Environment and Society

The interaction between humans and their environment is one of the Five Themes of Geography and is at the center of many global and local issues we face today. Since humans began walking on this earth we have impacted where we live AND where we live has impacted us.

Environment affecting humans:

How humans live everyday is affected by the land forms, the weather, the resources available and the plants and animals that surround them. For example, people who live in the arctic have developed communities adapted to their extreme weather. They eat the animals that exist in their environment, they live in houses built with the resources available, and what they do every day is largely determined by the area in which they live.

Changes in the earth and the environment affect humans too. Natural events like earthquakes, volcanoes and floods have impacted societies across the globe for as long as humans have existed.

Humans affecting Environment:

Humans affect their environment in many different ways. We dam rivers to create electricity, cut down trees to build cities, hunt animals for food, harvest plants for medicine, and use the resources like water, salt, iron, granite, gold or uranium. In addition, many of our technologies that help our society have adverse affects on the environment. We create waste and pollution that changes our land, oceans and air. Like everything in our complicated world there are at least two sides to every issue.

Developing a deep understanding of the causes and consequences will be helpful in moving forward and solving some of the global challenges we face today.

For every way humans impact the environment, there are at least two sides to the story.

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