2. September 30, 2011 Objective: Environment & Society Homework: Enjoy your day off
3. Environment & Society Environment and society is one of the six essential elements of geography. People may change their environment, or they may be changed by it. For example, hundreds of years ago, Native Americans built farming villages.
4. Later, Hispanic and European settlers set up mines, farmers, and ranches in the same area. These later settlers developed ways to bring water into the area. They dug wells and created irrigation systems. Rather than change their activities or their location, they adapted their environment to meet their needs.
5. A more recent example of how humans interact with their environment will be played out in the future. For the last 200 years, humans have been using up their natural resources (naturally occurring elements that are found on Earth) at even increasing amounts.
6. Humans have especially been burning coal and oil at faster and faster rates. This burning has released a gas called carbon dioxide into the air. Carbon dioxide traps the heat of the sun close to the earth. As a result, the earth is slowly warming up. This warming could melt the ice at the North and South Poles and flood many cities and islands around the world.
7. However, all human interaction with their environment does not turn out badly. There are many people that are currently trying to help strengthen their environment by going green, recycling, gardening, etc.
12. Global Warming If you want to see the polar ice caps, go before 2040 Simulations of global warming patterns indicate that the polar ice caps have a high chance of melting entirely by 2040.
14. Map 5-3 1. What natural resources are found in Saudi Arabia? 2. What natural resources are found in Iraq? 3. What natural resource seems to be the most widespread? 4. In which countries is zinc found? 5. In which countries is fish a resource? Natural Gas & Oil Zinc, Phosphates & Oil Oil Iraq, Morocco,& Libya, Morocco, Bahrain, Yemen, Turkey, Algeria, United Arab Emirates