The Human Influence

The Human Influence

 Humans have been changing the look of the landscape of the Earth since the beginning. At the start we may have dug a few holes to bury something or to plant some seeds, or maybe some rocks were moved or a few trees cut down to build a house and of course eating a variety of plants and animals. The scale of how much we are changing the landscape at has increased every year. From what I said above to the digging of canals and building of dams, the mining of the earth for mass amounts of ore and rock, the clear felling of trees for furniture and farms, the hunting of animals for fur as decoration (i have not listed all the changes we are making, just a few so that you won't be here forever). Most of these things have only really changed drastically in the last 100 years. I am no Eco-Warrior but with evolution has come a lack of respect for Our Home.

 Here is a video discussing major impacts we are having on the environment. I hope you enjoy and learn something from it.

https://youtu.be/5eTCZ9L834s

Our Home

Our Home

 The Earth is our home. It is the 3rd planet out from the Sun in our solar system, this is one of the reasons we can actually live here. If it was too close it would be too hot for life on earth, as we know it to live and on the flip side if we were too far away it would be too cold for life as we know it to survive. There are many other theories on how life on Earth began, one of these theories is known as the "Theory of Consecutive Creation" or "Catastrophism" which is the theory of many catastrophes causing extinction of the existing life and then the forming of new life, which are a different form of the previous ones, over millions of years these new forms of life evolve. This theory was an early adaption of evolution supported by French scientists, Georges Cuvier and Orbigney, and is an example of a theory of creation involving the change in the Earth's geography which effected evolution.  The catastrophes (natural disasters) would have effected the geography of the planet, which in turn would, in theory, cause the new life to adapt to the surroundings, which in turn would lead to faster, smarter and stronger species.

Credit;
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Earth_-_Africa,_Middle_East_and_Europe_(16728031541).jpg

for the photo.

Where do we come from?

Where Do We Come From?

  Some scientists believe we humans started off in Africa, that is where we evolved. The proof is from the fossils of the earliest humans who lived 6-2 million years ago are all entirely from Africa. There is much debate over how we evolved from other humanoid species and which ones were actually human and others that were just apes, they agree that they are all primates. There are many factors taken into consideration to define whether a fossil is human or not. Some of these are; if the species was bipedal, in other words can they walk, how large the brain was and its capacity to do things such as, use tools, communicate using language and complex symbols or gestures, and if the species lived in communities and had a sense of culture.

 Evolutionists believe that early humans first evolved in Africa, as I said earlier, then they travelled to Asia between 2 and 1.8 million years ago, we first arrived in Europe around the time between 1.5 and 1 million years ago. As the years went by different species populated more and more areas of the planet, with us arriving in Australia 60,000 years ago and arriving in the Americas within 30,000 years ago.

 Then there is the other side of the debate with different religions and beliefs arguing that there is a maker or creator. A lot of these religions and beliefs did originate in Africa and Asia which is where our earliest human fossils are found

 Here is a list of major steps in human evolution in order of when they occurred, according to the website of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History; from around 6 million years ago there is evidence of the first bipedal species; the Sahelanthropus, but this was not their main way of travelling they still did a lot of climbing. With 2 million years passing these early humans were now mostly walking on two legs but they were still good climbers, allowing them to have the best of both worlds. To this day the use of tools is one of homo sapiens greatest assets, this started close 2.6 million years ago. Another one of our greatest assets and achievements is the discovering and controlling of fire, which improved the way we live ever since, with the use and cooking, smelting, cleaning, a forming of community, protection from predators and warmth. From the time fire was discovered which was around 800,000, the brains of many species started to increase in size, this was due to the need for a more complex brain for our survival. Farming began around 12,000 years ago when humans discovered they could plant and replant many plants and they could also breed and control many different animals.This led to the settling of people and then the start of civilizations.