When we consult different sources of information, we find that environments can be classified in many ways based on various factors. We have seen above that environment is referred to as social environment, political environment, literary environment and school environment. These references are based on the specific contexts, social, political, literary and school. But the environment which we are trying to understand is classified on the basis of the process of its creation or evolution.
Based on this, the environment falls into two main categories: natural environment and human-made environment. Natural environment: It includes all living and non-living things that occur naturally on Earth. It comprises the nature of the living space. The living space may be land or sea, that is, it may be soil or water. It also includes the chemical constituents and physical properties of the living space, the climate, and a variety of organisms. The natural environment includes both biotic and abiotic components as these have been evolved through a natural process. The creation of these components has been done by nature, and not by any human intervention or support.
It is true that human beings live in an environment where both biotic and abiotic factors influence them and they learn to adapt themselves to these in several ways. But human beings have no role to play in the creation and evolution of the natural environment. Human-made environment: On the other hand, the human-made environment includes all those things which are created by humans for their use. Human beings construct these surroundings, as these are needed for providing the required setting for human activity. These things range from the large-scale civic surroundings to personal places. For example, houses, roads, schools, hospitals, railway lines, bridges and parks are components of the human-made environment.
There is yet another kind of environment which plays an important role in the living conditions of human beings. This is called the social environment. Social environment includes cultural norms and values, the culture that individuals live in, and social, political, economic and religious institutions with which they interact.By now we have been able to understand that normally, the environment at any place is a combination or sum total of the natural component and the human-made component. For example, in a town or city the people and animals living in it, the land, air, water and trees are the components of the natural environment, whereas the buildings, roads, other structures like schools, hospitals and establishments for water and electricity supplies are the components of the human-made environment. As you may observe, human beings use natural environment for creating human-made environment.
Source NIOS
Some Important Links:
UPSC Prelims 2019 Question Paper pdf Article 300A
Instruments of Capital Market Capital Market Instruments
Parliamentary form of Government in India Explain the Current Trends in Inflation
Classification of Environment First Past the Post System UPSC
Environmental Clearance Process in India How to Read Spectrum Modern History
