Increased adversely-affected population from water shortage below normal conditions in China with anthropogenic...

Human PopulationThe human population is the total number of people living on Earth, and it’s been growing quickly! As more people are born, we need more food, water, energy, homes, and jobs. Humans have developed incredible technology and systems to support this growth, but it can also cause problems like pollution, climate change, and less room for wildlife. By learning about how the population changes, you can better understand how people affect the planet and explore ways to live more...

Water plays a significant role in the life cycle of plants. However, insufficient or excess of water can be detrimental and pose a serious threat to plants.

Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.

There have been five major extinction events throughout geological history, resulting in the elimination of biodiversity, followed by a rebound of species that adapted to the new conditions. In the current geological epoch, the Holocene, there is a sixth extinction event in progress. This mass extinction has been attributed to human activities and is thus provisionally called the Anthropocene. In 2019 the human population reached 7.7 billion people and is projected to comprise 10 billion by...

Population size is dynamic, increasing with birth rates and immigration, and decreasing with death rates and emigration. In ideal conditions with unlimited resources, populations can increase exponentially, which plots as a J-shaped growth rate curve of population size against time. This type of curve is characteristic of newly-introduced invasive species, or populations that have suffered catastrophic declines and are rebounding.

Patterns of Energy ConsumptionEnergy consumption refers to the way people and countries use energy for daily activities such as heating, transportation, manufacturing, and technology. Patterns of energy use vary worldwide based on factors like population size, industrial development, climate, and access to resources. By studying these patterns, we can understand how energy is used, identify which sources are relied on the most, and explore how energy use impacts the environment.Energy...