The natural environment or natural world encompasses all biotic and abiotic things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses the interaction of all living species, climate, weather and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity.
The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished as components:
- Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive civilized human intervention, including all vegetation, microorganisms, soil, rocks, plateaus, mountains, the atmosphere and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries and their nature.
- Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge and magnetism, not originating from civilized human actions.
In contrast to the natural environment is the built environment. Built environments are where humans have fundamentally transformed landscapes such as urban settings and agricultural land conversion, the natural environment is greatly changed into a simplified human environment. Even acts which seem less extreme, such as building a mud hut or a photovoltaic system in the desert, the modified environment becomes an artificial one. Though many animals build things to provide a better environment for themselves, they are not human, hence beaver dams and the works of mound-building termites are thought of as natural.
There are no absolutely natural environments on Earth. Naturalness usually varies in a continuum, from 100% natural in one extreme to 0% natural in the other. The massive environmental changes of humanity in the Anthropocene have fundamentally affected all natural environments including: climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution from plastic and other chemicals in the air and water. More precisely, we can consider the different aspects or components of an environment, and see that their degree of naturalness is not uniform. If, for instance, we take an agricultural field, and consider the mineralogic composition and the structure of its soil, we will find that whereas the first is quite similar to that of an undisturbed forest soil, the structure is quite different. (Full article...)
Selected article -
In economics, the Jevons paradox (; sometimes Jevons effect) occurs when technological advancements make a resource more efficient to use (thereby reducing the amount needed for a single application); however, as the market cost of using the resource drops, if demand is highly price elastic, this results in overall demand increasing, causing total resource consumption to rise. Governments have typically expected efficiency gains to lower resource consumption, rather than anticipating possible increases due to the Jevons paradox.
In 1865, the English economist William Stanley Jevons observed that technological improvements that increased the efficiency of coal use led to the increased consumption of coal in a wide range of industries. He argued that, contrary to common intuition, technological progress could not be relied upon to reduce fuel consumption. (Full article...)
The diversion of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers for irrigation has shrunk the Aral Sea dramatically. The sea's surface area shrank by approximately 60%, and its volume by 80%. In 1960, the Aral Sea was the world's fourth-largest lake, with an area of approximately 68,000 km² and a volume of 1100 km³; by 1998, it had dropped to 28,687 km², and eighth-largest. Over the same time period its salinity has increased from about 10 g/l to about 45 g/l. As of 2004, the Aral Sea's surface area was only 17,160 km², 25% of its original size, and still contracting.
Haimoff at the sea turtle centre at İztuzu Beach June Haimoff (MBE) (27 December 1922 – 23 April 2022) was an English environmentalist who lived in Dalyan in the Turkish province of Muğla. In the period from 1984 to 1988 she and fellow-environmentalists such as David Bellamy, Lily Venizelos, Günther Peter, Nergis Yazgan and Keith Corbett launched a successful campaign to preserve İztuzu Beach as a habitat for the endangered loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta). This beach is one of the main nesting places of the species in Turkey and the Mediterranean. (Full article...)
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's water supply and works to reduce air, noise, and hazardous materials pollution.
Under a 1.3 billion dollar budget, it provides more than 1.1 billion US gallons (4,200,000 m3) of water each day to more than 9 million residents (including 8 million in the City of New York) through a complex network of nineteen reservoirs, three controlled lakes and 6,000 miles (9,700 km) of water mains, tunnels and aqueducts. DEP is also responsible for managing the city's combined sewer system, which carries both storm water runoff and sanitary waste, and fourteen wastewater treatment plants located throughout the city. DEP carries out federal Clean Water Act rules and regulations, handles hazardous materials emergencies and toxic site remediation, oversees asbestos monitoring and removal, enforces the city's air and noise codes, bills and collects on city water and sewer accounts, and manages citywide water conservation programs. Its regulations are compiled in title 15 of the New York City Rules. (Full article...)
The following are images from various environment-related articles on Wikipedia.
