Environmental Studies : The Environment

Environmental Studies is the academic field, which systematically studies human interaction with the environment in which we live in. It is a broad field of study that includes the natural environment, built environment, and the sets of relationships between them. Environmental studies takes into account many different factors that help provide an enjoyable, fruitful way of life, such as national policies, politics, laws, economics, sociology and other social aspects, planning, pollution control, natural resources, and the interactions of human beings and nature.

Environment is the surrounding of a central point; it can be split in to three basic categories biological, physical and social. The environment of my care setting for example is made up biological aspects i.e. my self, my children, my husband, our pet hamsters and the out door plants and trees in the garden, also the children that attend my care setting. The physical aspects are the toys, furniture door wall, large garden equipment, buggies safety gates etc. the social environment in my setting is all about the culture, and customs of my setting and the activities and experiences we are involved in and interact with.

Environment is the surroundings and influences upon things including humans. These are many things happening individually or all at once. E.g. Light, temperature, water and interactions (other living things). Looking further, it has become popular to find that after the Sun, Moon and Stars the largest influence is us (human beings).

The concept of environment is about the significance of the environment in human life, and the important interrelationships between humans and the environment. Communities and businesses have come to rely heavily on The Mississippi River for transportation, water, food, recreation, and a variety of other goods and services.

Environment: Environment is defined as landscape or geography in which an individual resides. Environment plays a big part of what makes an individual who they are. This concept may also affect a person’s psychological and physical health.

The environment can be described as all those elements, both the living and the non-living that surrounds us. The environment can also refer to the condition within which individuals, animals and plants lives. Mankind has a role to play in the environment, which mainly concerns taking care of the environment as well as improving it. Since, we as human beings are different from animals as we have a gift consciousness, we have an obligation of being improvers of the environment through ensuring that we observe environmental consciousness and that we avoid all those practices that negatively affects the environment and cause ecological crisis and problems. This essay will use the article “Towards a Buddhist Environmental Ethics” by Rita M Gross to help in the answering of the question “What is our appropriate role in relation the environment?” The essay will additionally look into the concept of ‘deep ecology’ by Bill Devall and George Sessions to get a deeper understanding of the ecology and our relationship with it, a concept that will help us to be in a better position to answer our appropriate role concerning the environment.

The environment is the home to all living and non-living organisms. It can be compared to a life support system that ensures the well-being of everyone. Recent cases of environmental degradation pose a threat to nature and the entire ecosystem. There has been increased awareness to educate individuals on the need to protect our environment with the aim of protecting the natural beauty and sustaining humanity.

According to me, environment denotes a person’s surrounding including their family, community, culture, beliefs, and values. Environment shapes the person’s health and wellbeing as well as their own view towards the definition of being healthy. My view on the concept of environment relates to Parse’s (1987) totality paradigm. Totality paradigm states that the environment is something within which the person exists. It influences the way in which the person functions. Similarly, I believe that the environment of the

The customary idea of the environment is human focused, with everything that encompasses (surrounds) us characterized as the environment. Then again, science characterizes the earth as a mind boggling arrangement of living things and natural processes and the human species only one player in this web- albeit with significant impacts to the environment (Maxwell, 2014). Environmental health encompasses chemical, biological, and physical hazards and thus is not limited to industrial pollution as many often associate environmental health with.

The environment is becoming weak and defecated through a rise in industrialization. Increasing industry has caused many environmental issues and disasters to occur such as earthquakes, air pollution, and further medical issues for people.

Greenhouse gases keep heat close to the earth’s surface making it liveable for humans and animals. However, global warming is happening largely due to an over-emittance of these gases and fossil fuels (natural oil, gasoline, coal)

Ecology today can be defined as “the study of the interrelationships between living things and their environment”. It is important to understand that when we say that ecology includes the “environment”, we are talking about everything that is external to an organism, all the biotic and abiotic. Nowadays it also attempts to understand and explain the how and why of the origins and mechanisms of interactions.

The biggest cause of air pollution in North America comes from carbon dioxide emissions. Fossil fuel, electricity, and vehicle technology has been an enormous contribution to the emission of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are gases that attract radiation from the sun into the earth's exterior and its environment. Producing an overabundance of greenhouse gases at a time may dramatically change the atmosphere as we know it today. The ozone layer that protects human beings and many other species of plants and animals from the sun's excruciating rays may deplete or be damaged due to too much pollution.

The environment generally refers to the surrounding’s of an object or an individual. It can be in the form of the physical environment, biophysical environment, built environment, social environment and the natural environment among other forms. The natural environment refers to the naturally occurring flora and fauna together with the land on which they occupy.

Development processes is connected with environmental degradation and use of natural resources. Rudel et al. (2011) assumes the present of two distinct waves of development power which control environment. The first wave of political economy deals with the power of capitalism as the main agent for environmental degradation, while the second wave concern with the social power (community) to control the use of natural resources.