The totality of the natural world, often excluding humans:"Technology, of course, lies at the heart of man's relationship with the environment"(Mark Hertsgaard). A subset of the natural world; an ecosystem: the coastal environment. The combination of external physical conditions that affect and influence the growth, development, behavior, and survival of organisms:"Conditions in a lion's environment .. can drive it to hunt people"(Philip Caputo). The complex of social and cultural conditions affecting the nature of an individual person or community.