Nature, Environment

To properly explain a subject, you have to have no bias towards that subject. Since we are directly and intimately involved in nature, it is contrary to reason that we would be able to explain it. Like we said in class, 'a structure built by a human could be compared to a structure built by a bird.' If a nest built for shelter and protection is defined as a part of nature, so are the homes and cities built by humans for that same purpose. Humanity and what we have/will create is directly tied to nature, so it is impossible to fully and clearly explain nature in its entirety.

The environment is equally difficult to explain since everyone has their own environment and their environment affects their development directly. It is the space we live in and the space in which we lived and our experiences in that enviornment that shaped us. The environment is nature and nurture combined. There are also types of environments in what I think of as the social category, i.e. urban and country, 'bad' and 'good' etc. Although 'bad' and 'good' environments are subjective categories, these are usually defined as enviornments which affect growth negatively and positively.
These environments are pretty easy to comprehend, but where it gets hard is understanding another person's personal environment. Its also pretty hard to unwrap ourselves from our own environments and experiences. Even if we do this, I think its infeasible that we can really understand or be aware of other people's environments because we have not been directly affected by them. Even when our environments become shared, its hard to understand their environment completely since they have their own experiences and pasts with which to shape their own personal environment... the great thing about interaction is when you meet someone you share environments, affect each other, and become part of their own personal environment and vice versa.

These questions are circles. It's a never ending answer. Whatever nature and environment are is personal. Since we are constantly involved in nature and our own environments, all of us are changing and affecting each other. All of us meaning humanity, nature, and environment.

What is nature? Jana James

As a child, I always believed nature was just about everything that was not able to be inside a house such as grass, rivers, and wild species/animals. I created these images in my mind of what experiencing nature would be like as I would sit in my science classes in elementary school. For instance, traveling in forests and in the mountains; you are able to see different animals and experience different climates. I also believed nature is some things pertaining to humans such as human feces, which I now know would be considered human nature. Over all, Life is nature.

Na na na nature.

It's not only this class that has tried and failed to define "nature."  From the wide variety of definitions I found from a quick search on Dictionary.com—my best virtual friend; I foresee myself bringing him up often in these posts—the definition of nature can be general or specific, abstract or concrete, and in- or exclude humanity.

Three of the 20-something entries go so far as to define "nature" with aide of its derivative "natural."

• the natural world as it exists without human beings or civilization.
• the elements of the natural world, as mountains, trees, animals, or rivers.
• natural scenery.

Trying to figure out what this word means is like being lost in the Hundred Acre Wood, we just get looped around and around.  Of course if we want to figure out what "nature" means we probably need help figuring out what "natural" means.  Come on, dictionary!

Maybe, though, it's not so ridiculous.  It's not like anybody draws a blank if someone says "nature" to them.  We've all got some concept of it.  We might each have a few concepts of it that may or may not agree, but everybody has some idea of what nature is.  The word is pretty vague by its nature. Look at me making jokes!

The definition I found that I liked the most reads "the fundamental qualities of a person or thing; identity or essential character."  Sure that sounds abstract, as if I'm taking it in a philosophical sense—natural rights, human nature, all that mishegas.  But no, I'm not off in the clouds, and I think that's the most specific definition I can give to this word.  Nature is the state of how all material objects are.  It's what they look like, it's what they do, it's what's done to them.  Nature is he condition in which the universe is at any given time.

Okay, so that did get lofty.

What is Environment/Nature?

When I was younger I thought nature was only animals and plants; and that environment was everything outside. Now I think of nature as anything natural. I've never thought about what I really consider environment; my thoughts on environment haven't changed much. Now that I hear a lot about being "Eco-Friendly" I try to educate myself more on what's harmful to our environment.

The environment

Our environment is that which surrounds and shapes us. Environment can refer to the natural world, that is, nature. It is impossible for us to control nature; we can only modify it and fight against it. This has forced us to adapt to it and find new ways in which we can live at peace with each other. Sometimes this means destroying it for our own good. Since nature is physically ungraspable, we can sometimes spend a lot of time trying to understand it and re-create it.

