Environmental History
in a Nutshell
Geologic Time
Pretend the age of the earth (4.5+ billion years) is compressed
into one calendar year.
January 1 - Earth and planets formed
Early March - liquid water stands in pools.
Late March - earliest life
July - oxygen is important part of atmosphere
October 25 - multicellular organisms
Late November - plants and animals abundant
December 15 to 25 - dinosaurs arise and
disappear
11:20 pm, December 31 - Humans appear
One second before midnight - Automobile
invented
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When did Humans arrive on
the scene?
Age of hominids? 5-7 million years
Homo erectus? 2 million years
Homo sapiens? 250,000 years
Neanderthals? 140,000-50,000 y.a.
– Separate evolutionary line? First genocide?
• Cro-Magnon invasion of Europe? 40,000 y.a.
(fully modern anatomy)
Australopithecus afarensis
Homo erectus
Hominid Development?
Hunter-Gatherers
• Humanities only “economic” activity for at
least 90% of our existence.
• Low population densities (small groups of
40-60; 1 person/ mi2)
• Largely egalitarian - every person
performs essential functions.
Great Leap
Forward
Lascaux Caves, France
When?
present
70,000 years before
Emergence of modern
hunter-gatherer “toolbox”:
• Fish hooks, Arrows, Bows,
Needles, Engravers, Awls
• Art
• Jewelry (Beads at first)
• Navigation/Boating? (Australia
from New Guinea)
Proposed Causes:
• Voicebox development /
language
• Brain organization change
Human Expansion
Population growth and resulting need for more land and resources leads to
migration.
Pleistocene Overkill Hypothesis
• Large, slow, or tame animals become
extinct shortly after hunter-gatherer arrival
in New World, Polynesia, Australia / New
Guinea.
– Flightless birds, giant cave bear, ground sloth.
Giant Extinct Moa, New Zealand
Skeleton of Giant Ground Sloth, Los Angeles
Human Expansion “Out of Africa”
Based on Archaeological and Fossil Evidence
Including Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis
Human Expansion:
based on mitochondrial DNA study of Homo sapiens
Agricultural
Revolution
Domestication of Plants
and Animals
• Seed Agriculture - Fertile
Crescent, western India,
northern China, Ethiopia,
southern Mexico (10,000 b.p.)
Rice, wheat, and corn account
for more than 50% of world
population's food calories
and were among the first
plants domesticated (along
with millet, sorghum wheat,
rye, barley).
Agricultural Revolution
Source: Goudie, Andrew. 2006. Human Impact on the Natural Environment.
Domestication of Plants
Neolithic Revolution
 Rice, wheat, and corn
account for more than 50%
of world population's food
calories and were among
the first plants
domesticated (along with
millet, sorghum wheat, rye,
barley).
and Animals
 Dog was probably first.
 Early domesticated animals:
cattle, oxen, pigs, sheep,
goats, guinea pigs, llama
• role in agricultural production
and success
Agricultural Revolution
Source: Goudie, Andrew. 2006. Human Impact on the Natural Environment.
Agricultural Revolution
Primary effects:
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Urbanization
Social Stratification
Occupational Specialization
Increased population densities
Teotihuacan
Human Expansion
and Ancient Agricultural Empires
Urbanization and increased efficiency lead to
population growth, increased consumption
and higher density, which leads to need
for more space and more natural
resources.
Ancient Examples:
 Aztecs, Maya
 Chinese Warlords / Dynasties
 Polynesians
 Roman Empire
 Muslim / Ottoman Empire
Human and environmental costs are inevitable.
Natural Experiments in
Environmental Studies
• Successful cultures are those that adapt
well to their environments. Many have
not: Chaco Canyon, North Africa, Fertile
Crescent, Easter Island.
Chaco Canyon, New Mexico
Easter Island, Polynesia
Agricultural and Industrial
Societies Accelerate Extinctions
• Flightless birds, whales, otters
• U.S. Passenger Pigeon
Mauritius, Indian Ocean
Dodo Bird discovered in 1598,
extinct by 1681.
Dodo Bird, Mauritius, Indian Ocean
Age of European Discovery,
Exploration, and Colonization
1492 - 1771:
 Bartholomew Dias (Portugal), 1488 - rounds Cape of
Good Hope
 Columbus, 1492 (Spanish/Italian) - first of four
voyages to “New World”
 Vasco De Gama (Portugal), 1498 - reaches India
 Magellan (Portugal), 1519 - First Circumnavigation
 James Cook (England), 1768-1771 - voyages in
Pacific / Polynesia; end of era of Discovery
The geographical knowledge acquired was
crucial to the expansion of European political
and economic power in the 16th Century.
Captain James Cook
Source: Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, 2007.
