Geography
Environmental Quality
Environmental quality refers to the overall condition of the environment, including air, water, soil, and ecosystems. It encompasses factors such as pollution levels, biodiversity, and the availability of natural resources. Assessing environmental quality involves evaluating the impact of human activities on the environment and implementing measures to maintain or improve its health and sustainability.
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4 Key excerpts on "Environmental Quality"
eBook - PDF- Gary M. Pierzynski, George F. Vance, Thomas J. Sims(Authors)
- 2005(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
23 1.1 INTRODUCTION Environmental Quality is a broad topic that can span many disciplines. Engineers, geographers, architects, lawyers, business professionals, health professionals, biologists, historians, and geolo-gists, to name a few, could all be concerned with Environmental Quality in one way or another. Regardless of the perspective we have on Environmental Quality, it is a fascinating subject. It is easy to relate environmental topics to our everyday lives and there is never a shortage of current events related to the environment. The subject is intellectually stimulating because there are endless opportunities to educate ourselves, both in depth and breadth. Politics, regulatory issues, and social issues interact with science in ways not seen in other subject areas. Numerous examples of environmental policies that are successful as well as those that are failures exist if we take an international or historical perspective. The hope is that readers of this book will improve their “environmental literacy” and be able to assess and appreciate many common environmental issues facing society today. This book takes the perspective of a soil scientist on Environmental Quality. Soil scientists have a unique vantage point for evaluating Environmental Quality because the global cycles of many substances that are potential pollutants involve soils. Many inputs used in agricultural production (e.g., fertilizers, pesticides) can be pollutants if not managed properly. Soils in nonagricultural settings can be polluted by atmospheric deposition, by improper disposal of wastes and by-products, or by accident, as in the case of chemical spills. Soil itself can be a contaminant. Soils 4 SOILS AND Environmental Quality, THIRD EDITION also interact with the hydrologic cycle and the atmosphere by serving as a source or sink for various constituents in water or air.
- Ishaque, P K Aboo(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Scholars World(Publisher)
Several scholarly discourses and researches have covered this issue. In the recent years, the environment is a totality of quality of individual’s and society’s life along with the physical environment. After the huge social violent and social dilemmas of the previous decades the environment was seen as a mean to re-establish a sense of quality of urban life at community and individual levels, expressing both the practical concern and the intellectual optimism (Brand and Thomas 2005, p.1) The geographer who perceives the urban community as bounded in certain area, or locality, or in an urban place uses a spatial approach to study the urban phenomenon. The ultimate reasons of this study is to understand the organization of the place in order to serve ultimately the general wellbeing of the society by considering the urban spatial aspect (Harrison and Gibson 1976, p. 19) According to Human ecologists the city is primarily a natural environment. Within it they expected to study the effect of ecological This ebook is exclusively for this university only. Cannot be resold/distributed. unit in which pattern and process could be notice by the same technique and from the same perspective as those in nature (Reissman 1964, p. 99) Ecological environment is one of the main factors which have an effect on the way of life and economic activity in both rural and urban area. Nature of economic activity is controlled by natural resources, physical conditions and the relative location. As Sengupta’s opinion Human being depends on Ecological environment for their survival and development which includes an array of natural assets of minerals, sunlight, fossil fuels, soils, water, forests, water sheds, biodiversity, oceans, atmosphere etc.
- Gowhar Meraj, Shruti Kanga, Majid Farooq, Suraj Kumar Singh, Sudhanshu, Gowhar Meraj, Shruti Kanga, Majid Farooq, Suraj Kumar Singh, Sudhanshu(Authors)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Apple Academic Press(Publisher)
2 ), and ozone. The methodology adopted for the calculation of AQI by the different researchers is different from that of WQI. In the literature survey, it was observed that no standard and universally accepted methodology is available for the calculation of AQI. Due to a lack of guidelines, researchers select the parameters for the calculation of AQI based on their convenience, hence there is a need to promote the use of EQI in the monitoring of the environment and development of suitable methodologies and guidelines for the calculation of EQIs including WQI and AQI. This chapter reviews the applications of the Environmental Quality index (EQI), remote sensing, and Geographic Information System (GIS) in the monitoring of Environmental Quality especially air and water quality. An attempt has also been made to reflect the overall scenario of the use of EQI, remote sensing, and GIS for the assessment of the environment.18.2.1.3 Remote Sensing And Geographic Information System
Environmental Quality can be determined by manual sampling and analysis. Although, the in situ analysis provides better results, yet in situ analysis is time-consuming and laborious (Gholizadeha et al., 2016 )]. Easy detection of spatial or temporal variations of the Environmental Quality is not possible with in situ conventional sampling methods (Ritchie et al., 2003 ). With the advancement of space technology and increased use of computer application in recent decades, the use of computational technology has increased to a large extent to analyze and predict the quality of air, water, and soil in an efficient and effective manner (Gholizadeha et al., 2016 ; Lim et al., 2009 ). Remote sensing and GIS are two such technologies by which a large area of environment can be monitored in a rapid and cost-effective manner (Hadjimitsis et al., 2007a , 2007b ). GIS is a computerized program of information collection, manipulation, analysis, presentation, and prediction or forecasting based on collected information with the help of modeling program without directly in contacts with the earth (Jensen et al., 2001 ; Burrough and McDonnell, 1998 ; Thomas et al., 2004 ). The reflected energy from the surface of the sun (passive sensors) and earth or object (active sensors) is measured by sensors and the collected information becomes visible in the form of images. Passive sensors record data only during day time due to the availability of sunlight while active sensors work on their own power supply and record data throughout day and night (Lim et al., 2009 ; Lillesand and Kiefer, 1994
eBook - PDF- James Petersen, Dorothy Sack, Robert Gabler, , James Petersen, James Petersen, Dorothy Sack, Robert Gabler(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
In addition, just as physical geographers share common ground with other disci- plines through the physical science perspective, they also share interests, knowledge, results, and understanding with other dis- ciplines through the environmental science perspective. Physical geography’s holistic approach enhances the ability of geographers to study the environment because important factors and pro- cesses are considered not only individually but also as integral parts of a functioning environmental system. Poised at the inter- face between Earth and human existence, geography has much to offer for understanding how the environment affects human lives tropical rainforest would have a widespread impact on world climates. The exact nature of many spatial inter- actions is often difficult to establish with complete con- fidence. It is much easier to determine that a condition at one location is associated with a condition at another without knowing if one event actually causes the other. For instance, it is well established that atypical weather in some parts of the world accompanies the presence of abnormally warm ocean waters off South America’s west coast, a condition called El Niño. Climatologists, however, are still working to clarify the exact nature of that link, and it is possible that circumstances leading to an El Niño separately induce the atypical weather condi- tions. Spatial interactions exist at all geographic scales: global, regional, and local.
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