You have just completed an overview of the basic elements of community: environment, people and places. You may have noticed that each element has a significant affect on the others. The environment influences the way people live and the way places are created. In Stearns County, for instance, people must respond to a seasonally cold and snowy environment. They create places to make their environment more livable : skating rinks with warming houses, skiing and snowmobile trails, as well as theaters and enclosed shopping centers for individuals who don't like to go outside. People and places can, in turn, influence the community's environment. For example, salt and chemicals used to melt icy winter roads eventually seep into the soil and waterways during the spring thaw. This has the potential to become toxic to plant and human life over an extended period of time, thus changing the environment. This becomes a problem for communities that wish to sustain their environment.

The relationship between environment, people and place is an important one. It is almost impossible to define community without discussing all three elements. The environment has the ability to dramatically change a community through natural disasters such as tornadoes, earthquakes, and forest fires. It is interesting to note that people also have the ability to impact immediate change in a community through the choices they make in everyday life. The choices and decisions made by community members in the past have made Stearns County what it is today. The choices and decisions you and your family make today will determine the future of the community.