The concept of a continuum of material and ideal relations between humanity and its environment requires a nuanced approach that avoids generalizations. I theorize that one cannot argue for the greater importance of one or another material aspect of ideation without making dangerous assumptions. While some scholars may theorize that it is humanity's ethical and religious worldviews that shape the environment, there is also strong evidence to support the idea that technologies and the surrounding environment influence religious and ethical systems. It is necessary, therefore, to recognize the fact that each extreme influences the other. The material world influences the ideational one and the ideational influences the material. Before concluding this article, I aim to examine the argument from both sides of the issue and identify the problems associated with assigning exclusive causal responsibility to ideational or material aspects. Those who believe that humanity's religious and ethical worldviews impact their environment have a variety of evidence and reasons underlying their claims. One scholar who literally focused on changing worldviews was William Harvey. He theorized that the perspectivist attitudes taken by cartographers and influential people as they explored the world led humanity to see the “earth” as something “capable of dominion through human action.” [Harvey, 254] Harvey believed that the way humanity viewed the world (through changing the appearance of maps) also changed the way it treated the world. In Lynn White Jr.'s seminal article, The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis, she theorized that the ideologies of Christianity had a similar effect on how humans treated their environment. White argued that Chris...... center of paper......s. Neither the material nor the ideational aspect of human nature interactions are more important in these cases, they are simply different. The effect that the material world has on humanity's worldviews will often be reflected as new ideologies change the way humans interact with their environments. The idea that the ideational aspect is more important comes from the belief in human action and the powerful effect of religious and ethical systems on human action. In contrast, the idea that the material environment and technologies impact human ideas and beliefs comes from human experience and the power of nature to effect change. Both ends of the continuum influence humanity's involvement with the ecosphere in different cases, but neither human ideas nor nature's potential for great force are the only influence on how humanity treats its environment..