2 History and Development of Environmental Studies

Saleha Jamal

Structure

1.1 Meaning of Environmental Studies

1.2 Introduction to environmental studies

1.3 Introduction to History and Development of Environmental studies

1.4 Effect of Early Human Civilization on Environment

1.5 A New Social Order in Process

1.6 Industrial Revolution and Environment

1.7 Early Environmentalism and the rise of Environmental Studies

1.8 Conclusion

Objectives:

At the end of this module the student should be able to:

Explain the meaning of environmental studies

Have clear understanding about history and development of environmental studies through

Effect of Early Human Civilization on Environment

A New Social Order in Process

Industrial Revolution and Environment

Early Environmentalism and the rise of Environmental Studies

1.1 Meaning of Environmental Studies

Environmental studies are the scientific study of the environmental system and the status of its inherent or induced changes on organisms. It includes not only the study of physical and biological characters of the environment but also the social and cultural factors and the impact of man on environment. Environmental studies as a branch of study emphasize upon the scientific study of environmental system, it deals with the technical processes involved in the protection of environment from the effects of human activities, it promotes due regard for physical, social and economic environment of the enterprise or projects. It encourages planned investment at the start of the production chain rather than forced investment in cleaning up at the end.

1.2 Introduction to Environmental Studies

Environmental studies deal with every issue that affects an organism. It is essentially a multidisciplinary approach that brings about an appreciation of our natural world and human impacts on its integrity. It is an applied science as it seeks practical answers to making human civilization sustainable on the earth’s finite resources. Its components include biology, geology, chemistry, physics, engineering, sociology, health, anthropology, economics, statistics, computers and philosophy.Humans live on the surface of the earth and use the resources provided by Mother Nature inside and outside the surface of the earth. The most important thing about the resources which we use for our benefit is limited. Water, air, soil, minerals, oil, the products we get from forests, grasslands, oceans and from agriculture and livestock, are all a part of our life support systems and if not used judicious and in a sustainable manner they will come to exhaustion. Without them life itself would be impossible. It is a known fact that population is increasing rapidly and it may be true to say that it is increasing beyond the carrying capacity of earth leading to chaos and turmoil. It cannot be always expected from earth that it will sustain this expanding level of utilization of resources at it has done in the past upto now. Added more to this is that we are not only using the resource provided by the nature but we are also misusing the resources of the nature. We waste or pollute large amounts of nature’s clean water; we create more and more material like plastic that we discard after a single use; and we waste colossal amounts of food, which is discarded as garbage. Manufacturing processes create solid waste by products that are discarded, as well as chemicals that flow out as liquid waste and pollute water, and gases that pollute the air. Increasing amounts of waste cannot be managed by natural processes. These accumulate in our environment, leading to a variety of diseases and other adverse environmental impacts now seriously affecting all our lives. Air pollution leads to respiratory diseases, water pollution to gastro-intestinal diseases, and many pollutants are known to cause cancer. The degradation of environment has become a serious problem for the existence of human beings and this is the reason why ‘Environmental Studies’ has become a separate branch in ‘Geography’ to study the man and environment relationship and to study the affect of man’s activities on his surrounding environment. Moreover, the larger side of human activities affecting and degrading the environment which we are watching at present is not a new phenomena and it does not came into existence all of a sudden but its root can be traced back into the history since the human and civilizations came into existence.

