Duram emphasizes that environmental geography focuses on relationships between people and environments, including sustainability and environmental management. Which statement best describes this focus?

• A. It studies only flora
• B. It focuses on relationships between people and environments and sustainability
• C. It ignores human activity
• D. It focuses on atmospheric chemistry

Answer: (B)

Environmental geography centers on the relationship between people and their environments, including how we pursue sustainability and manage natural resources. The statement that best captures this is the one that explicitly links human–environment relationships with sustainability. It shows that the field isn’t only about natural features or processes, but about how people interact with those features, how these interactions shape landscapes, and how decisions aim to keep ecosystems viable for the future.

Thinking a bit about the broader context helps: studies in environmental geography look at how communities, economies, and policies affect land use, resource extraction, pollution, and conservation, and how geographers analyze these dynamics to promote sustainable outcomes and informed environmental management. That combination—human activity, environmental processes, and long-term viability—is what makes this focus distinctive.

The other options miss part of this picture: focusing only on flora ignores human connections; asserting that human activity is ignored contradicts the core emphasis; and concentrating on atmospheric chemistry centers on a physical process rather than the people–environment relationship and their management.