[...]... towns and cities, homes and other structures, farms and fences, and transportation routes All features created by humans are part of the cultural environment Throughout this book, emphasis is on the natural environment and the natural landscapes created by various environmental conditions You must remember, however, that most cultural environments and cultural landscapes are created as humans use and. ..10 Environment and Natural Resources Planet Earth is a self-sustaining capsule that contains all that is needed to support billions of lives learn about Earth’s different natural environments You will also see how we culturally adapt to, use, and change our planet’s elements and conditions The Natural Environment The environment refers to everything that surrounds us Some things are natural in... to the natural environment and its potential resources They are: recognition, needs and wants, capital resources, and technology Recognizing Environmental Potentials At various stages of human history, people have recognized different environmental resource potentials Many resources that we take for granted today were only “discovered” recently Examples include petroleum, natural gas, uranium, and many... enjoyable and complex? 32 Environment and Natural Resources and technology to work for them—that influences the humanenvironment interaction Primary Industries Economists and others divide human economic activities into a number of different categories The most basic of them, primary economic activities, involves the environment and resources directly Primary industries include agriculture, mining, hunting and. .. more than natural forces, have long been the primary agent of landscape change Humans and the Environment Many factors influence the interrelationship between humans and the environment The environment itself, obviously, plays 25 26 Environment and Natural Resources some role, but it is passive (For example, you can ski in Houston, Texas, and swim year-round in Fairbanks, Alaska.) In this section, we... Planetary Spaceship make up the natural environment They include terrain, or land features such as plains, valleys, and uplands Soils are a very important part of the environment in many places So are mineral resources such as fuel, metals, and building materials Weather and climate help shape the environment They strongly influence, for example, what kind of wild plant and animal life a place will have... and its resources are used in a way that is sustainable That is, the planet and its environments and resources will continue to be available and productive indefinitely Mapping Our Course This book is designed to give you a much better understanding of the importance of Earth’s various environmental elements It also emphasizes the role that culture plays in the relationship between humans and the environment. .. toward it actually being used Twenty-five thousand years ago, what 1 18 Environment and Natural Resources knowledge did people possess that allowed them to use the various natural elements within their environment to their advantage? Basically, they were aware of and used what was immediately available And those things they did use were little changed from their natural state For example, early humans used... group gain and lose if oil is, or is not, developed there? 30 Environment and Natural Resources (continued from page 27) huge herds of caribou—would be disturbed As of 2009, the area remains “hands off” in terms of exploitation For the time being, at least, our wants (a preserved environment) hold sway over our needs (abundant petroleum) Capital Resources Capital resources are those things—money and equipment,... change natural elements Throughout this book, reference will be made to natural landscapes Think of landscape as a “picture.” It is what you actually see within a particular environmental setting Look out the window What do you see? Almost certainly, you see a landscape formed by both natural and cultural environmental features How many things that you see involved humans using, hence changing, natural . Health Terrorism and Security ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES CHARLES F. GRITZNER GC_EnvNatRes.FNL.indd 3 12/21/09 4:41:18 PM Environment and Natural Resources Copyright. Economy Environment and Natural Resources Feeding a Hungry World The Human Population Human Rights One World or Many? Pandemics and Global Health Terrorism and