1.3 Introduction to History and Development of Environmental studies

If we see the history of human activities and its impact on natural environment then we find that the impact of early human societies on physical environment was minimum because the early human societies was busy in hunting, gathering and fishing and they were also living in small groups and the population was small. The technological development and human development was very low. This type of interaction between primitive human society and strong natural forces was termed as ‘environmental determinism’ which has been discussed in detail in the later part of discussion. But later human activities brought greater changes to the natural environment because man started domestication of animals and cultivation of plants. Lands were used for extensive grazing for domestication of animals and extensively cultivated for cultivation of crop. Thus availability of food allowed man to live in permanent settlement and complex societies. The developments like clearing the forest for cultivation, permanent settlement and growth of settlement brought greater changes to the natural environment. As these societies became more successful and started to live in larger concentration due to the development and expansion of settlement their social, economic and political systems further developed. The rise of agriculture, resource extraction, manufacturing activities led to the development of more complex social, economic and political system. Later transportation and trade networks were established, political boundaries were created, and settlement grew into towns and cities. This led to the greater and more permanent changes in the natural environment and this led to evolution of modern urbanised and industrialised world that we know today and this also paved the way to study environmental studies as a separate branch of study to preserve and conserve the environment. Thus we can say that throughout human history, the physical environment has provided raw materials for human use and influenced human activities. In turn, human activities have altered the physical environment in dramatic ways in many parts of the world. These lines provide a hint that the human beings interact with their surrounding physical environment with the help of technology. It is the technology that shows the level of cultural development of society. It is not an important matter of fact that what human beings are producing and creating but important thing is that what tools and techniques are used by man to produce those things. For example, with the help of understanding of friction and heat man discovered fire, with the help of understanding of DNA and genetics man becomes able to conquer many diseases. We use the laws of aerodynamics for making faster planes. This is the reason why the knowledge of nature is extremely important for developing technology and it is the technology that makes nature to loosen the grip and fist that had prevented man from acting freely. And it is the technology of man which will save our environment by enabling us to use our resources in a more efficient and sustainable manner, it will also explore other areas to harness the resources such as solar and wind energy at larger and at more efficient scale.

1.4 Effect of Early Human Civilization on Environment

Environmental studies got importance as a separate branch of study in the modern and contemporary world but its root can be traced back since the early civilizations appeared on the surface of the earth. It is a common belies and upto some extent true also that our earliest ancestors lived in complete harmony and peace with nature. But it might not be the exact case because from the very beginning of human life people change their environment sometimes in a very damaging way. Archaeologist around the world on the basis of their research have got evidences that small hunting and gathering groups of man in many parts of the world set forest on fire in order to remove the unwanted vegetation. These forest fires killed and destroyed habitat of many animals and birds. These hunters kill the herds of buffalos and other animals even when one buffalo is sufficient for satisfying their hunger. The most dramatic impact that gathering and hunting groups had on their environment though was through hunting animals.Most animals were defenceless against this new predation and overhunting was widespread problem especially since many groups of hunters tended to concentrate on one specific species. In some areas with a lack of plant variety, early humans began to kill large herds of bison and other large animals in very crude and wasteful ways such as luring them off cliffs or into canyons. “The changing environment put the greatest strain on these large animals, but hunting by humans would have had a devastating impact on a population already in decline and may have tipped the balance between extinction and survival. In this way from the very early times man is affecting its surrounding environment. In some places, over-hunting caused the extinction of some animals and birds. “These first settlers,” says one environmental historian, “left a trail of destruction across the continent.” After thousands of years of constantly moving in search of food, the people in a few isolated areas of the world began to settle favourable areas. These people could do this only when they learned how to cultivate food crops and domesticate animals. Beginning about 10,000 years ago, this agricultural revolution was probably the most important human invention of all time. Farming allowed people to live in the same place for long periods of time. After planting, it gave people more time to focus on art, religion, and architecture. In time, it led to cities, labor specialization, class systems, and more leisure time. Civilizations could not have developed without the invention of agriculture. When man learned to settle down and perform agriculture for their livelihood their population increased and farmers cleared more land for cultivation. This significant change in population supported soil exhaustion as the cause of agricultural practices that depleted the fertility and could not support the population that previously thrived on it. They burned forest and grasslands in order to increase the area under cultivation for more production of food. These human settlers also learned to domesticate animals like goat and sheep which use to graze the land. Thus by 6000 BC man has cleared all the forest immediate to their villages and much of the natural groundcover i.e., grasses were gone due to grazing by goats and intense farming. This was the initial point where man has started to affect the environment and it is the place from where the initial roots of environmental studies can be traced out. According to a report it was believed that more than 50000 years ago there was a mass extinction of 85.0 per cent of the species and when human settled they drastically altered the climate and the environment causing the extinction of mega fauna.

