A historical perspective on environmental problems

1
A historical perspective on environmental
problems

• Main Questions
• What major effects did hunting gathering,
  agriculture, urbanization, colonization and
  industrialization had on the environment?
• What might be the environmental Impact of the
  information technology revolution?

2
What account for the recent emphases on
Conservation?

• Rapid increases in population, e.g., poor nations
• Excessive resource consumption and possible
  future shortages
• Increases in pollution and threats to human
  survival
• Rapid development in communication and
  dissemination of information about environmental
  disasters. e.g. CNN
• Rise in grassroots environmental movements
• Increases in scientific research
• Rapid dissemination of research findings
• Increasing threats to human survival posed by
  unintended impacts of past human activity.

3
Major cultural changes their impacts on the
physical environment

• Humankind has undergone 3 major cultural changes
  
• 1. Industrial revolution
• 2. Agricultural revolution,
• 3. Information Technology and Globalization.
• Impacts of the cultural changes include
• More energy and new technology to alter and
  control more of nature to meet our needs
• Expansion in populations due to more food
  supplies, good health and longer life spans.
• Increased human impact on the environment because
  of pollution, increased resource use and land
  degradation

4
The era of Hunters and Gatherers

• Human Impact on the Environment was low
  because of
• The small size of human population
• Low resource use per person
• Migration (ancient people were scattered in the
  forest) which allowed nature to repair itself
• Lack of modern technology that could have
  intensified the impacts (the simple tools e.g.
  bones, stones and wood, did little damage)
• Simple economic activities that caused little
  harm to the environment.

5
Era of the Discovery of Fire

• Fire was significant in changing the
  human-environment interaction for several
  reasons
• The effects of fire on vegetation was widespread
  and very devastating.
• Fire affected areas where the original action was
  not intended
• Fire can be repetitive and cover the same area at
  frequent intervals.
• Fire is selective in its effects on species

6
The Era of Settled Agriculture and Food Production

• agriculture involves deliberate destruction of
  the natural vegetation to cultivate selected
  crops
• It forced people to settle at specific places
  thereby confining human impact to small areas.
• It caused the development of towns, cities and
  urban areas that led to dramatic changes in land
  use and population growth.
• It created additional environmental problems for
  waste disposal.
• People began to accumulate material goods

7
Impact of the agricultural revolution1

• It caused the development and use of harmful
  chemicals and pesticides
• Survival of wild plants and animals, once vital
  to humanity, became less important.
• Conflict between society became more common as
  ownership of land and water rights became crucial
  economic issues
• Farmers grew more than enough food thereby
  helping to expand populations.

8
Impact of the agricultural revolution2

• Encouraged the use of domesticated animals to
  plough fields and perform other tasks
• Larger forested areas were cleared for farms
• More reliable food sources encouraged population
  growth and the building of homes
• Urbanization formation of villages, towns and
  large cities became practical.
• Created soil erosion, overgrazing and other
  environmental problem

9
Urbanization growth of towns and cities.

• Led to large-scale disruptions in forests
• Caused improvements in human welfare and
  expansion in human populations beyond limits set
  by pre-agricultural patterns of life.
• Led to concentration of human impacts on very
  small areas of the earth
• Caused the growth in transportation and its
  attendant pollution problems

10
The era of European colonization

• Some of the greatest environmental degradation in
  history occurred under colonial exploitation of
  resources located in former European colonies in
  Africa and Latin America.
• Colonization placed resources of far distant
  places under foreigners who exploited them
  without regard to environmental consequences.
• Colonization encouraged reckless exploitation of
  resources from far distant places
• It devalued natural resources in colonial states

11
The Industrialization revolution

• Industrialization led to large-scale use of
  fossil fuels and mineral resources that pollute
  the air, soils and the environment today.
• Produced chemicals that pollutes air, water
  soils
• Led to the development of new forms of
  transportation that boosted international trade
  and made available goods and services in far
  distant locations to advanced countries.
• It created a shift from dependence on renewable
  fuels (e.g. solar) to a dependence on machines
  running on nonrenewable fossil fuels.

12
The Information Technology Revolution

• IT can help people understand how the earth,
  economies and other complex systems work
• Allows environmental researchers to exchange data
  and information more rapidly
• Allows researchers to develop computer models to
  explain earths complex environmental systems
• It can facilitate the monitoring of environmental
  degradation (e.g. remote sensing images)
• IT can help people develop awareness of
  environmental problems