INTRODUCTION

The science of Environment studies is a multi-disciplinary science because it comprises various branches of studies like chemistry, physics, medical science, life science, agriculture, public health, sanitary engineering etc. It is the science of physical phenomena in the environment. It studies of the sources, reactions, transport, effect and fate of physical a biological species in the air, water and soil and the effect of from human activity upon these.

Environment Explained Literary environment means the surrounding external conditions influencing development or growth of people, animal or plants; living or working conditions etc. This involves three questions: 1. What is Surrounded The answer to this question is living objects in general and man in particular. 2. By what Surrounded The physical attributes are the answer to this question, which become environment. In fact, the concern of all education is the environment of man. However, man cannot exist or be understood in isolation from the other forms of life and from plant life. Hence, environment refers to the sum total of condition, which surround point in space and time. The scope of the term Environment has been changing and widening by the passage of time. In the primitive age, the environment consisted of only physical aspects of the planted earth' land, air and water as biological communities. As the time passed on man extended his environment through his social, economic and political functions. 3. Where Surrounded The answer to this question. It is in nature that physical component of the plant earth, viz land, air, water etc., support and affect life in the biosphere. According to a Goudie

Environment is the representative of physical components of the earth where in man is an important factor affecting the environment. Some important definitions of environment are as under:

Boring: A persons environment consists of the sum total of the stimulation which he receives from his conception until his death. It can be concluded from the above definition that Environment comprises various types of forces such as physical, intellectual, economic, political, cultural, social, moral and emotional. Environment is the sum total of all the external forces, influences and conditions, which affect the life, nature, behaviour and the growth, development and maturation of living organisms.

Douglas and Holland: The term environment is used to describe, in the aggregate, all the external forces, influences and conditions, which affect the life, nature, behavior and the growth, development and maturity of living organisms.

Scope of Environment The environment consists of four segments as under: 1. Atmosphere: The atmosphere implies the protective blanket of gases, surrounding the earth: (a) It sustains life on the earth. (b) It saves it from the hostile environment of outer space. (c) It absorbs most of the cosmic rays from outer space and a major portion of the electromagnetic radiation from the sun. (d) It transmits only here ultraviolet, visible, near infrared radiation (300 to 2500 nm) and radio waves. (0.14 to 40 m) while filtering out tissue-damaging ultraviolate waves below about 300 nm. The atmosphere is composed of nitrogen and oxygen. Besides, argon, carbon dioxide, and trace gases.

2. Hydrosphere: The Hydrosphere comprises all types of water resources oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, streams, reserviour, polar icecaps, glaciers, and ground water. (i) Nature 97% of the earths water supply is in the oceans, (ii) About 2% of the water resources is locked in the polar icecaps and glaciers. (iii) Only about 1% is available as fresh surface water-rivers, lakes streams, and ground water fit to be used for human consumption and other uses.

3. Lithosphere: Lithosphere is the outer mantle of the solid earth. It consists of minerals occurring in the earths crusts and the soil e.g. minerals, organic matter, air and water.

4. Biosphere: Biosphere indicates the realm of living organisms and their interactions with environment, viz atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere.

Various Types of Environment According to Kurt Lewin, environment is of three types which influence the personality of an individual as under: (a) Physical Environment, (b) Social and Cultural Environment, and (c) Psychological Environment.

These may be explained as under: 1. Physical Environment Physical environment, refers to geographical climate and weather or physical conditions wherein and individual lives. The human races are greatly influenced by the climate. Some examples are as under: (a) In the cold countries i.e. European countries the people are of white colour. Likewise, in Asian and African countries, that is, in hot countries people are of dark complexion. (b) The physique of an individual depends on climate conditions as the individual tries to adjust in his physical environment. (d) The human working efficiency also depends on the climatic conditions.

2. Social Environment Social Environment includes an individuals social, economic and political condition wherein he lives. The moral, cultural and emotional forces influence the life and nature of individual behaviour. Society may be classified into two categories as under: (i) An open society is very conductive for the individual developement. (ii) A closed society is not very conductive for the developenment.

