BCS508 - ENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES AND E-
WASTE
MANAGEMENT
BY
S.LOGAMBAL
ASST PROFESSOR
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES:
•Environmental studies is a broad, interdisciplinary field focused on
understanding the complex interactions between humans and the
environment.
•It integrates knowledge from various disciplines, including the
natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, to analyze and
address environmental issues.
•This field aims to understand the impact of human activities on the
planet and to develop solutions for a more sustainable future
EARTH SYSTEM
HOW TO SAVE OUR EARTH
“Theearth provides enough to satisfy every person’s need but not
every person’s greed”
- Mahatma Gandhi
Definition : It is the physical and biotic habitat that surrounds us.
Landmark judgment of
supreme court
To prescribe a course on the
environment for colleges
To consider the feasibility of
making it compulsory subject at
every level in college education.
ENVIRONMENTAL
LEGISLATION
Article 51A(g) of the constitution provides
“It shall be the duty of every citizen of
India to protect & improve the natural
environment including forests, lakes,
rivers & wildlife & to have compassion for
living creatures.
Article 48-A of the constitution provides
“The state shall Endeavour to protect &
improve the environment & to safeguard
forests & wildlife of the country”
Legal Obligation
VTU has introduced the subject at I Year
level as a Core Subject, in compliance
with UGC directive (2005) Supreme
Court in it’s Judgment has made learning
of the subject Mandatory at Under
Graduate Level. (1991)University Grants
Commission has Directed all affiliated
institutions to compulsorily teach the
subject, for all the branches of
Engineering.
You are going to be Modern day
Professionals
Being Modern day Professionals, You will be
required to encounter Environment related
problems at all levels- Most importantly as
Technical Managers directly facing the Society
at large.
Environmentalism...
Who initiated environmentalism?
Its Rachel Carson
She in 1962 published a book named
“Silent Spring”
In that she explained about DDT’s health
hazards.
James Lovelock in 1972 Created
Its
the “Gaia Theory” and continued
the environmental awareness.
The science that deals with our eco
system is Ecology.
Berry Commoner explains about ecology
as “The 1st law of ecology is that
everything is related to everything else”
According to him an ecosystem can be
viewed as a biotic assemblage of plants,
animals, microbes taken together with
their physico-chemical environment.
The term ecosystem was coined in
1935 by the British ecologist Sir Arthur
George Tansley, who described natural
systems as “constant interchange
among their living and nonliving parts”
The term “Ecology” is derived from
GREEK “oikos” which means “House”
Similarly the term “Ecosystem” was
originated from FRENCH
E.P. Odum is known as ‘Father of
Ecology’
Types of ecosystems:
Coastal
Mangrove
Coral reef
Estuarine
Pond
Arctic
Antarctic
Forest
Grassland
Desert etc.
Ecology mainly has 3 groups:
Producers: Plants, bacteria that have
capacity of producing their own food
Consumers: Animals that obtain
energy and protein directly by grazing,
feeding on other animals or both
Decomposers/Recyclers: These are
fungi and bacteria that decompose the
organic matter into inorganic
substances that can be reused. So
these are the “Recyclers of
biosphere”.
Forest ecosystem
DESERT ECOSYSTEM
RIVERINE
ECOSYSTEM
Some terms about ecosystem:
Ecological footprint: The minimum area
where in components of ecosystem can
sustain to live indefinite period.
Homeostasis: The tendency of ecosystem to
maintain an equilibrium and to resist the
changes.
Two important aspects of ecology:
Autecology- It is a study of individual
species and its population
Synecology- It is the study of
communities, their composition and their
behavior
COMPONENTS OF ECOSYSTEM:
Biotic: a) Autotrophs: Organisms which can
produce their own food- green plants- they
are known as producers.
b)Heterotrophs: Those organisms
which depends directly or indirectly upon the
autotrophs for their food, thus known as
Heterotrophs or consumers.
Abiotic components: The physical
environment with its several interacting
variables constitutes several nonliving
components. It consists of lithosphere,
water of the hydrosphere, the gaseous
mixture in the air & radiant solar energy.
A single energy source for all – SUN.
Ecological Succession
Ecological succession is a process through
which ecosystems tend to change over a
period of time.
Succession can be related to seasonal
environmental changes, which create
changes in the community of plants and
animals living in the ecosystem. Other
succession events may take much longer
periods of time extending to several
decades.
It is actually an open system
In this system unlike eco system large
amount of energy or matter is transferred
from producer to consumers, whereas in
ecosystem it is from producer to recyclers.
A close physical proximity is present in
ecosystem, while it is absent in
anthroposystem.
Classification of ecosystem:
1)Terrestrial: Forest, grassland, desert,
mountain etc.
2)Aquatic: Running water (lotic), standing
water (lentic), marine
Biome can be defined as various similar
eco systems throughout the world
together.
Is a large area with similar flora, fauna
and the micro organisms.
The major biomes are mountains, forests,
marine/island, deserts, grassland,
savannah etc.,
Energy flows through the eco system in
the form of C-C bonds.
C-C bond rupture makes possible the
formation of CO2
Inorganic nutrient will be usually in the
form of essential elements like P, S, Ca,
Na, Fe, Zn, etc.,
(1) Food chain:
It’s a path of food from a given
consumer back to producer.
Ex:
Grass - Grasshopper - Mouse - Snake -
Hawk
The 3 main basic categories:
The predator chain- starts from a plant
base and goes from smaller to larger
animals
The parasitic chain- goes from larger to
smaller organisms
The saprophytic chain-goes from dead
matter to micro organisms
Presence of many food chains in environment
produces a food web.
(2) Ecological pyramids:
Charles Elton in 1927 , a British ecologist
developed this concept.
It involves the arrangement of trophic
levels.
At each trophic level number of organisms
decreases.
Trophic level refers to as the position
of the organism in the food chain.
A diagram that shows a general ecological
pyramid-
Higher
carnivorou
s
Carnivorous
Primary
consumers
Producers
“An environment having systematic food
chains/ food webs OR ecological pyramids
without any imbalances/disturbances is said to
be an “balanced eco system”.
Some points about aquatic system:
3 main ecological categories:
Planktons- Small / microscopic, free floating
organisms
Nektons- Larger / more strongly swimming
organisms
Benthos- Abyssal organisms
Human activities have the capacity to
alter the ecosystem in ways that
threaten the very processes and
components upon which human
depend!!!
The activities may be listed as
a) The process of exhausting fossil fuels
b) Almost more than half of earth’s land has
been transformed
c) More than half of accessible water has been
consumed
d) Increase in greenhouse gases concentration
e) Marine and terrestrial areas including
fisheries has been exploited
So there is a need of creation of
environmental awareness among the
public and the students.
Scientific and engineering research is
also playing an important role in
understanding and protecting the
environment
Some environmental Movements:
Chipko Movement- Sunderlal Bahuguna
Narmada Bachao- Medha Patkar
Save water- Shree Padre
