HUMAN ENVIRONMENT SYSTEM

Humans
- Humans have the capacity to interact with its environment.
- Humans and the environment have that “mutual” interaction with each other.
- Humans have the capacity to change or influence the balance of the society.
- Humans always have the capacity to adapt to its environment.
Environment
- Is a complex of many variables which surrounds man as well as the living organisms.
- the complex of physical, chemical, and biotic factors (such as climate, soil, and living
things) that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine its
form and survival.
System
- It may be described as a complex of interacting components together with the relationships
among them that permit the identification of a boundary-maintaining entity or process.
HUMAN- ENVIROMENT SYSTEM- It is also known as the Coupled Human and Natural System, or
CHANS
-This theory follows the idea that social and natural systems are
inseparable.
-Systems which combine both human and natural components to
show complex interactions, and feedback between them.
Coupled Human-Environment System

Three pillars of sustainability - economic viability, environmental protection and social equity.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES (ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION AND EFFECTS)

Many of the environmental issues today relate to human’s overuse of finite resources for
economic development. As a species, humans tend to regard the environment as a never-ending
source of materials and energy.
HUMAN ACTIONS AND ITS ENVIRONMENT
1. Human overpopulation- occurs when a species' population exceeds the carrying capacity of
its ecological niche.
 Water scarcity- is the lack of enough available water resources to meet the demands
of water usage within a region.
 Land reclamation- usually known as reclamation, and known as land fill
-is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds
or lake beds.
 Waste Disposal Management- is the process of treating solid wastes and offers
variety of solutions for recycling items that don't
belong to trash
 Urbanization- refers to the population shift from rural areas to urban areas

2. Intensive farming- or intensive agriculture is a kind of agriculture where a lot of capital and
labor are used to increase the yield that can be obtained per area.
 Intensive animal farming- or industrial livestock production, is a type
of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to
maximize production, while minimizing costs.
 Intensive crop farming- is a modern form of farming that refers to the
industrialized production of crops.
 Pesticide drift- refers to the unintentional diffusion of pesticides and the potential
negative effects of pesticide application, including off-target contamination due to spray
drift as well as runoff from plants or soil.
 Plasticulture- refers to the practice of using plastic materials in agricultural
applications.
 Slash and burn- also called fire-fallow cultivation, is a farming method that involves the
cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden.
 Deforestation- is the permanent removal of trees to make room for something besides
forest.
 Environmental effects of meat production

3. Exhaustive land use- involves the management and modification of natural environment or
wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural
habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods.
 Habitat fragmentation- also known as species fragmentation, is a process by which
large and contiguous habitats get divided into smaller, isolated
patches of habitats.
 Habitat destruction- occurs when natural habitats are no longer able to support the
species present, resulting in the displacement or destruction of its
biodiversity.
 Land degradation- is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is
affected by a combination of human-induced processes acting upon
the land.
 Built environment- It has been defined as “the human-made space in which people
live, work, and recreate on a day-to-day basis”.
 Desertification- the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result
of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.
 4. Hydrology- It is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth
and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources and environmental
watershed sustainability.
 Tile drainage- is a type of drainage system that removes excess water from soil below
its surface.
 Flooding- is an overflowing of water onto land that is normally dry.
 Landslide- is the movement of rock, earth, or debris down a sloped section of land.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT

1. It provides a bigger and wider view of looking at environmental issues
2. It highlights the importance of synergy and interconnection or interdependence of the human
society and the environment.
3. It looks at the human agency as not just a user of environmental resources but also protectors
of the environment and other species
4. It rest on the idea that individually and collectively, humans can resolve.

QUESTIONS:
1. What are the linkages between ecosystem services and human well-being?
2. How can sustainable ecosystems that are resilient to change and provide ecosystem services
for humans be built or managed?
3. How do humans impact ecosystems?
4. Can ecological systems develop and evolve in positive ways? What are the risks?
5. How Coupled Human and Natural System, or CHANS will help us understand our role for our
environment?
6. Living in this era, how could you help our society in maintaining the balance in our
environment? Cite specific plan of actions on specific environmental problems.
7. Do believe that humans are inseparable with the environment? Why?
8. What are the ways in which you can address our problems in terms of exhaustive use of land?
State a concrete plan and suggestions to possibly solve the issue.
9. Based on your observation, what are the different problems or issues confronting by our
society in terms of overpopulation?
10. How your knowledge in Human Environment System might help you in your daily life activities?