Logic of Geographic Thought

Oil is a broad subject of discussion; it can be viewed from different perspectives. Oil is a product that is used daily, whether it through human consumption, vehicle consumption, pesticides etc. it exists in many ways in our daily lives. The topics of discussion that will encompass this paper will be how nature/society and maps are directly and generally related to the concept of oil.

Nature is the natural world that is out there, places that have value that need to be valued by the nation and world . Nature needs to be protected and invested in. Nature can be altered by human activities. Nature is made up of humans, non-humans and objects. Human nature often is treated as something different from the physical nature (binary opposites). The question is how is it that humans and nature are not related? Humans have a different affect on nature, they come in and manipulate the worlds natural resources. This is why we shouldn’t think of nature and society as separate things (Smith & O’Keefe 1985). There are two ideas of nature, first nature and second nature. We are dependent on nature to meet our basic needs i.e. shelter and food. We transform nature in the process of meeting our needs and nature in turn transforms us. First nature can be looked as god given nature. Nature that is untouched, unseen, unknown, it is nature that was there before humans manipulated it. Second nature is nature that has been manipulated to meet human needs. There is no such thing as pristine environments (Smith & O’Keefe 1985).