How Do Humans Affect the Environment? onlinedegrees kent edu

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How Do Humans Affect the Environment?
onlinedegrees.kent.edu/geography/geographic-information-science/community/human-impact-on-the-environment
Human activity has had an effect on the environment for thousands of years, from the
time of our very earliest ancestors. Since Homo sapiens first walked the earth, we have
been modifying the environment around us through agriculture, travel and eventually
through urbanization and commercial networks. At this point in earth’s physical history,
our impact on the environment is so substantial that scientists believe “pristine nature,”
or ecosystems untouched by human intervention, no longer exist.
In ways both positive and negative—and likely in more ways than you’d even think—
human civilization and technology have affected our earth, altering our planet forever.
Consider these five tangible impacts our species has had on the environment, and
whether you’re one who will advance their effects or intercede to halt them.
1. The Population Bomb
Human overpopulation has been affecting the environment for hundreds of years and a
concern for scientists since at least 1798, when Thomas Malthus first published his
finding that, without significant and ongoing technological innovation, the human
population would almost certainly outstrip the planet’s food supply. In 1968, this concern
was again raised in Stanford professor R. Paul Ehrlich’s book “The Population Bomb.”
Accommodating population growth has been a root cause for much of the impact we’ve
had on our environment. Since Malthus first noted his grave concerns, technological
advances have created a new double-edged sword: health and abundance. Our food
supply today can support more lives than ever, and advances in medical science have led
to increasingly longer lifespans. But this reality has the profound side effect of reducing
population turnover and leading to its rapid expansion. So as our quality of life and life
expectancy improve, the challenges wrought by overpopulation accelerate as well.