HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS

Humans depend upon the environment, modify it, adapt to it in short, they interact with it. Humans have transformed the environment and adjusted to it, creating many different places on Earth. Humans affect the environment and the environment affects humans. In order to understand our world it is vital to understand not only its people but also the environments which sustain them. Most contemporary human-induced environmental changes have not been planned or intended. Many of the effects humans have on the environment are not anticipated.


World solutions are required to address world problems such as ozone depletion, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. Geography is the one discipline that bridges the physical and social sciences and can help students, and the public at large, understand the processes which transform our planet.

"...humankind is dependent upon an earth incapable of supporting infinite demands and capable both of being improved and of being damaged by the way in which it is used.
The ways people interact with the environment depend upon three factors: the nature of the environment; the culture and values of the human group; and their level of technology.