Human Environment Interaction

1. Human Environment Interaction • August 28-29, 2013 • Students will be able to explain how the changing relationship between human beings and the environment affects human life from early times to the present through various texts and written response.

3. Interactive Notebook • See example on the board.

4. Warm-Up • http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57596648/excessive-rains-rotting-crops-in-southeastern-u.s/

5. Warm-Up • Explain how consumers, workers, etc. are impacted by the conditions of the environment as described in the video. • Include suggestions on what actions could be taken to adapt to unusual weather patterns and the impact this has on the economy.

6. Youtube: “History of the World in 7 Minutes” • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pnmZalx9YY

7. Human Environment Interaction The number of people in the world, the distribution of populations around the globe and the migration patterns of people from one region to another have always had a large effect on all other types of change. The study of population size, density and distribution is called demography. Today there are more than six billion human beings on the planet. When students of today are twenty-something in 2025, they should expect to share the earth with about 8.5 billion people. Compared to other large animals, humans have multiplied at an astounding rate. How is the earth capable of sustaining such significant population increases? Simply put, human innovation.

8. When the human population seems to reach a limit, humans have often devised methods or technology that has allowed them to settle a new region or find new ways to extract energy and resources from their surroundings. This, in turn, has allowed the population to grow once more. In short, human population growth has consisted of a series of leaps forward. New skills and technologies have made these leaps possible. We will explore some of these innovations in our first unit.

9. Discuss with your seatmate and be prepared to answer. How does human innovation enable the earth to sustain significant population increases?

10. Population growth has by no means always been smooth. Demographic dips have occurred, some rather severe. Recent genetic research in human DNA has shown that, at one point in history, the existing homo sapiens population took a headlong dive. The reasons for this decline are unproven but it may have left as few as 10,000 adult men and women in the world. The numbers recovered but it took centuries.

11. In another example, we will learn that in the 16th century, the Native American population may have dropped as much as 95%. The principal cause? Direct contact with people from Europe, Asia, and Africa who carried a variety of infectious diseases previously unknown in the Western Hemisphere. In the 20th century alone, wars, revolutions, genocides, epidemics and famines have carried off tens of millions of people within periods of as little as a single year. None of these disasters, however, offset the accelerating population growth of recent times.

12. Human Environment Interaction

13. Discuss with your seatmate and be prepared to answer: How does the changing relationship between human beings and their environment affect human life?

14. Answer in your notebook. In what ways does geography help us understand our world?

15. Homework • Write a 5-7 sentence paragraph in your notebook describing the region where you live. • Include examples of human environment interaction and how humans have adapted to these conditions.

16. works cited • http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/ • www.cbsnews.com