ABSTRACT
States are a spatial unit of the earth’s surface. Their spatial quality is not a secondary feature, it is of major importance. A number of spatial relationships can be identified between:
• the people and the environment • the state and the environment • the people and the state
PEOPLE AND ENVIRONMENT
States occupy territory. In the process of nationbuilding this occupancy becomes the basis for a whole set of beliefs about the relationships between people and their environment. I will use the term national environmental ideology to refer to this set of beliefs. Let us examine each of these terms:
National in the sense that a whole set of myths and beliefs are established in the process of nationbuilding. For example, the creation of the USA involved subduing ‘wilderness’ and the notion of extending the frontier is an important element of US national identity.
