Human Impact How we affect our Earth’s surface

Agriculture  Farming and raising animals.  Farming can change the type of land, depending on the farming being used.  Slash burn – burning trees for more room, kills trees (oxygen) dangerous gases in air.  Even advanced farming can deprive soil of nutrients.  Animals can overgraze. More erosion.  Can result in DESERTIFICATION  Fertilizers ruin the soil and runoff goes into the water surrounding.

Farming

Slash burn

Fishing  If done responsibly, causes little harm  Drift nets: huge nets that typically catch everything. United Nations enacted regulations to reduce this.  Overfishing: when we catch too many of a certain type of fish. Reduces population and disrupts ecosystem.

Drift Nets

Waste Disposal  Landfills: storage of trash. Contaminates the soil, and water that comes into contact with it.  Leachate: water that moves through a landfill. Toxic and dangerous.  Most landfills have leachate collection and monitoring systems.  Plastic under the soil to prevent water from moving outside of landfill.  Some does leak out.

landfill

Leachate

Waste Disposal  Waste products also dumped into water.  If the waste water contains foreign substances or changes the temperature of the water it goes into, it can harm the ecosystem.  Also dumped into the air. Some of these pollutants cause acid rain or snow.  Corrode buildings, damage crops, cause water to be unsuitable for fish and wildlife.

Waste in Water

Energy Production  Burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas.  Harmful substances released: carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, lead, mercury  Also use water by creating dams. However, this changes the natural flow of water, and can ruin/damage ecosystems.

Dams

Obtaining Raw Materials  Such as wood, water, coal, iron, uranium, stone  Can destroy ecosystems.  Mining can disrupt habitats and contaminate nearby bodies of water  Getting water can disrupt ecosystems by changing the flow of water, and can impact those people/animals/plants downstream.

Construction and Urbanization  As population increases, we need places to live!!!  Negative impacts on natural habitats  People living in cities tend to use more natural resources than those living in rural areas.  Since there are more people gravitating to cities, this creates urbanization.  Urban areas are hotter (microclimate) since it has more concrete for the sun’s radiation to bounce from.

Conservation  Careful use and preservation of Earth’s resources  Plan ahead to minimize negative impacts.  It is hard to cut out everything, but there are methods.  Reducing, reusing, and recycling

Reducing  Smaller cars = less resources to make  Energy efficient = less pollution

Reuse  Hand me down clothes = less energy at factories to make clothes  Other materials too…  Keeps things out of landfills  Cuts the waste down from creating new things

Recycle  Making new products from things that have been used before.  Recycling paper = fewer trees cut down  Recycling aluminum cans = less aluminum needs to be made

Please Remember!  Crossword Due Thursday!  Standard Review due Tuesday! (Tomorrow)  Study Islands due Thursday!  Presentation due Thursday for presentation  Test on all of Earth’s surface (Weathering, Erosion, Deposition, and Human Impact) on FRIDAY!!!!!  Extra Credit Study Island due Thursday too!!!!!!