Key Points

Environment is the total planetary inheritance and the sum of all resources. It comprises all biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) factors and their inter-relationships.

The environment supplies renewable and non-renewable resources, assimilates waste, sustains life by providing genetic and biodiversity, and offers aesthetic services like scenery.

Carrying capacity is the environment's ability to regenerate resources, while absorptive capacity is its ability to absorb waste and degradation. An environmental crisis occurs when human demand exceeds these capacities.

The crisis arises from a reversal in the supply-demand relationship for environmental resources. High population and industrialization have led to demand for resources exceeding their rate of regeneration.

India faces a dual environmental threat: poverty-induced degradation (like deforestation for fuelwood) and pollution from affluence and a growing industrial sector (like air and water pollution).

The most pressing environmental concerns in India include land degradation, biodiversity loss, air pollution (especially from vehicles in cities), fresh water management, and solid waste management.

Key factors causing land degradation in India include deforestation, unsustainable fuelwood and fodder extraction, shifting cultivation, overgrazing, and the indiscriminate use of agro-chemicals like fertilizers and pesticides.

Global warming is the gradual increase in the Earth's average temperature due to a rise in greenhouse gases, primarily from burning fossil fuels and deforestation. It leads to climate change, rising sea levels, and extreme weather events.

Ozone depletion is the thinning of the ozone layer in the stratosphere, caused by chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). This allows more harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation to reach Earth, causing health and environmental damage.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) was established in 1974 to address water and air pollution. State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) also work to prevent, control, and abate pollution.

Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

A core principle of sustainable development is intergenerational equity, which is the moral obligation of the current generation to leave a stock of 'quality of life' assets for the next generation that is no less than what they inherited.

Using non-conventional energy sources like solar power and wind power helps achieve sustainable development by reducing dependence on polluting thermal power plants and ecologically disruptive hydroelectric projects.

Promoting cleaner fuels like LPG and gobar gas in rural areas and CNG in urban public transport systems are key strategies to reduce air pollution and deforestation.

Strategies like biocomposting (using organic waste as fertilizer) and biopest control (using natural predators or plant-based pesticides like neem) help reduce chemical contamination of soil and water.

These are significant environmental movements in India aimed at protecting forests. The Chipko movement in the Himalayas and the similar Appiko movement in Karnataka involved local communities hugging trees to prevent their felling.