control technological impacts 1960s-1970s: The public awakening of human impacts on the environment with the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring 1980s: The belief that no matter the costs, unrestricted growth is needed for progress 1987: The spreading of public awareness of impacts with the publication of the Brundtland Commission Report: Our Common Future How Nature becomes Socially Constructed Nature can be socially constructed by both culturally interpreting and physically shaping the environment. This can happen in three ways: Using non-human symbols to represent nature (Totemism) Using non-human animals to relate to nature (Animism) Viewing nature as an 'Other' (Naturalism) Constructions can also be categorized by giving them meaning through the process of embodiment, which has three components: The 'habitus' (the individual) The practice it originates from (the culture) An associated taxonomic group (i.e. homo sapiens) No matter how nature becomes socially constructed, though, the process itself is limited by three dimensions: The physical dimension The mental dimension The social dimension The physical dimension is limited to the human body, where the brain is responsible for creating and selecting thoughts. The mental dimension is used to understand the physical dimension and is limited to human logic. The social dimension needs moral and social order and is used to give meaning to both what is physically present and what is culturally constructed. All three dimensions must be present and linked to be able to socially construct nature. Criticism on the Social Construction of Nature The social construction of nature has room for improvement in four main areas: By giving more importance to how realities are culturally constructed through social interactions By acknowledging that all science should be analyzed by the same standard By gaining a better understanding of the role language plays in constructionism By giving more importance to how truths exist and how they are justified, using Actor-Network Theory See also Cognitive geography References Human geography Behaviorism Environmental social science Social constructionism