 Dear students, in this module, we are going to discuss nature, environment and society and their inter-relationship. The intricate relationship between nature, environment and society is a key area of focus in environmental sociology, investigating how societal structures, norms and cultural aspects influence and are influenced by our interaction with this natural environment. So, these are interrelated because we cannot say that nature and environment has no relationship with the society or vice versa. So, in the societal context, nature is not merely an external entity but a significant social construct with various interpretations and meanings attached to it. So, this perspective helps us understand the ways societies perceive values and interact with the nature is heavily influenced by the social structures and cultural values. So, whenever we talk about nature, environment and society's connection with it, we may see that nature is something omnipotent and something that has little to do with the social constructs or with the human being's interference. So, when we look at the environment, we feel that there are a lot of natural processes that lead to environmental or climate changes. Whereas, in reality, if we look at it from a sociological point of view, we can see a deep relationship between the three of us. The nature that plays a role in the environment through natural processes is exactly the society would different human behaviors or interactional processes. The environment, a term often used interchangeably with the nature is the space where the intersection of natural world and human society occurs. So, it is the field of interplay between human activities, natural system where each affects and modifies the other. Similarly, the environmental problems are social problems. They are not something that is merely constructed by the natural processes. There are a lot of problems which are part of the human society. So, they stem from the societal practices and must be addressed through social solutions. For example, pollution in our larger cities is the direct results of industrialization, heavy use of private vehicles and urban waste management, which are the socially constructed phenomena. It is not something that with which this earth was born. It is the human intervention that plays a very important role in the environment. For example, when we started developing industrialization, the consequences of industrialization or negative consequences were also affected by the environment. So, today we are seeing that our waste is very much of a problem, there are a lot of problems of environmental pollution, there are a lot of water problems, especially the portable water is very scarcely available today. So, in all of these kinds of problems, there is a significant role of human intervention. So, the concept of ecological footprint which measures how much of the nature's resources and individual community or society consumes can offer an effective theoretical framework for sociological analysis of the environment. For instance, cities like Karachi and Lahore due to their large populations and consumption patterns have substantial ecological footprints impacting the global environment. At the same time, we can see that the environmental justice framework is also important in highlighting that the environmental burdens and benefits are often evenly or unevenly distributed along with the lines of social, economic and political power. For example, marginalized communities in Pakistan often bear the brunt of the environmental degradation such as those living near the landfill sites or the areas with the poor water and air quality. So, we see that all the things related to the environment in different societies are evenly distributed. It is not like all the natural calamities or natural processes are equally affecting the society. There are many roles of human behavior, intervention and policies. So, we can see that there is also an unequal distribution here. As a result of that unequal distribution, we see many things in front of us. For example, we can see that in Pakistan, there are many areas which are considered environmentally substandard. Most of them exist in poor populations. It is a very interesting aspect to see that how even environment or environmental problems are also unequally distributed. So, then the phenomenon of climate change and its societal implications is vital concern. The vulnerability of Pakistan's agrarian communities to change the rainfall patterns and increasing temperatures provides an illustrative example of how environmental changes have deep societal impacts affecting their livelihoods and sparkling migration. Lastly, the sociological lens is in recognizing that sustainable environment policies can only be crafted when the interplay of social structures, attitudes and behaviors with the natural environment are well understood. Effective solutions lie in reshaping our societal norms and behaviors which in turn reshape our relationship with the environment.