Definitions of ‘environment’ vary
The authors are analysts of NH Investment & Securities. They can be reached at ys.hwang@nhqv.com. -- Ed.
Earth’s fragility revealed
On Dec 24, 1968, an astronaut on the Apollo 8 mission took a photograph showing Earth behind a portion of the Moon’s surface. Named Earthrise, the photograph is often cited as being one of the most influential environmental photographs ever taken, as it reveals not only the beauty of Earth—a brilliant marble floating in the darkness—but also the fragility of Earth, appearing as a pale blue dot amidst a vast universe. For many, such awareness of Earth’s fragility has raised awareness of the importance of preservation.
Global environmental movements begin taking shape in the 1970s
With Earthrise serving as a major catalyst, global environmental movements began taking shape in the 1970s. In 1970, the first Earth Day event was celebrated on Apr 22 to raise public awareness of the serious state of global environmental pollution, and in the US, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created. In 1971, Greenpeace, a global environmental protection organization, was formed, consisting of activists calling for the suspension of thermal power plant operations and a banning of whale hunting in the Antarctic. The next year, the first global environmental conference ‘Only One Earth’ was held in Stockholm, Sweden, and at the 27th Session of the UN General Assembly, the creation of the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) was agreed upon. In 1992, the UN conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, was held.
Rio Summit marks beginning of global discussion on environmental issues
Attended by representatives from 183 countries around the world, the Rio Summit marked the beginning of a global discussion on environmental issues. At the meeting, seven major environmental agenda items (global warming, ocean pollution, technology transfer, forest protection, population control, protection of plants and animals, and environmentally-sensitive development) were discussed, with the meeting ending with the announcement of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (often shortened to the Rio Declaration) and three conventions on biodiversity, climate change, and desertification. At the same time, the summit also introduced the concept of sustainable development as a future-oriented strategy to the public. We note that it was only after the Rio Summit that a broad range of environmental agendas began to emerge as diplomatic issues around the globe.
Defining ‘environment’ and its components
Definitions of ‘environment’ vary
While its usage can differ among scholars engaging with the concept, the broadest definition of environment pertains to the whole of all components or elements that form the universe and interact with one another. When limiting the boundary of the environment to Earth, we can say that the environment consists of the set of Earth’s component elements and their interactions. Stanley A. Cain, a pioneering ecologist of the 1960s, said that the environment is the total sum of things and their surroundings, which change in the presence of an impetus and in which living organisms sense and react. Meanwhile, Lynton Keith Caldwell, a principal architect of the first Environmental Act in 1969, favored a broad definition encompassing the set of all the universe’s components or a narrower interpretation concerned with the tangible and intangible objects surrounding a particular subject.
Theoretical classification methods of environmental components
There are two primary ways to categorize environmental components: theoretical and institutional. As an example of the former, we note that UNEP divides the environment into the natural and artificial worlds, with the natural world being further divided into physical and biological systems. Biological systems include all living organisms (eg, humans, animals, plants, and bacteria), and physical systems consist of inanimate natural phenomenon (eg, air, water, and rocks). For comparison, Tischler, K divides the environment into the phenomenal world and the social/cultural world, while Wicke, L breaks the environment down into spatial, biological, and social aspects.
Institutional classification (Korea’s Basic Environmental Policy Act)
When categorizing environmental components by the institutional method, we usually see some recombination of theoretically-classified environmental components depending on the classification purpose. For example, Korea’s Basic Environmental Policy Act divides the environment into natural and living environments. The natural environment includes all living organisms residing underground and on Earth’s surface, as well as the non-living things surrounding them, while the living environment is defined as the environment related to everyday life and includes air, water, waste, noise, vibrations, and odors, among other phenomenon.
Domestic and global environmental issues
Environmental pollution refers to the phenomenon in which air, water, and earth is transformed into an undesirable state. Environmental conservation is a movement to preserve the natural status of all environmental components. Changing a polluted environment into a desirable one is called environmental improvement. We note that determining whether a certain state is desirable or not is a matter of judgment and thus often raises dispute. Major environmental issues include air pollution, water pollution, destruction of nature, and waste treatment. Globally, climate warming, destruction of the ozone layer, acid rain, and fine dust are the main air pollution issues, while ocean pollution and international river pollution are the most cited water pollution issues.