when people talk about the environment
they're usually talking about what we
generally call the natural environment
you know the outdoors nature the wild
but for most of us our everyday
environment looks a lot like where I am
in this room my environment is this
space around me my home the crash course
studio and the city I live in and even
when I'm outside I'm in a space that has
been engineered by other people
obviously these spaces aren't exactly
natural I mean the grocery store didn't
pop out of the ground like a spring
Daisy no the grocery store my home this
room these places are made by people to
make our human environment we've taken
resources from other parts of the world
and in the process we've altered the
environment that used to be there these
are examples of humans changing the
space around them so today let's explore
the many ways that humans change their
environment our effects on the
environment are almost so obvious that
we might actually miss them but they're
important to consider think about your
life what pieces of it are a result of
human intervention let's walk through
your day in the morning you wake up in
bed in a home that's made from natural
resources like wood taken from other
parts of the world and shaped by people
you go to brush your teeth and the water
coming out of your tap is a result of
humans changing the water flow your
water probably came from a river or an
aquifer a few miles away trust me that
water didn't naturally flow into your
home it was directed there by people now
it's time for breakfast that food was
grown on land that was altered by human
hands maybe some forest was cleared to
make space for the farmland wild animals
were pushed off of that land and some
new ones probably came in the crops were
probably watered by irrigation again the
action of moving water from one place to
another and the plants themselves
wouldn't be there if it weren't for
people then you ride your bike to school
on the sidewalk the pavement is an
alteration of the environment when it
rains water slides across its surface
and down into drains instead of sinking
into the ground where it would replenish
aquifers and water plants that once grew
there Wow
you haven't even really started your day
and already you've totally changed the
world here's the thing though people
change the environments that they live
in definitely but everything that's
alive changes its environment all of the
plants animals even tiny bacteria have
an effect on their environment too it's
just that people do it in a particularly
intense way wherever there are people
there are changes to the environment for
an extreme example let's take a look at
a familiar place do you recognize it
probably not this is what scientists
think this place look like over 400
years ago what does it look like today
that's right it's New York City baby
about nine million people now live here
but it wasn't always this way before
1609 the island of Manhattan was
inhabited by the Lenape a Native
American tribe the Lenape ate oysters
and clams and burned parts of the forest
to clear space for crops they changed
the environment to of course remember
every living thing has an impact on its
environment but when Europeans first
came to New York in the 1600s it began
an incredible transformation at first
the settlers carved roads into the
landscape then they built farms and
fortifications these seemingly small
changes to the geosphere affected the
ranges of animals in the area and change
the plants that grew there and
eventually after a couple hundred years
and a whole lot of development what was
once mostly wilderness forests wetlands
grasslands and beaches became paved with
over nine thousand six hundred
kilometres of streets once a habitat for
Beavers elk turkeys and black bears has
become home to people rats cats dogs and
pigeons people didn't just change the
landscape by altering the landscape they
changed what animals could survive there
more than 160 kilometers of streams once
flowed through Manhattan today New York
City's water supply system delivered to
the city through a network of tunnels
and aqueducts stretches over 200
kilometres delivering more than three
and a half billion litres of drinking
water every single day want to think
about something crazy Times Square was
once a swamp but we changed that
New York City is an extreme example of
humans ability to change an environment
but you don't have to travel to the Big
Apple to see it the changes are all
around you almost everything you touch
is a result of human innovation acting
on the world's natural resources it's a
lot to take in but remember we're living
things and we're part of the natural
world and every living thing changes its
environment
next time we'll look at ways that other
living things make their own kind of
changes
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