READINGS ON LIFE AND NATURE- Major Terms Explained

English Common Course (ECC)

2A03 ENG

It is important to understand the following concepts before reading the prescribed text. The prescribed text for Readings on Life and Nature is Nature Matters. The text shall be made available soon.

Ecology: According to Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Ecology is the study of the relationship of plants and living creatures to each other and their environment.

           Remember, Ecology is not just a study of nature, as some would misinterpret. It is the study of the relationship, everything in nature has with the environment of the planet earth. The term 'relationship' is of utmost importance. A discussion of ecology in the present century is essentially a discourse about the rupture in this relationship. This notion, we have to keep in mind.

Environmental Movement: To denote the Environmental Movement, another term is often used- Ecology Movement. It includes scientific, social, and political movements regarding the issues related to the environment.  

Environmental Studies: It's a discipline that studies "the interplay between the social, legal, management, and scientific aspects of environmental issues". Environmental Studies is an interdisciplinary subject. This means that Environmental Studies looks at a particular issue from multiple perspectives, from the insights gathered from various disciplines of studies. This is one of the reasons Environmental Studies is part of our syllabus.

Ecosystem: According to Britannica Encyclopaedia, "ecosystem is the complex of living organisms, their physical environment, and all their interrelationships in a particular unit of space." For more details on the Ecosystem, please visit this link:

https://www.britannica.com/science/ecosystem

Further Reference:

Refer to the book titled Silent Spring, written by Rachel Carson. This is the book that inaugurated the Environmental Movement. For the first time, Rachel Carson drew the attention of the word towards the harmful impact of the use of pesticides, the impact of blind exploitation of the environment, etc.