Some
examples of perpetual resources include solar energy, tidal energy, and wind
energy. There may be a limit to how much can be taken in a given day or year,
but that amount can be taken again next day or next year.
·
Some of the things influencing supply of resources include
whether it is able to be recycled, and the availability of suitable substitutes
for the material. Non-renewable resources cannot be recycled. For example,
fossil fuels.
·
Ever since the earth was inhabited, humans and other life forms
have depended on things that exist freely in nature to survive. These things
include water (seas and fresh water), land, soils, rocks, forests (vegetation),
animals (including fish), fossil fuels and minerals. They are called Natural
Resources and are the basis of life on earth. All these mentioned above are
natural, and they exist in nature. No human created them. We tap into their
supply to survive and also to function properly.
·
Natural resources are all connected in a way. Therefore if one is
taken away, it will affect the supply or quality of all others. For example, if
water is eliminated from an area, the vegetation, soils, animals and even the
air in that area will be affected negatively.
Fig. Shows
illustrations of some great things that we get from some natural resources.
·
Natural resources can be consumed directly or indirectly. For
instance, humans depend directly on forests for food, biomass, health,
recreation and increased living comfort.
Indirectly forests act as climate control, flood control, storm protection and
nutrient cycling.
·
Raw materials. Sometimes, natural resources can be used as raw
materials to produce something. For instance, we can use a tree from the forest
to produce timber. The timber is then
used to produce wood for furniture or pulp for paper and paper products. In
this scenario, the tree is the raw material. Every item in your home was made
from a raw material that came from a natural resource.
· The tea mug, electricity at home, bread, clothes, you name them: each of them came from a natural resource. Natural resources come in many forms. It may be a solid, liquid or gas. It may also be organic or inorganic. It may also be metallic or non-metallic. It may be renewable or non-renewable.
Types:
·
Biotic: Biotic resources
are obtained from the biosphere (living and organic material), such as forests
and animals, and the materials that can be obtained from them. Fossil fuels
such as coal and petroleum are also included in this category because they are formed from decayed organic
matter.
·
Abiotic: Abiotic resources
are those that come from non-living, non-organic material. Examples of abiotic
resources include land, fresh water, air, rare earth metals and heavy metals including ores such as gold, iron, copper, silver,
etc.
Considering
their stage of development, natural resources may be referred to in the
following ways:
·
Potential
resources:
Potential resources are those that may be used in the future - for example, petroleum in sedimentary rocks that, until drilled out
and put to use remains a potential resource.
·
Actual resources: Those resources that have been surveyed, quantified and qualified
and, are currently used - development, such as wood processing, depends on
technology and cost.
·
Reserve resources: The part of an
actual resource that can be developed profitably in the future.
·
Stock resources: Those that have
been surveyed, but cannot be used due to lack of technology - for example,
hydrogen
1.3: Renewable and Non-renewable Resources
Q.3 Explain about renewable and non-renewable resources.
Ans.:
Many natural resources can be categorized as either renewable or non-renewable:
Fig. Q.3.1
Renewable resources:
·
Renewable resources can be replenished naturally. Some of these resources, like sunlight, air, wind, water,
etc., are continuously available and their quantity is not noticeably affected
by human consumption. Though many renewable resources do not have such a rapid
recovery rate, these resources are susceptible to depletion by over-use.
Resources from a human use perspective are classified as renewable so long as
the rate of replenishment/recovery exceeds that of the rate of consumption.
They replenish easily compared to Non-renewable resources.
·
A renewable resource is one which can be used again and again.
For example, soil, sunlight and water are renewable resources. However, in some circumstances, even water is not
renewable easily. Wood is a renewable resource, but it takes time to renew and
in some places people use the land for something else. Soil, if it blows away,
is not easy to renew.
·
Renewable resources are
those that are constantly available (like water) or can be reasonably replaced
or recovered, like vegetative lands. Animals are also renewable because with a
bit of care, they can reproduce off springs to replace adult animals. Even
though some renewable resources can be replaced, they may take many years and
that does not make them renewable.
·
If renewable resources come from living things, (such as trees
and animals) they can be called organic renewable resources. If renewable
resources come from non-living things, (such
as water, sun and wind) they can be called inorganic renewable resources.
