Environment

From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.

Environment means all of the outside forces, events, and things that act on a thing. The environment is everything that is around something.

The word environment is used to talk about many things. People in different fields of knowledge (like history or biology) use the word differently.

[edit] Individual environment

In psychology and medicine a person's environment is the people, physical things, places, and events that the person lives with. The environment affects the growth and development of the person. It affects the person's behavior. It affects the person's body and mind.

[edit] Natural environment

The Lachine Canal in Montreal, is badly polluted

In biology and ecology the environment is all of the natural materials and living things on the Earth.. This is also called the natural environment. Some people call themselves environmentalists. These people think that harmony with the environment is important. They think we must protect the environment (to keep it safe.) They think people should not put so much pollution (waste) into the natural environment. The important things in the environment that we value are called natural resources. For example fish, sunlight, and forests. These are renewable natural resources because more grow naturally when we use them. Non-renewable natural resources are important things in the environment that do not come back naturally. For example coal and natural gas.

[edit] Historical environment

In literature and history environment is the events and culture that a person lived in. The persons beliefs and actions are dependent on his environment. For example, Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. Today we know this is very wrong. But in Thomas Jefferson's environment slavery was normal. So his actions do not look as wrong in his society.