What Does Environment Mean?
Being alive implies acting and reacting on the places that surround us . In this article we will provide you the types of environment.
These places, in turn, are formed by other living beings and organic and/or inorganic matter.
This would be, therefore, the most direct possible definition of the environment .
It is the place where life takes shape and takes its course.
But the meaning goes further. And the environment can be treated in a general or specific way.
The seas, the earth’s atmosphere and its dry surfaces are environments in the broadest sense.
However, the means must be considered in all their dimensions.
Therefore, even underground environments can be classified in this way, as well as micro or nanoscopic environments, since life also flourishes in them.
Where there are living beings and their interaction with the environment that surrounds them, there is an environment.
Importance Of The Environment
Without environment, there is no life .
Therefore, preserving it is a key element of survival.
At this point, we run into the issue of urbanization.
With the growth of cities , some argue that humanity tends to undervalue the environment, since it is in urban areas that most of the world’s population lives today.
The big problem is that cities often grow at a dizzying speed and, as such, without a balanced urban planning, which integrates nature and infrastructure.
Types of Environment
Three types of natural environments
Belwo are the types of environment.
1-Aquatic
This type of natural environment is where life develops within a certain body of water, such as a lake, a river, a sea, a lagoon, an ocean, a swamp, etc. Within these environments, a distinction can be made between freshwater and saltwater. This feature is essential to determine the type of life that develops in them, whether plants or animals, as well as the use that humans can give them.
2-Terrestrial
This class of natural environment, on the other hand, is the one that develops on the terrestrial soil. Depending on the surface, the climate, the rains and other variables, the life that develops will change. For example, in a desert environment, temperatures are characterized by being extremely high during the day and dropping significantly at night, which is known as thermal amplitude.
In addition, in the deserts it rains very little, so they have a dry climate, which means that there is little vegetation, while the animals must adapt to living with such scarcity. Unlike this environment, savannahs do have rainfall, allowing grasslands and herbaceous plants to develop. In addition to this, birds, mammals, reptiles and birds live there, among other varieties, as well as being a suitable environment for livestock.
Another kind of terrestrial environment is that of the forests , which have the characteristic of being much more humid than the previous two and having average temperatures of 25° C. Thanks to this, the flora and fauna that develops is abundant and very varied.
In any case, depending on their location, different forests can develop, one of them being tropical rain forests, where it rains practically all year round and where high temperatures remain. As a result of this, abundant vegetation is generated and there are also different species of reptiles, insects and even amphibians.
On the other hand, there are the dry forests, which have, among other characteristics, that of having much shorter periods of rain and winter can last up to nine months, so that in these the flora and fauna varies in relation to the previous ones.
3-Aerial
unlike the two environments mentioned above, these are characterized by being transitory, that is, living beings cannot live in it constantly, but rather need to come into contact with the ground or water, either to feed, eat , drink, reproduce or sleep. This is because the aerial environment does not offer the conditions to carry out these and other activities that are vital for living beings.
Have you grasped the types of environment.
Some artificial environments
Greenhouses : within artificial environments, this is characterized by being a closed space with some glass or plastic material and that remains static. This allows man to be the one who has the possibility of modifying certain factors such as temperature and humidity in order to allow the development of certain plants. In this way, the greenhouse has become a very useful environment for the cultivation of different products.
Aquariums : also known as fish tanks, these artificial environments consist of a container, usually made of glass, in which a certain amount of water is placed, whether fresh or salty, cold or tropical, in order to allow the development of an ecosystem , which can be composed of invertebrates, plants or fish.
Generally, these environments are developed for aesthetic purposes , to decorate a house, office or any other place, or to enjoy the tasks involved in maintaining and creating said ecosystem. In most cases, aquariums have a filter, so that the water circulates permanently, and a lamp that illuminates the interior of the container, which is essential for the plants to carry out the process of photosynthesis.
Dikes : these environments consist of an embankment , which is usually arranged parallel to the edge of the sea or to the course of a river, in order to prevent water from passing through. In general, the embankment is made of earth and helps to make roads concrete, they also protect certain land from the waves and prevent land near the river or sea from being flooded. It can also happen that natural dikes are formed, on the edge of a river, from the deposits that it is dragging.
