1. Environmental History
Chapter 2

2. Early history Earth has existed for an estimated 4.6 billion years
Homo sapiens have been on earth only about years
Until about 12,000 years ago men were mostly hunter-gatherers.

3. Major Cultural Changes
Agricultural revolution
Industrial revolution
Information and globalization revolution

4. Hunter-gatherers
Survived by eating edible wild plants, fishing, hunting, and scavenging meat killed by other animals
Lived in small bands
Were nomads
They discovered:
Which plants and animals could be eaten and used as medicine
Where to find water
How plant availability changed throughout the year
How game animals migrated

5. Advanced hunter gatherers
Used more advanced tools and fire
Contributed to the extinction of some animals (saber-toothed tiger)
Altered distribution of plants by carrying seeds
OVERALL IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT WAS LOW DUE TO:
Small population
Low resource use/person
Migration allowed ecosystem to repair itself
Lack of technology

6. Agricultural revolution
10,000-12,000 years ago
Also called Neolithic revolution
Gradual shift from nomads to settling in agricultural communities
Domesticated animals and cultivated wild plants

7. Slash-and- burn cultivation
Clear forest (mainly in the tropics)
Burn vegetation and underbrush
This adds nutrients to the soil – which is often nutrient poor
Led to Shifting cultivation

8. Shifting cultivation 1 Clearing and burning vegetation 4 Allowing
to revegetate
10 to 30 years 2
Planting 3
Harvesting for
2 to 5 years
Shifting cultivation

9. Most early farmers practiced SUSTAINABLE CULTIVATION
Had little impact on the environment because:
Depended on human muscle power and crude tools
Low population size and density
Land was available for movement to other areas

10. The Industrial Revolution

11. Invention of the steam engine
Began in England
Based on dependence on coal (nonrenewable fossil fuel) rather than renewable wood
Invention of the steam engine
Switched from small-scale localized production to large-scale production of machine-made goods.
Movement from rural to cities
Often very bad living and working conditions

12. Resulted in: Fossil-fuel powered farm machinery
New plant-breeding techniques increasing yield per acre
More reliable food supply
Longer life spans
Increase in population size

13. Information and Globalization Revolution
Many new technologies – telephone, computers, tv, etc
Automated data bases
Remote sensing satellites

14. Positively Negatively: Helps us understand earth, economics, etc.
Allows use of remote sensing satellites
Enables use to develop computer models
Can reduce pollution and environmental degredation
Negatively:
Information overload
Confusion and a sense of hopelessness
Increases environmental degradation and decrease in cultural diversity

15. History of United States
Tribal Era
Occupied by indigenous people, called Indians – now called Native Americans
Had a fairly low environmental impact

16. Frontier Era ( )
Began with European colonists settling North America
Had a FRONTEIR ENVIRONMENTAL WORLDVIEW
The wilderness was there to be conquered and cleared.
Kill the dangerous animals and Native Americans