Human/Environmental Interactions
The Basics
(Cultural ecology - relations between cultures and environment)
1) Cultural landscape – includes all human-induced changes that involve the surface and the biosphere. Carl Sauer: “… the forms superimposed on the physical landscape by the activities of man.”
2) Environmental Determinism – human behavior, individually and collectively, is strongly affected by, and even controlled or determined by the environment
3) Possibilism – the natural environment merely serves to limit the range of choices available to a culture
4) Environmental Modification – positive and negative environmental alterations
The Essential Questions
1) In what geographic region is this located?
2) What geographic landscape makes up the region?
3) How are the people/events affected by the geography?
4) How do the people interact with their environment?
5) How does the environment define the culture/civilization?
6) What are the patterns of settlement (urban/rural)?
7) How do demography, movement and migration affect the spread of disease?