How the humans modified and affected our planet earth

Human activity has affected the environment for thousands of years, from our earliest ancestors’ times. When homo sapiens first walked the planet, the world around has been changed by agriculture, transportation, and gradually by urbanization and commercial networks. Our impact on the environment is so substantial especially at this point in Earth’s physical history that scientists believe that ecosystems that are untouched by human intervention on earth, do not exist. We have altered our ecosystems forever through our intervention in mother nature. While some of these changes may be negative, however, humans also have the power to correct their mistakes and change the environment for the better.

Overpopulation 

Human overpopulation has been a concern for scientists since at least 1798 when a finding was published that without significant and ongoing technological innovation, the human population would almost certainly outstrip the planet’s food supply. Accommodating the growing population has been a root cause for much of the negative impact we have had on our environment. Technological advances have created a new double-edged sword, health, and abundance.

Our food supply today can support more lives than ever, and advances in medical science have led to increasingly longer life spans but this has a side effect of reducing population turnover and rapid expansion of humans. As our quality of life and life expectancy improves, the challenges wrought by overpopulation accelerate as well.

Agriculture, Domesticated Animals, and Genetic Modification 

Demand to feed an increasing population has encouraged tremendous development in agriculture, which was the first human breakthrough to enable our species’ survival. Early farming permitted hunter-gatherer cultures to settle and area and grow their food. This at once affected the environment by the transportation of non-native species to unfamiliar places and by giving more priority to the cultivation of certain plants and animals to others. 

More recent developments in genetic engineering have raised questions about the effect of newly engineered crops on the environment. In particular, the domestication of livestock and other species, including dogs and cats, by early humans altered the land in significant ways. Grazing animals contributed to environmental change by depleting the quality of native grasses and contributing to soil erosion. 

The effects have been exacerbated by the industrialization of agriculture in the last several centuries, but it has also prompted a subsequent wave of positive counter-movements which seek to reverse the negative effects of human intervention.

Deforestation and Reforestation 

Growing populations must house, which means they seek more space to build homes and cities. This also includes clearing forests to make way for urban and suburban growth, as well as proving material for the construction. At present, eighteen million acres of trees are expected to be clear-cut per year to create space for construction and to be used in wood products. Deforestation has many effects. Some of them include increasing greenhouse gas emissions, elevated risk of soil erosion, and the destruction of animal habitats.

But as in the case of industrial agriculture, some groups have endeavored to create a positive counter measure to change the impact of deforestation’s detrimental effects on the environment. Reforestation efforts seek to replace as much forest land as possible every year, and it is currently estimated that about 40 percent of the trees removed each year are being replaced.

Pollution 

Human activities affect the environment by contributing to all kinds of air pollution, or through the emission of harmful greenhouse gases into the environment. Air pollution can also cause health problems in humans and harm plant and animal life. Pollution is not just limited to air because it can affect soil or waterways, and can also come from human wastes, industrial chemicals, and so on.

The positive contribution of human beings to the environment 

Management of The Environment 

The ecosystem benefits from us through our proper environmental management. This restores ecological equilibrium. It will reduce disturbances and harmful activities that are done by nature itself. 

Preservation of Our Environment 

For the sake of ecological balance, governments of several nations have taken measures to preserve wildlife. Wildlife sanctuaries and national parks are being constructed to serve this purpose. This helps in protecting and saving endangered species from extinction. When human beings are properly made aware of the value of maintaining and protecting our environment there would be a substantial decrease in negative and harmful behaviors against the environment. That is why several awareness programs are being introduced to impart proper knowledge, especially among young people.