But we are pre-programmed with the disposition to modify our environments to better suit our needs, and our big brains are built to store and pass along effective methods of modification that build on those that came before. Though we have to learn how to make Pentiums, Nokias and Volkswagons, this talent for learning is our most distinctive adaptation. When we put this adaptation to use, we are, like the spinning spider, doing what comes naturally. And what comes of it, whether webs or WAP-enabled phones, are equally a part of nature. The Very Idea of an Environment Environments aren't just places.
Environments are places where something lives.
And living things all have specific needs that must be met, but which the environment may or may not happily meet. Different living things have different needs. Environment' itself is an essentially relational concept. Without reference to some organism or other for whom a place is an environment, a place is just a place. A good environment is never good, period, but is good for some organism or other.