Description
Ever since man evolved, he has continously manipulated the environment for his own survival and the society at large. It should be borne in mind that through evolution, man’s brain capacity has been increasing which has enabled him to invent new things. The physical environment has been crucial in man’s adaptation process as it dictated what man should do and how he should live. Climate change has also been a phenomena throughout history and man had to adapt to the changing climatic conditions. With a climate change, new species emerge and older species dissapear necesitating man to explore and come up with new techniques to cope with the change. We cannot control the weather. In the 21st century one may ask why the past would bother them. Historically the past activities will shape the future activities. Therefore, to built up history one has to start with the past. The main purpose of this paper is to identify the historical technological advances which has enabled man to adapt to the physical environment.As man was therefore manipulating the environment for his survival through agricuture, hunting and gathering, clothing etc he either encountered or created problems which required to be addressed. These problems were solved through continous technological innovations. The study was based on Rick Potts theory ( 1996) of variability selection which stated that all organisms have some degree of adaptability in them and he has to pass through periods of environmental instability. The environmental challenges of the 21st century arise from the interaction of many diffferent human activities. The coalescence and interactions of multiple environmental problems in specific locations such as global warming, land degradations and ozone depletion, call for new research and management approaches.
Key words; Evolution, Adaptation, Manipulation, Climate change, Physical environment, Human activities