Non-renewable resources:
·
Non-renewable resources either form slowly or do not naturally
form in the environment. Minerals are the most common resource included in this category. By the human perspective,
resources are non-renewable when their rate of consumption exceeds the rate of
replenishment/recovery; a good example of this are fossil fuels, which are in
this category because their rate of formation is extremely slow (potentially
millions of years), meaning they are considered non-renewable.
·
Some
resources actually naturally deplete in amount without human interference, the
most notable of these being radio-active elements such as uranium, which
naturally decay into heavy metals. Of these, the metallic minerals can be
re-used by recycling them, but coal and petroleum cannot be recycled. Once they
are completely used they take millions of years to replenish.
·
A
non-renewable resource is a resource that does not grow and come back, or a
resource that would take a very long time to come back. For example, coal is a
non-renewable resource. When we use coal, there is less coal afterward. The
non-renewable resource can be used directly (for example, burning oil to cook),
or we can find a renewable resource to use Non-renewable resources are those
that cannot easily be replaced once they are destroyed.
·
Examples
include fossil fuels. Minerals are also non-renewable because even though they
form naturally in a process called the rock cycle, it can take thousands of
years, making it non- renewable.
·
Some
animals can also be considered non-renewable, because if people hunt for a
particular species without ensuring their reproduction, they will be extinct.
This is why we must ensure that we protect resources that are endangered.
·
Non-renewable
resources can be called inorganic resources if they come from non-living
things. Examples include include, minerals, wind, land, soil and rocks. Some
non-renewable resources come from living things - such as fossil fuels. They
can be called organic non-renewable resources.
Importance :
·
Natural
resources are available to sustain the very complex interaction between living
things and non-living things. Humans also benefit immensely from this
interaction. All over the world. people consume resources directly or
indirectly.
·
Developed
countries consume resources more than under- developed countries.
·
The world
economy uses around 60 billion tonnes of resources each year to produce the
goods and services which we all consume. On the average, a person in Europe
consumes about 36 kg of resources per day; a person in North America consumes
about 90 kg per day, a person in Asia consumes about 14 kg and a person in
Africa consumes about 10 kg of resources per day. The three major forms include
Food and drink, Housing and infrastructure., and Mobility. These three make up
more than 60 % of resource use.
·
Food and drink : This includes agricultural products as well as naturally
occurring foods such as game, fish from fresh water and seas, seeds and nuts,
medicines, herbs and plants. They also include drinking water, as well as water
for sanitation and household use. Think of ceramic plates, silverware (spoons,
forks and knives), cans, milk packages, paper and plastic cups - they are all
made from raw materials which come from our natural resources.
·
Mobility : This includes automobiles, trains, water vessels, airplanes,
together with all the fuel that powers them. Can you imagine where all the raw
materials used in their production came from?
·
Housing and infrastructure : Think about all the houses, public places, roads and
constructed objects you have in your city or town. Think about all the energy
for heating and cooling that we consume in our homes can you imagine where all
the wood, metals, plastic, stone and other materials came from? Beyond these
three major areas of resource consumption, we consume much more resources from
our environment on a daily basis. The role of natural resources in sustaining
life on earth is extremely important and we must ensure that we protect the
environment and also make it easy for it to replenish itself naturally.
Distribution of Natural Resources :
·
Natural
resources are not evenly distributed all over the world. Some places are more
endowed that others for instance, some regions have lots of water (and access
to ocean and seas). Others have lots of minerals and forestlands. Others have
metallic rocks, wildlife, fossil fuels and so on.
·
For
example, The US has the world's largest coal reserves with 491 bilion short tons accounting
for 27 %
of the world's total. Australia is the world's largest net exporter of coal
accounting for 29
% of global coal exports.
·
China
remains the largest producer of gold with a 14
% share of the global production.
The United States, Russia, and Canada are the leading producers of timber and
pulp. Annual exports of primary and secondary wood products from tropical
forests have exceeded US$ 20
billion in recent years and further increases are anticipated. Many countries
have developed their economies by using their natural resources.
·
Some also
get a lot of income from their resources in the form of tourism and recreation.
Brazil and Peru for example, make a lot of money from The Amazon Forests, which
is super diverse in trees and animals. Crude oil is another important natural
resource.
·
From Crude
oil, we get many petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and gas. We use
these to fuel our cars and provide energy to warm and cool our homes. But Crude
oil is not evenly distributed all over the world. Below is an illustration of
how much each region of the world produces.