Get summay, questions, answers, solutions, notes, extras, PDF, competency-based questions of chapter- 1/unit- I, Basic Concept of Environment: AHSEC Class 11 Environmental Education, which is part of the present syllabus. These solutions, however, should only be treated as references and can be modified/changed.
Summary
The term environment refers to our surroundings. It includes the air, water, soil, and sunlight that all living things need to survive. The environment has both living parts, known as biotic components like plants and animals, and non-living parts, known as abiotic components. It also includes an energy component, which comes from sources like the sun. The environment provides the right conditions for life to exist and grow.
The environment is made of three main components. The abiotic, or non-living, component is divided into the lithosphere (solid ground), the hydrosphere (all water), and the atmosphere (the air). The biotic, or living, component includes all plants, animals, and people. The energy component includes solar power and other forms of energy. These parts work together in four major segments: the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and the biosphere, which is the special zone where all life is found.
The atmosphere is the layer of gases around the Earth. It acts like a protective blanket, which means it shields us from harmful things from outer space, such as cosmic rays. It is made mostly of nitrogen and oxygen. A part of the atmosphere called the stratosphere contains ozone gas. Ozone works like a protective shield, blocking dangerous ultraviolet radiation from the sun that can harm living things.
The hydrosphere is all the water on Earth, including oceans, rivers, lakes, and glaciers. A large part of our planet is covered in water, but most of it is salty ocean water. Only a very small amount is fresh water that is available for us to use. The lithosphere is the solid, outer part of the Earth, made of minerals and soil. Soil is very important as it provides minerals for plants and is home to many organisms.
In recent times, human activities have caused great harm to the environment. Things like pollution, cutting down forests, and a growing population have created serious problems. This is why environmental education is so important. It helps people understand their relationship with the natural world and the problems it faces. Education teaches us to be aware and to care for our surroundings. It provides the knowledge needed to solve environmental challenges. It uses information from many fields of study because the environment is very complex. Understanding that our actions today affect the future is the first step toward protecting our planet for generations to come.
Textual/Exercise
1. What is environment ?
Answer: The term environment means surroundings. It comes from the French word environner, which means to encircle or to surround. It is a composite term for the conditions in which organisms live and thus consists of air, water, soil, and sunlight, which are the basic needs of all living beings and plant life to carry on their life functions. The environment also includes temperature, wind, energy, and so on. Thus, it consists of both biotic and abiotic components.
2. What are the different components of the environment ?
Answer: The environment consists of the following three components:
- Abiotic component or non-living component
- Biotic component or living component
- Energy component
The abiotic or physical environment is subdivided into three categories:
- Lithosphere (solid)
- Hydrosphere (liquid)
- Atmosphere (gas)
The biotic component consists of flora and fauna including man. The energy component includes solar energy, geothermal energy, hydroelectrical energy, atomic energy, etc.
3. What are the different segments of the environment ?
Answer: There are four segments of the environment:
- Atmosphere
- Hydrosphere
- Lithosphere
- Biosphere
4. Mention the major components of the atmosphere.
Answer: The major components of the atmosphere are:
- Nitrogen, N₂ (78.09 %)
- Oxygen, O₂ (20.94 %)
5. What is the role of ozone present in the stratosphere ?
Answer: The ozone (O₃) present in the stratosphere plays an important role for us. It acts as a protective shield for life on earth from the injurious effects of the sun’s ultra violet radiations.
6. What do you mean by environmental education ?
Answer: Environmental education is education through the environment, about the environment, and for the environment. It is the educational process dealing with man’s relationship with his natural and man-made surroundings and includes the relation of population, pollution, resource allocation and depletion, conservation, transportation technology, and urban and rural planning to the total human environment. Environmental education is also 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.
7. What are the broad guidelines of environmental education ?
Answer: The broad guidelines for environmental education, as decreed by the declaration from the first intergovernmental conference on environmental education held at Tbilisi (USSR, 1977), state that environmental education should:
- be interdisciplinary in its approach
- consider the holistic environment
- be continuous, beginning at preschool level and continuing through all the formal and non formal stages
- examine the major environmental issues critically from the local, regional, national and international points of view
- consider the current and future environmental trends and scenario
- help learners discover the symptoms and real causes of environmental problems and plan accordingly
- finally strive to promote the value and necessity of local, national and international cooperation in solving environmental problems.
8. Mention the basic principles of environmental education.
Answer: The objectives and the guiding principles for environmental education are:
- Awareness and sensitivity to the environment and environmental challenges
- Knowledge and understanding of the environment and environmental challenges
- Attitude of concern for the environment and motivation to improve or maintain environmental quality
- Skills to identify and help resolve environmental challenges
- Participation in activities that lead to the resolution of environmental challenges.
9. Discuss the multidisciplinary nature of environmental education.
Answer: Environmental education is a multidisciplinary subject. In order to know the environment and its different complex phenomena, one requires knowledge from various disciplines. Subjects like botany, zoology, biotechnology, bioengineering, microbiology, genetics, biochemistry etc. help in understanding biotic components and their interactions. The basic knowledge of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and statistics help in understanding the different phenomena in the environment. Computer science and information technology is a part and parcel of environmental education.
Similarly, for control of pollution, environmental engineering is essential. Other branches of engineering e.g. chemical, civil, mechanical including new innovative technologies have been involved in protecting the environment. Green chemistry finds its distinct and well specific role in protecting the degraded environment. Subjects like sociology, economics, education, and philosophy are involved in a number of ways. Environmental laws are always enacted for the protection of the environment. So environmental education carries the multidisciplinary nature where different aspects are dealt with a holistic approach.
10. How do environmental awareness help to protect our environment ?
Answer: Creation of public awareness is a must to protect the environment from further deterioration. Environmental problems can be best addressed if the people become environmentally aware. No Government can solve these problems by simply implementing certain environmental protection rules if people are not co-operating. People are to be environmentally educated. They should be able to learn that if we degrade our environment today, we will have to suffer tomorrow and our future generation will be in great danger. We are a part of the environment and it is our duty to protect it.
Extra/additional questions and answers
1. What does the term ‘environment’ mean?
Answer: The term ‘environment’ means surroundings. It is a composite term for the conditions in which organisms live and consists of air, water, soil, and sunlight.
38. Distinguish between the Mesosphere and the Thermosphere?
Answer: The Mesosphere and the Thermosphere are distinguished based on their altitude, temperature range, and important chemical species:
| Region | Altitude range (Km) | Temp. range (°C) | Important chemical species |
| Mesosphere | 50 – 85 | –2 to –92 | O₂⁺, NO⁺ |
| Thermosphere | 85 – 500 | –92 to 1200 | O₂⁺, O⁺, NO⁺ |
Extra/additional Fill in the Blanks
1. The term environment comes from the French word ______.
Answer: environner
21. The first intergovernmental conference of environmental education was held at ______ in 1977.
Answer: Tbilisi
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