Describe the two-ways process by which ‘social environments’ emerge.

1. Social environments emerge from the interaction between biophysical ecology and human interventions. This is a two-way process. Just as nature shapes society, society shapes nature.

2. Example : For instance, the fertile soil of the Indo-Gangetic floodplain enables intensive

agriculture. Its high productivity allows dense population settlements and generates enough surpluses to support other, non-agricultural activities, giving rise to complex hierarchical societies and states.

3. Another Example : In contrast, the desert of Rajasthan can only support pastoralists who move from place to place in order to keep their livestock supplied with fodder.

4. These are instances of ecology shaping the forms of human life and culture. On the other hand, the social organisation of capitalism has shaped nature across the world.

5. The private automobile is one instance of a capitalism commodity that has transformed lives and landscapes. Air pollution and congestion in cities, regional conflicts and wars over oil, and global warming are just a few of the environmental effect of cars. Human interventions increasingly have the poor to alter environments, often permanently.