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Environment
Human beings' diverse responses to the concerns of life arise as environment, history, and creativity shape the varieties of human culture.
How do our environments shape our different responses to common concerns?
Our environment consists of the resources available to us.
It presents us with challenges and constraints. Resources, in turn, depend on such factors as geography and climate, population density, built structures and infrastructures, and access to outside technology, materials, and commodities. People experiment with resources, shaping different responses to the same kinds of environment. Every time we interact with our environment, we change it, so that we are left with new choices to make in the future.
The sandals on the left are perfectly suited for Egypt's hot, dry climate. The fish skin boots come from icy Siberia. Both are sensible responses to the need to protect one's feet. The many environments we have learned to live in provide different raw materials and force us to adjust our clothing, shelter, and food. But environment is only one factor that affects our cultural responses. Arizona's climate is similar to Egypt's, and Chicago in January can feel like Siberia, yet the footgear in those two places looks very different from what you see in the United States, because other cultural forces – including history and human creativity – are at work.
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