Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 1.1 World population growth and significant technological developments
fossil fuels to be used in any quantity. As late as
the mid-eighteenth century, however, the
environmental impact of human activities
seldom extended beyond the local or regional
level. A global impact only became possible with
the major developments in technology and the
population increase which accompanied the so-
called Industrial Revolution. Since then—with
the introduction of such devices as the steam
engine, the electric generator and the internal
combustion engine—energy consumption has
increased sixfold, and world population is now
five times greater than it was in 1800. The exact
relationship between population growth and
technology remains a matter of controversy, but
there can be no denying that in combination
these two elements were responsible for the
increasingly rapid environmental change which
began in the mid-eighteenth century. At present,
change is often equated with deterioration, but
then technological advancement promised such
a degree of mastery over the environment that it
seemed such problems as famine and disease,
which had plagued mankind for centuries,
would be overcome, and the quality of life of the
world's rapidly expanding population would be
improved infinitely. That promise was fulfilled
to some extent, but, paradoxically, the same
technology which had solved some of the old
problems, exacerbated others, and ultimately
created new ones.
hunting and gathering groups who inhabited the
earth in prehistoric times ensured that
populations remained small. This, combined with
their nomadic lifestyle, and the absence of any
mechanism other than human muscle by which
they could utilize the energy available to them,
limited their impact on the environment. In truth,
they were almost entirely dominated by it. When
it was benign, survival was assured. When it was
malevolent, survival was threatened. Population
totals changed little for thousands of years, but
slowly, and in only a few areas at first, the
dominance of the environment began to be
challenged. Central to that challenge was the
development of technology which allowed the
more efficient use of energy (see Table 1.2). It
was the ability to concentrate and then expend
larger and larger amounts of energy that made
the earth's human population uniquely able to
alter the environment. The ever-growing demand
for energy to maintain that ability is at the root
of many modern environmental problems
(Biswas 1974).
The level of human intervention in the
environment increased only slowly over
thousands of years, punctuated by significant
events which helped to accelerate the process
(see Figure 1.1). Agriculture replaced hunting
and gathering in some areas, methods for
converting the energy in wind and falling water
were discovered, and coal became the first of the
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