Composition Of The Environment
The environment is a combination of four types of interfaces where life manifests itself.
They are the atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere.
The first is the film of oxygen that surrounds the earth’s surface and which protects us from the sun’s ultraviolet rays.
The biosphere is the outer part of the planet as a whole, while the lithosphere is the solid, dry layer of the planet where most human beings live.
Finally, the hydrosphere comprises all water in its natural state, salt and fresh, including seas, rivers, lakes, ponds and waterfalls.
In common, all these layers have the ability to harbor different forms of life , and their balance is fundamental to maintaining biodiversity.
What Does Environmental Preservation Mean?
Planet Earth can be considered as a living organism.
As such, their systems must always be in balance, considering conservation and environmental preservation actions for living beings to reproduce.
Any activity that serves to keep one or more animal or plant species alive and in a position to reproduce is aimed at preservation.
Preserving, therefore, is the only way to guarantee the survival not only of other species, but also of humanity itself.
Imagine that life on Earth is like a house of cards.
If you take away one of them, the ones above will fall apart.
Something similar happens when any species is extinct or is on the verge of extinction.
As in a chain reaction , its disappearance causes a series of harmful effects to life on Earth as a whole.
As a result, we all suffer from the reduction of biodiversity , whether here or on other continents.
What Is The Difference Between Environmental Preservation And Conservation?
The environment can be maintained, basically, in two ways, by conservation or by preservation.
They look the same, but there is a significant difference between these two concepts and it is related to human interference .
In other words, when we talk about conservation, we are talking about the conscious and rational use of natural resources by man.
Already in the preservation, nature remains untouched , therefore, without any human action in the sense of exploring its riches.
As an example of conservation, we have sustainably managed forests in which deforestation is controlled.
In turn, any reserve, natural park, Permanent Preservation Area (APP) or Environmental Protection Area (APA) are categories of forms of preservation.
In general, the APA usually comprises a large area and requires a sustainable use of the area, while the APP has clearer and stricter limits.
Regardless of the terrain and resources found, everything will depend on how human beings interact with the environment.
By exploiting it in a sustainable way and ensuring the survival of species and the maintenance of ecosystems, he will be practicing environmental conservation.
How To Preserve The Environment?
After reading the types of environment now read how to preserve the environment.
Environmental preservation may seem like an exclusive matter for activists, but in fact, it depends much more on the participation of each one than on the action of localized groups.
Therefore, every gesture, attitude and behavior in favor of the environment counts for a lot.
Want a simple example you can apply right now as you read this article?
Assuming you’re reading on your cell phone, why don’t you take the opportunity to reduce the consumption of your battery, reducing, for example, the intensity of the screen’s brightness?
There are still other relatively simple measures you can take to help preserve the environment.
Some of them are:
- Never buy animals in clandestine places or without authorization from IBAMA
- Do not fish outside the authorized periods
- Always try to separate the garbage, disposing of recyclables correctly
- Decrease water consumption whenever possible
- Use public transport and avoid the car for short trips
- Never throw garbage on public roads or in water courses and ponds.
Environment And Sustainability
The environmental agenda grows in importance as the planet begins to feel more intensely the real effects of global warming .
Although there are skeptics on the subject, the fact is that the average temperature of the planet has increased at an unprecedented level, the oceans are rising in different regions of the planet, while the polar ice caps are melting at an accelerated rate.
All this is the result of the average temperature warming caused by the emission in alarming levels of gases causing the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere .
After all, there is no shortage of research that points to the above-average increase in temperatures in recent decades.
According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 2015 and 2018 were the hottest years in the last 22 years.
By the way, as the organization points out, last year, temperature records were broken in profusion.
This picture only reinforces the need to promote urgent measures so that the surge in global temperatures is contained.
For this, sustainable development and the promotion of a new low-carbon economy are priorities .
At the individual level, conscious consumption is necessary to minimize social and environmental impacts. Reducing the consumption of plastic bags, for example, is a big step towards avoiding contamination of oceans and waterways.
Separating waste, consuming only what is necessary, and evaluating the impact of consumption are other examples of how to have more sustainable attitudes.
According to the Akatu Institute, consuming with conscience is consuming differently , with consumption being an instrument of well-being and not an end in itself.
We hope that you have understood the the types of environment.
