STS 11:PEOPLE AND THE

EARTH’S ECOSYSTEM
John Kenny A.
Rafon
- - - FACULTY - - -
Can you SPOT the DIFFERENCE?
To what extent have humans
transformed their natural
environment?
The disappearing Arctic Polar ice cap (NASA)
 The Aral Sea, tucked between Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan, was once the fourth-largest lake in the world.
 --- CONTENTS ---

1 Development of Human Population

Humans as Cultivators, Keepers, and

2
Metal Workers

3 Modern Industrial and Urban Civilizations

 Development of
Human Population
 Development of Human
Population

‒ Human’s immediate evolutionary family.

HOMINIDS ‒ Group of primates that includes the "lesser apes"
(siamangs and gibbons) as well as the "great apes"
(chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans).

– Refer to as the “human tribe.”

HOMININS – Accordingly, only one species exists today - Homo
sapiens.
 Development of Human
Population

COMMON ANCESTOR

Missing Link

HOMINIDS HOMININS
 Development of Human
Population
Sahelanthropus tchadensis

• The oldest hominins dated to between

6 and 7 mya, discovered from Chad,
South Africa.
• Known from a largely complete skull
and some other fragmentary remains.
• Its brain size is within the range seen in
chimpanzees, and the skull has a
massive brow ridge, similar in thickness
to male gorillas.
 Development of Human
Population
Sahelanthropus tchadensis
• The position and orientation of
the foramen magnum,
suggests that this species
stood and walked bipedally,
with its spinal column held
vertically as in modern
humans rather than
horizontally as in apes and
other quadrupeds.
Development of Human
Population
Ardipithecus ramidus
• A 4.4 million year old species
from Ethiopia, which is known
from a nearly complete skeleton
as well as numerous other dental
and skeletal remains.
• The skull is rather ape-like and
broadly similar to that of
Sahelanthropus, with a small
chimpanzee-sized brain.
Development of Human
Population
Ardipithecus ramidus
• The pelvis recovered reveals a
morphology quite different from that of
living apes, with a shorter, more
bowl-like shape that strongly suggests
Ardipithecus walked bipedally, which
suggests an upright posture.
• However, its long forelimbs and fingers
and its divergent, grasping first toe
(hallux) suggest Ardipithecus spent
much of its time in the trees.
 Development of Human
Population
Australopithecus • Around 4 mya, which were adept
terrestrial bipeds but continued to use
the trees for food and protection.
• The first specimens
of Australopithecus were discovered in
South Africa in 1924 (Dart, 1925).
• Probably walked upright, 1.2 – 1.4
meter tall.
• Teeth adapted to eating tough food
and a brain with 33% size of human.
Development of Human
Population
The genus Homo
Homo habilis
• The oldest member of
the genus Homo (2.3 –
1.4 mya) is found in
East Africa and is
associated with
butchered animal
bones and simple
stone tool.
• Brain size is 50% as of
human.
 Development of Human
Population
The genus Homo
Homo erectus
• Is found throughout Africa
and Eurasia and persisted
from 1.9 mya to 100 kya.
• Ecologically flexible, with
the cognitive capacity to
adapt and thrive in vastly
different environments.
• Brain size is 70% as of
human
 Development of Human
Population
The genus Homo
Homo sapiens • Evolved in Africa 200 kya
• The increased behavioral
sophistication of H. sapiens,
as indicated by our large
brains and archeological
evidence of a broader tool set
and clever hunting techniques,
allowed our species to flourish
and grow on the African
continent.
The Expedition of Homo
Dates of Human Arrival
Dates of Human Arrival
 Human Activities

Hunting and Gathering

• The oldest records of human
activity and technology are
pebble tools (crude stone tools
which consist of a pebble with
one end chipped into a rough
cutting edge).
• Greater exploitation of plant and
animal resources.
• Sticks and animal bones, were
also used as implements.
 Human Activities

Hunting and Gathering

• At an early stage
humans discovered
the use of fire.

This is a major agent by which

humans have influenced their
environment.
 Human Activities

Hunting and Gathering

• Besides the effects of fire, early
cultures may have caused
some diffusion of seeds and
nuts, and through hunting
activities may have had some
dramatic effects on animal
populations, causing the
extinction of many great
mammals (the so-called
Pleistocene overkill).
 Humans as Cultivators, Keepers
and
Metal Workers
• Overall, early hunters and
gatherers had neither the
numbers nor the
technological skills to
have a very substantial
effect on the environment.
• Humans have been
foragers rather than
farmers for around 95% of
their history.
 Humans as Cultivators,
Keepers and
Metal Workers
• At the end of PLEISTOCENE, major changes occurred:

• The NATUFIANS (Hunting folks)

14, 000 – 15, 000 years ago in the Middle Eastern Region
which is now in Jordan, Syria,
Israel, Palestine & Lebanon
begun to:
‒ Build permanent houses of
stone and wood.
‒ Buried their dead in and
around them with elaborate
rituals.
 Humans as Cultivators,
Keepers and
Metal Workers
14, 000 – 15, 000 years ‒ Gathered in communities of up to
ago
several hundred people.
‒ Ground up wild cereals with pestles and
mortars; and
‒ Made tools and art objects from animal
bones.

