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SHS

SHS

Understanding Culture, Society & Politics

Module 12:
Human Adaptation on New Challenges in the
Physical, Social and Cultural Environment
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Target

Change is the only permanent in this world as they say, do you agree with
this? If yes, what are your coping mechanisms with these changes? How will these
changes affect you as an individual? or the society as a whole?
These changes in our society brought a great challenge to humanity.
However, humans are generally adaptive to changes in the environment. If people
perceive relevant changes in the environment they are in, they readily adapt their
behavior to meet these new challenges for their own benefit. Even in the past,
humans modify their behaviors to suit themselves in the new conditions where they
are.
In your previous lesson, you have learned the about social inequalities, the
existence of uneven opportunities and rewards for a diverse social positions. You
have learned the ways on how to manage these inequalities.
This learning material consists of discussions and activities that will help
you understand how human societies should adapt to new challenges in the
physical, social and cultural environment.
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. identify the new challenges to human adaptation and social change;
2. explain the effect of global warming, climate change and transmigration
of families and values;
3. examine human responses to emerging challenges in contemporary
societies.

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Discover

A change or the process of change by which an organism or species

becomes better suited to its environment is called adaptation. This also refers to
the action or process of adapting or being adapted or the process of changing to
suit different conditions. Adaptations enhance the fitness and survival of everyone.
Adaptation is not always easy and not something simple. An individual or
organism must be physically fit and viable at all stages of its development evolution

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to be able to survive. All of organisms or even human should possess adaptation
traits and these may be:
A) Structural adaptations are physical features of an organism such as
shape, body covering, armament; and even the internal organization
(e.g. a penguin has blubbered to protect itself from freezing
temperatures).
B) Behavioral adaptations are composed of inherited behavior chains
and/or the ability to learn (e.g. bears hibernate in winter to escape the
cold temperature and preserve energy).
C) Physiological adaptations permit the organism to perform special
functions like venom (in the snakes and the like), secreting slime,
phototropism; and more general functions such as growth and
development, temperature regulation and ionic balance. This means
that adaptation is making adjustments to decisions and activities in
order to manage risks and capture potential opportunities brought
about by any changes in the environment such as global warming and
climate change.

Humans like any other organisms and animals try to act more cautious if
changes in their environment are perceived to have a dangerous impact on their
welfare. They may try to work on new ways to meet own goals more effectively. This
action is called behavioral adaptation, risk compensation or risk homeostasis, or
rebound effect. Behavioral adaptation is defined as the things organisms do to
survive. Unlike other adaptations, these are not always heritable but are learned.
An example of this is the difference between populations of animals that live in the
wild and those that live among humans. Wild birds tend to be scared of people, but
birds that live in urban areas are often less fearful of people and they even see
people as source of food.
The ability of humans to be able to rapidly adapt to varying environment
conditions and changes has made it possible for them to survive in any regions or
places anywhere in the world. They can normally adapt to environment changes in
several ways such as:
A) Genetic change is an inherited or acquired modification in organisms
that makes them better suited to survive and a particular environment.
For instance, people whose ancestors have lived in areas that had
endemic, malaria for thousands of years often inherit some degree of
immunity to this serious disease.
B) Developmental adjustments. One of the more powerful types of
adjustments to environmental stresses is a change in growth patterns
and development. This occurs in childhood and typically results in
anatomical and/or physiological changes that are mostly irreversible in
adulthood. An example of the latter was the now illegal custom in
China of tightly wrapping or binding the feet of young girls with cloth in
order to hinder normal growth. While this caused permanent, crippling
deformities of the foot bones, it also resulted in extremely tiny feet
which were considered to be very attractive. Parents crippled their
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daughters with good intentions. Small feet would make them more
attractive marriage partners for rich important men and save them
from a life of drudgery.
C) Acclimatization and cultural practices. All other forms of adjustment
to environmental stresses are usually reversible whether they occur in
childhood or adulthood. These reversible changes are referred to as
acclimatization or acclimatory adjustment. It is useful to consider the
different forms of acclimatization in terms of the length of time over
which they can occur. An example of a long term acclimatization is
people who lose excess body fat and are very slender as a result of mild,
long- term undernourishment. If they later increase their diet to a
consistent level of excessive calories, they will very likely retain more
body fat and eventually become obese.
D) Use of technology. Humans do not only interact with their
environments biologically. People invented technological aids that
allowed us to occupy new environments without having to first evolve
biological adaptations to them. Houses, clothing, and fire permitted us
to live in temperate and, ultimately, arctic regions despite the fact we
still essentially have the bodies of tropical animals. Human made
technology eliminates the biological adaptive advantages of particular
individuals or groups. People wo have thicker layers of fat insulation
under their skin still usually survive better in cold climates, while
people who are slender do better in hot ones.

