1. RESOURCES “Resources are not, they become
they are not static but expand and contract in response to human needs and human actions”
Zimmerman, 1951

2. THE QUESTION OF USE Environmentalism
The physical environment (emphasis on climate and terrain) is the active force in shaping the development of cultures
human society is a passive product of its physical surroundings

3. Perception Look at similar environments large cities
elongated, hilly sites
flanked on all sides but one by water - ie ocean, river, bay
both connected to adjacent land by bridges built in the 20th century

6. CHANGE OVER TIME

7. Perception
Each person and cultural group has mental images of the environment
These images are shaped by ?
It is possible that the choices people make will depend on what the perception is rather than the reality
So to understand reactions we must know how a cultures “sees” its’ environment

8. GEOMANCY (feng-shui) East Asian world view and art
traditional system of land planning
sites for houses, villages, temples and graves
terrain, compass directions, soil texture and patterns of streams are important

10. POSSIBILISM
Possibilists do not ignore the environment but rather treat it as an influence
Cultural heritage is treated as being at least as important as the physical environment in shaping human responses
Significance?

11. Resources are defined in terms of:
Human perceptions
wants and needs
technological skills
legal limits such as property rights and environmental laws
financial and institutional arrangements
political, cultural and religious customs
location and accessibility

12. Human Wants & Needs
Our Environment
Dianne Draper

13. Technological Skills
A possibilistic viewpoint of a physical environment would state that the environment offers a range of choices and limitations
The choice a culture makes is guided by cultural heritage and the range of perceived choices

14. OTHER FACTORS Property Rights Environmental Laws
These produce legal limits on the use of resources and the environments that they are developed and used in
question of private land and dump sites
construction on or near wetlands (who owns beaches on a public lake?)
the location of dumpsites in Ontario (concept of waste disposal where it is produced

15. Financial/Institutional Arrangements
Additions and constraints that may be added to the development and/or management of resources
in Ontario responsibilities for water quantity and water quality lie with separate agencies

16. Religious/Cultural Customs
Influence on rural land uses for example
development of the “long lot” system along the banks of the St. Lawrence in Quebec - linked to modes of transport, the church, and inheritance
Montreal, Quebec - Google
The lands of Spain and Morocco (separated by the Straits of Gibralter) - Muslim Morocco does not raise pigs - but Spain does

17. Location/Access Time and cost
Distance is a barrier to the concepts associated with resources
distance is measured in terms?
Time and cost
This has an impact on the feasibility of developing/using a resource

18. Major Themes of the Course
A Single, Unified, Global Ecosystem - a collection of sub-systems but all are interconnected
Pressures result in
CONFLICT & UNCERTAINTY