Understanding Human Impact on the Environment

1. Human Impact on the Environment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zPcR7wgh0c

2. Types of Resources • Renewable: replaced by natural processes Ex: plants/crops, water

3. Types of Resources • Nonrenewable: only available in limited amounts Ex: Metals, minerals, topsoil, fossil fuels Fossil fuels Coal

4. Types of Pollution • Pollution: contamination of soil, water, air • Industrialization- a major source of pollution.

5. Types of Pollution • Air Pollution: • Primary cause is burning of fossil fuels for electricity • Other contributors- cars, heating homes, planes • Particulates-solid particles of soot • Smog-smoke, gases, fog

6. Air Pollution • Acid rain- • Sulfuroxides and water mix to form sulfuric acid that falls to earth and lowers pH of streams/lakes, leaches nutrients from the soil • pH < 5.6 is considered acidic

7. Air Pollution • Greenhouse effect- Increased CarbonDioxide: from increased burning of fossil fuel

8. Air Pollution • Increased Carbon dioxide gases trapped in the atmosphere leads to a rise in temperature in the atmosphere called global warming. • How to reduce carbon dioxide output- • burn less fossil fuels • plant trees to absorb excess carbon dioxide

9. Air Pollution • Ozone layer- prevents lethal doses of UV radiation from reaching earth • Thinning of ozone caused by release of CFC’s (chlorofluorocarbons) into the atmosphere.

10. Types of Pollution • Water Pollution: • Contaminants from sewers, industry, homes, farms Pollutants trickle down into ground water; More efforts being made to correct these problems

11. Water Pollution • Types • Point pollution- from a single source and easily identifiable • Example- factories

12. Water Pollution • Non-point pollution- from many sources and not easily identifiable • Example- homes, lawns, highways, pesticides, fertilizers

13. Three R’s of conservation

14. Plant and animal lifehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iThpkXWVeqE&feature=fvwp • Biodiversity- the variety of life in an area • Most diverse areas of the world are tropical rainforests

15. Biodiversity is being lost due to human actions like deforestation, overhunting, overfishing, introducing a species

16. How do we negatively impact biodiversity? • Biodiversity is being lost due to human actions like: • Deforestation: clearing of trees for open land space loss of animal habitat and niches • Overhunting/overfishing interrupt predator prey relationships by influencing population dynamics • Introduced Species: when we introduce a new species that does not have a natural predator overpopulation of that new species occurs. May take over other organisms niche, habitat, food resource

17. Importance of biodiversity • Many relationships are yet to be discovered • Loss of species may have consequencesfor others living things (ex- food chains and food webs are disrupted)

18. Plant and Animal life • Biomagnification – as pollutants move up a food chain, their concentration increases

19. Results of Biomagnification • As the pollutant or toxin is taken into an organisms body it enter its cells • As higher order organisms obtain energy from lower order organisms, the pollutant/toxin is passed on and magnified due to the organisms usually increasing in size moving up a food chain/web. • Results in overall magnification of the toxin through the chain or web

20. The Gulf Oil Spill Disaster • http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/disaster-in-the-gulf-the-oil-spill-environmental-impact.html • Human Impact • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thuViaxRd_w&feature=related