What is the geographic environment?
The geographic environment is everything natural around us that affects where and how we live: landforms (mountains, plains, plateaus), water (rivers, lakes, sea), soil, climate, plants and animals. It is also called the natural or physical environment. Different places have different mixes of these, so each place has its own landscape.
Examples of landscapes: a mountain with snow, a river plain with fertile soil, a dry desert, a coast with a beach and port.
Landscapes and what they give us
- Mountains: water source, forests, minerals, but steep and hard to farm.
- Plains: flat land and rich soil from river mud, good for farming and cities.
- Rivers: water, fish and transport.
- Coasts: ports, fishing and trade.
The land does not decide everything, but it gives people choices and limits.
How people adapt
Adaptation means changing our way of life to suit the environment. Examples: terraces cut into hill slopes to grow crops on steep land, stilt houses built above river floods, warm clothes and thick walls in cold places, light cotton clothes in hot places, canals and wells in dry places, and ports on coasts. People also change the environment to suit them, for example by building dams, but this can cause new problems.
Natural hazards
A natural hazard is a natural event that can harm people. When it harms people badly it is a disaster.
- Floods: rivers overflow after heavy rain or snowmelt.
- Earthquakes: rock layers slip and the ground shakes (often at plate edges).
- Volcanoes: hot rock, ash and gas come out of the Earth.
- Cyclones, droughts, landslides are other examples.
We cannot stop most hazards, but we can reduce harm with early warning, strong buildings, safe building sites and drills.
Climate change
Climate is the usual weather of a place over about 30 years or more. Burning coal, oil and gas adds carbon dioxide (CO2) to the air. CO2 traps heat, like a blanket, so Earth warms. Warmer air melts glaciers and ice sheets, and warmer water expands, so the sea level rises. Rainfall patterns change, heat waves and heavy rain become more likely, and low coasts face more flooding. We reduce the problem by using clean energy, saving energy, protecting forests and preparing for the changes that cannot be avoided.
Try it
Draw a simple sketch of the place where you live: is it near hills, a river or the sea? List two ways people adapt there and one hazard. In the 3D, push the temperature slider up and note what happens to the snow cap and the sea.
Key formulas and definitions
- Environment = land + water + soil + climate + life
- Adaptation = changing our way of life to suit the place
- More CO2 → more trapped heat → warmer climate → ice melts → higher sea level
Worked examples
1. A village is 1.5 m above the river level. A flood rises 2 m above the normal level. How deep is the water in the village?
2 − 1.5 = 0.5 m, so water 0.5 m deep covers the village.
2. Three terrace steps on a hill are each 2 m high. How high do the terraces climb in total?
3 × 2 = 6 m.
3. Average temperature of a city rises from 14.0 °C to 15.2 °C. What is the rise?
15.2 − 14.0 = 1.2 °C.
4. Name one adaptation to (a) floods (b) steep slopes (c) cold winters.
(a) Houses on stilts or raised platforms. (b) Terrace farming. (c) Thick walls, warm clothes, heating.
Common mistakes
- Saying a hazard and a disaster are the same. A hazard is the event; it is a disaster when people suffer serious harm.
- Mixing weather and climate. Weather is today; climate is the long-term pattern.
- Thinking adaptation never changes the environment. Dams and sea walls change it and can cause new problems.
- Believing warming only means hotter days. It also changes rain, ice and sea level.