Geographical environment. What is called the geographical environment

The geographical environment is a part of nature with which human society directly interacts. It is necessary for people to solve production problems and for life. The variety that exists in nature naturally divided man's work. He began to engage in hunting and fishing, cattle breeding, mining, etc. Features that have a natural environment, give specific directions of people's activities. An example can serve these or other branches of production, which vary depending on the country and region.

History of development

The geographic environment arose as a consequence of the evolution of the Earth's biosphere. Then there was its development. All this period is divided by scientists into three stages. The first of them lasted about three billion years. It was the time of existence of the simplest organisms. In the atmosphere, at the first stage of the development of the geographical environment, a small amount of free oxygen was contained. But at the same time, it had a lot of carbon dioxide.

The second stage lasted about five hundred and seventy million years. It was characterized by the leading role of living organisms in the process of development and formation of the geographical envelope. During this period, rocks of organic origin accumulated, and the composition of the atmosphere and water changed. All this was due to the photosynthesis of green plants. The end of this stage was the period of the appearance of man on Earth.

Forty thousand years ago, the last, modern period in the development of the geographical envelope began. At this time, the relationship between man and nature has changed significantly. People began to actively influence different parts of the geographical environment, because without this they could not live and develop further.

Thus, mankind has brought new species of animals and plants. It has mastered unexplored territories and displaced wild flora and fauna from there.

Main Components

What complexes form a geographical environment? It consists, first of all, of the territory. This is a place where there are socio-political or ethnic entities. The territory consists of the following components:

1. Geographical position. It reflects the remoteness of the terrain from the equator and the poles, its location on a certain island, continent, etc. A number of features of a given state (soil, climate, fauna, flora, etc.) largely depend on the geographic location.
2. Surface relief. It is characterized by the degree of intersection of the territory, the presence of mountain ranges and hills, the presence of lowlands and plains, etc.
3. Nature of soils. They can be podzolic and marshy, sandy and black earth, etc.
4. The Earth's interior. This concept includes features of the geological structure of the territory, as well as the presence of fossil resources in it.

The second component of the geographical environment is the climatic conditions. It includes:

- the quality and quantity of energy of the Sun received in a given locality;

- seasonal and diurnal changes in air temperature;

- the nature and amount of precipitation;

- air humidity;

- degree of cloud cover;

- presence in the soil of permafrost;

- force and direction of winds, etc.

All these are elements of the natural environment that are included in the concept of climate.

The next component of the Earth's biosphere is water resources. This concept includes rivers and seas, lakes and marshes, mineral springs and groundwater. The system "man-nature" is very developed. Thus, the hydrographic regimes of the seas, lakes and rivers, their temperature, current, salinity, freezing, etc., exert a great influence on many aspects of human life.

What other complexes form the geographical environment? It is an animal and plant world. It includes all living organisms that live in waters, in soil and on land. These are birds, animals, plants and microorganisms.

Based on all of the above, what is called the geographical environment? This is a combination of the location of the terrain, the structure of its surface, fossils, soil cover, water resources, climate, as well as the animal and plant world on a certain territory of the Earth where a certain part of human society lives and develops.

Environment

This concept is of great importance for the life of society. Its structure is much broader than the geographic environment. What is included in it? There are certain types of environment - natural and artificial.

The first of these is the biosphere. This is the realm of being of all living beings. The biosphere includes not only representatives of fauna and flora, but also all their habitats. Of course, the relationship between man and nature is such that people are constantly mastering and transforming more and more new territories. For the life of society, these actions are only positive. The mastering of the riches given by nature leads to an undoubted growth of not only the material, but also the spiritual values of mankind. People would not be able to become intelligent if they did not learn to create a new - something that is not in the world.

The environment also includes an artificial habitat. It contains everything that was created by the person himself. It is not only a variety of objects, but also plants and animals that have been selected by selection and through the domestication.

The importance of an artificial environment for the life of society is increasing more and more every year. However, the dynamics of this development is worrying. The fact is that the state of the environment as a result of the life activity of society is constantly deteriorating. The volume of everything that is created by man, already significantly exceeds the weight of living organisms of the planet.

Despite the fact that the whole biosphere that surrounds human society is called a geographical environment, its territory has anthropogenic components in the form of enterprises and cities, transport highways, etc. Such elements are often called "second" nature. However, the term "environment" in international agreements has a slightly different meaning. Under it we mean only the natural biosphere.

Conflicting Interaction

Any progress is possible only as a result of the struggle and simultaneous unity of the opposing forces. There are two opposites in the world. It's nature and people. Each of these two forces lives by their own laws. And therefore, it is not surprising that throughout the history of mankind his struggle with nature is taking place.

The result of this was the improvement of the tools, which went from stone axes to lasers. Nature and man have not changed the essence of their interaction for many millennia. Scales and forms of struggle have become others.

Unity

Man and the environment are united in the process of production of material goods. People conquer nature, but they can only act according to its laws. All the geographical factors of the environment are needed by man. Do without them, he just can not. And there are numerous examples to this. Nature and man are one. How can this be explained? The fact is that people - beings are not social at all. They are biosocial. Our body belongs to nature, and in connection with this every blow on it affects our health.

Let us give some more examples. Nature and man interact and fight among themselves through production and technology. However, any technological process is a method of appropriation by society of objects of nature. Therefore, harmonious relations with these two opposites should also be established here.

Thus, the concept of "natural environment" and the fate of humanity are closely related. That is why the development of society should not interfere with the evolution of all that the geographic environment consists of. It should be remembered that nature is a kind of inorganic human body. That is why the creation of a production capable of destroying the environment is so destructive.

