the BIG idea Humans and human population growth affect the environment. Human Impact on Ecosystems CHAPTER OUTLINE Human population growth presents challenges. 3.1 Human affect the environment. 3.2 People are working to protect ecosystems. 3.3 CHAPTER NEW CHAPTER

I. Resources Throughout history humans have relied on their environment and the Earth’s natural resources. 1.Scientists classify resources into two categories: a. renewable (sun, trees, food, wind) b. nonrenewable (fuels, metals)

Coal

The World Health Organization estimates that 4.6 million people die each year from causes directly attributable to air pollution. Many of these mortalities are attributable to indoor air pollution. Worldwide more deaths per year are linked to air pollution than to automobile accidents

2. Air pollution includes: smog, acid rain and ozone depletion.

3. Water pollution includes: raw sewage, chemical dumping and runoff, and industrial spills

4. Pollution destroys habitats and decreases biodiversity. Pollution Biodiversity is the number and variety of species in an ecosystem. The greater an ecosystems “biodiversity” the healthier the ecosystem is.

Burning fuels release gases like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and Carbon monoxide, these gases cause Smog and acid rain Nitrogen dioxide is a deep orange-red gas that is responsible for the color of smog. Normal rainwater has a pH readings of 5.6, the Eastern U.S. suffers from the most severe acid rain, with reading around 4.4,