GEOG 1220 Lecture Notes - Shifting Cultivation, Smog, Lower Paleolithic
6 Apr 2014
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Introduction: modern society is causing these environmental impacts. Early humans: tools: could utilise objects fire: learning and evolution. 2: ecological knowledge: knowing how to survive within the last 10,000 years there has been a change . 99% of human existence were as hunter- gathers. Agricultural revolution: types of agricultural societies pastoral nomadism: in semi-arid landscapes environmental impacts: Overusage: unable to reproduce enough resources to return to the same spot. Cultural value: people would base status off of how many cattle you had, carrying capacity was low for semi-arid landscapes solutions: Start sedentary farming, changing culture and people. New breeds of cattle, didn"t need as many resources, food and water shifting cultivation: in tropical forest, wet. Would settle for 2-3 years then move to new land, until old plots were replenished environmental impacts: Erosion after 1800: subsistence farming: farming for survival industrial farming: farming for selling crops(profit), requires pesticides and irrigation and fossil fuels.