Necessity of technological processes

Human society can not abandon the creation of material wealth. This process is the exchange of substances (energy and information) between people and nature. How does this happen? In nature, there are huge cycles of different substances. Man complicates these cycles and makes them different in their quality. In addition, people create substances that are not found in nature. So, according to statistics, scientists annually synthesize almost two hundred thousand previously existing chemical compounds. However, such materials are not included at all in the natural cycle of substances, or enter into it, but with great difficulty.

Conservation of the biosphere

The state of the environment, which recently causes concern among environmentalists, can be improved by creating a waste-free production. What will it give? In this case, substances made from nature will be reused in the production cycles. As raw materials, scrap metal and waste paper, old rubber, glass and plastic products can be used. This business is not only economically profitable. It is of great ecological interest for our planet.

For non-waste production, various enterprises must be combined in such a way that the waste of one of them becomes a raw material for another. Otherwise, we will breathe polluted air and suffer from a lack of clean water. All this already leads to the development of numerous diseases in humans.

Geopolitical problems

Many scientists have already recognized the fact that the location of the state, that is, one of the components of the geographic environment, is of no small importance for the development prospects of this country. It affects the overall policy (geopolitics) of society. How is this explained? Based on historical experience, it can be concluded that the territory of any state is its strategic resource. In its importance, it is in the first place.

With the geographical environment, that is, with its components such as water and air, land, etc., the whole life activity of human society is connected. Inseparable from these elements and its spiritual ideals. Back in ancient times, by many peoples, many factors of the geographical environment were elevated to the rank of deities. And until now, religion continues to play one of the main roles in modern politics. This is especially pronounced in Third World countries.

The reason for the weak development of many states of modern society is the adherence to religious and national traditions, which in ancient times were dictated by the geographical environment of their habitat. This can explain the decline that we see in the Egyptian and Indian civilizations. The consequence of this process is the backlog of these regions in the political, cultural and economic terms.

International relations in addition to territorial belonging are also determined by the presence (absence) of natural resources. So, Africa has a strategic importance for the entire world economy, as well as for geopolitical interests of the United States. The main natural resource of this territory is oil. This component of the geographical environment determines both the domestic and foreign policies of the United States.

Highly developed countries have reached a high level of technical and technological progress. Modern equipment allows the most efficient use of existing natural resources. This fact reduces the dependence of society on the geographical environment.

In Third World countries, population growth exceeds the development of technical progress. This is why the geographical environment has a significant influence on the life of society in such states. It is not surprising that natural disasters in these countries are responsible for a large number of lives. This is due to the inability to make a timely forecast of natural disasters, which would allow taking measures and reducing the number of victims.

The problem of hunger

To date, the world has accumulated significant food reserves. However, despite this, about fifty million people die of hunger every year. The absolute majority of undernourished people live in countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. These are the countries of the Third World, whose economy is characterized by manual labor and primitive primitive technologies. The reason for such a low level is the philosophy of the peoples living in these states. They still rely on the geographical environment and the vastness of its resources.

The role of nature for human society today

From all that has been said above, we can conclude that man and the environment no longer have such close ties as in previous times. The role of the biosphere in the development of society at the present stage has decreased. This was made possible by the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution.

But at the same time, there is a dependence of politics, economy, as well as geopolitics of countries on the availability of mineral resources. The absence of these components necessary for human production forces them to look for them in other places, sometimes even by aggressive methods. In addition, quality of air, water and land fertility are important for populated areas. These facts indicate that the role of the geographical environment in the development of society is still one of the most important. And non-recognition of this fact can cause a real environmental disaster.

Geographic environment and human health

The state of our body is significantly influenced by water and food. These components have different quality depending on the location of their location. This is due to the presence or absence of some chemical elements in them. Food and water of poor quality cause certain pathologies, which are observed in the respective regions. Thus, people living in the Baltic states, Finland, Germany, as well as in the north-western regions of Russia, receive less such a chemical element as selenium. This causes a deterioration in the performance of the heart muscle and the occurrence of myocardial infarction.

Everyone knows the health-improving effect that the nature of the Crimea has on the human body . And this is due not only to the favorable climate, the noise of the sea and the ionization of the air. The fact is that in the soils of the Crimean peninsula there is a lot of lithium. This element has a beneficial effect on the human nervous system, removing the mental load.

People living in areas where the soil has an excess of cadmium, often suffer from kidney pathologies. They have a decrease in the amount of protein in the body, more often there are malignant neoplasms.

If in the human body there is an increased content of cadmium and lead, this fact indicates the poisoning of the brain. Scientists found that in those regions where soils are poor in cobalt, negative processes occur in the body of all domestic animals. Cows that do not receive this element lose weight. They drop hair and degrease milk.

When there is iodine deficiency in a geographical environment, endemic goiter becomes one of the most common human diseases . This pathology, in turn, causes disorders of hormonal functions and the functioning of the thyroid gland. The most common goiter in North America and Central Asia, Belarus Polesie and Holland. Such known dental diseases as caries and fluorosis, cause destruction of bone tissue. The first of them appears with a lack of fluoride in food and water, and the second - with an excess of this element.

With an increased content of nickel in the soil (Southern Urals, Kazakhstan, etc.), the person has irritation of the epithelium and damage to the eye cornea. The lack of molybdenum (Florida, New Zealand, Australia) is the cause of the disruption of nitrogen metabolism.

The negative impact on human health is caused by pollution of the geographical environment of his residence. It is poisonous for our body carbon monoxide, formed when incomplete combustion of oil and coal. Its main "suppliers" are oil refineries and metallurgical plants, as well as transport. Man suffers from heavy metals accumulated along roads. These include lead, which breaks the synthesis of hemoglobin, brain and kidney function. Nickel and cadmium contribute to the development of cancer.