1.5 A New Social Order in Process

As man learnt to cultivate plants and domesticate animals he started sedentary culture. After 12000 years ago the human communities living in sedentary culture started to function differently than in the past and later became famous by the term of civilization. These first civilizations settled between two major rivers: the Tigris and Euphrates. Living between these two rivers would allow for inhabitants of the civilizations access to one of the fundamental benefits presented by the natural environment: water. Of course, the people of this civilization had to find ways to get that water to the central farms that were developing, as the movement from hunting and gathering to fixed locations required people to use the available land to plant and grow food. Irrigation was born. In the past each and every person was busy in the process of growing and collecting food but later due to cultural advancement human societies created systems for producing food and created food villages. This transformation of human society had serious repercussions on the social sphere marking an important departure from past social systems. People now lived in larger denser and more permanent settlement and now they started to interact and effect their surrounding environment in a totally different ways. In various parts of the world, including the valleys of the Tigris-Euphrates, Nile, Indus, and Huang rivers, larger and denser settlements began to emerge. These large concentrations of people are referred to as complex societies or civilizations, which share many features, including having a dense population, an agriculture-based economy, a social hierarchy, a division of labor and specialization, a centralized government, monuments, record-keeping and writing, and complex systems of belief. Now the older villages were started to take the shape of larger cities which were characterized as center of power, production, culture and innovation. The sustenance of these cities was not easy because it required irreversible manipulation of the surrounding environment in order to extract energy from firewood, materials for building like stones and other resources like food and water. This too had serious repercussions on the environmental condition. Civilization as a whole grew tremendously as people were able to successfully grow food for both themselves and their neighbours. Most importantly, however, it is important to understand that, from even this early time period, there was an unmistakable connection between mankind and his environment. When the environment was cooperative, the early civilizations thrived. When the environment was uncooperative, civilization stagnated. Later man by the virtue of his mind discovered and invented things for its societal benefit and further development. Man began to tap energy from fossils fuels which he believed earlier that it is an inexhaustible energy resource and this fossil fuel initially was coal by the help of which man entered into era of industrial revolution.

1.6 Industrial Revolution and Environment

It was the fossil fuel coal that fueled the Industrial Revolution, forever changing the way people would live and utilize energy.While this propelled human progress to extraordinary levels, it came at extraordinary costs to our environment, and ultimately to the health of all living things.The Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in Earth’s ecology and humans’ relationship with their environment. The Industrial Revolution dramatically changed every aspect of human life and lifestyles in positive and negative ways both.Positively the Industrial Revolution leads to the development of mass production and inventions have drastically improved the standard of living and life expectancy for people around the world. But negatively it has also lead to many harmful effects on the natural environment through pollution and the exploitation of resource, as well as created working and living conditions with harmful effects to the people living in industrial societies.Population growth began to spiral upwards as a result of changes in the human condition made possible by the Industrial Revolution. As the Industrial Revolution emerged in the 1700s, the world’s human population had managed to reach about 700 million people. Today, the global human population has rocketed to over 7.5billion people, statistically increasing by about 144 people every minute. There are many who believe that growing population is the main cause of deterioration in the environmental conditions. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, new technologies have enabled cultures and communities, initially in the new territories traversed by the Europeans, to expand in populace: “we are forever realizing that the Industrial Revolution has changed forever the relationship between humanity and nature.The Industrial Revolution sparked a huge advance in technology and development, but it also had its downside. As human society has grown and advanced, its effects on the environment and the atmosphere have become more and more pronounced. The impact of humans on Earth’s environment is one of the major issues in ecological politics today, and a problem that may threaten the planet for some time to come.During the Industrial Revolution, environmental pollution increased with the use of new sources of fuel, the development of large factories, and the rise of unsanitary urban centres.Anthracite coal, discovered at the turn of the nineteenth century, became an important source of fuel during the Industrial Revolution, with lasting consequences for the environment. The consumption of immense quantities of coal and other fossil fuels eventually gave rise to unprecedented air pollution. The environmental effects of industrialization were especially concentrated in cities. Unsanitary conditions and overcrowding afflicted many American cities, where outbreaks of disease, including cholera and typhoid, were common. Untreated human waste was a major environmental hazard as rapidly growing cities lacked sewer systems and relied on contaminated wells within city confines for drinking water supplies. In the mid-nineteenth century, after the link between contaminated water and disease was established, many cities built centralized water-supply systems. However, waste water continued to be discharged without treatment, due to public health officials’ confidence in the self-purifying capacity of rivers, lakes, and the sea.

