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The Anthrosphere
by Ed Jonas on Thursday May 06, @11:23AM
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Definition: The anthrosphere.is that part of the environment that is made or modified by
humans for use in human activities.
As human technology becomes more evolved, so do the impacts of human activities
on the environment. Some examples of parts of the anthrosphere that interface with the
geosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere are summarized in the above image.
The ultimate goal of environmental science is to minimize the flux of pollutant and/or
toxic substances across the interface between the anthrosphere and other spheres while
maintaining a functional technological society.
Environmental research over the past ~20 years has resulted in a significant
improvement in human understanding of the magnitudes and impacts of material fluxes
leaving the anthrosphere. Many of these fluxes had unpredicted or more-extreme than-
expected consequences. The technology to halt some of these fluxes has also improved
significantly in the past two decades. For instance, this had lead to a number of "end of
pipe" controls on emissions from factories, automobiles, feedlots and even bakeries. End-
of-pipe controls on emissions are often based on complex and/or expensive chemical
transformations, many of which are also energy intensive. |
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