3. Psychological Environment Although physical and social environment are common to the individual in a specific situation. Yet every individual has his own psychological environment, in which he lives. Kurt Lewin has used the term life space for explaining psychological environment. The Psychological environment enables us to understand the personality of an individual. Both the person and his goal form psychological environment. If a person is unable to overcome the barriers, he can either get frustrated or completed to change his goal for a new psychological environment. But adopting this mechanism, the individual is helped in his adjustment to the environment.

Structure of Environment Environment is both physical and biological. It includes both living and non-living components. (i) Physical Environment The Physical Environment is classified into three broad categories. (i) Solid, (ii) Liquid (iii) Gas. These represent the following spheres: (i) The lithosphere (solid earth) (ii) The hydrosphere (water component) and (iii) The atmosphere As such, the three basic of physical environment may be termed as under: (i) Lithospheric Environment (ii) Hydrospheric Environment (iii) Atmospheric Environment The scientists have classified them into smaller units based on different spatial scales, e.g. (i) Mountain Environment (ii) Glacier Environment

(iii) Plateau Environment (iv) Coastal Environment

(ii) Biological Environment The biological of the environment consists of: (i) Plants (flora) (ii) Animals (fauna).

Thus, the biotic environment further be divided into floral environment and faunal environment. All the organisms work to form their social groups and organizations at several levels. Thus, the social environment is formed. In this social environment the organisms work to derive matter from the physical environment for their sustenance and development. This process gives birth to economic environment. Man claims to be most skilled and civilized of all the organisms. This is the reason why his social organisation is most systematic. The three aspects of man, e.g. physical, social and economic, function in the biotic environment as under: (i) The Physical Man The Physical Man is one of the organisms populations or biological community. He is in need of basic elements of the physical environment like habitat (space), air, water and food. Besides, like other biological populations, he releases wastes into the ecosystem.

(ii) The Social Man The Social Man performs the following functions: (a) Establishing social institutions, (b) Forming social organisations, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE : DEFINITION, SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE 9 (c) Formulating laws, principles and policies, (d) Taking steps to safeguard his existence, interest and social welfare.

(iii) The Economic Man The economic man derives and utilises resources from the physical and biotic environment with his skills and technologies. The economic function makes the man an environment/

geomorphic process as he transports matter and energy from one component of the ecosystem to the other. There may be any following two situations: (a) His exploitative functions may be in harmony with the natural environment. Such, functions do not necessarily involve change in the working of the ecosystem. (b) These functions may exceed the critical limit. Consequently, the equilibrium of the environment/ecosystem is disturbed and a great number of environment and ecological problems crop up. These are determental to man him besides to whole population of human species in a given ecosystem.

Branches of Environmental Science Environmental science deals with many areas as is comprehensible as environmental factors work in determining the way life would work in synchronization with the natural factors. For example pollution is related to population, green house effects is related to global warming, pollution is again related to ozone depletion which also contributes to Global warming. There is no definite demarcation between the branches of study of Environmental Science, each overlaps on the scope of the other, yet to make things easier to grasp and to facilitate work upon them, the study of Environment Science has been divided into the following divisions: Atmospheric sciences focuses on the Earth's atmosphere, with an emphasis upon its interrelation to other systems. Atmospheric sciences can include studies of meteorology, greenhouse gas phenomena, atmospheric dispersion modeling of airborne contaminants, sound propagation phenomena related to noise pollution, and even light pollution. Taking the example of the global warming phenomena, physicists create computer models of atmospheric circulation and infra-red radiation transmission, chemists examine the inventory of atmospheric chemicals and their reactions, biologists analyze the plant and animal contributions to carbon dioxide fluxes, and specialists such as meteorologists and oceanographers add additional breadth in understanding the atmospheric dynamics. Ecology is the study of the interactions between organisms and their environment. Ecologists might investigate the relationship between a population of organisms and some