-
Image 1The Paris Agreement (formerly the Kyoto Protocol) is adopted in 2016. Nearly every country in the United Nations has signed the treaty, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (from Environmental science)
-
Image 2Cattails indicate the presence of phosphorus in the water. Cattails are an invasive species; they crowd out sawgrass and grow too thick to allow nesting for birds and alligators. (from Restoration of the Everglades)
-
Image 3Wetland habitat types in Borneo (from Habitat)
-
Image 4A map of the Amazon rainforest ecoregions. The yellow line encloses the ecoregions per the World Wide Fund for Nature. (from Ecoregion)
-
-
Image 6Structure 65B on the Kissimmee River is destroyed by the Corps of Engineers in 2000 to restore the natural flow of the river. (from Restoration of the Everglades)
-
Image 7Sequence of a decomposing pig carcass over time (from Ecosystem)
-
Image 8Storage Silos on the Gladstone waterfront, an industrial area in the water catchment area (from Environmental threats to the Great Barrier Reef)
-
Image 9This coral reef in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area provides habitat for numerous marine species. (from Habitat)
-
Image 10A conifer forest in the Swiss Alps ( National Park). (from Ecoregion)
-
Image 11The Ötztal Alps, a mountain range in the central Alps of Europe, are part of the Central Eastern Alps, and can both be termed as ecoregions. (from Ecoregion)
-
-
-
-
Image 15The leaves of an Alnus nepalensis tree provide a microhabitat for species like the leaf beetle Aulacophora indica. (from Habitat)
-
Image 16Sea temperature and bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef (from Environmental threats to the Great Barrier Reef)
-
Image 17Global oceanic and terrestrial phototroph abundance, from September 1997 to August 2000. As an estimate of autotroph biomass, it is only a rough indicator of primary production potential and not an actual estimate of it. (from Ecosystem)
-
Image 18Current water drainage patterns in South Florida in 2005 (from Restoration of the Everglades)
-
-
Image 20The High Peaks Wilderness Area in the 6,000,000-acre (2,400,000 ha) Adirondack Park is an example of a diverse ecosystem. (from Ecosystem)
-
Image 21Biodiversity of a coral reef. Corals adapt and modify their environment by forming calcium carbonate skeletons. This provides growing conditions for future generations and forms a habitat for many other species. (from Environmental science)
-
Image 22Desert scene in Egypt (from Habitat)
-
Image 23Acropora with brown band disease, Lizard Island (from Environmental threats to the Great Barrier Reef)
-
Image 24Ibex in an alpine habitat (from Habitat)
-
Image 25An Antarctic rock split apart to show endolithic lifeforms showing as a green layer a few millimeters thick (from Habitat)
-
Image 26Planned water recovery and storage implementation using CERP strategies (from Restoration of the Everglades)
-
Image 27Aerial view of stormwater treatment areas in the northern Everglades bordered by sugarcane fields on the right (from Restoration of the Everglades)
-
Image 28Proportion of forest area by forest area density class and global ecological zone, 2015, from Food and Agriculture Organization publication The State of the World's Forests 2020. Forests, biodiversity and people – In brief (from Ecoregion)
-
Image 29Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World (Olson et al. 2001, BioScience) (from Ecoregion)
-
Image 30Spiny forest at Ifaty, Madagascar, featuring various Adansonia (baobab) species, Alluaudia procera (Madagascar ocotillo) and other vegetation (from Ecosystem)
-
Image 31A portion of the C-38 canal, finished in 1971, now backfilled to restore the Kissimmee River floodplain to a more natural state (from Restoration of the Everglades)
-
-
Image 33Rachel Carson published her groundbreaking monograph, Silent Spring, in 1962, bringing the study of environmental science to the forefront of society. (from Environmental science)
-
Image 34 (from Ecosystem)
-
Image 35Rich rainforest habitat in Dominica (from Habitat)
-
Image 36Blue Marble composite images generated by NASA in 2001 (left) and 2002 (right) (from Environmental science)
-
Image 37Climbing ferns overtake cypress trees in the Everglades. The ferns act as "fire ladders" that can destroy trees that would otherwise survive fires. (from Restoration of the Everglades)
-
Image 38Biological nitrogen cycling (from Ecosystem)
-
Image 39Crown-of-thorns starfish and eaten coral off the coast of Cooktown, Queensland (from Environmental threats to the Great Barrier Reef)
-
Image 40Twenty-five years after the devastating eruption at Mount St. Helens, United States, pioneer species have moved in. (from Habitat)
-
Image 41View of Earth, taken in 1972 by the Apollo 17 crew. Approximately 71% of Earth's surface (an area of some 361 million square kilometers) consists of ocean (from Ecoregion)
-
Image 42Loch Lomond in Scotland forms a relatively isolated ecosystem. The fish community of this lake has remained stable over a long period until a number of introductions in the 1970s restructured its food web. (from Ecosystem)
