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

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Ecosystems Weather Climate Humans Organizing Schema

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Earth Timeline (selected events) Today Billions of years before present Origin of Earth Origin of humans Origin of agriculture Origin of industry

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Earth Timeline (selected events) Years before present (logarithmic) Origin of Earth Origin of Homo genus Origin of agriculture Origin of industry Last Ice Age Last Ice Age Origin of Homo sapiens Origin of internet Origin of writing Origin of cities

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

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

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Agriculture From Dow and Downing (graphic: Myriad Editions)

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Origin of Industry (~1760) Machine-based manufacturing – textiles etc. Steam power Iron (later steel) production

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 World Human Population Growth rate increased by 3.2X between and Doubling time: 134 years 42 years

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

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Global Poverty ‘Common Wealth’ by Jeffrey Sachs, 2008 From 1820 to 1992

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Wagner, 2002 U. S. Flow of Raw Materials by weight The use of raw materials in the U. S. increased dramatically during the last 100 years

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Carbon Intensity From Dow and Downing (graphic: Myriad Editions)

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Fossil Fuels From Dow and Downing (graphic: Myriad Editions)

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Impact on Atmospheric Composition From Dow and Downing (graphic: Myriad Editions)

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Renewable Energy From Dow and Downing (graphic: Myriad Editions)

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