INDEX

SR NO.

CONTENT.
OBJECTIVE

LIMITATIONS

INTRODUCTION

MEANING & DEFINATION

4
COMPONENTS

6-10

CONCLUSION

11

REFERENCE

12

PAGE
NO.

I. OBJECTIVE
To promote due regard for physical, social and economic environment of the enterprise or
projects. It encourages planned investment at the start of the production chain rather than
forced investment in cleaning up at the end.
It generally covers the areas as environment and enterprise objectives, scope, and
structure of the environment, interaction of nature, society and the enterprise,
environment impact assessment, economics of pollution, prevention, environmental
management standards etc.

II. LIMITATIONS
This project is completely based on secondary data collected through various search
engines and articles only and there by does not have any primary data in it.

III. INTRODUCTION

Now a days the word environment is often being used by almost all people around us, on
television and in newspapers. Every one is speaking about the protection and preserration of environment. Global summits are being held regularly to discuss
environmental issues. During the last hundred years, the mutual relationship among
environment, social organization and culture has been discussed in sociology,
anthropology and geography. All this shows the increasing importance of environment.
Besides, it is a fact that life is tied with the environment.
Social sciences have borrowed the concept of ecology from biology. As a branch of
biology, ecology is the study of the relationship between living beings and their
environment. Sociology has been greatly influenced by biology. Sociology also studies
the relationship between man and environment through ecology. Field of study of human
ecology in sociology is centered around man and his environment.
The credit of beginning the study of human ecology in the field of sociology goes to Park
and Burgess. There exists a close relationship between man and environment. On the one
hand man is born in environment and establishes harmony with environment. On the
other hand man tires to control his environment and change it according to his
requirements. Hence it requires an understanding of the environment of which man is a
part.

IV. MEANING & DEFINATION

The term environment has been derived from a French word Environia means to
surround. It refers to both abiotic (physical or non-living) and biotic (living) environment.
The word environment means surroundings, in which organisms live. Environment and
the organisms are two dynamic and complex component of nature. Environment regulates
the life of the organisms including human beings. Human beings interact with the
environment more vigorously than other living beings. Ordinarily environment refers to
the materialsand forces that surrounds the living organism.
Environment is the sum total of conditions that surrounds us at a given point of time and
space. It is comprised of the interacting systems of physical, biological and cultural
elements which are interlinked both individually and collectively. Environment is the sum
total of conditions in which an organism has to survive or maintain its life process. It
influences the growth and development of living forms.
In other words environment refers to those surroundings that surrounds living beings
from all sides and affect their lives in toto. It consists of atmosphere, hydrosphere,
lithosphere and biosphere. Its chief components are soil, water, air, organisms and solar
energy. It has provided us all the resources for leading a comfortable life.
1. According to P. Gisbert Environment is anything immediately surrounding an object
and exerting a direct influence on it.
2. According to E. J. Ross Environment is an external force which influences us.
Thus, environment refers to anything that is immediately surrounding an object and
exerting a direct influence on it. Our environment refers to those thing or agencies which
though distinct from us, affect our life or activity. The environment by which man is
surrounded and affected by factors which may be natural, artificial, social, biological and
psychological.

V. COMPONENTS OF ENVIRONMENT

Everything which surrounds us may collectively be termed as the Environment.

The air which we breathe, the soil on which we stand, water, living and non-living things
around, the environment, has influenced and shaped our lives since time immemorial. It
is from the environment that we get food to eat, water to drink, air to breathe and all
necessities of day to day life. Environment around us constitutes a life support system.
Through a process of natural selection and elimination it is the environment only which
has caused the evolution of the biological spectrum, the biosphere, as it exists today.
Basic Components of the Environment:
Environment consists of all living and non-living things which surround us. Therefore,
the basic components of the environment are:
1. Atmosphere or the air
2. Hydrosphere or the water
3. Lithosphere or the rocks and soil
4. The living component of the environment or the biosphere
I. Atmosphere or the Air:
Atmosphere consists of a complex mixture of a number of gases, water vapour and a
variety of fine particulate material. The gaseous mantle which surrounds the globe is
constituted by about 5.15 x 1015 metric tons of gas which exerts a pressure of about 1 kg
per sq.cm. on earth's crust (Sytnick 1985). Most of these gases are compressed in the
lowermost layer. Pressure decreases as we move upward.

