5 Themes
R – Region
H>
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Human/Environmental Interaction
E>
L – Location
P – Place
Movement – The import/export of people, goods and ideas from one place to another.
People interact with each other through movement, (travel, trade, information flows-Email- and political
events)
Not only do humans move, but also ideas move; fashions move; fads move.
EX:
Religion/missionaries spreading Christianity; immigrants bringing the Islamic religious beliefs and
practices
Fashion/Milan, Italy (those pointy toed shoes) – U.S. – blue jeans
Fads/England – The Beatles --- U.S. – the hula hoop and Silly Puddy
Foods/ ethnic food, restaurants and food aisles at the grocery store
Region – an area that displays unity in terms of government, language/culture/, religion, or maybe even
landform. Regions are human constructs that can be mapped and analyzed.
3 types of regions
*Formal regions – those defined by governmental or administrative boundaries. (The United
States, Spain, Birmingham, the Mediterranean, the Rockies, the Great Lake States)
*Functional regions – those defined by a function (Southwest Airlines service area, Time Warner
Cable service area, New Braunfels Utilities service area, Pizza Hut on Pat Booker – delivery
area)
*Vernacular regions – are those loosely defined by people’s perceptions (The South, The Middle
East, the Hill Country, Southside, etc.)
Human-Environmental Interaction – How do humans and the environment affect each other? We
change the environment and sometimes Mother Nature changes it back.
Three Key Concepts to Human-Environmental Interaction –
*Humans adapt to their environment – (In Spain houses have thick walls to keep heat out, in
flood prone areas – houses are built with no basements; houses on the beach are often built
stilts; people in Norway wear thick sweaters and coats because of the cold weather)
*Humans modify their environment – (man- made lakes – Canyon Lake, dams – Hoover Dam,
building roads and bridges, terraced farming, etc)
*Humans depend on their environment – (fishing, farming, good weather encourages tourism,
etc.)
Location – Can be Absolute or Relative
*Absolute location – can be described with coordinates of latitude and longitude
EX: 80⁰N, 115⁰E
or with a street address
EX: #3 South Park / Randolph AFB, TX 78148
*Relative location – can be described by landmarks, time, direction or distance from one
place to another
EX. Mrs. Perrin lives 40 minutes from school. or Mrs. Thompson lives 30 miles
from Randolph AFB
Houston is two hours east of San Antonio
Dallas is north of Houston
Galveston is on the Gulf Coast
Place – The personality of an area, includes both human and physical characteristic
*Physical characteristics include mountains, soil, beaches, wildlife, etc
*Human characteristics include the Eiffel Tower, the autobahn, the Alamo or even food habits
like mayonnaise on french fries