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Man and environment are inter-related. The environment influences the life of human beings and
also human beings modify their environment as a result of their growth, dispersal, activities,
death and decay etc. Thus all living beings including man and their environment are mutually
reactive affecting each other in a number of ways and a dynamic equilibrium is possible in
between the two, i.e. human beings (society) and environment are interdependent.
The different social structures like industrial, agricultural, religious, aesthetic etc. have
developed during various stages of human civilization and these structures represent human
being’s accumulated cultural resources based on natural environment.
If the natural environment helped in the development of different structures of the society
on the one hand, the existence and quality of environment now rests on the responses of these
social structures to the environment on the other hand.
The burning issues like quality of environment, disruption of earth’s natural ecosystem,
environmental degradation and pollution, ecological imbalances, depletion of resources etc. can
be approached and solved only after considering the value judgments which may be determined
by taking into account the consequences of ‘environmental improvement programme’ on the
entire society and society’s response towards the improvement programme. Actually all these
depend on the interest and desire of the society in improving the quality of environment.
The interaction between environment and society depends largely on the social and
political system. Even the capitalistic and socialistic systems perceptions and reactions to the
environment are quite different. The differential interactions are due to uneven distribution of
natural resources, uneven economic and social development, dissimilarity of demographic
factors, varying view points of the governments and individuals towards environment etc.
The socialistic system of government gives more emphasis on the social importance of
natural resources and environmental problems and the urgent need to tackle, these problems.
HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENT RELATIONS 2
Marxism preaches to organize society’s control over the rapacious exploitation of natural
resources and to develop harmony between man and nature. The emphasis on rational
exploitation of natural resources and ecological balance was in the constitution of USSR.
The changes in the relationship between man and environment depend upon the change in
organization and attitude of society. To improve environmental standard and to maintain
ecological balance, followings are some issues before the present civilized society.
6. To check pollution:
The overexploitation of natural resources, intervention of bio-geochemical cycles and trace
element cycle, extraneous release of matter and energy etc. cause serious environmental hazards.
HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENT RELATIONS 3
Some possible ways of tackling the problems and maintaining environmental standard are:
(d) Creating public awareness about the benefits and implications of environment.
(g) Promoting sustainable agriculture which will not harm the environment.
(l) Choosing suitable technique to treat the pollutants before their discharge into environment.