The environment can also be the physical world we construct, such as buildings and roads. Although we have a lot of freedom to create our environment, once it’s constructed, it limits us. We tend to see nature as open and an opportunity to explore and learn, but we see the constructed environment as a boundary of what we can and cannot do.

The environment can also be abstract, such as a feeling you get when you enter a room, or the relationship among people. Regardless of what type of environment we are faced with, it can cause a change in our attitude or way of thinking. We might have to adapt or find a way to fight it because it is a leading force in our lives.

nature and the environment

Nature, in my opinion, is composed of all naturally occurring living and non-living factors that we see around us. The environment, on the other hand, is in most cases our man-made surroundings such as our homes and schools. While the natural world can be our environment, in most human cases it’s not. We have created these “unnatural” places to shelter us from nature or the naturally occurring environment that surrounds us. Since the time of the first humans, we have been constantly attempting to control nature and create an environment that keeps us separate and in our mind safe from it. Despite our attempts to separate ourselves from the natural world, our well being and our environments depend greatly on it. Living in New Orleans, a city that exists only through the control of the Mississippi River, I am constantly reminded of how intertwined my man-made and personal environment is with the natural world, despite attempts to ignore or overcome it.

Environment

The environment is a tough concept to define. It truly encompasses all things. It is the realm in which energy flows through all things; from person to thing, plant to animal, animal to organism, mind to reality. It is a chaotic balance in which all life and matter dwell. Our function in this environment defines our existence. Everything in the environment causes chain reactions through an active participation in their very existence.

However, the environment is a much looser, abstract concept than strictly an ecosystem. Our environment includes our home, our school, our universe, our fantasies, microscopic colonies of bacteria, different dimensions even perhaps! It is the footprints of each participant that keeps our built and natural environment ever evolving.

The Environment & or Nature

The environment (and/or nature) is what we as human beings are surrounded by on a daily basis. Some may argue that it is what God bestowed upon us, or that it is what occurred naturally through evolution (or big bang whatever). Also, to clarify, nature is very different from “the environment” that surrounds any one person. Are we speaking of the environment created by humans (buildings, organizations, etc)? Or the original one given to us? The “natural” environment is essentially equipped with everything that we (humans & animals) need in order to sustain our lives here on Earth. The environment which humans have created could simply be regarded as unnecessary or an extravagance. It is also pertinent to keep in mind that the natural environment varies along the Earth. Cultures have emerged and evolved around these physical environments, making each specifically different/individualistic. Humans & animals in different regions use those areas resources to survive in the particular conditions of the area. It is truly a beautiful natural occurrence. If we refuse to acknowledge the damages we have caused to our environments, then we will be forced to live in a world where everything is man made in labs.

What is the environment- Antonia

The environment, in short, is the universe. The term can be honed in on and defined more specifically for various specific examples, but ultimately each smaller environment connects to every other until the entire universe, known and unknown, is one large environment constantly exchanging matter and regulating itself with each part affecting every other part in a massive Butterfly Effect.

"Environment" can mean many things- the area surrounding a living thing, the space or presence in which we exist, an interconnected ecological web of chemical reactions and life cycles. In one sense, my environment right now is simply my bedroom and this moment in time. It consists of the composition of the atmosphere within these walls, the objects in the room, the sound vibrations from next door, and all the stacked up history of this room and my life that come together to bring this arrangement of things in this way and create the reason why I am sitting here on a laptop typing about the environment, knowing what I know and having the thoughts about it that I do. However, at every second the crack in my window creates a flow of atmosphere in and out that is surely changing something in the room, and at any minute I am going to get hungry for lunch and leave the room, opening the door to the world, and the delicate definition of my environment will be thrown all to Hell.

I could pick a million different environments and define them in this way- including the one of planet Earth. But I believe my point is made. The environment both affects and is created by everything that is going on and changing in the universe. I conceive of it as a single cohesive unit that is constantly in flux within itself, and it exists in space and time and perhaps more.

