Environment and its Major components

Environment

The sum total of all surroundings of a living organism, including natural forces and other living things, which provide conditions for development and growth as well as of danger and damage. A person’s environment is made up of everything that surrounds him or her. It encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally
on Earth or some region thereof.

At the very fundamental level, the planet Earth is our environment.

Major components of the environment

The environment may broadly be considered to comprise the following five segments:

(1) Lithosphere, (2) Hydrosphere, (3) Atmosphere, (4) Biosphere, and (5) Anthrosphere.

Lithosphere

The Lithosphere, or solid Earth, is that part of the Earth upon which humans live and from which they extract most of their food, minerals, and fuels.

The most important part of the lithosphere for life on Earth is soil formed by the disintegrating weathering action of physical, geochemical, and biological processes on rocks. It is the medium upon which all plants grow, and virtually all terrestrial organisms depend upon it for their existence. Good soil – and a climate conducive to its productivity – is the most valuable asset a nation can have. The productivity of soil is strongly affected by environmental conditions and pollutants.

Hydrosphere

The hydrosphere contains Earth’s water. It is a vitally important substance and occurs in all parts of the environment.

A fragile resource—water is perhaps the most fundamental of the resources we require. It is unquestionably the lifeblood of the Earth—no animal or plant life would exist without it. Water is essential part of all living systems and is the medium from which life evolved and in which life exists. Energy and matter are carried through various sphere of the environment by water.

Water covers about 70% of Earth’s surface. So the total amount of water on our planet is immense—more than 1.4 billion km³. If the Earth had a perfectly smooth surface, an ocean about 3 km deep would cover everything.

Over 97% of Earth’s water is in oceans and most of the remaining fresh water is in the form of ice.

·         All water (100%): Oceans and saline lakes = 97.5%;

·         Fresh water = 2.5%

                    Ice caps and glaciers = 1.97%;

                    Groundwater = 0.5%;

                    Other water (lakes, rivers, soil moisture, atmosphere, etc) =  0.03%.

Thus, not even 1% of the total world’s water resources is available for exploitation by man for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes. It is a critical, limited, renewable resource in many regions on Earth.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere is the thin layer of gases that envelopes earth is a great resource to all living things on the planet. It is composed of gas molecules held close to Earth’s surface by a balance between gravitation and thermal movement of air molecules. It is the source of carbon dioxide for plant photosynthesis and of oxygen for respiration. It provides the nitrogen that nitrogen-fixing bacteria and ammonia-manufacturing industrial plants use to produce chemically-bound nitrogen. As a basic part of the hydrologic cycle, the atmosphere transports water from the oceans to land. The atmosphere serves a vital protective function, absorbing harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun and stabilizing Earth’s temperature.

The atmosphere is a dynamic system, changing continuously. Many complex chemical reactions take place in the atmosphere; changing from day to night and with chemical elements available.

Biosphere

Biosphere is the life zone of the earth, including the lower part of the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, soil, and the lithosphere to a depth of about 2 kilometers. The biosphere covers the entire realm of living organisms and their interactions with other segments of the environment, namely lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere.

The biosphere strongly influences, and is strongly influenced by the other parts of the environment. Ecosphere is the regions of the universe, especially on the earth, that are capable of supporting life; the biosphere.

Anthrosphere

The anthrosphere may be defined as that part of the environment made or modified by humans and used for their activities.

The anthrosphere consists of a number of different parts. These may be categorized by considering where humans live; how they move; how they make or provide the things or services they need or they want; how they produce food, fiber and wood; how they obtain, distribute, and use energy; how they communicate; how they extract and process nonrenewable minerals; how they collect, treat and dispose of wastes. It is obvious that the anthrosphere is very complex with an enormous potential to affect the environment.