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To define environment is as difficult as defining life. In general terms, it refers to all the
external conditions in which an organisms lives. Literally, the very word ‘Environment’
comes from a French word ‘Environner’ which means ‘to surround ’or ‘to encircle’. Thus the
word environment is used to describe everything that surrounds the organism, air, soil, water, climate, food supply and a myriad of their external conditions including the things created by man. Etymologists frequently conclude that in English usage at least, environment is the total of the things or circumstances around or organism - including humans though environs is limited to the “ surrounding neighborhood of a specific place, the neighborhood or vicinity.” In simple word, Environment is the ‘Surroundings of the Self.’ It is the totality of the biotic and a-biotic factors. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1994) “Environment is the complex of physical, chemical and biotic factors that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival.” So in reference to man, the environment has two broad components viz. physical or natural environment and social environment of human race which is a by-product of economic, social, and political interactions.
