Man and environment relationship is as old as the evolution of mankind. Since the evolution of man, the physical elements of the planet earth, such as terrain, soil, water, climate, flora and fauna formed man’s environment. During that time man was a typically a ‘physical man’ because of his limited wants, requirements, and total dependence on nature.
With the growth in social and economic activities, advancement in technologies, man expanded his own environment through design and skill to have provisions for improved and better food, shelter, access, and comfort or luxuries. Man’s ability to survive in a variety of ecosystem and his unique ability to adapt to a great variety of external conditions make man-environment relationship quite a fascinating area of study.
The environment in which man survives and to which he adapts himself and which he influences include physical, socio-cultural, and biological aspects. Man and environment has never been static and a great many factors are responsible for the shifts in man environment relationship.
Approaches to Man-Environment Relationship
The man and environment relationship can be studied under the following approaches.
Determinism − Friedrich Ratzel, the German geographer, was responsible for the development of the concepts of determinism, which was further expanded by Ellsworth Huntington.
This approach is based on the concept of ‘nature controls man’ or ‘earth made man’. According to this approach, man is largely influenced by nature. In fact, the determinism states that man is subordinate to natural environment because all aspects of human life such as physical (health and well-being), social, economic, political, ethical, aesthetic, etc. not only depend on but are dominantly controlled by the physical environment.
World famous biologist, Charles Darwin, in 1859 laid the foundation stone of the concept of environment influences on man and other organism.
Possibilism − Lucien Febvre, the French historian, founded the concept of Possibilism. Possibilism approach in the study of man-environment relationship is an offshoot of the criticism of environmental determinism and the impact of science and technology on such a relationship.
Possibilism indicates that the physical environment is passive and man is the active agent at liberty to choose between wide ranges of environmental possibilities. According to it, the pattern of human activity is the result of the initiative and mobility of man operating within the natural framework. Nowadays, the role of natural elements in conditioning, though not controlling human activities, is often lost sight of.
Possibilists were largely aware of the limitations of freedom of man to dictate terms to environment. It was agreed upon by the possibilists that man lacks the abilities to fully tame the nature and is not always victorious over it. As result of the above, some geographers vouched for ‘cooperation with nature’ or ‘mutual interaction’ between man and environment.
Ecological Approach − This approach is based upon the basic principle of ecology, which is the study of mutual interaction between organisms and physical environment on the one hand, and the interaction among the organism on the other in a given ecosystem. This approach describes man as an integral part of nature or environment. Man, being most skilled and intelligent, has a unique role to play in maintaining a natural environment as healthy and productive as it should be.
This approach emphasizes on wise and restrained use of natural resources, application of appropriate environmental management programs, policies and strategies keeping in view certain basic principles of ecology so that already depleted natural resources are replenished, and health and productivity of the nature is restored.
