how has the relationship between human society and natural resources changes over the last 10000 years
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Late industrial societies such as ours are marked by highly developed technology and by the widespread use of computers and other information technologies. Advanced technologies are applied to agriculture to increase the efficiency of production, and include specialized farm equipment, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, scientific crop breeding and genetically modified organisms. Technology is also used to build dams and complex irrigation systems to increase agricultural production. For example, the water projects of the Central Valley of California collectively constitute the largest irrigation system in the world, supplying 3 million acres of farmland with water from over 20 major dams and 500 miles of major canals. Such major alteration of rivers has severe consequences for fish and other aquatic wildlife.
Another key characteristic of our current late industrial society is the abundant use of electricity and other forms of energy, as well as high resource consumption. This widespread wealth is considered to be both a cause and consequence of the high education rates and the democratic governments that protect people's rights in such societies. However, widespread wealth and consumerism demands many natural resources, and subsequently has a strong negative impact on natural systems and wildlife. The information-processing, high tech work of late industrial societies, mostly does not require physical strength, which makes women at least equal to men in terms of their ability to perform in the economic system. As a consequence, women are gradually achieving social status and power nearly on par with men in advanced industrial societies.
In the other forms of human societies, it typically is observed that as agriculture becomes more efficient, human populations also increase. However, this pattern changes in late industrial societies, as birth rates become lower. In Western Europe and Japan, birth rates are currently below replacement rate (Population Reference Bureau 2004), which means that these countries will eventually begin to shrink in size unless they increase immigration (which they are doing). In the US, birth rates are currently at nearly exactly replacement rate (i.e. 2 children per woman), so that without immigration the US population would be expected to stabilize in a couple decades. This entirely voluntary curtailment of birth rates is unprecedented in human history. Unfortunately, countries with low birth rates are still having high environmental impacts as a result of high immigration rates and high per capita rates of consumption of resources. The stabilizing of the global human population and a decline in per capita consumption of natural resources in advanced industrial societies will undoubtedly be necessary for the survival of wildlife, preservation of natural places, and ultimately the continued well-being of human beings around the world.
Another key characteristic of our current late industrial society is the abundant use of electricity and other forms of energy, as well as high resource consumption. This widespread wealth is considered to be both a cause and consequence of the high education rates and the democratic governments that protect people's rights in such societies. However, widespread wealth and consumerism demands many natural resources, and subsequently has a strong negative impact on natural systems and wildlife. The information-processing, high tech work of late industrial societies, mostly does not require physical strength, which makes women at least equal to men in terms of their ability to perform in the economic system. As a consequence, women are gradually achieving social status and power nearly on par with men in advanced industrial societies.
In the other forms of human societies, it typically is observed that as agriculture becomes more efficient, human populations also increase. However, this pattern changes in late industrial societies, as birth rates become lower. In Western Europe and Japan, birth rates are currently below replacement rate (Population Reference Bureau 2004), which means that these countries will eventually begin to shrink in size unless they increase immigration (which they are doing). In the US, birth rates are currently at nearly exactly replacement rate (i.e. 2 children per woman), so that without immigration the US population would be expected to stabilize in a couple decades. This entirely voluntary curtailment of birth rates is unprecedented in human history. Unfortunately, countries with low birth rates are still having high environmental impacts as a result of high immigration rates and high per capita rates of consumption of resources. The stabilizing of the global human population and a decline in per capita consumption of natural resources in advanced industrial societies will undoubtedly be necessary for the survival of wildlife, preservation of natural places, and ultimately the continued well-being of human beings around the world.
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