Skip to main content
Toggle User Menu

HHMI BioInteractive

  • Español
  • Search
  • Log In/Create Account
  • Classroom Resources
  • Planning Tools
  • Professional Development
  • About Us

The Anthropocene: Human Impact on the Environment

Launch Interactive
Topic
  • Environmental Science
  • Human Population & Impacts
  • Natural Resources
  • Earth Science
  • Geology
Resource Type
  • Interactive Media
  • Click & Learn
Level
High School — GeneralHigh School — AP/IBCollege
Favorited By
63 Users
Share This
Description

This interactive module explores key human impacts on the environment and how they have affected Earth’s landscape, ocean, atmosphere, and biodiversity.

Human activities are reshaping our planet in profound ways. The changes that have occurred in the last 50 to 200 years have led scientists to propose a new geologic epoch, called the Anthropocene. In this Click & Learn, students explore data on how human population growth, air pollution, agriculture, mining, water use, and other human activities have impacted the environment and will affect the fossil record.

The accompanying “Student Handout” guides students’ exploration. The “Educator Guide” contains several suggestions for implementing this Click & Learn in class, as well as discussion questions and additional background information.

The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.

The “Poster” PDF provides an accessible version of the content in this Click & Learn.

Student Learning Targets
  • Describe how different human impacts affect the ecosystem.
  • Interpret and summarize data presented in graphs showing human impacts on the ecosystem.
  • Describe specific types of evidence that can be used to determine whether humans are changing their local environment.
  • Predict how different impacts will change over the next 100 years based on the information and data provided.
Details
Estimated Time
One to two 50-minute class periods.
Key Terms

atmosphere, biodiversity, biosphere, coastal habitat, farming, geologic record, invasive species, mining, ocean, water use

Terms of Use

The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.

Version History
Date Published 01.06.15
Date Updated 01.07.19
Curriculum Connections
NGSS (2013)

HS-ESS2.A, HS-ESS3.A, HS-ESS3.B, HS-ESS3.D

AP Biology (2019)

ENE-1.N, SYI-3.F, SYI-2.B, SYI-3.G, EVO-3.H; SP6

IB Biology (2016)

C.2, C.3

AP Environmental Science (2013)

I.A, II.A, II.B, II.C, II.D, II.E

IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)

1.3, 2.3, 2.5, 3.2, 4.1

Vision and Change (2009)

CC5

Materials
Resource Google Folder (Link)
Educator Guide (PDF) 387 KB
Student Handout (PDF) 1 MB
Poster (PDF) 7 MB
Desktop App - macOS 10.10 or later, 64-bit (ZIP) 55 MB
Desktop App - Windows 7 or later, 64-bit (ZIP) 55 MB
Related Science News
As people stay home, Earth turns wilder and cleaner
Study: World carbon pollution falls 17% during pandemic peak
UN report: Humans accelerating extinction of other species
Bugged: Earth’s insect population shrinks 27% in 30 years
Fever chart: Earth had its hottest decade on record in 2010s
Floating Antarctic ice goes from record high to record lows
Arctic mission will trap scientists in ice to study climate
NASA scientists fly over Greenland to track melting ice
Earth’s future is being written in fast-melting Greenland
In Sweden’s Arctic, ice atop snow leaves reindeer starving
‘We’re all in big trouble’: Climate panel sees a dire future
Climate change making stronger El Ninos, study finds
The Dark Side of Light
One of Europe's last untamed rivers is threatened by dams
Bringing the world's buried wetlands back from the dead
To save Everglades, guardians fight time - and climate
Battered by floods, U.S. river communities try new remedies

Explore Related Content

Other Related Resources
Showing of
Clips
The Principle of Isostasy
Animations
Plate Tectonics
Lessons
Distribution of Elements in Earth’s Crust
Animated Shorts
Animated Life: Pangea
Clips
Stratigraphic Principles
Scientists at Work
Tracking Lion Recovery in Gorongosa National Park
Scientists at Work
Surveying Gorongosa's Biodiversity
A bee sitting on a flower.
Scientists at Work
The Effects of Fungicides on Bumble Bee Colonies
Animations
The Geologic Carbon Cycle
Card Activities
Finding the Crater

HHMI BioInteractive

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Newsletter Signup
  • HHMI.org
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy