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Environmentalism and determinism are two different concepts. Environmentalism includes environmental determinism and the study of the relationship between man and the environment as provided in the environmentalist definition of geography. It discusses that the development of society depends upon factors of the environment such as landform and climate of a specific site. It is based on the principle that the physical environment can regulate activities and growth. Therefore, the climate and other features of the human habitat have a favourable and unfavourable effect on the intellect, elements of culture and race of humans.
What is the definition of Environmental Determinism?
The theory of environmental determinism goes back to the 15th century, a notion in which the Greek and Arabic scholars believed that the environment moulds the development of humans across various spheres. Plato and Aristotle had faith that the environment had influenced and developed civilisations in Greek and that climatic factors were responsible for the development of humans. Greek geographers further developed this concept and came up with the proposal that the different colour of the skin is also due to the environmental elements. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the concept gained further admiration. Friedrich Ratzel, a German geographer, rescued this concept with his discipline theory. Origin of Species by Charles Darwin also followed and presented that the development of a person was influenced mainly by evolutionary biology in 1859. Geographers believe that physical elements of the environment also influence the psychological behaviour of a person. The assumption is primarily made that the people living in tropical regions are lazy due to the weather, making survival easy and less developed than people living in higher latitudes.
Examples of Environmental Determinism
Environmental or climatic determinism suggests that climate can determine society as a whole. The physical environment can affect the psychological behaviour of individuals and the culture of the entire society. These are some environmental determinism examples given below:
- Due to the climatic influence, Jamaicans living in the tropical climate have a lethargic attitude. The people living in the Netherlands have a different climate; thus, they present dedicated and better work ethics.
- The significance of an economy for the motive of the cultural characteristic of the society and economic development is vital, as asserted by Max Weber, a sociologist.
- The kind of landforms such as mountains, plains, etc. and river systems such as twisting or fast-flowing rivers vs. broad or slow-flowing rivers are some environmental factors that influence environmental determinism.
- Environmental factors such as global climate, regional climate or local climate are examples of climatic determinism.
- It is believed that each effect has a primary cause, or something always comes from a cause, for example, the sun’s existence is due to the cause of a nuclear reaction.
The Difference between Environmental Determinism and Possibilism
These are some of the differences between Environmental Determinism and Possibilism as follows:
Environmental Determinism | Possibilism |
It refers to the concept that physical factors are capable of influencing the behaviour and culture of a human. | It refers to the concept that humans are now able to adapt to the environment according to their requirements; however physical factors limit the actions of humans to some extent. |
People depended on environmental factors and lived in the temperate climate. | People became free from nature’s control and began to choose and perform activities on their terms. |
Greek and Roman scholars were responsible for promoting this concept. | The scholars who were responsible for promoting possibilism were Vidal de la Blanche and Lucien Febvre. |
Climatic and geographical barriers that influence society such as deserts, mountains, etc. is one of its examples. | An example of Possibilism is that humans fight the environment by building roads or constructing radical settlements in familiar situations. |
Conclusion
Environmental determinism is the theory that explains that physical factors determine and influence a specific person’s economic, political and social development and growth. The ecological, geographical and social features are accountable for a person’s psychological and cultural behaviour. As stated above, Greek and Roman scholars promoted this concept. It is also called climatic determinism and geographical determinism because the geographical and climatic factors affect the development of humans. Environmental factors such as the class of river system, landforms, Global climate, regional climate or local climate are some of the environmental determinism examples. This concept gives rise to the social and cultural development of the people through the impact of physical forces. Simultaneously, possibilism is the concept that allows humans to exploit the physical environment for their welfare.