Adaptation to Global Warming and Climate Change

Adaptation to global warming and climate change will be needed, but it will
not be as simple as it seems to be. Global warming is still unsolved issue. There are
different programs implemented to avoid global warming and climate change. These
actions seek to lessen the vulnerability of all social and biological systems to the
current and immediate issue of climate change. But, in reality is, even if emissions
are stabilized relatively soon, global warming and its effects will definitely still last
many years from now. And as human population will increase in number and more
people are living in highly arranged societies, there is a greater impact of global
warming, the more difficult adaptation will be.
Adaptation councils or committees have been formed to oversee the various
way people can adapt to the changing environment in some countries. Each
councils and committees have duties to ensure that private parties should be
responsible for managing risks to private assets and incomes, while government
entities, on behalf of the community should be responsible primarily for managing
risks to public schools and assets including the natural environment and to
government service delivery, and for creating an institutional, market and
regulatory environment that support and promotes private adaptation.
Mitigation is another term for adaptation to climate change which is
defined as technological change and substitution that reduces resource inputs and
emissions per unit of output. Several ways of mitigation include the following:
A) Using efficient energy generation technology.
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B) Using more efficient energy end user technology.
C) Replacing fossil fuels with none or low carbon emitting energy
generating technology such as renewable energy sources or nuclear
energy.
D) Adopting a more sustainable natural resource management.
E) Harvesting or extraction technologies and practice.

Adaptation is a broader one than mitigation because adaptation requires a

good understanding of the natural environment and the ongoing effects of climate
change within and needs a thorough earth and environment observation.

Transnational Migration and Overseas Filipino Workers

People on earth are also facing adaptation challenges borne by the need for
mobility. Life has been moving so fast and people as well as changing residences as
rapidly.
The process of geographic mobility or the change of residence of a person
from one community to another with the intention of settling temporarily or
permanently is migration. The movement is often over long distances and from one
country to another, or it can be within the immediate community. Migration can
also be done by individuals, family units or in larger groups. There are three types
of mobility or migration namely:
A) International Migration is the permanent transfer of residence from
one country to another. It is the change of residence over national
boundaries. An international migrant is someone who moves to a
different country. International migrants can be further classified as
legal immigrants, illegal immigrants and refugee. Legal immigrants are
those who moved with the legal permission of the receiver nation. Illegal
immigrants are those who moved without legal permission, and
refugees are those crossed an international boundary to escape
persecution.
B) Internal Migration is a change in residence within a country and
refers to a change of residence within national boundaries, such as
between states, provinces, cities, or municipalities. An internal migrant
is someone who moves to a different administrative territory.
C) Circulation Migration is a temporary movement of a person. The
change in residence is temporary due to work or study, but the migrant
will definitely return in his home community.

Migration is not a one-way street. There are reasons why people transfer
from one residence to another because they just want to. Sometimes, people
relocate to other places or countries in the hope of finding a greener pasture. Some
move from an insecure land to a securer region or from places without employment
opportunities to areas which are hoped to offer better economic, political, cultural,
and social prospects. Some people move to places even if they do not want t, given
the chance, but because they need to.

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A new form of migration is termed as transnational migration. These are
the people who having migrated from one nation-state to another live their lives
across borders, participating simultaneously in social relations that embed them in
more than one nation-state are called transnational migrants. Not all migrants can
be considered as transnational migrants, and not all who take part in transnational
practices do so all the time. Most migrants are occasional transnational activists.
They more focused on their countries of origin while at others they are more
involved in their countries of reception.
Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) is a person of Filipino origin who works
and lives outside the country. This term applies to Filipinos who are abroad
indefinitely as citizens or as permanent residents of a different country and to those
Filipino citizens who are abroad for a limited, definite period as workers or as
students.
What are the effects on family of migrants? Work migration is increasing
globally. Children of migrant workers have grown up not knowing both of their
parents and have experienced long term absence of parents which is the reason
why there is very little affection between them. Many family relationships are
broken as one parent emigrates which causes a larger proportion of children
growing up with divorced or separated parents.
Some families experiencing these effects on family of migrants want to
avoid getting into this situation; some Filipinos do not have much choice because of
very limited job opportunities in the country. Filipinos believe that they and their
family will have a bigger chance of having a better future if they work abroad. To
keep in touch with their family, OFW can use video chat, Facebook, Messenger,
Instagram, Twitter, and the like to keep in touch with their family.

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References
Printed Materials:

Balena, Ederlina D, et.al New Challenges to Human Adaptation and Social Change
(pp.186-211), Understanding Society and Culture

Websites:

https://www.google.com/search?q=RUBRICS+IN+POSTER+SLOGAN Retrieved
October 23,2020
https://www.google.com/search?q=meaning+of+adaptation Retrieved October
24,2020
https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/animal/default.htm Examples of Human
Adaptation Retrieved October 25,2020