human impacts on the environment

• Reasons for increase in human population

  • better medicine
  • better standards of living
• Results of an increase in the human population

  More waste:

  1. Water: sewage - get into water systems and pollutes water
  2. Land: more household waste - put into landfill
• Results of an increase in the human population

  Need for more energy - by burning fossil fuels or using nuclear power

  1. Water :

  • acid rain - gets into water systems - reduces the biodiversity in water systems

  2. Land :

  • mining
  • nuclear waste is buried - this pollutes the area

  3. Air

  • burning fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases, sulfer oxide and nitrate oxide
  • sulfer + nitrate oxide = air pollution, breathing problems, acid rain
• results of an increase in the human population

  More space needed for building

  1. land:

  • deforestation = destroys landscape

  2. air

  • deforestation

  = less trees to reduce CO2

  = burning waste wood releases CO2

  = decaying wood (decomposers) release CO2 while respiring
• result of an increase in the human population

  More food:

  1. water

  • pesticides washed into water leads to eutrophication

  2. air

  • more cows are gazed

  this leads to more methane (greenhouse gas)