What factors lead to a civilization’s growth, and how might environmental determinism influence these factors?

Environmental determinism is the belief that the environment (most notably its physical factors such as landforms and/or climate) determines the patterns of human culture and societal development
Environmental determinists believe that it is these environmental, climatic, and geographical factors alone that are responsible for human cultures and individual decisions and/or social conditions have virtually no impact on cultural development.
The main argument of environmental determinism states that an area's physical characteristics like climate have a strong impact on the psychological outlook of its inhabitants.

As the boys sleep, military airplanes battle fiercely above the island. none of the boys sees the explosions and flashes in the clouds because the twins sam and eric, who were supposed to watch the signal fire, have fallen asleep. during the battle, a parachutist drifts down from the sky onto the island, dead.