Get summaries, questions, answers, solutions, notes, extras, PDF and guide of chapter 9, Environment and Society: NBSE Class 11 Sociology textbook, which is part of the syllabus for students studying under the Nagaland Board. These solutions, however, should only be treated as references and can be modified/changed.
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Summary
Ecology studies how living things relate to each other and their surroundings. Social Ecology specifically looks at the relationship between human society and its total environment, including physical and living things. It considers four connected parts: population, environment, technology, and social organisation. Population refers to the people who need things like food and shelter. To get these, people adapt to or use their physical environment. They develop technology for this purpose. How people adapt or use the environment shapes their social relationships and organisation.
An ecosystem includes all living things like humans, animals, and plants, and non-living things like land, water, and air, interacting together. An ecosystem is healthy when these parts are in balance. Human actions can disturb this balance, causing problems. The environment means the surroundings. For humans, this includes land, water, air, plants, animals, and other people. We can talk about the natural environment given by nature, and the man-made environment created by human changes.
Every society has a relationship with its environment. This involves adapting to things humans cannot change, like climate, and using things they can, like minerals or plants. Technology is the tool humans use for both adapting and using the environment. Different levels of technology lead to different types of societies. Hunting and gathering societies know their environment well and use simple tools. Pastoral societies raise animals and often move to find grasslands. Agricultural societies farm the land, settle in villages, and develop more tools and social structures. Urban-industrial societies have large populations, advanced technology, and greatly modify their environment, creating man-made surroundings.
Today, we face an environmental crisis. This means rapid, harmful changes are happening to our natural world, affecting plants, animals, and humans. Globally, this includes problems like damage to the ozone layer and climate change, which is the warming of the Earth. The crisis began largely with industrial societies using fuels that pollute, needing more resources for goods, and growing populations demanding more resources and creating more waste.
Locally, the crisis appears as pollution. Pollution is when harmful substances damage the environment. Air pollution happens when the air quality becomes poor due to dust or harmful gases, causing health issues. Water pollution occurs when unwanted things like waste make water unsafe for life. Noise pollution is too much noise from sources like factories or traffic, disturbing normal life.
Society needs to respond to this crisis. One response is environmental conservation. This means protecting nature, avoiding wasteful use of resources, stopping unnecessary forest cutting, and planting new trees. It also involves changing how we live to consume less. Another response is keeping the environment clean. This includes treating waste properly, using cleaner technologies like eco-friendly engines, disposing of garbage safely, using materials that can be recycled, and planting trees. People should also encourage each other to keep their surroundings clean and green.
Textbook solutions
Very Short Answer Type Questions
1. What is ecology?
Answer: Ecology emerged as a branch of Biology to study the relationship between living creatures and their environment. It deals with the relationships between plants and animals among themselves, and the relationship between plants, animals and their physical environment.
2. What is social ecology?
Answer: Social Ecology is the study of the relationship between human society and its total environment, which includes the physical environment and the biological environment. Ogburn and Nimkoff define Social Ecology as the study of relationships between communities and their environment. It is considered a branch of Sociology, though some sociologists prefer to define it as Human Ecology, the study of the relationship between man and his environment.
3. What is ecosystem?
Answer: An ecosystem is a single system comprising constituents like human beings, animals, plants, and the physical environment, as considered by ecologists.
4. What is environment?
Answer: Environment means the ‘surroundings’. For human beings, it includes all non-living things, living things like plants and animals, and even other human beings. Generally, environment means the surrounding of man, which consists of the geographic environment (land, water, air, temperature, and so on) and all plants (flora) and animals (fauna).
5. What is environmental crisis?
Answer: The term ‘environmental crisis’ refers to the rapid and undesirable changes in the quality of the natural environment, which have very harmful effects on all forms of life (plants and animals), human beings, and society.
6. What is global warming?
Answer: Global warming is the rise in the earth’s average temperature due to increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Global warming is popularly known as climate change.
7. What are environmental pollutants?
Answer: An environmental pollutant is a harmful solid, liquid or gaseous substance in such concentration that it is injurious to living beings.
8. What is air pollution?
Answer: Air pollution is the imbalance in the quality of air so as to cause adverse effects on living beings. It is caused by dust, carbon particles, and harmful gases.
9. What is water pollution?
Answer: Water pollution is the presence of an excess of undesirable substances in water, such as decomposed vegetables, animals, urban waste and garbage, and industrial waste. Water pollution is harmful to life.
10. Name any one practice that can contribute to keeping the environment clean.
Answer: One practice that can contribute to keeping the environment clean is planting trees and reducing deforestation and soil erosion.
