The influence of nature on society. The influence of nature on the development of society

Help in flooding, saving from droughts, leaving entire nations without food, preventing man-made disasters - these are just a few of the issues that need to be resolved. The main thing is that the influence of nature on society does not lead to great human losses and huge material costs for recovery from natural disasters. Many troubles can be avoided if you do not treat nature as a cornucopia. The thoughtless consumption of natural resources must completely and irrevocably give way to rational nature management.

The influence of nature on society (territory, climate)

The geographic environment in different historical periods was different, but it has always been and will be a source of resources needed for life and population activities. The settlement of continents by man's ancestors began in ancient times. The most important resource is the territory on which the representatives of an ethnos lived, and now their distant descendants live. Preferred regions for settlement are plains and coastal lowlands in all climatic zones, except circumpolar and polar latitudes.

Use of soils, vegetation, minerals

The influence of nature on the development of society is associated not only with the geographical location of the territory, climate and relief. No less important for the population are soil types, flora and fauna. Low-density regions - deserts, semi-deserts, highlands - are devoid of vegetation. The rainforests in Central Africa and in the basin of the South American Amazon River are an impassable jungle.

Man broadly developed forests, steppes and forest-steppe, where fertile soils have been formed under a rich vegetation cover, have been mastered in remote historical periods. This is one of the main resources for the development of agriculture - the oldest occupation of mankind. People from time immemorial use the wealth of mineral resources - combustible fossils, ores, precious stones, non-metallic building materials. As a result of the joint influence of the territorial, climatic, natural resource and other factors, regions with a high population density were formed:

• South-East, South and South-West coast on the mainland of North America.
• East and North-West on the mainland South America.
• Mediterranean coast, the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in Africa.
• Western Europe, the East European Plain, the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts, Western and Southeast Asia, Hindustan on the continent of Eurasia.

The negative influence of nature on society is more noticeable in regions with unfavorable conditions for the life and economic activities of the population. These are areas with a cold climate, deep-lying minerals, high seismic hazard. These territories include:

• Desert Gobi, north of Western Siberia, Eastern Siberia, Kamchatka in Eurasia;
• Central Sahara in Africa;
• Desert and highlands of North and South America;
• The interior of Australia;
• Antarctica is the coldest and lifeless continent, there is no permanent population on this continent.

Water and civilization

The influence of nature on society is expressed in the development of the resources of the oceans, seas, rivers, lakes and other water bodies, which are very important for many aspects of the life of the population. Russian historian and geographer of the XIX century LI Mechnikov wrote a book about the influence of rivers on the civilization of antiquity. The author called the historical rivers Nile, Tigris, Euphrates "great educators of mankind".

For modern peoples, hydrographic indices and the regime of permanent watercourses (salinity, temperature, flood, flood, ice and ice drift) are also important. The volume of flow, the fall and slope of the river, the nature of the bottom are always taken into account in the construction of hydroelectric power stations, bridges, ferry crossings. The positive influence of society on nature lies in the watering of deserts, the "pacification" of rivers that escape from the coast during floods and floods, flooding lowlands, forests where animals die.

The water balance of the territory plays a huge role in the drinking supply of the population, the development of agriculture, fish farming. Lack of fresh water is felt in many regions of the world, which exacerbates social contradictions. As some researchers suggest, in the future wars will arise for the possession of water resources.

Biological influence of nature on society

A person at the genetic level is connected with nature. According to one theory, people descended from ape-like ancestors, who mastered the methods of making tools and walking.

Natural conditions affect the life of the modern population of the Earth. For example, meteorology is difficult to imagine without data on the geomagnetic situation and activity of the Sun. Russian scientist with world-wide name AL Chizhevsky in 1915-1959 studied the dependence of biological phenomena on the activity of the heavenly body. Alexander Chizhevsky collected historical information proving the influence of nature on the development of society. In particular, the scientist wrote about the dependence of epidemics, uprisings, revolutions on the 11-year solar cycle.

