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Human-Environment Interactions: An Introduction
Abstract
This textbook explores the growing area of human-environment interaction. We live in the Anthropocene, an era dominated by humans, but also by the positive yet destructive environmental feedbacks that are poised to completely reset the relationships between nature and society. Modern and historic political, social, and cultural processes and physical landscape responses determine the intensity of these impacts. Yet different cultural groups, political and economic entities view, react to, and impact these human-environmental processes in spatially distinct and divergent ways.
Providing an accessible, up-to-date, approach to human-environment interactions with balanced coverage of both social and natural science approaches to core environmental issues, this textbook is an integrative, multi-disciplinary offering that discusses environmental issues and processes within the context of human societies. The book begins by addressing the three most pressing issues of our time: climate change, threshold exceedance, and the 6th mass extinction. From there the authors identify within chapters on resources, population, agriculture and urbanization what precipitated and continues to sustain these three issues. They end with a chapter outlining some practical solutions to our human-environment crises.
The book will be a valuable resource for interdisciplinary environment related courses bridging the gap between the social and natural sciences, human geographies and physical geographies.
https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783030560317
... In order to bridge the gap between the past and the present, it is necessary to take a more historical perspective on the transformation of the landscape and show how significant obstacles have been conquered. [55], emphasized the need to look at the evolution of human-natural environment interaction as a capability to elicit historical directions that may help resolve present-day environmental challenges. The believed looking at the evolution of human-natural environment interaction could help in the framework of sustainability and sustainable development, several fields of study have demonstrated an interest in acquiring a more profound knowledge of the histories of landscapes as social-ecological structures [5]. ...
... Many of these land lls, once located in unpopulated areas, are now incorporated into urban-built areas due to rapid urbanization. These in-city land lls (especially closed ones) represent a signi cant resource pool to tap into, while at the same time pose threat to public health if not managed well 18, 19 . As a result, more and more cities in China are now implementing policies to actively manage these land lls, such as land ll mining, pollution blocking, and landscape restoration 20, 21 . ...
Landfills, one of the final destinations of all kinds of materials used by human beings, are vital for understanding the carbon cycle of cities. Global Methane Pledge at COP26 highlighted the significance of landfill, which was the third-largest source of methane emissions in the world. High temporal- and spatial-resolution datasets of landfill organic carbon stocks and flows are crucial for formulating national carbon reduction strategies; however, current research is very limited. Here, a quantitative-based solid-water-gas coupling transformation model of organic carbon cycles in landfills was established, and the landfills of 346 cities in China were chosen as the studied case to show its temporal shift and spatial distribution of organic carbon stock and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2001 to 2030. In the past twenty years, the organic carbon stock in municipal solid waste landfills in China was 503.3 ± 4.2Tg, with 6.4% and 0.3% of the organic carbon input transferred into the atmosphere and aquatic environment, respectively. The organic carbon stock in landfills has the dual attributes of resource value and environmental impacts, showing significant differences among regions. In the Northeast China and Northwest China, the soil-like resource and renewable energy potential from landfills were higher, while in South China, the methane emission from landfills was greater than that in other regions. Our scenarios analysis finds that raising the methane collection rate, minimizing landfilling rate, and implementing landfill mining and eco-remediation measures can reduce the GHG emissions by 4.6%, 13.4%, and 53.0%, respectively, compared to that in the business-as-usual scenario, by 2030. The GHG reduction by 2030 is 836.2Tg, accounting for 1.1%-3.6% and 1.2%-8.7% of the GHG emission gaps for China to achieve 1.5℃ and 2℃ warming targets under landfill-remediation scenario. Landfills can be potentially a carbon-negative sector if all of the policy-interventions are applied, and thus contribute to the carbon-neutral strategy of China by 2030.
... Increasing population densities and consequent urbanization are critical issues of the world, especially in Africa and Asia, where urbanization has accelerated in the last few decades (Liu et al. 2020). It is reported that already in 2020, over 55% of the world population was urbanized and by 2050 approximately 68% of the world's population will live in cities (Welford and Yarbrough 2021). Over the past decades, the global growth rate of urban land is 80%, while the population growth rate is 52%. ...