10, 000 years ago – Began to domesticate rather than to

(beginning of Holocene) gather food plants and to keep, rather
than just hunt animals.
 Humans as Cultivators, Keepers
and
Metal Workers
• HUMANS were able to develop a more reliable and readily
expandable source of food and thereby create a solid and
secure basis on cultural advance.

CULTIVATION DOMESTICATION
Is the deliberate attempt Is when people
to sow and manage experiment and
essentially wild plants consciously select the
and seeds. right seeds to grow for
various conditions.
 Humans as Cultivators, Keepers
and
Metal Workers
• DOMESTICATED plants are thus
necessarily cultivated plants, but
CULTIVATED plants may or may
not be domesticated.
Example:
– First plantations of Hevea
rubber and quinine in the Far
East were established from
seed which had been collected
from the wild in South America.

DOMESTICATED or CULTIVATED?
 Table 1.3 Five stages of economic development.
Source: Adapted from Simmons (1993: 2–3)

Economic Stage Dates and Characteristics

• Domestication first fully established in

south-western Asia around 7500 BC;
hunter–gatherers persisted in diminishing
Hunting–Gathering and numbers until today.
Early Agriculture
• Hunter–gatherers generally manipulate the
environment less than later cultures and
adapt closely to environmental conditions.

• Great irrigation-based economies lasting

Riverine Civilizations from c. 4000 BC to first century AD in places
such as the Nile Valley and Mesopotamia.
 Table 1.3 Five stages of economic development.
Source: Adapted from Simmons (1993: 2–3)

Economic Stage Dates and Characteristics

• Technology developed to attempt to free

Riverine Civilizations civilizations from some of the constraints of a
dry season.

• From 500 BC to around 1800 AD a number

of city-dominated empires existed, often
affecting large areas of the globe.
Agricultural Empires • Technology (e.g. terracing and selective
breeding) developed to help overcome
environmental barriers to increased
production.
 Table 1.3 Five stages of economic development.
Source: Adapted from Simmons (1993: 2–3)

Economic Stage Dates and Characteristics

• From c.1800 AD to today a belt of cities from
Chicago to Beirut, and around the Asian
shores to Tokyo, form an economic core area
The Atlantic-Industrial based primarily on fossil fuel use.
Era
• Societies have increasingly divorced
themselves from the natural environment,
through air conditioning for example.

• Since the 1960s there has been a shifting

emphasis to the Pacific Basin as the primary
The Pacific-Global Era focus of the global economy, accompanied
by globalization of communications and the
growth of multinational corporations.
 Modern Industrial and Urban
Civilizations
After a few
thousand years
of the adoption
of cereal
agriculture,
people began to
gather into ever
larger
settlements
(cities) and into
more
institutionalized
social formations
 Modern Industrial and Urban
Civilizations

Nineveh Cities that have had

a population of
around 1 million and
would have already
Rome exercised a
considerable
influence in their
environs.
Carthage
 Modern Industrial and Urban
Civilizations
Late 17th Century
• Revolution in culture and
technology.
• Development of major
industries has increased the
intensity with which resources
are utilized.
• Modern science and modern
medicine have compounded
these effects leading to
population increase.
 Modern Industrial and Urban
Civilizations

Late 17th Century

• Urbanization has gone
on apace.
• This, in turn, have
large ecological
footprints. They suck in
resources and
materials and export
vast amounts of waste.
 Modern Industrial and Urban
Civilizations

• Ecological footprint is an accounting tool for

ecological resources in which various categories of
human consumption are translated into areas of
productive land required to provide resources and
assimilate waste products.
• Measure of how sustainable the lifestyles of different
population groups.
 Modern Industrial and Urban
Civilizations
16th – 17th
18th Century 19th Century 20th Century
Century
Internal A time of
Sea-going Steam
combustion extraordinary
ships engine
engine change

• These developments increase human access to energy and

lessened dependence on animals, wind and water.
 Modern Industrial and Urban
Civilizations

20th Century

• Human population
increased from 1.5 to 6
billion.
• The world’s economy
increased 15-fold,
freshwater use
increased 9 folds.
 Modern Industrial and Urban
Civilizations

• Most of the change of the past

300 years has been at the
hands of humankind,
intentionally or otherwise.
• Transformation has escalated
through time, and in some
instances the scales of change
have shifted from the locale and
region to the earth as a whole.
Modern Industrial and Urban
Civilizations