Day 3 Hand of Man

In the Keweenaw, people came to mine. They found copper sticking out of the ground and they dug it out. At first these were small occurrences but the copper was useful and people could create wealth by mining it. At first no one bothered to clean up the mess that was left--it didn’t seem to hurt anyone. People mined the copper, shipped it away, made money and took that away too (and left a mess). The mess of man has been gradual and the changes that have resulted have crept up on us. As population grew, the mess accelerated. Then we began to notice the effects.

Almost everywhere on Earth, man has changed the land. These changes significantly change the way the earth works.

Misconceptions:

Earth and its systems are too big to be affected by humans.

Technological fixes will save us from ruining our planetary environment.

Water resources are inexhaustible.

Earth's resources are not finite--there is an endless supply of petroleum, of mineral resources. All we have to do is to explore for them.

Individual actions don't make a difference - analogous to voting.

Climate change is related only to CO2 levels.

Climate change is bad and we can stop it or fix it (put it back the way it was).

Science, particularly global scale or long-time period issues, is too complex for a lay person to understand.

The Earth can absorb and neutralize any amount of waste and pollution over time.

Water exists in the ground in actual rivers or lakes that are constantly renewed.

The bronze age began when survivors from Atlantis sailed ships across the Atlantic 10,000 years ago and mined Cu from the Keweenaw and then shipped it back to Europe.