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Human Impact On The Environment

Decent Essays

The moment the universe burst into existence billions of years ago, energy and matter began to create a vast and infinite world. Within this infinite atmosphere, a single planet, Earth, gave rise to life; it gave rise to humanity. Throughout our history, humans and our ancestors have evolved monumentally. In the process, we have made milestone developments such as verbal and symbolic language, advanced technology, cultures, and belief systems, all of which have allowed us to survive and shape our lifeways. The human species (homo sapiens) first appeared 250,000 years ago in Africa during the Paleolithic or Foraging Era. During this time in history, the environment heavily influenced the lives of human communities, leading them to become foragers or “hunter-gatherers”. As foragers, humans hunted animals and gathered fruits and vegetation from the surrounding landscape for food. Foragers lived extensively off the land, meaning they had insignificant impacts on the environment. To successfully hunt and obtain food from the environment, humans had to develop various forms of technology (250,000 BCE). People began to build tools and weapons from stone and various animal parts (i.e. antlers, teeth, etc.). These progressions occurred around the same time humans began to migrate across and outside Africa. Between 100,000 BCE and13,000 BCE humans had settled all over Africa as well as in Australia, Siberia, and the Americas. Migrating to new locations caused people to encounter

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