The Environment

To me, the environment is such a huge topic of discussion that it is almost impossible to summarize in just a few sentences. The environment is everything around us and provides us with all the tools that allow us to live and survive within it. It is a sad thing to think about how all the things the environment has given humankind to flourish and succeed are also the things we are using to destroy it.
I just watched the movie Avatar, directed by James Cameron, the other day and it talks a lot about living in harmony with everything that surrounds us instead of taking from it without regards to the balance of nature. In the movie, the main character Jake Sully states, "All energy is only borrowed, and one day you have to give it back." This quote says a lot about the selfish nature of humankind, how we can just take from our environment and not even consider the damage we are causing.
It is important to understand how are environment works and how it can work for us, but it is equally if not more important to understand our impact on the environment and just how much we can actually take from it before it goes away. Without the environment, our planet will cease to be a liveable place.

The Environment

The environment is the most essential part of our lives. Since the beginning of time we have lived off of the environment. It has provided us with all the essentials for survival. Over the course of our existence humans have learned to manipulate the land and abuse it. To many, nature is an escape from reality. Everything in nature has a specific role and serves a purpose which contributes to the environment. Living things continue to evolve in reaction to the quickly changing environment. These changes have mainly been caused by mankind and both the negative and the positive things we do to affect the environment. As living things, I believe it is our duty to contribute in helping the environment unless we want to witness the destruction of the planet. Without the environment there is no livable planet.

Nature

Nature is everything that occurs naturally without influence from human beings, so true nature is hard to find. Many of us consider going to Audubon Park or The Fly as being in ‘nature’ but if no one cut the grass and did general landscaping there, we would see a very different setting. The reason we have created these ‘natural’ spaces and have let places like Yellowstone National Park remain, for the most part, untouched is because we want to preserve the nature we have always been enamored by. From the beginning of mankind we have known that we depend on nature for survival and it has always been a prevalent topic of art and writing. We have realized how precious and delicate nature is, but protecting it has been difficult for us. We as humans have made changes to nature to suit ourselves in a way we thought would be improve our lives. And although they may have, we have also created some irreversible negative changes. 

Our environment is what surrounds us in our day-to-day lives, whether we are walking down the street or sitting idle in a chair. Nature is part of our environment and is made up of the plants and animals that offer us an escape from man’s cold world. We, as humans, are always affecting our environment and nature, whether it is in a positive way or destructive way. In our environment we deal with certain materialistic or superficial issues, where in nature you find these certain dwellings to be unnecessary. We ask ourselves what we can do to conserve our natural settings, yet we spend what we have on new possessions repeatedly and build up to our desired urban monster without consideration for what parts of nature we are unsettling. Although, with these things acknowledged, there are certain people making the initiative to exchange our negative ways with more environmentally conscious approaches to living.

The Environment

We are surrounded by the environment. It is there when we go outside and explore nature, and is there when we go to a home or any other establishment. Humans and animals have the responsibilty of tending to the environment whether by recycling and taking care of nature, or running a household or business. It is affected by our actions , and evidence shows that mistreatment of the natural environment can lead to phenomenones like global warming. The natural disasters that are happening right now show the environment is unstable.

People need to work harder to have a clean envirnment. It will only get worse if we are not conscious in how are living. Procedures, such as cutting back on water usage and using less energy my seem minor, but they have a great impact.

Our planet's environment is beautiful and diverse, and our job is to protect it. It is upsetting to hear what the effects of littering and other harmful actions have on our planet. It is amazing to me that some people are not concerned at all. The environment is everywhere; we might as well take the best care of it.

Nature

To me nature is the life on earth and the things that are needed for life to function on earth. Also I feel that nature and the environment is a force that can defend itself. Species may harm and alter nature and the environment. However the effects of the alteration may eventually harm or kill off the specie and nature can recover without the presence of that specie.

Sometimes I think of nature as something that is separate from humans, that we are outsiders that ruin and exploit nature and the environment. However, at the same time, I feel that everything is natural. If other species can develop tools to adapt and over-exploit their environment; human’s technological advances should also be considered a part of nature. Although our technological advances may seem unnatural the nature in it will eventually catch up with us. For example, our advancement in medicine allows us to live much longer than we have in history and this seems unnatural. However the over-population of humans can have the same effect as a wild deer population that has exceeded its carrying capacity. There may not be enough resources for humans and the population may start to decline and that seems natural.

