Chapter 15

Our Environment

 

Introduction

You must have read the word ‘environment’ often in some newspaper, or discussed on TV channels, even from other people. And especially about how human evolution and advancement are gradually degrading it. Elders often say how our ‘environment’ is not as healthy as it used to be before. Several global summits are held every year to discuss the impact of global warming and other environmental issues. We should live and work in a healthy environment, but our current lifestyle is affecting our environment in manifold ways. For instance, you must have witnessed how every household generates a lot of waste every day. This waste also consists of non-biodegradable items, which causes a negative impact on our environment and living organisms. Hence, it is important for everyone to know about the environment and how to save it. In this chapter from ‘Class 10 Science ‘Our Environment’, you will learn about various factors of the environment and how humans impact it.

All Types of human-generated waste

We generate waste every day. These wastes include different kinds of materials and can be roughly classified into two types:

  1. Biodegradable: These are the types of organic wastes that can be decomposed easily by bacteria or saprophytes.

  2. Non-biodegradable waste: This includes synthetic wastes like plastic, glass, metal, electronics, etc., which remain unaltered despite various environmental forces like rain, bacteria, heat, and atmospheric pressure. Such wastes become the cause of pollution and negatively affect the members of the ecosystem.


Ecosystem – Its Types and Components

Different organisms such as animals, human beings, microorganisms, and plants, as well as, the surroundings maintain a balance in nature by interacting with each other. This is called the ecosystem. Any living organism that interacts with non-living elements creates an ecosystem together. A balanced ecosystem includes biotic components that are all living organisms and abiotic components that are physical environmental factors such as heat, wind, rain, soil, temperature, pressure, and earth elements. Aquatic ecosystem, desert ecosystem, agricultural ecosystem, and human ecosystem are some examples of ecosystems.

Ecosystems can again be divided into two parts, such as:

1. Natural ecosystem:


Any living organism such as animal or human that interacts with non-living elements such as air or soil, can create an ecosystem. This interaction between the living organisms with the environment is known as a natural ecosystem. Examples of the natural ecosystems are marine ecosystems, which include the oceans where fish, algae, plants, consumers, and decomposers, reside.

2. Artificial ecosystem:

 

This type of ecosystem needs human involvement for its creation. Humans create it by using natural components like animals and plants. These man made (artificial) ecosystems include gardens, ponds, fountains, aquariums, parks, etc.

The components in these the ecosystem can further be divided into two types:

  1. Biotic: Living organisms that constitute the living components and impact the other organisms in the ecosystem. Various plants that are consumed by other animals, and animals that are consumed by other animals, are all biotic components.

  2. Abiotic: All the nonliving components in the ecosystem are the abiotic components. For example, air, water, sunlight, and temperature form the abiotic components in a terrestrial ecosystem.

The food that we eat provides us with the energy to do day-to-day activities. This is why interactions among the different components of the environment involve a flow of energy from one component to another. This is how the energy flow goes from autotrophs to the heterotrophs and then decomposers. There are different levels in the food chain, and each level forms a trophic level, and they follow the Law of Conservation of Energy. The different trophic levels in the food chain have been created in the form of a pyramid. If we start from its bottom, they are as follows:

  • Primary producers:


They come at the base of the food chain and are known as primary producers or autotrophs. Every autotroph can manufacture their food; they include all green plants, blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria.

  • Primary consumers:

 

This creates the next level in the pyramid, where primary consumers feed on the autotrophs. Its examples are all the plant-eating organisms or herbivores. All organisms which feed on the algae or bacteria also fall under this category.

  • Secondary consumers: They lie on the third level in the food pyramid and include flesh-eating organisms or carnivores.
  • Tertiary consumers: They come on the fourth level of the food pyramid and are called carnivores. All organisms that feed on other carnivores such as bigger sharks feeding on smaller fishes or other sea animals, eagles, tigers, and others. 
  • Quaternary consumers:


This is an additional level that is found in only certain food chains in which the carnivores feed on the tertiary consumers. They lie at the top of the food pyramid and are referred to as quaternary or apex consumers.

Several human activities and man made inventions like engines, factories, increased use of automobiles, discarding non-biodegradable wastes on lands, draining out the waste by-products from various factories into the rivers, the sea has led to the pollution of the water, soil, and air.

Let us focus on some major issues in this section:

  • Ozone Layer Depletion:

As explained in ch 15 science class 10, the ozone layer is essential for all life on the planet, as it shields the earth from harmful UV radiation from the Sun. This radiation is extremely harmful to organisms, as it causes skin cancer in human beings. The ozone layer in the atmosphere has been depleting because of harmful gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in refrigerators, ACs, and fire extinguishers, released by human-generated wastes and man made creations. This resulted in the formation of large holes in the layer and is called ozone layer depletion.

  • Waste management:

The advanced and high-level lifestyles that we follow have resulted in a lot of waste generation, especially the wastes that do not decompose easily with time. That is why it is necessary to take steps on reducing garbage generation by following a few sustainable environmental practices and using only biodegradable materials. This will result in lower environmental pollution and low waste generation. Such practices will reduce the chances of health diseases in humans and the extinction of living organisms in the natural ecosystem. It will also make the planet a better place for our future generations.

 

In this Class 10 Science Our Environment, you have learned all about our environment and the factors that affect it. All our activities are drastically affecting the environment and causing serious issues like global warming, pollution, etc., through various human-generated waste. These are not just gradually destroying our environment but also threatening living organisms. This makes it extremely important that we start following sustainable practices. These practices can result in a positive outcome in preserving the environment.

Let’s discuss some of the most asked ‘Our Environment’ class 10 solutions:

1. What is our environment?

The environment is something that plays a crucial role in preserving life on earth. The natural environment includes — land, water, soil, atmosphere, animals, and forests, and the one that is man-made like ponds, gardens, agricultural fields, and others.

2. Why are some substances biodegradable and some are non-biodegradable?

Few substances are biodegradable because the natural microorganisms found in the environment can easily decompose them. But in the case of non-biodegradable items, like polythene, electronic wastes, plastic, and other such substances, the microorganisms are unable to break them down, so they are known as non-biodegradable and are considered very harmful to nature.

3. Write about the harmful effects caused by the non-biodegradable wastes that we generate?

Non-biodegradable wastes cannot possibly be decomposed by external factors and simply remain in the environment for a very long time and harm the living organisms of the ecosystem and the environment while contributing to severe pollution.

4. What is the importance of the environment?

The environment is essential for the very existence of human beings as well as other forms of life on the earth.

5. What are the main components of our environment? 

Atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere are the primary components of the environment. You can get a better idea about all these components through video illustrations and examples on the MSVGo website/app.

 

For you to prepare for your next exams, you will need a partner that provides them with an analytical approach to skills identification. Designed with a smart learning approach and strong learning design principles - MSVgo promises to improve students’ performance academically with their free app. MSVgo will enable students to improve their knowledge grasping power or core Science skills. Hence, it will improve their grades, enable them to answer more questions in exams, and be less afraid to participate in class or competitions, and so on. MSVgo’s website also has a video library with over 15,000 videos that explain all the concepts with examples, explanatory images, and animations. Check out haloalkanes and haloarenes class 12 NCERT solutions videos on MSVgo to understand the concepts.

 

Other Courses

Related Chapters