NCERT Book Class 7 Geography Environment

Environment

After the long vacation, when Ravi started going to school again, he noticed that the only playground next to his school was dug up. People said that a huge building with many flats will be constructed there. Ravi was almost in tears, when he realised that the big playground with its soft grass, marigolds and butterflies is gone for ever. He shared his feelings with his classmates. In the assembly, the Principal too sadly observed, “See how our environment is changing.”

In the class Ravi asked his teacher, “What is environment?” “Whatever you see in your surroundings,” said the teacher. 

Ravi thought aloud, “That means, the school building, tables, chairs in the classroom, even that open field, the road, the garbage, my friends – all are parts of our environment”!

“Yes” said the teacher, “but wait….. Some objects are created by nature – for example, mountains, rivers, trees, animals. Others are made by people – for example roads, cars, clothes, books”.

Now work in pairs. Make a list with your classmate sitting next to you, of the creations of nature and by human beings.

Ravi, Paramjeet, Jessy, Mustafa, Asha were all excited about making the list. “Why is our environment changing?” asked Iqbal. “It’s all because of our needs. They are increasing day by day; we are therefore modifying and at times even destroying our natural surroundings”, the teacher replied.

From the above conversation you understand that the place, people, things and nature that surround any living organism is called environment. It is a combination of natural and human made phenomena. While the natural environment refers to both biotic and abiotic conditions existing on the earth, human environment reveals the activities, creations and interactions among human beings.

NATURAL ENVIRONMENT 

Land, water, air, plants and animals comprise the natural environment. You are familiar with the meaning of lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere from your previous class. Let us learn some more facts about these domains.

Lithosphere is the solid crust or the hard top layer of the earth. It is made up of rocks and minerals and covered by a thin layer of soil. It is an irregular surface with various landforms such as mountains, plateaus, plains, valleys, etc. Landforms are found over the continents and also on the ocean floors.

Lithosphere is the domain that provides us forests, grasslands for grazing, land for agriculture and human settlements. It is also a source of mineral wealth.

Exercises

1. Answer the following questions.

(i) What is an ecosystem?

(ii) What do you mean by natural environment?

(iii) Which are the major components of the environment?

(iv) Give four examples of human made environment.

(v) What is lithosphere?

(vi) Which are the two major components of biotic environment?

(vii) What is biosphere?

2. Tick the correct answer.

(i) Which is not a natural ecosystem?

(a) Desert       (b) Aquarium   (c) Forest

(ii) Which is not a component of human environment?

(a) Land          (b) Religion   (c) Community

(iii) Which is a human made environment?

(a) Mountain    (b) Sea         (c) Road

(iv) Which is a threat to environment?

(a) Growing plant

(b) Growing population

(c) Growing crops

3. Give reasons.

(i) Man modifies his environment

(ii) Plants and animals depend on each other

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 7 Geography Environment