On a deeper, literally fundamental level, landscape (in the broader sense of environment) bears study because it is the ground of our being, the material basis of our existence. As geographers and environmental scientists remind us, our lives “take place”; we live in particular locales that affect us enormously–physically and psychologically–in ways that seldom rise to conscious awareness.
Where we are helps determine who we are and how we interact with our world.–The Best & Worst Country in the World Stephen Adams