Environmental

Geography
 How Geographers See the Environment

OLD NEW
Natural Environment Human Impacts on
Physical/natural Environment
conditions of an area Sustainability
Culture/Landscape Climate change
interactions
Hazardous
Cultural landscape
Environments
modifications
Adapting to hazard
Human adaptations
Risk reduction
to local habitats.
 Human Impacts on environment

Humans: incredible power to modify & impact

environment
Some unavoidable (basic needs):
Resource consumption
Waste production
Foodhabitat modification
Human geography examines this relationship
Impacts, scope?
Causes
Spatial distribution
Reducing impacts?
The total earth moved in the past 5000 yr could build a 4000-
m-high mountain range, 40 km wide and 100 km long.
(Hooke 2000) We will do this again in 100 yrs
http://www.wou.edu/las/physci/taylor/g322/hooke_2000.pdf
Why/How?
What has led to humans being the most
important earth moving force on earth?
(NOTE: multiple photo slides follow in class,
but are not included here)
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Featu
res/WorldOfChange/hobet.php

Mountain top removal:

USA
 Figure 12D.2
Aral Sea

Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 12-7

Permission required for reproduction or display.
2000 2014

Originally the
size of Lake
Huron
 Private farmland

National Park
Human environmental
modification

Agriculture
LoggingForest
50% clearcut in
conversion the last 20 years
Human settlements
Mining
Species (see below)

Clearcuts: cultural landscapes

(Oregon)
Alberta Oil Sands: largest surface mining
disturbance on earth?
 Introduced Species
Invasive species or introduced species
>50,000 exotics in US, $10-20 billion damage
Impact on biodiversity second only to human habitat
disturbance
Small proportion purposefully introduced

Most accidental
Asian snakehead: 50 kms
from Great Lakes

Cane toad Zebra Mussel

 Human environmental modifications
often come back to bite humans

Remember
this
discussion
(Sept. 23rd)?

Sept. 30th:
Refugees of
the blue
planet
 A few definitions Madagascar erosion

Human Impact (on

environment): any
change, positive or
negative, caused by
the actions of humans.
Environment
Atmosphere
Hydrosphere
Lithosphere
Ecosystems
Pathways of Human Impact
Direct Indirect
Actions have a clear Impact triggers related
& immediate impact impacts
E.g. Railway Often greater impact
construction than direct
through forest = Usually lagged in
500ha less forest time
E.g. Dam
building
E.g. Road
building
Example 1: Hoa Binh dam, Vietnam

Direct impacts Indirect impacts

Reservoir 150 squared Downstream river
I'm of deforestation and ecosystem changes
all habitat that used to be (used to be free water,
the valley bottom now it is controlled)
Hoa binh town (induced
settlement) didn't plan
for 60K ppl to live near
the dam
Valley side deforestation
Displaced farmers plot on
sloped mountains instead
causing massive
 Example 2: Trans-Amazon
Highway

Amazon: trans-Amazonian Amazon: a few years later

highway just built (settlement & deforestation)
Cumulative Impacts
Impacts accumulate over time
Additive: impacts simply add together (e.g. water
withdrawal) if each person takes 10 gallons
Synergistic: impacts work together to create larger
impact (e.g. ozone + nitrous oxide + diesel
particles=photochemical smog)
 Atmospheric
impacts
Global CO2 outputs

Climate Change: a cumulative impact

Carbon Dioxide emissions
Fossil fuel use
Clearance/degradation of CO2 sinks
Forests
Wetlands & tundra
Synergistic impacts
Discharges: other greenhouse gases
Methane:
Wetlands, fossil fuels, livestock
Rice Fields
Beef
Greenhouse gases:
Global Proportions
 How to stop these emitters?
World cattle population = 1.3 billion
Each cow emits 300-600 litres of methane/day
Modifying diet reduces methane
Methane >20X more potent a greenhouse gas than CO2

Cow Power in Vermont

A 1,500-cow dairy farm creates enough electricity to supply 300
homes/year.
Process: ManureDigestermethanepower
Benefits: Methane reduction, farm electrical savings, renewable
source
Another Environmental Impact Perspective:
Wealth & Consumption links

Power Use per Capita 12-23

 Brazil: 80
USA: 4
Bhutan: 141
Photographer
Peter Menzel:
Material World
Hazards & Disasters
Geography
Changing Perspectives: 100 years of
Hazards thinking in 1 slide
Pre-1930s: Hazards as Acts of God
1930s-1960s: Stop hazards from causing
disasters (structural approaches)
1960s-1990s: Natural Hazards & Disasters
1990s-present: Unnatural hazards & human
vulnerability
 Unnatural hazards & Disasters

Worldwatch: a growing share of the devastation

triggered by natural disasters stem from ecologically
destructive practices & putting ourselves in harms way
Ecologically destructive practices
Deforestation
Mangrove removal
Deep plowing agriculture
Fire suppression creates worse
fires
River modifications
Climate change
Coral reef damage
Hillside modification 30
Example: Tropical Storm Jeanne September 2004

Haiti/Dominican
Republic border

31
Tropical storm Jeanne

32
 Dominican
Republic
Haiti 28.4% / 2000

3.2% / 2000

Source: (UN, 2003[9]). 33

 Unnatural disaster: Gonaives, Haiti

Haiti
>50% <3.2% Dominican Republic
forested 28.4% of land forested
Annual rate of Annual rate of
deforestation (1990- deforestation (1990-
2000)= 5.7% 2000)= negligible
> 3000 deaths 18 deaths
Gonaives,
Haiti

34
New Thinking: Hazards geography