AUSTRALIA

Human Environment Interaction is the relationship of humans & their environment; how we adapt to the environment & how we change it.

Our theme helps to understand Australia better by realizing the damages that humans have impacted on Australia, with even the Great Barrier Reef being threatened by increased whippings, & having limited natural fresh water resources.

1. WHAT DO HUMANS DO TO THE ENVIRONMENT THAT WILL BENEFIT THEM ?

• The rainforests provide us with many benefits, which can be divided into environmental and human benefits. They provide our doctors and medical researchers with medical value. The plants found in rain forests could actually help out people with life-threatening diseases. Many of the medicines come from the plants, literally 40% of the medicines that are prescribed have tropical origins.

• Rain forests also provides us with the regulation of water & air. Water is important to all animals in order to regulate temperature, & is important to plants for nutrition.
Also, all life forms need air to live & so the regulation of certain gases helps to maintain the environment of the world we live in.

2. HOW DO HUMANS DO THESE THINGS IN WAYS THAT CAN STILL KEEP THE ENVIRONMENT SAFE?

• The environment in Australia can be affected in many ways like climate change, energy usage, or environmental disasters. It could endanger many habitats. For example, since that Australia is a major consumer of coal, it is highly risky that it may emit carbon dioxide, resulting in climate change and global warming. In 2007, the government made a law that reduced coal mining lowering the chance of global warming. They also did the same thing to oil companies to reduce the number of oil spills.

• Conservation is an issue of state and federal policy. There are many protests and campaigns to support saving the environment. The government can place rain forests, the Great Barrier Reef, and many other regions as protected areas to avoid disasters. The significance is that how humans can save the environment a little bit at the time.

3. HOW HAS THE ENVIRONMENT CHANGED SINCE HUMANS HAVE INHABITED IT?

• For so many years, us humans have been burning fossil fuels & driving cars which is causing pollution. In Australia, the weather patterns are unusual-like it being super dry one day then being flooded with rain. Especially in Western Australia, deforestation caused bad damage in Australia. Because of all the clearings, almost 13% of Australians original vegetation has been removed. The humans mostly damaged the environment of Australia.

4. WHAT NEW THINGS HAS AUSTRALIA PRODUCED FROM THE LAND THAT WAS NOT ALREADY THERE?

• As much as 70% of Australia's Native Vegetation has been cleared or modified in the past 200 years, most of which has occurred in the last 50 years. Prior to European settlement, Native vegetation covered most of Australia but now only 87% of Australia's natural vegetation remains. The 13% of Australia's native vegetation has been lost due to land clearing, with the majority of this being native forests & woodlands.

5. HOW DO WE ADAPT TO THE ENVIRONMENT IN DIFFERENT CLIMATES AND LANDFORMS ?

• Humans are already advancing to adapt to climate change, but each time humans are adapting ... The more difficult it is to get others to adapt to the reasonable extent. Downfalls & vulnerabilities of people trying to adapt to the climate are by pollution, conflicts, & if comes to worse, AIDS! Being outdoors & being able to survive through mountains, valleys, flat lands, & even hills may help humans adapt easily, even with our eyes closed we can feel the difference from mountains & hills, or flat lands & plateaus.

6. WHAT ARE SOME PROBLEMS THAT OCCUR WHEN THE ENVIRONMENT IS ALTERED?

• Some problems that occur when the environment is altered which is when forests are cut, agriculture clearing, and overgrazing which promotes desertification & erosion, & is also seem as one cause of the spread of invasive plants, overfishing & illegal fishing which has already decreased part of Australia's fish stocks to dangerously low level. Australia gains around 20 new pests or diseases such as cane toads, rabbits, willows,& more pollution which is affecting Australia's coasts & oceans.

7. how much of the environmental damages are due to humans altering it?

• What we do to the environment does not benefit us but brings changes in the earth. The industries & vehicles that we have release greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide & methane. These gases have been causing glaciers to melt at a speeding rate & have caused an increase in sea level. Industries have been releasing gallons of liquid waste into the seas & rivers. When reached to the ground, it pollutes the clean waters we use for drinking & cooking.

• Vehicles cause air pollution & because of that .. several aquatic life forms are becoming extinct.
• The extinction of animals is happening because mankind is constantly hunting animals to " survive ". Animals have also hunted other animals for their own survival ... but besides the hunting, pollution & cutting down trees has led to the extinction of many animals.
• The increase of people, industries, & the need of land for developing more cities has led us humans to go chopping down our trees which really isn't necessary because they are important all over the world, & they also form homes to a large number of animals.