What is environment ?

Meaning Of Environment

The word environment’ has been derived from the French word ‘environer’ meaning to encircle or to surround. The Dictionary meaning of the word ‘environment’ is a ‘surrounding’ ; external conditions influencing development or growth of people, animals or plants; living or working conditions etc.

definition

Environment may refer to the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism.

Primarily,the concern of all geographers is with the environment of man. But man cannot exist or be understood in isolation from the other forms of life and from plant life’

-(A.N. Strahler and A.H. Strahler,1976, p.4)

Environment refers to the sum total of conditions which surround man at a given point in space and time’

-(C.c. Park,1980, p.28)

Environment is defined more comprehensively by others “as a holistic view of the world as it functions at any point of time, with a multitude of spatial elemental and socio-economic systems distinguished by quality and attributes of space and mode of behaviour of abiotic and biotic forms’ -(K. R. Dikhshit, 1984)

Thus environment is defined as ‘(1)The circumstances and conditions (physical conditions) that surround (and affect) an organism or group of organisms , or  (2) the social and cultural conditions that affect an individual or community.Since human inhabit the natural world as well as the ‘built’ or technological, social and cultural world, all constitute parts of our environment’

-(W. P. cunnigham and M.A. Cunnigham, 2004)

Reference:

• Singh S. ,Environmental geography

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Written by সাদমান

I am sadik, simply sad :).Studied in Chittagong University,Bangladesh;Department of Geography and Environmental studies.