Nature, in its broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural, physical or material world. It refers to the phenomena of the physical world and to life in general, on scales ranging from the subatomic to the cosmic.
 
 
 
The term can refer to living plants and animals, geological processes, weather and physical phenomena such as matter and energy. It often denotes the natural environment or wilderness: wild animals, rocks, forests, beaches and, more generally, areas that have not been substantially altered by humans or that persist despite human intervention. Manufactured objects and human interaction, for example, are generally not considered part of nature unless qualified by expressions such as “human nature” or “nature as a whole”. This more traditional concept implies a distinction between the Earth's natural and artificial elements, with the artificial understood as that created by human consciousness or thought.