The United Nations has recognized access to water as a basic human right, stating that water is a social and cultural good, not merely an economic commodity. Since ancient times, water has been recognized universally as an invaluable resource. Water has been harvested in India since the dawn of civilization. The Ramayana, Mahabharata and various other Vedic,…
A forest can be defined as a biotic community predominant of trees, shrubs or any other woody vegetation usually in a closed canopy. It is derived from latin word ‘foris’ means ‘outside’. India’s Forest Cover is 6,76,000 sq.km (20.55% of geographic area). Scientists estimate that India should ideally have 33% of its land under forests. Today we only have about…
Natural resources are those resources that occur within the environment in their original and natural form, undisturbed by humanity. They take years to form without the intervention of humans. The Mother Earth is abundant with natural resources that develop on this planet using its surrounding environment. These natural resources are derived from the environment. While few of them…
An abrupt and tremendous release of energy stored in the rocks and the earth’s crust through the action of tectonic process is described as an earth quake. Some areas on the planet earth are so located that more than one tectonic plate constantly change against one another and an earthquake can result when one or…
Sources: The waste generated by agriculture includes waste from crops and live stock. In developing countries, this waste does not pose a serious problem as most of it is used e.g. dung is used for manure, straw is used as fodder. Some agro-based industries produce waste e.g., rice milling, production of tea, tobacco etc. Agricultural wastes…
The combined effects of population explosion and changing modern living standards have had a cumulative effect in the generation of a large amount of various types of wastes. Solid waste can be classified into different types depending on their source. · Municipal solid waste (MSW) · Industrial waste · Hazardous waste · Biomedical or hospital waste: as infectious waste….
INTRODUCTION Radionuclides are elements (uranium 235, uranium 283, thorium 232, potassium 40, radium 226, carbon 14 etc) with unstable atomic nuclei and on decomposition release ionizing radiations in the form of alpha, beta and gamma rays. Out of the known 45O radioisotopes only some are of environmental concern like strontium 90, tritium, plutonium 239, argon…
Noise may not seem as harmful as the contamination of air or water, but it is a pollution problem that affects human health and can contribute to a general deterioration of environmental quality. Noise is undesirable and unwanted sound. It may be considered as music to one person and may be noise to another. Noise is…
Marine pollution is defined as the introduction of substances to the marine environment directly or indirectly by man resulting in adverse effects such as hazardous to human health, obstruction of marine activities and lowering the quality of sea water. Sources 1. Municipal waste & sewage from residences and hotels in coastal towns are directly discharged…
Thermal pollution is the degradation of water quality by any process that increases the ambient water temperature. The increase in temperature (a) decreases the dissolved oxygen/oxygen supply, and (b) affects ecosystem composition. Sources: 1) Industries: A common cause of thermal pollution is the use of water as a coolant by power plants and industrial manufacturers….