The Healthy Management of Reality - Stanford University

The objective environment refers to the physical and socialsurroundings. It can be measured. We can count how manytrees there are in your block, or the level of air pollution in yourneighborhood, or, as in our example above, how many miles ofbeaches by the ocean, lakes, or rivers there are near your home.The potential environment refers to the part of the universethat is accessible to you. It can also be measured. We can findout how many minutes it would take to walk, bike, drive, ortake a bus to the nearest body of water from your home.The actual environment is the "little chunk" of the universethat actually "touches" you in some way. It is the part of realitythat you allow to influence you in some way, or the part thatforces itself upon you. Again, it can be measured. Forexample, you could keep track of how often you walk by thewater each month, and how many minutes you spend there eachtime.HMOR.July2005.Muñoz.doc 19