Human Impacts on the Environment The Environment is

Human Impacts on the Environment

• The Environment is the world around us • It is where we live, where we go to school and work • It everything we see and everything we touch

• We only have one earth and we all have to share it • If we want to live in a clean and beautiful world then we have to take care of it • To protect our resources • For future generations

• Air Pollution • Water Pollution • Industrialisation • Acid Rain • Deforestation • Global Warming

• Air is the ocean we breathe. Air supplies us with oxygen which is essential for our bodies to live • Human activities can release substances into the air, some of which can cause problems for humans, plants, and animals • Causes of air pollution: – Burning of fossil fuels – Car and vehicle emissions – Indoor activities such as using a dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer and playing a video games. These all rely on electricity and often fossil fuels are burned in generating electricity.

• Oil Spills • Gasoline Spills • Acid Rain • Waste and Litter • Sewage

• Population growth leads to industrialisation • Burning of fossil fuels • Non-renewable resources • Pollution • Increased CO² levels

• The burning of fossil fuels releases sulphates and nitrates into the air • Sulphates and nitrates mix with the water vapour in the air and form sulphuric and nitric acid which falls as acid rain

• Lakes and ponds can become so acidic that no life can survive in them

• Population growth leads to deforestation • People cut down trees to build homes • This leads to the loss of natural habitat. • Leads to a loss of Oxygen producers and Carbon Dioxide eliminators

• Humans have a major impact on the rate of global warming • The burning of fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil) produces greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapour) • These greenhouse gases trap the heat and light from the sun in the earth’s atmosphere, increasing the temperature of the earth