Natural Environment Constraints: Altering Landscapes

We are usually insulated from direct contact with the natural environment by layers of manmade buffering—the walls in our building or the windows in our cars. Nonetheless, we should consider the natural environment as an important facet of the context of our innovation. The natural environment is where we will locate those activities that achieve the transformation of inputs into outputs, such as a mine where rock is turned into ore, a factory where parts are turned into cars, or even a building where human expression is turned into art. To achieve the value-creating transformation, we may need resources (such as raw materials or energy), and we may need a place to direct our products and by-products of the transformation process. It can b....