The composition of earth's atmosphere

Gas

Parts per million

Relative percentage

Nitrogen

780840.00

78.08

Oxygen

209460.00

20.95

Argon

9340

00.93

Carbon dioxide

403.00

00.03

Neon

18.00

00.0018

Helium

5.20

00.00052

Methane

1.50

00.00015

Krypton

1.00

00.0001

Hydrogen

0.50

00.00005

Nitrous oxide

0.50

00.00005

Xenon

0.09

00.000009

Ozone

0.07

00.000007

II. Hydrosphere or the water :

Approximately 70 per cent of the earths surface is made up of water and
constitutes the hydrosphere. The water resources include oceans, seas, rivers,
lakes, streams, ponds, glaciers, polar ice caps and ground water.
Of this, about 97 per cent of the water is salty and is present in oceans and seas, 2
per cent is present as ice caps and the remaining 1 per cent as fresh water which
we use variously.
Water near the poles is very cold and freezes to form polar ice caps, glaciers or
icebergs. However, at the equator water evaporates into gas due to high
temperature.
The frozen water in its own sphere is known as cryosphere. Water is very
essential for life and it is believed that the first signs of life were found in water.
III. . Lithosphere or the rocks and soil :
Lithosphere is the solid component of earth. It consists of three layers: crust,
mantle and core. Generally speaking, lithosphere means the hard surface (crust) of
earth and not the entire inside of the planet.
The uppermost part of the solid earth, consisting of weathered rocks, minerals and
organic matters together, is known as soil.
Land is very important for use in agriculture, industrialization, transportation,
recreation, etc. The interior of the lithosphere consists of mantle followed by core.

IV. The living component of the environment or the biosphere :

It is that part of earth where living (biotic) organisms exist and interact with one
another and also with the non-living (abiotic) components. The living organisms
include all of the micro-organisms, plants and animals.
Biosphere reaches well into the other three spheres, although there are no
permanent inhabitants in the atmosphere.
Relative to the volume of the earth, the biosphere constitutes only a very thin
surface layer, which extends from 11,000 meters below sea level to 15,000 meters
above it.
In general, biosphere includes most of the hydrosphere as well as parts of lower
atmosphere and upper lithosphere.
The biosphere contains large quantities of elements such as carbon, nitrogen and
oxygen. Other essential elements like phosphorus, calcium and potassium are
present in smaller amounts.
Bulk of the functioning in the eco-system is based on the input of solar energy
and there is continual recycling of materials at the ecosystem and biosphere
levels.
For example, green plants use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and release
oxygen into the atmosphere, which is then inhaled by the animals for respiration
who in return release carbon dioxide.
In the biosphere, there exist interactions among the organisms. When an organism
interacts with members of its own kind, it is an intra-specific interaction like
colonization and then aggregation, etc.

On the other hand, interaction between different species is known as inter-specific

interaction like neutralism, competition and prey-predator relationships.
The interactions may be harmful or beneficial to the participants but are very
important for the survival, growth, reproduction and continuance of the species

VI. CONCLUSION

10

Our day-to-day operations have an environmental impact and that we have a

responsibility to manage and measure this impact. Good environmental management
brings many benefits.

VII. REFERENCE

11

https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/corporate/global/pearson-dotcom/files/enviro-reports/Global_EMS.pdf
http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/environment/meaning-definition-and-components-ofenvironment/6157/
http://www.publishyourarticles.net/knowledge-hub/education/what-are-the-importantcomponents-of-environment/5628/

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