11. What are pastoral societies? (’12)
Answer: Pastoral societies are societies whose economy is based on the domestication of animals. They need vast grasslands for grazing their animals, therefore their habitations are grasslands, and they are also usually nomadic in nature.
12. Write the meaning of urban ecology. (’14)
Answer : Urban ecology refers to the study of the relationship between human society and its environment in the context of urban settings. It examines how urban centres, characterized by large populations, significant control over the environment, and advanced technological modifications, create a man-made environment distinct from the natural environment.
Short Answer Type Questions
1. What are the four aspects of social ecology? How are they inter- related? (’13)
Answer: Social ecology has four aspects. They are: 1) population, 2) environment, 3) technology, and, 4) social organisation. These aspects are interrelated. Population is the biological component of a society and needs food, clothing and shelter. In order to satisfy these basic needs, the population adapts itself or exploits the physical environment. For this purpose, a society develops technology. Adaptation or exploitation of the physical environment gives rise to different types of social relationships. Technological advances further influence social organisation.
11. Differentiate between pollution and pollutants.
Answer: Pollution is the deviation from the natural composition of the environment which results in adverse effects on living beings. A pollutant is a harmful solid, liquid or gaseous substance in such concentration that it is injurious to living beings.
Essay Type Questions
1. Explain the meaning of social ecology.
Answer: Under the influence of Biology, Social Ecology came into existence to study the relationships between human society and its environment. This environment includes the physical environment and the biological environment. Therefore, Social Ecology is the study of the relationship between human society and its total environment. Ogburn and Nimkoff define Social Ecology as the study of relationships between communities and their environment. Social Ecology is a branch of Sociology. But many sociologists prefer to define Social Ecology as Human Ecology and define it as the study of the relationship between man and his environment. Social ecology has four aspects: 1) population, 2) environment, 3) technology, and, 4) social organisation. These aspects are interrelated.
9. Describe the different local aspects of environmental crisis found in different types of pollution.
Answer: Local aspects of environmental crisis are different types of pollution. Pollution is the deviation from the natural composition of the environment which results in adverse effects on living beings. A pollutant is a harmful solid, liquid or gaseous substance in such concentration that it is injurious to living beings. Different types include:
- Air Pollution: Air pollution is the imbalance in the quality of air so as to cause adverse effects on living beings. It is caused by dust and carbon particles and harmful gases. It creates conditions like the smog. Air pollution causes disease like Tuberculosis, breathing problems and other airborne diseases.
- Water Pollution: Water pollution is the presence of excess of undesirable substances in water. Such substances are decomposed vegetables, animals, urban waste and garbage, industrial waste, etc. Water pollution is harmful to life. It can cause diseases like dysentery, cholera and jaundice.
- Noise Pollution: Noise pollution is excess of noise in the environment. It is caused by noise from factories, machines, automobiles, etc. Noise pollution affects normal life.
Problem Solving
our neighbourhood is not clean because people dump different types of waste material just outside the house. How will you go about making it clean?
Answer: To make the neighbourhood clean, I would first try to talk to the neighbours and encourage everyone to dispose of their domestic waste and garbage properly, perhaps in designated bins, so that it doesn’t pollute the surroundings, water, or soil. We could organize a community effort to clean up the existing waste. I would also suggest we try to reduce waste by using materials that can be recycled, like paper, and avoiding non-degradable materials like plastic bags as much as possible. We could also plant some trees or create green spaces once the area is clean to make it look better and improve the environment. The main goal is to work together and urge everyone to keep our surroundings clean and green.
Think and Answer
What are the benefits of keeping the surroundings of your house clean?
Answer: The benefits of keeping the surroundings of your house clean are:
(i) Prevents Diseases: Proper disposal of waste prevents the spread of diseases like dysentery, cholera, and jaundice which can be caused by water pollution from garbage, and reduces breeding grounds for pests that carry diseases. Keeping the air clean by avoiding burning waste prevents respiratory problems.
(ii) Healthier Environment: A clean surrounding means less air, water, and soil pollution. This leads to cleaner air to breathe and safer water, contributing to the overall health and well-being of everyone living there.
(iii) Improved Quality of Life: A clean and green environment is more pleasant to live in. It reduces unpleasant smells and sights associated with waste and contributes positively to mental well-being.
(iv) Environmental Protection: By managing waste properly and keeping the area clean, we contribute to the conservation of the environment and prevent harmful substances from damaging the local ecosystem.
Ron’e Dutta is a journalist, teacher, aspiring novelist, and blogger who manages Online Free Notes. An avid reader of Victorian literature, his favourite book is Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. He dreams of travelling the world. You can connect with him on social media. He does personal writing on ronism.
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