CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012
Ecosystems
WeatherClimate
Humans
Organizing Schema
CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012
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
CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012
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
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
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 1700-1930 and 1930-2004
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 1900-2000
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
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