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The Gobi Desert is the fastest expanding desert on Earth, as it transforms over 3,600 square kilometres (1,400 square miles) of grassland into wasteland annually. [58] Although the Gobi Desert itself is still a distance away from Beijing, reports from field studies state there are large sand dunes forming only 70 km (43.5 mi) outside the city.
For instance, it might be difficult to tell if desertification or desert expansion is the result of climate change or human activity. [19] Desertification in Africa is exacerbated by human factors such as deforestation, overgrazing, and unsustainable farming methods such as monoculture and excessive use of chemical fertilizers.
Humans have long made use of deserts as places to live, [104] and more recently have started to exploit them for minerals [105] and energy capture. [106] Deserts play a significant role in human culture with an extensive literature. [107] Deserts can only support a limited population of both humans and animals. [108]
Desert exploration is the deliberate and scientific exploration of deserts, the arid regions of the earth. It is only incidentally concerned with the culture and livelihood of native desert dwellers. People have struggled to live in deserts and the surrounding semi-arid lands for millennia.
Altered by humans: i.e. anthropogenically impacted habitats. Includes mine tailings, oil impacted habitats, and pollution by heavy metals or organic compounds. Without light: deep ocean environments and habitats such as caves. Void of food: areas on earth that lack an abundance of food such as the vast ocean, desert and high country.
Crawford Lake, which is 79 feet (29 meters) deep and 258,333 square feet (24,000 square meters) in area, was chosen over 11 other sites because the annual effects of human activity on the earth's ...
As indicated by the I=PAT equation, environmental impact (I) or degradation is caused by the combination of an already very large and increasing human population (P), continually increasing economic growth or per capita affluence (A), and the application of resource-depleting and polluting technology (T).
He has, in the past, noted, "I believe that life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as a sudden nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, or other ...