Bangladesh is ranked as the fifth most disaster-prone country in the world. It is also the eighth-most populous in the world, where the annual rate of urbanization is around 3%, which is one of the highest in South Asia. In this densely populated disaster-prone country, rapid and unplanned urbanization is causing severe changes to vegetation, water bodies, and soil properties. These changes are heightening disaster risks and vulnerabilities of urban areas. There needs a proper balance among the blue (water), green (vegetation), and grey (built) space to ensure quality living in an urban area. However, in Bangladesh, especially in metropolitan cities like Dhaka and Chittagong, due to rapid and unplanned urbanization, blue and green spaces are decreasing tremendously. From 2006 to 2016, the agricultural land cover of Dhaka was reduced by 16%. Therefore, urban areas of Bangladesh, especially metropolitan cities, are facing different hazards and risks. Though environmental challenges are getting attention in the recent planning processes, the balanced incorporation of blue-green infrastructures (BGI) in urban planning practices is not yet noticed. Different sociopolitical, economic, and institutional issues are associated with it. This study intends to examine the trend of changes in BGI in metropolitan cities and how different factors including planning policy and practices are contributing to shaping these changes. Thus, it highlights the significance and role of BGI in urban disaster risk reduction and resilience of urban Bangladesh.
More than 75% of the global land has already suffered degradation, leading to the recognition of land degradation as one of the foremost challenges society faces. This recognition stems from its profound adverse impacts on natural ecosystem functioning, biodiversity, soil productivity, and food availability. Consequently, understanding the spatial distribution of land degradation across all scales becomes imperative. This study employed land cover change and soil organic carbon (SOC) stock assessments to analyse land degradation within the eThekwini Municipality beyond the baseline period (2000-2015). Utilizing remote sensing and machine learning techniques, this research examined land degradation within the eThekwini Municipality over the period spanning 2000 to 2022. Landsat 7 (Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus-ETM+), Landsat 8 (Operational Land Imager 1-OLI1), and Landsat 9 (Operational Land Imager 2-OLI2) images were employed to extract variables for both land cover change and SOC stock prediction through XGBoost, LightGBM, Random Forest (RF), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) models. Among these models, LightGBM demonstrates superior performance, achieving an overall accuracy of 80.646 in land cover predictions and 77.869 in SOC stock predictions. Analysis of land cover change within the eThekwini Municipality unveiled a shift from forests and shrubland landscapes to cropland and built-up areas. This shift results in the municipality encountering losses in SOC stock between 2015 and 2022. The model predicted that most SOC stock losses occur at the 20-50 cm depth (9.27%), in comparison to the 7.21% loss at the 0-20 cm depth. These findings underscore the pivotal role of remote sensing and machine learning in aiding policymakers to assess land degradation and implement pertinent measures to enhance the landscape.
Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) are urban areas that are relatively warmer than nearby rural areas due to the presence of infrastructures, such as buildings, roads, and associated development. This study explored the UHIs in Nepal's three largest metropolitan cities, i.e., Pokhara, Bharatpur, and Nepalgunj. Using freely available data, we explored LST dynamics between 2000 and 2019 and how changes in NDVI affect LST and their relationship with UHI. We used the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 8-day product (MOD11A2) to evaluate LST and the MODIS-derived NDVI 16-day product (MOD13Q1) to quantify land surface characteristics. Using a simple linear regression technique, we explored the relationship between LST and NDVI. The results indicated that LSTs for the urban areas are consistently greater than LSTs for the nearby rural areas, and an inverse relation between LST and NDVI was obtained. The results from Pokhara and Bharatpur showed that increasing LST resulting from declining NDVI is responsible for UHIs. However, the results from Nepalgunj suggested that factors other than NDVI are responsible for variation in LST. These results indicate a need for systematic mapping, planning, and managing open and green areas in large cities. This research also highlights the scope of applying UHI conceptual models to rapidly developing urban areas in different locations of Nepal for better planning and management of open spaces.
The climate forcing of contrails and induced-cirrus cloudiness is thought to be comparable to the cumulative impacts of aviation CO2 emissions. This paper estimates the impact of aviation contrails on climate forcing for flight track data in Japanese airspace and propagates uncertainties arising from meteorology and aircraft black carbon (BC) particle number emissions. Uncertainties in the contrail age, coverage, optical properties, radiative forcing, and energy forcing (EF) from individual flights can be 2 orders of magnitude larger than the fleet-average values. Only 2.2% [2.0, 2.5%] of flights contribute to 80% of the contrail EF in this region. A small-scale strategy of selectively diverting 1.7% of the fleet could reduce the contrail EF by up to 59.3% [52.4, 65.6%], with only a 0.014% [0.010, 0.017%] increase in total fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. A low-risk strategy of diverting flights only if there is no fuel penalty, thereby avoiding additional long-lived CO2 emissions, would reduce contrail EF by 20.0% [17.4, 23.0%]. In the longer term, widespread use of new engine combustor technology, which reduces BC particle emissions, could achieve a 68.8% [45.2, 82.1%] reduction in the contrail EF. A combination of both interventions could reduce the contrail EF by 91.8% [88.6, 95.8%].