![]() These devices have dramatically decreased environmental problems like acid rain (different from ocean acidification), but have little effect on climate change. For example, coal power plants have installed air pollution control devices. Ocean acidification is also an important change due to human activity that is related to anthropogenic climate change.Įnergy-related impacts can be mitigated, but it comes at a cost. The exponential increase of greenhouse gases (largely the carbon dioxide from fossil fuels) in our atmosphere is driving climate change. When we burn fossil fuels, carbon dioxide is emitted and released into the atmosphere. Fossil fuels have a particularly harmful impact on the environment because they have to be extracted from the ground. All sources of energy have some impact on the environment. Emissions of greenhouse gases are important especially when we talk about energy and anthropogenic climate change. Īnthropogenic emissions of pollutants, such as greenhouse gases and aerosols, have significantly and rapidly altered the function of ecosystems. This instability has led researchers to suggest that human activity has ushered in a new geological time period: the Anthropocene. Of particular concern is the release of greenhouse gases which are destabilizing the Earth's climate, which had been quite stable for 10,000 years. In the past 150 years, human activity has taken an accelerating toll on Earth's ecosystems. Energy is needed by society for energy services to meet our needs, and because of this, energy is at the forefront of human impacts. However with the introduction of motive power, the use of oil and gasoline to achieve energy needs, and the reliance on electricity, anthropogenic impacts on the environment have increased exponentially. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, humanity's influence on nature had been comparatively mild (although humans have been influencing the environment for tens of thousands of years, before humans started farming). Īnthropogenic means of, relating to, or resulting from the influence of human beings on nature. Figure 1: Image of a landscape carved by humans, as seen on the California-Arizona border.
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