-
Image 43Natural water drainage patterns prior to development in South Florida, circa 1900 (from Restoration of the Everglades)
-
Image 44WWF terrestrial ecoregions (from Ecoregion)
-
Image 45The Shen Neng 1 aground on the Great Barrier Reef, 5 April 2010 (from Environmental threats to the Great Barrier Reef)
-
Image 46A protest against the Adani Carmichael mine, 2016 (from Environmental threats to the Great Barrier Reef)
-
Image 47A team of British researchers found a hole in the ozone layer forming over Antarctica, the discovery of which would later influence the Montreal Protocol in 1987. (from Environmental science)
-
Image 48Few creatures make the ice shelves of Antarctica their habitat, but water beneath the ice can provide habitat for multiple species. Animals such as penguins have adapted to live in very cold conditions. (from Habitat)
-
Image 49A false color composite of the greater Boston area, created using remote sensing technology, reveals otherwise not visible characteristics about the land cover and the health of the surrounding ecosystems. (from Environmental science)
-
Image 50Dense mass of white crabs at a hydrothermal vent, with stalked barnacles on right (from Habitat)
-
Image 51Environmental science examines the effects of humans on nature, such as the Glen Canyon Dam in the United States (from Environmental science)
-
Image 52Compartments established by C&SF projects that separated the historic Everglades into Water Conservation Areas and the Everglades Agricultural Area. One-fourth of the original Everglades is preserved in Everglades National Park. (from Restoration of the Everglades)
-
-
Image 54Catchments along the Great Barrier Reef (from Environmental threats to the Great Barrier Reef)
-
Image 55Roseate spoonbills, along with other wading birds, have decreased by 90% since the 1930s and 1940s. (from Restoration of the Everglades)
- ... that Summer Rayne Oakes has been called "the world's first eco-model" because she only models clothes made from organic or recycled materials?
Main topics
Related articles
|
|---|
| Main fields | |
|
|---|
| Related fields | |
|---|
| Applications | |
|---|
| Lists | |
|---|
| See also | |
|---|
|
|
|---|
| | Branches | |
|---|
Techniques
and tools | |
|---|
Institutions,
organizations,
and societies | |
|---|
| Education | |
|---|
| Publication |
- Geography books
- Geography journals
- Geographic magazines
|
|---|
|
|
|---|
| Major topics | |
|---|
| |
|---|
| |
|---|
Society and
population | |
|---|
| Publications | |
|---|
| Lists | |
|---|
Events and
organizations | |
|---|
| Related topics | |
|---|
|
- This list is transcluded from the tasks list page. To edit the list, click here
|
Here are some tasks awaiting attention:
- Article requests : Article requests can be posted at: Natural sciences requests page, Create articles for red-links at Vertical kiln, Environmental behavior, Environmental perception, Environmental writing.
- Copyedit : Ecosystem management
- Expand : Environmentalist, Environment (biophysical), Environment minister, Environmental emergency, Habitat, Micro-sustainability, Built environment, Pohakuloa Training Area
- Maintain : Environment pages needing attention, 2025 in the environment and environmental sciences, Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (delisted as GA)
- NPOV : Glyphosate (see Talk:Glyphosate), Energy development, Hydraulic fracturing
- Photo : Environmental chemistry
- Stubs : Stub categories: Environment, Environmental organizations, International development, Renewable energy, Sustainability, Waste, Water supply, More...
- Update : Ecosystem management, Renewable energy transition, List of highly toxic gases
- Verify : Appropriate technology, Biosphere, Environmental economics, Environmental engineering, Environmental ethics, Environmental movement, Environmental science, Human overpopulation, Natural environment, Pollution, Sustainable agriculture
- Other : * Articles needing expert attention: International development.
- Add links for the Environment portal in related articles: {{Portal|Environment}}
|
| Environment
|
- Environmentalism
- Environmental awareness days
- Environmental economics
- Environmental history
- Environmental humanities
- Environmental indices
- Environmental law
- Environment-related lists
- Environmental mass media
- Environmental science
- Environmental social science
- Environmental songs
- Environmental technology
- Environment by country
- Human impact
- Human overpopulation
- Nature conservation
- Pollution
- Renewable energy
- Sustainability
- Waste management
|
|
|
|
Agriculture •
Climate change •
Disaster management •
Ecology •
Energy •
Energy development •
Environment •
Forestry •
International development •
Protected areas •
Superfunds •
Systems •
Urban studies and planning • Water• Sanitation
|
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
Discover Wikipedia using portals
-
List of all portals
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Random portal
-
WikiProject Portals
-
|