Relationship between Humans 👶🏼 & Environment 🌳
Since the earliest times, humans have needed to be sensitive to their surroundings to survive, which means that we have an innate awareness of our environment and seek out environments with certain qualities.
First of all, humans have a strong need for safety and security and look for those attributes in their environment. We also look for physical comfort, such as an environment with the right temperature. In addition, we seek an environment that is psychologically comfortable: for example, environments that are familiar, but offer the right amount of stimulus.
Think about health stuff first—bad air quality can give us respiratory problems, polluted water can make us sick, and we need sunlight to live (it regulates our internal clocks, it helps us produce vitamin D in our skin) but too much of it can burn us, or even cause us to develop skin cancer. Stuff like that.
Or consider how the environment affects the way we live. People have figured out ways of dealing with extreme heat and cold, depending on where they live. In different parts of the world, people wear different clothes, and live in different kinds of houses, and eat different foods—a lot of this is determined by the environment. And people settle in certain spots because the land is good for growing things, or because there are rivers to use, or because there's an ocean to provide food for them.
And this is a little more complicated, but the environment has determined how we evolved into humans in the first place (remember, evolution is all about living things changing to live more successfully in a certain set of environmental conditions).
Meanwhile, humans impact the environment in several ways. Common effects include decreased water quality, increased pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, depletion of natural resources and contribution to global climate change. Some of these are the direct result of human activities, whereas others are secondary effects that are part of a series of actions and reactions.
Water Pollution
One of the biggest impacts humans have on aquatic systems is excess nutrient inputs. Nutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorus, are essential to the health and survival of aquatic plants and animals. However, humans introduce large quantities of nutrients, primarily through overuse of fertilizers. Too many nutrients can rapidly reduce water quality by causing overgrowth of certain bacteria and algae that use the oxygen necessary for other species to survive. Even more problematic is that these nutrients can be transported downstream to other streams, rivers and bays. Therefore, nutrients can reduce water quality in places far removed from where they were first introduced.
Air Pollution
The majority of air pollution is the result of human activities. For example, increased fossil fuel combustion from motor vehicles, industrial factories and power plants all pump large quantities of air pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, ozone and nitrous oxides, into the atmosphere. Other air pollutants, such as lead-based compounds, can lead to serious health effects like cancer, or other types of reproductive effects and birth defects.
Climate Change
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, human activities are largely responsible for an increase in temperature around the globe, primarily due to carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. This increase in temperature is leading to changes in where crops can grow and where certain fish or animals can be found, all vital for feeding an increasing human population. The rise in global temperatures is also causing glaciers to melt, releasing water that causes sea levels to rise and threaten coastal communities and economies that rely on coastal resources.
First of all, humans have a strong need for safety and security and look for those attributes in their environment. We also look for physical comfort, such as an environment with the right temperature. In addition, we seek an environment that is psychologically comfortable: for example, environments that are familiar, but offer the right amount of stimulus.
Think about health stuff first—bad air quality can give us respiratory problems, polluted water can make us sick, and we need sunlight to live (it regulates our internal clocks, it helps us produce vitamin D in our skin) but too much of it can burn us, or even cause us to develop skin cancer. Stuff like that.
Or consider how the environment affects the way we live. People have figured out ways of dealing with extreme heat and cold, depending on where they live. In different parts of the world, people wear different clothes, and live in different kinds of houses, and eat different foods—a lot of this is determined by the environment. And people settle in certain spots because the land is good for growing things, or because there are rivers to use, or because there's an ocean to provide food for them.
And this is a little more complicated, but the environment has determined how we evolved into humans in the first place (remember, evolution is all about living things changing to live more successfully in a certain set of environmental conditions).
Meanwhile, humans impact the environment in several ways. Common effects include decreased water quality, increased pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, depletion of natural resources and contribution to global climate change. Some of these are the direct result of human activities, whereas others are secondary effects that are part of a series of actions and reactions.
Water Pollution
One of the biggest impacts humans have on aquatic systems is excess nutrient inputs. Nutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorus, are essential to the health and survival of aquatic plants and animals. However, humans introduce large quantities of nutrients, primarily through overuse of fertilizers. Too many nutrients can rapidly reduce water quality by causing overgrowth of certain bacteria and algae that use the oxygen necessary for other species to survive. Even more problematic is that these nutrients can be transported downstream to other streams, rivers and bays. Therefore, nutrients can reduce water quality in places far removed from where they were first introduced.
Air Pollution
The majority of air pollution is the result of human activities. For example, increased fossil fuel combustion from motor vehicles, industrial factories and power plants all pump large quantities of air pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, ozone and nitrous oxides, into the atmosphere. Other air pollutants, such as lead-based compounds, can lead to serious health effects like cancer, or other types of reproductive effects and birth defects.
Climate Change
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, human activities are largely responsible for an increase in temperature around the globe, primarily due to carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. This increase in temperature is leading to changes in where crops can grow and where certain fish or animals can be found, all vital for feeding an increasing human population. The rise in global temperatures is also causing glaciers to melt, releasing water that causes sea levels to rise and threaten coastal communities and economies that rely on coastal resources.
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