The invention discloses an intelligent environment monitoring system and a method based on sensor networks. The system comprises nodes, a base station and a monitoring computer, wherein the nodes form wireless connections with the nodes and the base station, the base station is connected with the monitoring computer by a bus line, the monitoring nodes are communicated with the central node, and the nodes are communicated with each other as well to realize the routing algorithm of the wireless sensor network. Meanwhile, the monitoring nodes can start an intelligent self-process mechanism under the condition of failure communication to minimize the disaster damage of abnormal situation. Compared with the traditional monitoring systems, the system has better flexibility and stability by the verification of experiment. The invention is applied to places requiring real-time monitoring to environmental parameters and corresponding alarm places such as warehouses, machinery rooms, parking lots, laboratories, banks, and the like, and can also be used for intelligent home, monitoring infants and patients, preventing fire for forests, and the like.