World Migration Routes Since 1700
European
African (slaves)
Indian
Chinese
Japanese
Majority of population descended from immigrants
Slide graphic courtesy of Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, Hofstra University
Industrial Revolution
(The Atlantic-industrial Era)
Belt of industrial cities form an economic
core based on fossil fuel consumption.
1733, First Cotton Mill opens in England
1793, Eli Whitney invents cotton ‘gin
1800, steam engines become common (steamboats,
locomotives)
1837, Morse (and two Brits, independent of Morse ) invent
telegraph
1877, Bell invents telephone
1908, Henry Ford delivers first Model T
Environmental Effects?
• Energy Consumption
• Natural Resources
• Land Use
Global Communications and
Transportation Revolution
(Pacific-global era)
Technology:
 Inexpensive International Air Transport
(1960s - present)
 Internet and earlier Arpanet (1960s)
 Personal Computer (1980s)
 Satellite Communications (1990s)
 Containerization of Cargo (1950s)
 Globalization of Economies - Rise of
Transnational Corporations
Environmental Effects?
Globalization
Nearly everything
moves farther and
more quickly today:
Innovations, Diseases,
People, Ideologies,
Financial Crises,
Information.
How does this affect the
environment?
25 Largest
Multinational
Corporations, 2007
Source: Global Policy Forum
(www.globalpolicy.org)
Today’s Technological
Revolution
What emerging technologies will change
the world?
Which parts of the world stand poised to
capitalize on them?
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Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
Artificial Intelligence
Robotics and micro-robotics
Nanotechnology
Economic Globalization
Environmental Effects?
Human Population Growth
Source: Data from U.S. Census Bureau
World
Population
Clock
(click)
Population and the
Environment
I=PxAxT
(Impact = Population x Affluence x Technology)
Population-influenced environmental problems:
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Global Warming
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Habitat Loss / Endangered Species
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Resource Depletion
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Food Production
Population, Affluence, and
Resource Consumption
Population, Affluence, and
Resource Consumption
Source: World Bank, 2012: siteresources.worldbank.org/
Technology, Energy Consumption, and
Environmental Impact
There has been a dramatic increase in:
• individual energy use over time: 3,000 kcal/person 300,000 kcal/person (each of us in the U.S. has the
equivalent of about 100 energy servants)
• the power of technology to change the environment:
think stone axe versus bulldozer versus atomic bomb.
• the scope and severity of environmental impacts.
Individual Annual Energy Use (Goudie, 2006)
Human Impact on the Planet, 2002
Red on this map represents roads, power lines, major landscape
change (e.g. agriculture), pipelines, and urbanized areas.
Source: UNEP, 2002
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State of the Planet
half the world’s wetlands were lost during the last century;
logging and land use conversion have reduced forest cover by at least 20 per
cent, and possibly as much as 50 per cent;
nearly 70 per cent of the world’s major marine fish stocks are either overfished or being fished at the biological limit;
over the last half century, soil degradation has affected two-thirds of the
world’s agricultural land. It is estimated that each year some 25 000 million
metric tonnes of fertile topsoil—the equivalent of all of the wheat fields in
Australia— is lost globally (Casagrande and Zaidman 1999);
each year, an estimated 27 000 species disappear from the planet—
approximately one every 20 minutes (Casagrande and Zaidman 1999);
the Earth now appears to be experiencing a sixth mass extinction event that
began about 50 000 years ago with the expanding role of humans in the
world (Recer 2004). Unlike past events, this mass extinction is being caused
by human activities such as transforming the landscape, overexploiting
species, pollution, and alien species introductions (Eldredge 2001);
dams and engineering works have fragmented 60 per cent of the world’s
large river systems. They have so impeded water flow that the time it takes
for a drop of water to reach the sea has tripled;
human activities are significantly altering the basic chemical cycles upon
which all ecosystems depend (Kirby 2000).
Source: UNEP, A Story of Change, One Planet, Many People. 2005.
http://na.unep.net/atlas/onePlanetManyPeople/book.php
Carrying Capacity and
Ecological Footprint
The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the
population size of the species that the environment can sustain
indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities
available in the environment. For the human population, more complex
variables such as sanitation and medical care are sometimes considered
as part of the necessary infrastructure.
The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's
ecosystems. It compares human demand with planet Earth's ecological
capacity to regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically
productive land and sea area needed to regenerate the resources a
human population consumes and to absorb and render harmless the
corresponding waste.
Ecological Footprint Calculator
Sustainable Development
The ability of humanity to ensure that it
meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.
(The World Commission on Environment and Development’s
(the Brundtland Commission) report ”Our Common Future”, 1987)
Sustainable development involves a triple
bottom line: the simultaneous pursuit of
economic prosperity, environmental quality
(World Business Council on Sustainable Development)
and social equity.
Video Link - TED Talk: Johan Rockstrom