How do humans impact the environment?

1. How do humans impact the environment? 1. Population growth • More people means more resources are used and more pollution & garbage 2. Pollution • Industrialization: factories • Burning of fossil fuels (gas/oil) for factories and cars • Increased carbon dioxide levels in atmosphere

2. Limited/Finite Resources (have a certain amount of them) • Renewable Resources- can be replaced with time • Examples: food supply, solar energy, wind energy • Nonrenewable Resources- cannot be replaced once they are used • Examples: fossil fuels (gas, oil, coal), minerals

3. Acid Rain • Result of air pollution • Burning of fossil fuels releases pollutants into the air • Pollutants mix with rain water and then collect in ponds/streams/lakes/ground • Decreases biodiversity because some organisms can no longer live in the water • Changes/affects food chains/webs

4. Acid Rain

5. Global Warming • Caused by the Greenhouse Effect: increase in carbon dioxide in atmosphere, causes temperature of Earth to rise. • Main greenhouse gas: carbon dioxide • Effects: melting of polar ice caps, increase in extreme weather • Why would deforestation make this worse?

6. Global Warming

7. Global Warming

8. What activities produce greenhouse gases? • Agriculture: (releases methane) • Transportation (cars, trucks, buses…): burns fossil fuels • Burning fossil fuels: factories, cars • NOT BREATHING!!!!!!

9. Global Warming

10. Global Warming

11. Ways to reduce pollution and production of greenhouse gases? • Car pool • Electric cars • Public transportation • Plant new trees • Recycle • Wind/solar power Reduce buring of fossil fuel/ gas, and less carbon dioxide released into environment

12. Use of Herbicides/Pesticides • Can kill other organisms than the ones intended • Can cause pesticide/herbicide resistance • Mutations allow some organisms to survive spraying • They reproduce and produce offspring that are also resistant • Have to find other ways to kill pest… sometimes a natural predator

13. Why would deforestation make global warming worse? • Trees/plants remove carbon dioxide from the environment to use for photosynthesis • If forests are cut down, then less trees/plants to remove carbon dioxide from the environment • Cutting down trees/forests • Use materials, build/farm on the land • Decreases biodiversity (number of living species in an area like a forest)

14. Biomagnification • Increasein the concentrationof a substance (toxic/poison) in living organisms as you move up the food chain. • (Toxins dumped in water, get eaten or absorbed by organisms)

15. One more thing: invasive species • Organisms that are brought to an area, not native to that area originally • Why is this bad? • Invasive or non-native(exotic) species compete with native organisms for resources • Prey (kill/eat) native organisms = decrease biodiversity • Change food webs/chains

16. Examples of Invasive/non-native/exotic Species • purple loosestrife plants: out-compete other plants for food, decreases biodiversity of area • zebra mussels in Lake Erie: out-compete other organisms for food, clog pipes, cling to ships • stink bugs: invade homes, no natural predator • Dutch elm disease: brought over by beetles, has killed half the elm trees in the US = decrease biodiversity.