Our influence on the environment

 By the end of this page you will know:

• how economic, industrial and population changes affect the environment.

The human population has dramatically increased in size over the last 100 years ( see graph A).  All of these extra people need food, water and somewhere to live.Everyone wants a good standard of living which means higher demand for things like electricity and cars. Generating more electricity, burning forest to clear land for farming and burning fuel in cars all produces more carbon dioxide. All of this puts pressure on the environment.The environment is the place where an organism lives and is made up of many different features such as air, water , soil and other living things.

A

Carbon dioxide is a`greenhouse gas'. This means that it traps heat in the Earth's atmosphere.If there is more heat trapped in the atmosphere then the earth could become warmer. This could lead to melting of polar ice and rising sea levels.Many places in Britain and across the world would be at risk from flooding if sea levels rose.

B                                                                                                               C

The satellite photograph shows Timbuktu in Mali , West Africa .The area around Timbuktu is the sahel, which means`the edgeof the desert`.Nomads used to graze animals in this area until farmers began planting peanuts to sell. This change in land use together with local climate changes, has resulted in the loss of soil fertility. This is called desertification.                                                                                                              

Recently an area of South American rainforest the size of Belgium was cleared to grow crops and to graze animals- the trees were sold as timber.This is deforestation.This can lead to soil washing away and increased flooding.

Here are some of the things that you can do to help the environment. Use less energy-make sure you turn off lights when you leave a room. Don`t leave your TV or computer on standly.Try not to use the car for ever journey - walk to school if you can. Glass , aluminium and paper are just a few of the things that you can recycle.