Environmental What?

  Our environment has always been a huge factor in our societies. The environment often gives us more jobs or can create them, for example: if a community lives near a river rich with salmon, the community will use the access they have to catch and sell this fish in order to create a lasting life. In this case the environment shapes how the culture evolves/grows. Environmental Determinism is something that people have believed in for centuries, our environment was one of the key factors that determine what people do in different areas. If we were to take the community of fishers and place them in a desert with no river to fish from, they probably wouldn't be fishers anymore. However, as society has evolved environmental determinism has been less and less commonly thought of. As we have made more advances over the years we are able to provide things like fish and fruits and and vegetables year round. In the middle of winter we are able to provide produce that is not currently in season, there are fish farms and factories that mass produce meat that can be shipped all over. So, where does Environmental Determinism fit in when we are able to do anything regardless of our environment?

With modern day conveniences we are capable of doing practically anything. We no longer need to depend on our environment to get what we need, areas that were at one point vast farmlands are now cities, rivers once filled with fish are now polluted with waste and can no longer be fished from, our environment is becoming less and less of a determinant in our every day lives, and social factors are becoming more and more prevalent. When we look back in history, rivers, mountains, climate, etc. all had huge impacts on what humans were doing, humans did not rely on green houses and farms, but on how much rain and sun they would get each year. In ancient Egypt the Nile River was one of the most important landmarks in the area. The river provided moist, fertile soil, the most important domesticated animals (goats, cows, sheep, and pigs) were in near by lands in abundance, but if for some reason the climate were to change –a drought for instance– providing necessities would be very difficult. Today, if there were to be a drought prices might go up on certain things but the ability to grow produce would not diminish.

Though our natural environment no longer has as much control over what we produce, our social environment could have some more pull. Historically people have done things based on their environment and based on social standing. Our natural environment has determined what we produce in a specific area, but our social environment determines who does each job. If one has a background with a lot of money than one is much more likely to do something similar to what one's friends and family (presumably other people with a great deal of money). Historically people who had high positions in the government –such as a king– than the family members and friends would likely hold high positions as well. In society today people often do things similar to what their parents do, or what family and friends often influence them to do. For instance, if your father wants you to take over the family business when he retires, there is pretty large chance that you will take over the family business because the people around you will be influencing you to do so.

Our social environment can help determine what one does in a similar way to how environmental determinism does. Environmental Determinism determines what people do in a specific area. If we take environmental determinism and add in a more social aspect, the social environment of each specific person, the environment would still help determine what one does, it would just be a different type of environment: a social environment. Social aspects of the environment help determine one's outcome in a more personal way, rather than a general way.

Historically our physical environment played possibly the largest part in what we as humans did based on our geography and climate, but as humans become more and more advanced, we have become much more independent from our environment and more dependent on our social environment. Our friends, family, peers, as well as our social class, influence us more and more each and every day on earth. It is very evident that our dependence on our environment has become more climate based than anything else, unless we redefine the definition. If Environmental Determinism changed to involve social environment as well. Our environment has always and will always influence humankind, but as we evolve as a whole, maybe some definitions should as well. Like technology, our ideas and definitions must evolve, in hopes that they will not become obsolete.