Interactions between human and environment Definition A System

Interactions between human and environment

Definition • A System is made up of two or more mutually interacting components

Ecosystem • mutually interacting components, describable in broad term as: • climate (atmosphere), • soil (lithosphere), • water(hydrosphere), and • organisms (biosphere)

Human social system • mutually interacting components: • population, • technology, • social structure, and • ideology

• What are the 3 fundamental functional aspects of all natural systems? • What are the interactions within and between social and ecosystems?

What do the system model show? • 1. Plausible points of interconnection between social system and ecosystem. • 2. These linkages involve flows of energy, material, and information; within and between the individual components. • 3. These linkages are strategic targets for interdisciplinary research to study interactions of man and environment.

Are the interactions between man and environment static or dynamic?

How could interaction between man and environment be classified?

Influences of environment on social development Relationship between agricultural production, settlement patterns, socio-political system and religion in Danube basin

Theoretical framework of social development • 1. Environmental determinism • "Environment is the determinant of cultural form"

2. Environmental possibilism • "Environment is the screen of cultural traits and setting the framework for cultural development"

• Why do indigenous people in the tropics practice shifting cultivation?

Interrelationship between the human and environment

Evolution of relationships between human and environment • 3 eras

1. Human in nature • modern human (Homo sapiens) evolve 40, 000 years ago • about 30, 000 years living as "huntergatherers" • existed in many different ecosystems from tropics to temperate • acted like other omnivorous species