1.7 Early Environmentalism and the rise of Environmental Studies

It was during 1924 when Albrecht Pencka geographer from University of Vienna coined the term ‘Physische Anthropogeographie’ which in English stands for ‘Physical anthropogeography’. This term shows an integrated approach between physical environment and man or in other words it shows a link between human and physical geography. Thereby, integrated geography represents a critically important set of analytical tool for assessing the impact of human presence on the environment. With integrated geography we can analyse different social science and humanities perspectives and there use in understanding human-environment processes. Since the advent of Industrial revolution man has hampered its surrounding natural environment at a large scale. Industrial development has lead to the various kinds of water, air and other environmental pollution which had serious repercussions on the health of the human beings. In the early nineteenth century, policymakers and the public had little awareness of the extent of industry’s impact on the environment. It is a difficult task to imagine a time when exactly the issue of the environment came into existence and the matter is controversial. Most of the people believed that the rivers and the air have infinite capacity to absorb the waste generated by man. Oil was cheaper at that time and people was engaged in wasteful use of energy without giving a second thought to environment. Awareness of potential problems related to environment started in the 1960s as smog blanketed the air above major cities such as Los Angeles, radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing spread across the Midwest, and pesticides contaminated agricultural products. A book named Silent Spring written by Rachael Carson in 1962 was the first turning point in the emergence of environmentalism in which she argued that human beings and nature are interdependent. She also alerted people on the issue of the ill effect of the use of DDT which was greatly used at that time in American Agriculture around World War II. Moreover, Silent Spring raised concerns that the unchecked growth of industry would threaten human health and destroy animal life the title of the work referred to Carson’s fear that the continued destruction of the environment would eventually make the birds who sang outside her window extinct.Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecologism combines the ideology of social ecology and environmentalism. The 1960s was a period of growth for the environmental movement. The movement began with a newfound interest in preservationist issues. The origins of the environmental movement lay in the response to increasing levels of smokepollution in the atmosphere during the Industrial Revolution. The emergence of great factories and the concomitant immense growth in coal consumption gave rise to an unprecedented level of air pollution in industrial centers; after 1900 the large volume of industrial chemical discharges added to the growing load of untreated human waste.

1.8 Conclusion

In the end it can be concluded that the history of environmental study can be traced out since the man first appeared on the surface of the earth. Though in the beginning man was getting benefit from the nature by the processes of hunting and gathering its effect on environment was not much. But as man learned to lit fire, started domestication of animals, cultivation of plants and started to live in sedentary culture, the effect on the environment slowly and slowly started to increase. Earlier man was busy in collecting food but when food was available in plenty he was has ample time to explore the world thus he made his society more complex socially, economically and politically. Later man with the virtue of his mind started to utilize the fossils fuels like coal and petroleum which lead to the environmental degradation and from here the concept of environmental studies came into the mind of people for the conservation and protection of environment which man has destroyed in the past. The first department to study environment was established in Syracuse University of United States in 1950’s.

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