I would say it's "environment."

Definición en español: Condiciones o circunstancias físicas, humanas, culturales, etc., que rodean a las personas animales o cosas.

Ejemplos:
-Francisco está en su ambiente.
-Ambiente rural.
-Ambiente universitario.
-El ambiente del zoo le es extraño a un animal salvaje

En Inglés, ese quiere decir "the environment". Habla de la naturaleza.

I would have thought "average environment". Shouldn't it be "ambiente medio"'

ambiente medio
ambiente means envirovment
medio is half of something
it actually is medio ambiente and not ambiente medio
I have no idea why they use medio in medio ambiente, I was unable to find an explanation on my dictionary, I'll keep looking, because is an interesting question.

Daniel said:

I would have thought "average environment". Shouldn't it be "ambiente medio"?

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"medio" also means "average" or "in the middle". I just rechecked in my dictionary and on this site. Also a example of "la temperatura medio" is given.

Yes, Thank you, But I don't thing that when we say,in Spanish, Medio Ambiente,we mean average envirovment. I don't really know, it is interesting.

Daniel said:

"medio" also means "average" or "in the middle". I just rechecked in my dictionary and on this site. Also a example of "la temperatura medio" is given.

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Hola "medio ambiente" es lo que se aprecia del tiempo que estamos viviendo, ejemplo, "el medio ambiente está muy contaminado"; es decir, se puede utilizar cuando se desea hablar de lo que sucede justo en el momento, otro ejemplo es: "el medio ambiente está muy tenso", se aplica cuando uno llega a un lugar y se siente que la gente ahí no está de muy buen humor.

Daniel said:

I just rechecked in my dictionary and on this site. Also a example of "la temperatura medio" is given.

If it says that, it is wrong, because it should be "media".

Gus said:

"el medio ambiente está muy tenso", se aplica cuando uno llega a un lugar y se siente que la gente ahí no está de muy buen humor.

¿No será "El ambiente está muy tenso", sin "medio"'

"Medio ambiente" is enviroment. The word "ambiente" by itself has a differnt meaning as you can see in the last answer from Gus.

"medio ambiente" is an artificial expression
cloned from the angloamerican word "environment"
which began to be employed by the mass-media in the 1970s

ie whatever "environment" is supposed to mean, that is what "medio ambiente" means

"naturaleza" is something distinct alltogether - for example,
a reference to "naturaleza" in mexico often means something about having a baby,
or having sex; whereas "medio ambiente" is more of a clinical globalist expression..

Martin is correct here, and of course LadyDi. In my kid's Mexican textbooks "medio ambiente" is the term used for environment; for example when they talk about pollution in the environment, not like a tense environment.

Martin Rizzi said:

"medio ambiente" is an artificial expressioncloned from the angloamerican word "environment"which began to be employed by the mass-media in the 1970sie whatever "environment" is supposed to mean, that is what "medio ambiente" means"naturaleza" is something distinct alltogether - for example,a reference to "naturaleza" in mexico often means something about having a baby,or having sex; whereas "medio ambiente" is more of a clinical globalist expression..

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I think the word media in this context means medium with the English meaning of not 1/2, average, or middle but as in water is a better medium for conducting sound waves than air.
the environment is the medium that surrounds us

medio ambiente translates to the environment or the atmosphere.

Quentin, etymologically, both words are the same anyway: from Latin, medius, meaning "middle". The physical medium is what lies in the middle between you and something else. But you are right about where the real meaning comes from, of course.

However, Martin has a point: the expression "medio ambiente" does not seem to follow the usual pattern in Spanish constructions, as one noun is being used to modify another, not as an proper name, but as an adjective.