Our Environment is our surrounding. This includes living and
non-living things around us. The non-living components of environment
are land, water and air. The living components are germs, plants,
animals and people.
All plants and animals adjust to the environment in which they are born
and live. A charge in any component of the environment may cause
discomfort and affect normal life. Any unfavorable change or
degeneration in the environment is known as ‘Environmental Pollution. We
need to protect our environment to live happily.
For better environment, all its components should be protected from
pollution and the surroundings should be clean. We need to take good
care of our land, water resources, forests and atmosphere . it is also
necessary to ensure a balance between these resources and living
creatures, to meet our needs.
Land is the upper layer of our planet earth. It is made up of soil and
rocks. Land stores water and provides a surface to live on. Soil
contains nutrients and air to nurse germs and plants. Fertility of the
soil has been built up over hundreds of years. Soil is likely to be
washed away with rain water or blown away by wind, if it is not
protected under the cover of grasses, crops or trees.
Water is our line. With water, plants grow well, crops yield more and
the atmosphere remains cool. Flowing water is also a source of energy
and mode of transport. Rain is the main source of water. It is absorbed
by soil and stored under the ground. A Part of this water, which is not
absorbed, flows into rivers and finally reaches the sea. Being salty,
sea water is neither fit for human consumption nor plant growth. It is
necessary to keep the water clean fro drinking purpose and conserve it
for growing crops and trees.
Forests is an important part of the environment, because trees clean the
air and keep the atmosphere cool. We cannot live without plants,
because the oxygen need for breathing is produced by plants.
Trees absorb sunlight and reduce the heat. Plants provide fodder for
animals, firewood, timber, medicines, honey, wax, gum, lac and food for
us. Tree roots penetrate deep into the soil and from cavities in the
ground. The dry leaves which fall on ground, cover the soil and absorb
more rain water, which slowly percolates through the soil. Thus, a large
portion of the rain water can be retained in the field, by planting
more trees. Flooding or rivers can be prevented by protecting trees in
the forest.
Air is thick at sea level and as we go above sea level, the air layer
becomes thinner with less oxygen. Beyond 12 kilometres above sea level,
the composition of the air changes. This layer contains more ozone.
Ozone absorbs ultraviolet rays present in sunlight, which otherwise
would reach the earth and cause injury to plants and animals. Air is the
carrier of sound. In the absence of air, we cannot hear. When the
volume of sound increase, it causes noise. This can frighten animals and
irritate people. Continuous exposure to noise may lead to loss of
hearing. Therefore, quietness is essential to improve the environment.
Climate: - Intensity of sunlight, cloudiness, temperature moisture
content in the air and speed of the wind and collectively referred to as
weather. These weather conditions including rainfall, length of days
and nights of an area
at a particular period or season, are collectively known as climate. The
climate changes in winter, summer and rainy seasons. The imaginary line
which divides the earth into two equal halves in south and north
directions is known as the equator. The region around the equator is
warm while polar regions which are farther away from the equator, both
in North and South directions, are very cold. The plants growing in
different regions are adapted to these climate changes in winter, summer
and rainy seasons.
The imaginary line which divides the earth into two equal halves in
south and north directions is known as the equator. The region around
the equator is warm while polar regions which are farther away from the
equator, both in North and South directions, are adapted to these
climatic changes. Fruits like mango, Sapota,
coconut and banana which are grown in the tropics cannot survive in the
cold Himalayas, While apples and plums do not grow well in warm regions.
People and animals around us are part of our environment. Plants and
animals are the sources of our food. Animals also provide manure through
dung, needed for plant growth. It is ideal to have a smaller number or
animals and people, because they compete for land, water, food and other
necessities. Overpopulation can exhaust these resources in a short
period and cause scarcity.
Plants are basic for all. Some small animals feeding on plants are eaten
by larger animals. Plants or animals which serve as food for others,
become a part of the food chain. Destruction of theses plants or animals
may affect the lives of others in the food chain. We can locate several
food chains around us. Several such chains are shown in the Food Chain
chart.
Existence of different plants and animals in sufficient number to
support the food chain is an indication of a good ecological balance.
Let us now
look at the reasons for the break in food chains. Mosquitoes lay eggs in
still water. Frogs eat mosquito larvae and other insects. Forgs are
eaten by snakes. Snakes are eaten by mongoose and eagles. If a large
number of frogs are collected from paddy fields by people for food, the
frog population of mosquitoes and other insects will increase. This may
cause damage to the crops and spread diseases like malaria. In the
absence of adequate number of frogs, snakes will come to residential
areas in search of alternate food like rats, eggs and small birds.
In the same way, when the number of tigers and lions decrease, the
population of deer and bisons will increase and these animals who depend
on vegetation will destroy forests. When elephants do not get adequate
foliage and bamboo shoots in the forest, they will move to nearby
villages to graze in agricultural fields.
With increasing population, more and more people have to live on the
same piece of land, and this will lead to an ecological imbalance. In
the olden days, a large number of people died of diseases caused by
germs. With the advancement of science, vaccines were developed to
prevent diseases like small pox, cholera, diphtheria, typhoid,
tuberculosis, etc. Hence, most of the people now survive deadly diseases
and live long. This has resulted in overpopulation. Arrow indicates
that insect is the food for frog. With more people, we need additional
houses, more food, fuel and other commodities. But, we cannot create
additional
land. We need to produce more on the available land itself. In India. In
1951 about 117 people used to live on a square kilometer of land, but
now 250 people are living on the same area. A cropping area of 147
million hectares, which was supporting 361 million people in 1951, now
has to produce food for 850 million people.
Hence, the agricultural scientists have introduced the following modern practices to increase our food production
->
Development of high yielding varieties of crops. However, new varieties
require more manure, assured irrigation, protection from diseases and
insect attacks.
-> Application of agro-chemicals such as chemical fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, bactericides and weedicides.
->
Application of chemical fertilizers, because a large quantity of cattle
manure required for growing high yielding varieties, is not available.
->
Spraying of insecticides on crops control insect attack. Fungicides and
bactericides control diseases. Weedicides kill the weeds and unwanted
plants which compete with crops.
Agro- Chemical help to grow more food, but they can pollute the air,
water and soil when used in large quantities. Even with these efforts
and risk of health hazards, we may not be able to produce sufficient
food to feed everyone, because our population is still increasing.
It is difficult to guess what the hungry people will do, when they
cannot get food. They may cut jungles, start eating animals and fight
among themselves for survival. These are the worst possible effects of
an ecological imbalance. Thus, ecological balance is necessary for our
survival! Control of human and livestock populations and better
management of your natural resources would certainly help to achieve
this.
Sources:
http://jharenvis.nic.in/files/Protect%20our%20environment.pdf
