Geography: a very short introduction by John A. Matthews & David T. Herbert

Author:John A. Matthews & David T. Herbert [Matthews, John A. & Herbert, David T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, History, Travel, Social Science, Science, Mathematics, Juvenile Nonfiction, Earth sciences, Geography, Earth Sciences - Geography, Human geography, Historical Geography, Geography & Earth Science: Textbooks & Study Guides, Geography (Specific Aspects)
ISBN: 9780199211289
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2008-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

ENVIRONMENT

SOCIETY

B Technological Materialism

ENVIRONMENT

TECHNOLOGY

SOCIETY

C Adaptive Systems

Geogr

Environmental Perception/Prediction

Goals/Desires

aph

y as a whole

Resource Use

Support/Effects

ENVIRONMENT

TECHNOLOGY

SOCIETY

: the c

Defines Resources

Creates/

o

Biophysical Impacts

Perpetuates

mmon ground

Adaptive Mechanisms/

Cultural Landscape

Strategies

16. Three models of environment–human interaction: (A) ‘environmental determinism’; (B) ‘technological materialism’; and (C) ‘adaptive systems’

‘Technological materialism’ recognizes the important role of technology in mediating both the way the environment affects society and how society affects the environment. The way people view their environment often refl ects the extent to which the exploitation of resources is possible given the technological aids available to them. In other words, technology can be an enabling factor. Invention of the plough, for example, enabled agrarian societies to intensify land-use and increase productivity. This in turn led to greater human impacts on soil fertility and 91

erosion. Similarly, almost every technological innovation has the potential to affect human–environment relationships in some way.

In the ‘adaptive systems’ model interactions between environment and society are mediated by many more social, cultural, economic, and political factors. Thus there are many reciprocal relationships with feed-back and feed-forward loops, as indicated by the direction of the arrows between compartments in Figure 16(C). These features of the model refl ect the complexities of the ways environments are perceived and used, and the ability of society to develop adaptive mechanisms and modify their strategies over time. Human adjustment to fl ood hazard provides a good example. In modern Western societies this, more often than not, takes the form of engineering schemes that protect against fl oods likely to recur once in a century or two. This solution has been adopted as a result of the interaction of social demands, economic y

aph

costs, and political pressures. It represents one possible response to fl ooding – not necessarily the optimum strategy – that has Geogr

evolved over time.

Geographical work focusing on the effects of environment on society contributes, for example, to understanding the exploitation of natural resources, and the vulnerability of people to natural hazards. A natural resource includes anything in the natural environment that is capable of exploitation by society, but what is exploited as a resource in a particular place depends not only on its availability but also on what that society values and chooses to exploit. Societies in different places or at different times may perceive resources differently because of different cultural values, levels of technology, or economic or political considerations. The position of wildlife is a good example in this respect: to some it is regarded as a source of food, such as ‘bush meat’, whereas to others it must be preserved for posterity or exploited in different ways by tourists. The geography of natural resources therefore draws on both the biophysical 92

nature of the resource and many aspects of the associated human environment.

The distinction between renewable and non-renewable resources is important in this context. The former, such as soils, fresh water, forests, and fi sheries, are regenerated by biological or environmental processes and may be harvested indefi nitely provided that the sustainable yield is not exceeded. But the exploitation of such resources is increasing at a faster

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