11 Sep 2012 Earth’s Current Environment: Humans, Energy Consumption

11 Sep 2012

Earth’s Current Environment: Humans, Energy Consumption

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012

Ecosystems

WeatherClimate

Humans

Organizing Schema


Earth Timeline(selected events)

4 3 2 1 Today

Billions of years before present

Origin of Earth

Origin of humans

Origin of agriculture

Origin of industry


Earth Timeline(selected events)

109 106108 107 105 104 103 102 101

Years before present(logarithmic)

Origin of Earth

Origin of Homo genus

Origin of agriculture

Origin of industry

Last Ice Age

Origin of Homo

sapiens

Origin of internet

Origin of writing

Origin of cities


Agriculture (~8 ka)• Revolutionized interaction between humans and the rest of

the biosphere• For example: many major population centers have grown in

the great river systems– Asia: Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Ayeyarwaddy (Irriwaddy), Mekong,

Yangtze, Yellow, Salween– Middle East: Tigris, Euphrates– Europe: Rhine, Danube, Seine, Loire, Po– North America: St. Lawrence, Mississippi/Missouri/Ohio– South America: Amazon, Parana/La Plata, Orinoco– Africa: Nile, Congo, Niger


Population Density and Rivers


Agriculture

From Dow and Downing(graphic: Myriad Editions)


Origin of Industry (~1760)

• Machine-based manufacturing – textiles etc.• Steam power• Iron (later steel) production


World Human Population

Growth rate increased by 3.2X between 1700-1930 and 1930-2004

Doubling time: 134 years 42 years


World Population and Income

Source: Data from Maddison (2001), Calculated using data from Maddison (2002)

World Income from 1500 to 2001

World Income per Capita from 1500 to 2001

Since 1750, population increased 10 times; Production per person also increased 10 times; Therefore, total world economic production increased 100 times.

Therefore, the impact of human activity on life-sustaining system on Earth increased enormously.

‘Common Wealth’ by Jeffrey Sachs, 2008


Global Poverty

‘Common Wealth’ by Jeffrey Sachs, 2008

From 1820 to 1992


Wagner, 2002

U. S. Flow of Raw Materials by weight 1900-2000

The use of raw materials in the U. S. increased dramatically during the last 100 years


Carbon Intensity



Fossil Fuels



Impact on Atmospheric Composition



Renewable Energy



Summary• Homonids originated on Earth about 2 million years ago (2 Ma) and modern

humans (Homo sapiens) evolved about 250 ka• Agriculture, the first major human impact on the landscape and a major

contributor to increasing GHG in the atmosphere, originated about 8 ka • Industry, powered by burning fossil fuel, began about 150 years ago• Human population has grown exponentially at an increasing rate for centuries – it

reached 1 billion in 1800, 3 billion in 1960 and will reach 7 billion in 2011• While the fraction of the population in absolute poverty has declined, the number

of people has increased over time• Human use of natural resources has increased dramatically over the past century• Burning of fossil fuels, which varies substantially from country to country, has a

growing impact on atmospheric composition• Renewable energy use, an alternative to fossil fuel burning, is growing worldwide

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11 Sep 2012 Earth’s Current Environment: Humans, Energy Consumption