The first step to understanding your surroundings is establishing an environmental baseline. This is a process by which one can measure the activity occurring around them to a predetermined standard. Establishing an environmental baseline is quite simply acquiring a detailed understanding of what is normal for an environment and then looking for things that are abnormal or that represent a change to the normal. The practice goes hand-in-hand with situational awareness. It is formed in large part by practicing situational awareness, and once it is constructed, it becomes an important filter through which one processes the things they see while practicing situational awareness. The importance of having and using an environmental baseline is illustrated by the kidnapping of a U.S. citizen in a Latin American country.