physical characteristic of their environment, such as concentration of a chemical; or they might investigate the interaction between two populations of different organisms through some symbiotic or competitive relationship. For example, an interdisciplinary analysis of an ecological system which is being impacted by one or more stressors might include several related environmental science fields. In an estuarine setting where a proposed industrial development could impact certain species by water and air pollution, biologists would describe the flora and fauna, chemists would analyze the transport of water pollutants to the marsh, physicists would calculate air pollution emissions and geologists would assist in understanding the marsh soils and bay muds. Environmental chemistry is the study of chemical alterations in the environment. Principal areas of study include soil contamination and water pollution. The topics of analysis include chemical degradation in the environment, multi-phase transport of chemicals (for example, evaporation of a solvent containing lake to yield solvent as an air pollutant), and chemical effects upon biota. As an example study, consider the case of a leaking solvent tank which has entered the habitat soil of an endangered species of amphibian. As a method to resolve or understand the extent of soil contamination and subsurface transport of solvent, a computer model would be implemented. Chemists would then characterize the molecular bonding of the solvent to the specific soil type, and biologists would study the impacts upon soil arthropods, plants, and ultimately pond-dwelling organisms that are the food of the endangered amphibian. Geosciences include environmental geology, environmental soil science, volcanic phenomena and evolution of the Earth's crust. In some classification systems this can also include hydrology, including oceanography. As an example study of soils erosion, calculations would be made of surface runoff by soil scientists. Fluvial geomorphologists would assist in examining sediment transport in overland flow. Physicists would contribute by assessing the changes in light transmission in the receiving waters. Biologists would analyze subsequent impacts to aquatic flora and fauna from increases in water turbidity.

Environmental Assessment is a branch of study that estimates and assesses the ways and methods to improve and enhance the environment Environmental Microbiology is the last branch of Environmental Science is related with the study of microbes and their communities on the environment. It studies the composition and physiology of the microbes.

Scope of Environmental Studies. Because of environmental studies has been seen to be multidisciplinary in nature so it is considered to be a subject with great scope. Environment age not limited to issues of sanitation and health but it is now concerned with pollution control, biodiversity conservation, waste management and conservation of natural resources. This requires expert eyes and hence are creating new job opportunities. The opportunities in this field are immense not only for scientists but also for engineers, biologists. There is a good chance of opportunity to find a job in this field as environmental journalists. Environmental science can be applied in the following spheres:

Ecosystem Structure and Function The study of ecosystems mainly consists of the study of the processes that link the leaving organism or in other words biotic component to the non-living organism or abiotic component. So for the study of environment we should aware with biotic and abiotic components. Natural Resource Conservation For managing and maintenance of forests which are natural resources and for the maintenance of wildlife forms task under natural resource conservation. It is also a scope of environmental studies. Environmental Pollution Control

With the knowledge of environmental science everybody can control the pollution. He/she can handle the waste management and also look for ways to control pollution on the aspect of pollution control. Environmental management There are several independent environmental consultants who are working with Central and State pollution control Board. They offer advice to solve the problems of environment the optimum solution for the upcoming problems. They give direction for controlling pollution due to industrial development. There are several current consultants who are working with government pollution control boobs, involved in policy making, pollution control, maintenance of ecological balance. The scope of environmental studies in industry Environmental scientists work towards maintenance of ecological balance, they also work towards conservation of biodiversity and regulation of natural resources as well as on preservation of natural resources. Most of the industries have a separate environmental research and development section. These sections govern the impact that their industry has on the environment. Our environment is being degraded by the rapid industrialization. To combat this menace there is a growing trend towards manufacture of "green" goods and products. So we can say that there is a good scope in the field of industry from environmental studies. Research and development Research and development has tremendous scope due to increment in public awareness regarding the environment. Various universities and governmental organizations offer a scope for such research. These universities conduct research studies in order to develop the methods toward monitoring and controlling the source of environmental pollution. Due to an increasing threat from global warming , many steps are being undertaken for the reduction of greenhouse gases and the adoption of renewable energy resources. They generate awareness now regarding the use of solar energy for variety of purposes. This provide scope of environmental history in the field of research and development.

Social Development NGO ( nongovernmental organizations )help in creating awareness regarding the protection of the environment and making the masses aware of various environmental issues . They also generate a public opinion in this field. They work towards disseminating information and in bringing about changes in political policies that are personally effect the environment. The social dimension of this profession includes controlling population explosion through organizing advisory awareness camps.

Referensi:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_science http://www.buzzle.com/articles/environmental-science.html http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_scope_of_environmental_studies http://guides.wikinut.com/Scope-and-Importance-of-Environmental-studies/-i98dsd3/