People and the Environment

People and the Environment

Lesson 1.4

Environment and Resources

• A natural resource is a useful material found in the environment.

• Renewable resources can be replaced in a short time. A nonrenewable resource takes millions of years to replace or cannot be replaced at all. 

Multiple Choice

What do you think, is wood a natural resource?

• Yes

• No

Land Use

Earth’s land can be used in different ways. How people use it depends on the land and climate and on people’s culture and technology. In many countries, like the United States, most people live on land used as cities or suburbs. A suburb is a community on the edge of a city. 

What Impact Do People Have on the Environment?

Using natural resources can harm the environment. Making goods and services also affects the environment. It can cause pollution, making the air, soil, or water less clean. 

People can take steps to limit these problems. They can use resources wisely, use renewable resources, and use technology that does not pollute.

Open Ended

What negative affects can people have on the environment?

Population

The world now has more than 7 billion people. Researchers look at birth rates and death rates to see how fast a population is growing. Problems occur when the population grows faster than the supply of food, water, and other resources. 

Population density is a measure of how crowded an area is. Generally, most people have lived in areas with good soil, fresh water, and mild climates. 

Why Do People Move?

Migration is the movement of groups of people from one place to another. People usually move within a country to cities and suburbs as they look for jobs. People also move from one country to another.

Push factors are the reasons people leave their home country. Pull factors are the reasons that attract people to a new place. 

Urbanization

In the last two hundred years or so, billions of people have moved from rural areas to urban areas, or cities. This change is called urbanization. It has taken place all over the world.

Urbanization

If cities grow too rapidly, they cannot provide the housing, jobs, and other services that people need. Some areas of the United States are seeing suburban sprawl. This is the spread of suburbs farther from the central city. This spread can lead to more energy use and pollution.

Multiple Choice

When people move from rural areas to urban areas, or cities, this is called?

• colonization

• urbanization

• natural resource

• push factors