CONTENT STATEMENT
Human interaction with the environment is affected by cultural characteristics (e.g., plowing with oxen or with tractors, development of water resources for industry or recreation, resource conservation or development).
CONTENT ELABORATION
Culture consists of the systemic beliefs, values, institutions and traditions that a society passes on to subsequent generations. Culture also includes attributes of a society, such as language, arts, literature, technologies and material goods. In short, it is a way of life of a society or group of people. Cultural characteristics are those features or traits that help distinguish one culture from another.
How societies interact with their physical environments is partly a result of their cultural characteristics and their technological resources.
For example, veneration of cattle by Hindus in India precludes the use of beef as a food source, whereas the lack of strictures on the consumption of beef by most religions in the United States results in cattle serving as a major food source.
The use of slash-and-burn techniques to clear fields is a long-standing practice in the Amazon River basin. It necessitates moving to new fields periodically due to the depletion of soil nutrients. The use of soil-conserving techniques (e.g., crop rotation) allows farmland in the American Midwest to be productive year after year.
Religious beliefs and farming techniques are cultural characteristics that help determine how humans interact with the environment. Hunting with bows and arrows or hunting with rifles reflects the influence of a society’s technological resources on how humans interact with the environment.
EXPECTATIONS FOR LEARNING
Explain and provide examples of how cultural characteristics and technological resources influence human interaction with the environment.