How Have Humans Affected The Geography Of The Land

Throughout the history of the United States, actions were made that affected humans and the geography of the land. Some examples include the Environmental Movement and the Conservationist Movement. However, humans were negatively impacted socially due to the disrespect of individuals homes and lives and the land was impacted negatively due to the attitude of apathy toward the land. Although humans and the land were impacted negatively, people began to take notice of the damage being done to the land and began to make positive political efforts to reverse the damage.

Humans had a negative social impact on people due to the disrespect of people's lives and homes. On September 28, 1836, Chief John Ross wrote a letter to the Senate and House
of Representatives. In this letter, he described how the Natives felt underrepresented and disrespected. The line “We are stripped of every attribute of freedom and eligibility for legal self-defense.[...] We are denationalized; we are disfranchised.[...]We have neither land or home” shows this very well. In this text, it is clear to see that Chief John Ross is upset and frustrated that his nation is stripped of their rights and disrespected. In this piece of text, he also mentions that due to the actions of the government, his people's homes are affected. Another example concerning Niagara Falls also shows this as well. In the year 1978, residents of Niagara Falls formed Love Canal Homeowners Association to fight contamination by Hoover Chemical Corporation. Since these residents had to form an organization for the safety of their lives and homes, it can be implied that these residents felt disrespected due to the pollution of their homes. The residents were impacted negatively due to the actions of others who did not respect their homes. Both of these examples show how people were negatively impacted socially due to the disrespect of their homes. Although Chief John Ross gave the point that their homes were taken away, this example still shows how people’s personal lives and property was affected. Humans not only made negative social impacts but geographic impacts as well.
The geography of the land was impacted negatively due to the apathy of humans towards land and animals. The diagram entitled “Buffalo Population in the West 1800-1889” showed the decrease of buffalo during this time period. Between the years of 1870 and 1889, the buffalo population fell from 15 million to a near population of 0. This evidence shows that the human interaction with the animals of the land was a negative impact because of how dramatically the population of buffalo dropped. By looking at this evidence, it can be seen that humans did not focus on how big of a negative impact that could possibly be caused due to the lack of care towards the land. In the year 1963, it was seen that 83 million Americans owned automobiles. It was then found that there was a connection between smog and car emissions. This piece evidence showed that humans were negatively impacting the environment by polluting the earth. By owning 83 million cars, carbon dioxide emissions would increase making the temperature of the earth increase and cause many problems such as rising oceans. This problem resulted due to apathy towards the land. These examples show that the geography of the land was affected negatively because humans did not show care until the land and animals were impacted
dramatically. Looking at the negative impacts of the land, animals, and humans it could be concluded that humans caused an overall negative impact socially and graphically. However, actions were put forth in efforts to lighten the damage of the land. In January 1955, President Eisenhower spoke on the problem of air pollution and called on the Public Health Service to study effective methods of study. This evidence is showing that President Eisenhower began to take notice the impacts on the land humans made. By speaking out on this issue, he was able to inform people of the harm being done to the land. This would replace apathy with interest in “healing” the land. By speaking out, the Clean Air Act was passed in December 1963 and $95,000 was used for the study and cleanup of air and water pollution. This act would help find ways of effective cleaning of the air and water. The Clean Air Act shows that political action was put forth in efforts to repair the damage that had been done due to the actions of humans on the land. Taking notice of a problem showed that people began to care about the damage done to the land. The notifying of a nation resulted in political action that showed that humans eventually made positive efforts through the government.

Looking into the history of the United States, it can be seen that humans were negatively impacted socially due to disrespect towards one another and the geography of the land was negatively impacted due to the attitude of apathy towards the land. Through the government action of raising awareness of the damaged world, it was seen that humans began to make positive efforts through political action.