WHAT IS ENVIRONMENT?

The natural environment or natural world encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses the interaction of all living species, climate, weather and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity. The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished as components:

  1. Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive civilized human intervention, including all vegetation, microorganisms, soil, rocks, atmosphere, and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries and their nature.
  2. Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from civilized human actions.

Natural environment is often used as a synonym for habitat, for instance, when we say that the natural environment of giraffes is the savanna.

WATER ON EARTH

Most water is found in various kinds of natural body of water.

OCEANS RIVERS LAKES

An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the surface of the Earth (an area of some 362 million square kilometers) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand (ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater.

The major oceanic divisions are defined in part by the continents, various archipelagos, and other criteria: these divisions are (in descending order of size) the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean and the Arctic Ocean.

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. A few rivers simply flow into the ground and dry up completely without reaching another body of water.

The water in a river is usually in a channel, made up of a stream bed between banks. In larger rivers there is often also a wider floodplain shaped by waters over-topping the channel. Flood plains may be very wide in relation to the size of the river channel. Rivers are a part of the hydrological cycle. Water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through surface runoff, groundwater recharge, springs, and the release of water stored in glaciers and snowpacks.

A lake (from Latin lacus) is a terrain feature, a body of water that is localized to the bottom of basin. A body of water is considered a lake when it is inland, is not part of an ocean, and is larger and deeper than a pond.

Natural lakes on Earth are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing or recent glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers. In some parts of the world, there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them.

Human Impact on Water

Humans impact the water in different ways such as modifying rivers (through dams and stream channelization), urbanization, and deforestation. These impact lake levels, groundwater conditions, water pollution, thermal pollution, and marine pollution. Humans modify rivers by using direct channel manipulation. We build dams and reservoirs and manipulate the direction of the rivers and water path. Dams can usefully create reservoirs and hydroelectric power. However, reservoirs and dams may negatively impact the environment and wildlife. Dams stop fish migration and the movement of organisms downstream. Urbanization affects the environment because of deforestation and changing lake levels, groundwater conditions, etc. Deforestation and urbanization go hand in hand. Deforestation may cause flooding, declining stream flow, and changes in riverside vegetation. The changing vegetation occurs because when trees cannot get adequate water they start to deteriorate, leading to a decreased food supply for the wildlife in an area.

GLOBAL WARMING

The dangers of global warming are being increasingly studied by a wide global consortium of scientists. These scientists are increasingly concerned about the potential long-term effects of global warming on our natural environment and on the planet. Of particular concern is how climate change and global warming caused by anthropogenic, or human-made releases of greenhouse gases, most notably carbon dioxide, can act interactively, and have adverse effects upon the planet, its natural environment and humans' existence. It is clear the planet is warming, and warming rapidly. This is due to the greenhouse effect, which is caused by greenhouse gases, which trap heat inside the Earth's atmosphere because of their more complex molecular structure which allows them to vibrate and in turn trap heat and release it back towards the Earth. This warming is also responsible for the extinction of natural habitats, which in turn leads to a reduction in wildlife population.The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the group of the leading climate scientists in the world) concluded that the earth will warm anywhere from 2.7 to almost 11 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 to 6 degrees Celsius) between 1990 and 2100. Efforts have been increasingly focused on the mitigation of greenhouse gases that are causing climatic changes, on developing adaptative strategies to global warming, to assist humans, other animal, and plant species, ecosystems, regions and nations in adjusting to the effects of global warming.

Causes of Global Warming

When we burn fossil fuels like coal, and gas to create electricity or power our cars, we release CO2 pollution into the atmosphere.

    Solutions:
  • Reducing the amount of electricity generated from coal and gas.
  • Increasing the amount of electricity from clean, renewable energy sources like solar and wind.

Plants and trees play an important role in regulating the climate because they absorb carbon dioxide from the air and release oxygen back into it.

Solutions:
  • Prevent deforestation and tree-clearing.
  • Plant more trees through reforestation and afforestation.

Animals, livestock like sheep and cattle, produce methane, a greenhouse gas. When livestock grazed at a large scale, as in Australia, the amount of methane produced is a big contributor to global warming.

Solutions:
  • Use different stock feeds can help to reduce farming's contribution to climate change

POLLUTION

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat, or light. Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants.

Types of Pollution

Air Pollution

Water Pollution

Noise Pollution

SAVE EARTH

S.No How we can save the Earth?
1. Reduce, reuse, and recycle. Cut down on what you throw away. Follow the three "R's" to conserve natural resources and landfill space.
2. Educate. When you further your own education, you can help others understand the importance and value of our natural resources.
3. Conserve water. The less water you use, the less runoff and wastewater that eventually end up in the ocean.
4. Plant a tree. Trees provide food and oxygen. They help save energy, clean the air, and help combat climate change.
5. Don't send chemicals into our waterways. Choose non-toxic chemicals in the home and office.