Humans Merely React to Their Environmental Context - Essay Example

?Humans, in general, merely react to their environmental context Analysis Humans both affect and are affected by the environment in which they live. People orient their lifestyles in accordance with the environmental conditions. People in colder countries insert hot water pipes all along the walls to protect themselves from the effects of extreme cold. Likewise, residents of the hotter regions need to protect themselves from the scorching heat of the sun. These measures include both activities that they do within their homes as well as to the environment in their surroundings. An in-depth analysis of the humans’ interaction with environment suggests that humans merely react to their environmental context. In order to alter their behavior for better, humans need to self-actualize. “What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization…It refers to the desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially” (Cherry, 2011). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory suggests that people can not self-actualize unless all of their lower level needs have been satisfied. Maslow has classified all needs into five levels. The needs identified by Maslow include physiological needs, safety needs, love/belongingness needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs. Maslow asserts that an individual can not think of satisfying a higher level need without having the lower needs satisfied. Thus, he places the physiological needs at the base of the pyramid because no human being can survive without food, air and water. Then humans require safety for survival. After being safe, people need love, which is followed by the need of esteem. Only after the fulfillment of the esteem need, people can self-actualize. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Chapman, 2010). The impact of humans upon the environment is both positive and negative. The video explains this phenomenon with respect to each of the seven continents that have their individualistic environmental contexts. The continent Asia has the largest dam in the whole world. Dams are constructed to store water that can then be utilized for irrigation, production of electricity and supply of water for the domestic purposes. Construction of a dam affects the natural habitat of the birds and animals, causes a big change in the natural scenery, and exposes the nearby areas to the risk of flooding in case the dame fails. Citing an example of the positive impact of humans on the environment, the video refers to the North Americans that have largely replaced the gasoline powered cars with the electricity driven hybrid cars. Hybrid cars not only minimize the consumption of such natural resources as oil, but also release much lesser carbon in the environment than the gasoline powered cars. In Australia, people have caused a lot of damage to the marine environment by releasing toxic fluids into the Great Barrier Reef. This is a potential example of the negative way in which humans have impacted the environment. In South America, people cut down the trees and burn them. This has mixed impact on the environment. It reduces green areas, but the ashes produced from the burnt trees serve as fertilizers for the soil, though the long term impact has shown up as depletion of forests in South America. Africans have to pay huge cost of the enrichment of their land with diamonds. Being the biggest supplier of diamonds to the whole world, Africans have to work from dawn till dusk under tight supervision of the soldiers that make sure that every stone gets exported from Africa. A lot of Africans have been killed by the rebels in this activity. Europeans use nuclear power plants for the production of electricity. The smoke thus produced is extremely harmful for the environment. Over the last hundred years, tourists in Antarctica have ruined the natural habitat of a lot of species by discharging waste into the water and over the land. Analysis of all the examples cited in this video suggests that all activities in the respective continents are a result of the environmental context. Asians build so many dams because they need to store water. Rains are not as frequent in Asia as they are in Europe or America. Africans also have a scarcity of rains, though they are too poor to invest their money in strategic planning and constructing structures that would fulfill their needs. However, the tough environmental conditions have made the Africans physically strong. In order to earn some money, they need to extract the diamonds. Drainage system in a lot of countries in the Middle East is very weak as compared to the countries which experience frequent rains. They do not need a very robust drainage system because rain is very rare in the Middle East. Antarctica has been home to tourists because its environment is completely different from the conditions in which people all over the world live. Consequently, the tourists have ruined the environment. In light of the argument made in this paper, it becomes obvious that humans’ interaction with environment is fundamentally a reaction to the environmental context. In addition to these, we have examples supporting this argument everywhere around us. Skyscrapers are built in order to save the coverage of land so that it may be utilized in more useful manners. Nevertheless, there is a lot of room for improvement in the way environmental context is reacted to. With a little bit of effort and thoughtful planning, humans can considerably reduce the negative impact they have conventionally had on the environment. Some nations like North Americans have particularly started to adopt ways in which they have reduced their negative impact upon the environment. Their hybrid cars save fuel and reduce environmental pollution. Humans have conventionally not been so responsible towards the environment because their lower level needs have not been met. People are striving for water resources. There is scarcity of food. What to talk of self actualization, people are struggling to satisfy their most basic physiological and safety needs! This, again is a result of the environmental context that varies from region to region. References: Chapman, A. (2010). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Retrieved from http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm. Cherry, K. (2011). Hierarchy of Needs: Self-Actualization and the Hierarchy of Needs. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/hierarchyneeds_2.htm. Richieisstr8 (Producer). (2010, May 19). Human Environment Interaction .wmv. [Youtube]. Read More