Environment and Human Interaction

Definitions

• Environment comprises everything around us, both living and non-living.
• Living organisms interact with their environment and adapt to their environment's conditions.
• The environment involves interactions between animals, plants, soil, water, and other living and non-living entities.

Human Environmental Interaction

• It is the connection between human society and the environment
• It is a complex system because both society and the environment contain several elements.
• It can affect human life, due to societal impacts on the environment.
• The main ideas are: depends on, adapts, and modifies.

How Society Depends on the Environment

• Humanity depends on the environment in many ways.
• The most vital way is through the resources and services the environment offers which are essential for life:
  • Food and water
  • Climate
  • Raw materials

Natural Resources

• Food production: agriculture relies on soil quality, water availability, and climate conditions.
• Water supply: freshwater sources are essential for drinking, sanitation, and irrigation purposes.
• Energy sources: they originate from fossil fuels, solar, wind, and hydroelectric power gained from natural systems.

Ecosystem Services

• Climate regulation happens when forests and oceans help regulate the Earth's climate by absorbing carbon dioxide.
• Water filtration involves wetlands and forests which filter pollutants from water, boosting its quality.

Cultural and Recreational Values

• Connection to nature: many cultures get identity and spiritual practices from their natural surroundings.
• Recreation: natural areas are spaces for activities that promote physical and mental well-being.

How Society Adapts to the Environment

• Adaptation to the environment occurs due to society.
• Adaptation happens due to different factors:
  • Civilizations adapt to the climate where they are located
  • They will adapt to the physical environment they are faced with.

Technological Innovations

• Renewable energy: growing adoption of solar, wind, and hydroelectric energy reduces dependence on fossil fuels and mitigates climate impacts.

Urban Planning

• Green infrastructure: cities add parks, green roofs, and urban forests to manage heat, improve air quality, and enhance resilience to storms.
• Disaster preparedness: urban areas build infrastructure like levees and flood barriers to protect against natural disasters like hurricanes and flooding.

Policy and Governance

• Regulations: governments put environmental regulations into action to protect natural resources and promote sustainable practices.
• Community engagement: the involvement of local communities in decision-making builds the sustainable management of resources.

How Society Modifies the Environment

• Human activities cause changes in our environment.
• Society modifies the environment as part of the interaction with it.
• This modification includes:
  • Deforestation
  • Agriculture
  • Building dams for development in society.

Negative Human Environment Interaction

• Negative + Positive interaction = Human Environment Interaction.

Deforestation

• It is the removal of forest from land, then the conversion to a non-forest use.
• The conversion involves forest land being changed to farms or urban use.
• Most deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests.

Rainforests

• They are forests high and continuous rainfall.
• Annual rainfall for tropical rainforests is between 2.5 and 4.5 m.
• They are located in Africa, Asia, Australia, and Central and South America.
• The largest rainforest is the Amazon.
• Rainforests provide a home to many plants and animals.
• It holds millions of unique plants and animals (biodiversity).
• It helps stabilize the world’s climate.
• Rainforests protect against flood, drought, and erosion.
• They are a source for food.
• They support tribal people.
• Rainforests are being destroyed rapidly for logging, mining, and agriculture

Destruction of Rainforests

• Millions of hectares are cut down every year, often illegally through logging activity.
• Trees are not replaced after being cut.
• Mining companies are responsible for much deforestation.
• Trees are cut down to extract gold and other minerals.
• Agriculture is carried out on land for poor farmers somewhere else to live, including the grazing of cattle.
• Road construction damages rainforests.

Effects of Rainforest destruction

• Extinction of plants and animals are caused.
• There is a Shortage of valuable food products.
• Soils and nutrients are washed away, preventing the forest from growing again.

Water Usage

• This happens based on dependence on the environment.

Energy and Natural Resources

• Modification and dependence result
• The needs have vastly expanded beyond heat.
• Modern society depends on energy for transportation and communication systems.
• A key factor is the surge of carbon emissions over the last century.

Airborne Pollution

• This happens based on modification of the environment
• The focus is narrowed to carbon dioxide (CO2).
• Reality is complex, including pollutants from factories, vehicles, and even households.

Pollution Due to Industry

• Industrial pollution comes from manufacturing products from raw materials.
• Iron comes from ore.
• Lumber comes from trees.
• Gasoline comes from crude oil.
• Stone comes from quarries.
• These processes produce a product, along with waste products.