Nature and production

According to the theory of geographical determinism, differences in economic activities and culture of peoples are due to the natural conditions in which they live. But these views have been criticized, because the evolution of society occurs faster than the changing natural conditions, and the enduring cultural values and scientific discoveries are among different peoples of the Earth.

The process of interaction of society with the natural environment is much more complicated than the supporters of geographical determinism. For example, post-industrial countries - the USA, Japan, Israel, Germany, France, Great Britain, Canada - possess different territories, natural conditions and resources. Despite the differences, the direction of development of society and the level of production are largely similar.

Nature and Science

The influence of nature on society illustrates the process of the birth and development of natural sciences: physics, chemistry, biology. Particularly increased interest in studying the environment in the Renaissance and the beginning of modern times. English philosopher XVII century F. Bacon argued that, knowing the nature, society acquires the necessary well-being to it. There were different forms of accumulation and use of knowledge about the geographical environment:

• Scientific hypotheses and theories;
• Agricultural and industrial technologies;
• Products of production.

Unfortunately, most often before science set a goal - to conquer the nature of human will and reason. Changes in the environment by the middle of the XX century have become so large that the aphorism "Man is the king of nature" appeared, and later a comment to it: "It's not a king, but a disease." For scientific and technological progress, certain elements of the environment are necessary, and its achievements are often reflected in the entire geographical envelope as a whole, for example, the influence of greenhouse gases or climate plants.

The aesthetic impact of nature on human society

The geographic environment and spiritual life are closely related. The positive influence of nature on society is illustrated by culture, or rather its wealth. In the works of folklore, poetry and prose, folk and classical dances, landscape painting reflected the elements of the environment. They are not equally perceived by residents of different countries and regions, so the value is represented by the culture of large and small peoples.

Often folklore becomes a source of knowledge about nature for researchers, travelers. Inspired by folk legends about St. Brendan, his voyage to the "island of the Blessed" British scientist and writer Tim Severin went on a trip across the Atlantic Ocean on a leather boat made according to old drawings. On Easter Island, a Norwegian scientist and traveler, Tour Heyerdahl, with the help of local residents and folklore sources, discovered how in ancient times they could make 12-meter figures of stone, set them in different parts of the island.

Deterioration of the state of the environment

The negative impact of society on nature is the depletion of natural resources - non-renewable, exhaustible. These groups include coal, oil, gas, peat, oil shale, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, semi-precious stones and other minerals. The stocks of exhaustible renewable resources are decreasing - of plant and animal life, water. The pace of environmental change is increasing, the threat of an ecological crisis is coming more and more clearly . This is affected by the negative impact of society on nature. Examples:

• The deficit of clean air in industrial centers and megacities;
• Water pollution in underground sources and surface water bodies;
• Soil erosion, loss of fertility;
• Reduction of the number of rare animals and plants;
• Accumulation of industrial and domestic waste at landfills and spontaneous waste disposal.

A healthy environment is one of the greatest values

We examined the influence of nature on the spheres of society. This is not a faceless mass, but people who need certain conditions for normal life. Man is an ecologically plastic living entity, but his adaptive capabilities are not unlimited. For hundreds of thousands of years, evolution has taken place under some parameters of the habitat, to which people have adapted. At present, the speed and scale of changes in environmental indicators exceed the human adaptive capacity. All this leads to unfavorable consequences - diseases, stresses. In post-industrial countries, they recognized the pernicious influence of society on nature. Examples of positive changes:

• Introduction of methods of economic regulation of nature use;
• Use of low-waste and non-waste production technologies;
• Economical expenditure of energy resources and fresh water;
• Improvement of organic farming.

One of the most important areas of nature conservation is the creation of national parks and biosphere reserves. Such areas serve as reserves for rare and endangered species, scientific laboratories, carry out an enlightenment mission. The reserve is a "temple of nature", where human behavior must obey strict rules. Any economic activity is forbidden, which helps the restoration and preservation of the natural site in its almost original form.