What is the environment to me? The environment is not only my surroundings but consists and has to do with everything in my everyday life. Everything in some way has an impact on something else.

To make my point, I think about how I start my day. I wake up. I make coffee. Where did this coffee come from, and what did it take to make it? Well in order to make my coffee i needed electricity, water, and I needed coffee beans. The coffee beans are grown somewhere and are imported. Then there is the electricity needed to brew the coffee, so I think about what it takes to make the electricity to make the coffee maker work to brew the coffee.

My point being is that environment to me is the interconnectedness that everything ties together as. That no matter what you do and what it takes to make something that it in some way connects to everything else everything connects and relies on something else in order to exist and maintain. So in that sense, we must be mindful of that. The world to me is the environment, it is a carefully orchestrated connection of every component interacting on each other.

In a greater sense I feel that in order to maintain the environment that these things must be accounted for. An example to this is that in the post industrial revolution we have been unloading a tremendous amount of gasses into the atmosphere that are inevitably going to have an effect. How it seems this is going to happen is begging at the microscopic level: by entering the oceans and slowly raising the ph levels. This interconnectedness is going to be seen by effecting the small photo-planktons that then effect the superior trophic levels. Other animals that eat them and then are eaten themselves... and so forth, till it positions itself on the top of the food chain. There will also be a point where they can't exist. Then the current, balanced state of the food chain will be unable to sustain itself.

The environment is a very delicate, intricate working of organisms that have grown to effectively orchestrate life in these very specific systems. This is why I say that environment to me is everything, the interworking of all components working together to form what everything is as we know it, and that makes everything about what makes up the environment so important.

The Environment...according to me

I can't even begin to try and define the environment in an opening sentence. It's a closed circuit whose butterfly effect can't be matched. Everything we do affects it somehow, either negatively or positively. We see this hit close to home as the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico grows bigger right off the coast of Louisiana.

To me, the environment is the most fascinating thing to explore because it's never ending and so diverse. It's amazing that we can have the tropical rain forest and the tundra on the same planet. There are millions of species in the environment that all indirectly work together to keep it as beautiful as it is.

Most importantly, the environment is something that we need to take much better care of to ensure our continuing synergistic relationship between the human race and the environment. As a self-proclaimed environmentalist, I feel the need to stress the importance of our environment and our immediate need to take care of it.

Nature and Environment

The environment is everything..it is in everything..it is everywhere..and everything is affected by it. Everywhere we go, there is an environment, whether it be self-sustaining, (like a rainforest), or it is a built and managed by people (like a restaurant). Where nature comes into the picture is whether the environment is a natural environment (the outdoors, untouched by human technology) or an artificial environment (where we have created the area and situation it is in).

The lack of environmental consciousness in New Orleans is startling, especially coming from one of the ‘greenest’ places in the US. It is really bizarre to walk up to just a garbage can here, rather than a triple can for paper/plastic/trash. As cliche as it might sound, I think we all need to take into account the importance of taking care of what we have and working to restore what may have been neglected or abused in the various environments around the world.

A short meditation on Lee

What is the environment?

The environment is the space in which all living things reside. Each living thing is defined by its environment. Life is dependent on the environment and when it changes, the living thing must adapt or it dies. For example, one cannot easily move a penguin to South America because its life is dependent on an cold, aquatic environment.

Nature is the life that exists within the environment; it is the penguin, the ice, and the cold. If nature is altered, the environment is compromised. They both work hand in hand. Man cannot alter nature, without changing the environment.

People enjoy rambling about global warming, and all that jazz...but the point of it all is that men are eventually going to be the destruction of the environment and nature.

Its our job to work together and keep things as natural as possible. Unfortnately so many people are unaware of their own environment or don't care. This is why environmental studies classes are so beneficial for all students. I hope we can all learn as much about the environment as possible from the point of view of many different directors this semester.