Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Impacts of the Anthropocene Geological Era
Impacts of the Anthropocene Geological EraAlexandra PearsonGeography The AnthropoceneThroughout history, geologic time periods put one across been given names to depict certain events. These time periods be named as seasons, and the current geological era is known as the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is defined as the era of man. This era is linked to drastic environmental diversifys that gravel taken place over hundreds of years due to compassionateity body process and the step-up of industrial enterprise and technology. valet stool budged the international environment of the realm and the effect of human impact on the earth continues to increase during this Anthropocene era.The geological era, the Anthropocene is use to describe the time human activities train impacted the orbicular environment of the earth, it also describes how human societies have become a spherical geophysical force (Steffen et al, 2007). The earth has gone through drastic environmental ch anges in the last few hundred years this is due to human activities that have created an change magnitude impact on the orbiculate environment (Crutzen, 2006). all over the last three centuries, the human community and the rate of urbanisation has dramatically increase (McNiell, 2000 cited in Crutzen, 2006). The Anthropocene began approximately in the 1800s, with the accounting entry of industrialization and the increase use of fossil fuels (Steffen et al, 2007).Many scientists believe that the bow of humans on the environment began towards the end of the Pleistocene era as many of the so called megafauna had disappeared due to the arrival of modern humans. By the 1800s, industrialisation, deforestation, agriculture and the carbon dioxide levels in the automated teller had increased rapidly, and the environment began to change before the industrial gyration (Zalasiewicz et al, 2011).Scientists argue that the start of the Anthropocene era began when the Industrial Revolution took place. During the late 1700s and the primordial 1800s, there was a rapid increase in the usage of machinery and polar industrial inventions. This was known as the Industrial Revolution, and it was the first human influence on the environmental change (Zalasiewicz et al, 2008). Many scientists believe that the Anthropocene geological era had began when the environment because of the worldwide environmental effects of the rapid increase in the human population and the development of economy (Zalasiewicz et al, 2008). The industrial revolution had caused the globular environment to change significantly, carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere had increased rapidly and it was the beginning of the influence of humans on the environment.Ever since the introduction of industrial machinery in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the global environment has changed significantly. There has been a rapid increase in the human population, an increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and an increase in glasshouse gases. The increase in greenhouse gas concentration has had to have serious impacts on the environment, the concentration has increased over hundreds of years, and is continuing to increase and it has lead to a number of possible extinctions of species in areas that are refined to mode change (Hughes, 2000).The increase of greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have caused a decrease in the thickness of the ozone level, the ozone layers function is to create a protective layer from the intense passion radiation from the sun around the earth. The greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide are a endpoint in the increasing use of technology, the increasing use of machinery and the increasing use of using non renewable resources such as fossil fuels. With the decreased thickness of this layer, more of the heat radiation from the sun penetrates the earth and causes global temperature increase (Hartmann et al, 1999). According to McCarty (2002), the earths climate has increased by 0.5 degrees over the past one hundred years. This temperature increase can result in major(ip) global consequences it has already lead to polar nut case sheets melting and has lead to the extinction and high possibility of extinction of species that outlive in lovesome environments such as polar bears. Additional threats allow appear as the climate continues to change and as the temperature continues to increase.As the human population increases, the availability of natural resources and non renewable resources decreases. Overuse of these resources has resulted in a depletion of renewable resources (Pearce, 1988). As a result, in many evolution countries, the resources have become scarce and have caused many problems globally. Due to human activities, in some countries the water and other habitats have been polluted by sour mine drainage. According to Johnson and Hallberg (2005), acid mine drainage causes enviro nmental defilement in countries that have mining industries.Humans have had major influences on the climate change during the current geological era, the Anthropocene. As the human population, greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and temperature continues to increase, the global environmental climate leave continue to change. Ice caps sheets will continue to rise as the ozone layer becomes thinner and sea levels will continue to rise, resulting in a colossal loss in coastal regions, lives and species that live in the areas that are sensitive to climate change. During this geological era or epochs, most of the environmental change has been caused by some type of human activity whether it is mining, increases in industrialisation or by increased urbanisation. The introduction of modern humans and industrialisation has caused major environmental changes that are difficult to change or reverse.To delay down the rapid global environmental and climate change, the u se of renewable and non renewable resources would have to be distributed evenly, the rate at which the human population is increasing would have to decrease and the amount of energy and fossil fuels used would also have to be decreased. If humans do not change the way that they distribute resources or control how much carbon dioxide is released in the atmosphere, the global environment and climate will continue to decline and shape up complications will appear.Therefore, the Anthropocene geological era is dominated by humans and the major environmental changes that have occurred in this era or epochs have chiefly been caused by human activity such as mining, urbanisation or industrialisation. The Anthropocene era and the human activities that have taken place during this era are directly linked to the global environmental change that is seen in the world. Humans are the main cause for most of the major environmental and climate change during this era.ReferencesCrutzen, P.J. (2006 ). The Anthropocene, Earth System Science in the Anthropocene, 13-18.Hartmann, D.L., Wallace, J.M., Limpasuvan, V., Thompson, D.W.J., Holton, J.R. (1999). Can ozone depletion and global warming interact to produce rapid climate change?, deflower Mark 97(4), 1412- 1417.Hughes, L. (2000). Biological Consequences of Global Warming is the signal already apparent(a)?, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 15 (2) 56 -61.Johnson, D.B., Hallberg, K.B. (2005). Acid Mine drain Remediation Options a review, Science of the total environment, Elsevier 338 (1-2) 3-14McCarty, J.P. (2002). Ecological Consequences of Recent temper Change, Conversation Biology 15(2), 320 331.Pearce, D. (1988). The Sustainable use of natural resources in developing countries, Sustainable Environmental Management Principles and Practice 102- 117Steffen, W., Crutzen, P. J., McNeill, J.R. (2007). The Anthropocene Are Humans straight Overwhelming The Great Forces Of Nature, AMBIO A Journal of the Human Environment, 36 (8 ) 614-621.Zalasiewicz, J., Williams, M., Haywood, A., Ellis, M. (2011). The Anthropocene a new epoch of geological time?, Philosophical Transactions The august Society Publishing.Zalasiewicz, J., Williams, M., Smith, A., Barry, T.L., Coe, A. L., Brown, P.R., Brenchley, P., Cantrill, D., Gale, A., Gibbard, P., Gregory, F. J., Hounslow, M. W., Kerr, A.C., Pearson, P., Knox, R. Powell, J., Waters, C., Marshall, J., Oates, M., Rawson,P. And Stone, P. (2008). Are we now living in the Anthropocene?, GSA Today, 18 (2) 4-8.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment