Human Actions and Environmental Impacts

Internet resources contain a wealth of information about the physical world and the ways in which humans impact and modify their environments. Some of the most used and useful sites are noted here and many others may be located by following the Internet links included in the sites that are listed below.

Excellent first stops for researching the physical geographic background to environmental and human impact concerns are both maintained by university geography departments. Physical Geography Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison at http://feature.geography.wisc.edu/ features a comprehensive set of "contents" subheadings, each opening to an extensive list of links to further subdivisions and websites. Resources for Earth Science and Geography Instruction from Central Michigan University is organized around topics common to introductory earth science courses. The site, at www.cmich.edu/~3nrwbhg/homepage.htm, also offers a weekly e-mail review of best earth science sites.

Many nongovernmental or quasi-governmental sites are focused on the environment, environmental change, and human impacts.

George Washington University and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have together developed The GW Green University Initiative. The site's "Environmental Information Resources" option includes links to several hundred other sites worldwide. Its home page at www.gwu.edu/~greenu/ also features access to "OnLine Environment," an interactive environmental education game.

The WWW Virtual Library: Environment maintained by Earth Systems, Inc., is divided by subject, including atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. Use the subject options for links to a wide variety of organizations, topics, and reports: http://earthsystems.org/Environment.html.

EnviroLink at www.envirolink.org/ advertises itself as the world's largest environmental information archive on-line and the clearinghouse for all on-line environmental data and discussion sources. Collections include the EnviroLink Library, "the most comprehensive resource of environmental information on the Internet," and the EnviroLink News Service.

Environmental Organization WebDirectory ("earth's biggest environment search engine") contains a listing of thousands of environmental sites on the World Wide Web, ranging alphabetically from agriculture to wildlife: www.webdirectory.com/.

An easy-to-use collection of categorized links is available through The Environment page of About.com. From acid rain to water pollution and wetlands, the site at http://environment.about.com/ opens up a wealth of specialized websites, many not indexed in more scholarly directories.

The National Council for Science and the Environment at www.cnie.org/ is concerned with disseminating environmental information, particularly through its developing "National Library for the Environment" featuring Congressional Research Service reports, summaries of environmental laws, and population, environment, and biodiversity linkages.

The minimization of adverse human impacts on the environment underlies all efforts to promote "sustainable development." Sustainable Development Dimensions is maintained by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN at www.fao.org/sd/ and is a gateway to information on the subject through four major categories-people, institutions, knowledge, and environment. A similar interest in sustainable development but with a Canadian emphasis is found on the ISSDnet sponsored by the International Institute for Sustainable Development at http://iisd1.iisd.ca/. Check also the IISD's separate Linkages page at www.iisd.ca/linkages/, intended as an electronic clearinghouse clearinghouse for information on past and upcoming international meetings related to environment and development.

Among the many useful environmental websites maintained by federal agencies are those of: (1) The U.S. Global Change Research Information Office (GCRIO). The site at www.gcrio.org/ provides access to data and information on global change research and educational resources and features a changing selection of "Showcase Links"; its "Global Change Resources" provides access to bibliographic databases and to selected full-text documents and publications. (2) The Environmental Protection Agency; its mission statement includes the responsibility ". . .. to safeguard the natural environment." The EPA home page at www.epa.gov/ includes options detailing agency programs concerning land, air, and water systems and summarizing controlling laws and regulations. Resources for students and teachers are also noted. (3) Conservation is the focus of the Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service. Its home page provides access to daughter sites on the agency's programs and resources, to links with other pertinent federal entities: www.nrcs.usda.gov/. (4) A similar conservation goal motivates the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, whose mission is to protect animals, plants, and habitats from adverse human impacts: www.fws.gov/. (5) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website at www.noaa.gov/ features reports on current climatic and oceanic concerns, provides links to major national environmental agencies and services, and access to its "central library."

The Canadian government, too, has several Internet sites of interest in the area of the environment, conservation, and human impact. Perhaps the best starting point is Environment Canada's Green Lane at www.ec.gc.ca/envhome.html. This website features a number of options, including daughter sites on climate change, clean air, water, and the like. Environment Canada's special Green Lane page on Global Climate Change is a valuable source for that topic, though of course it emphasizes Canadian interests and actions: www.ec.gc.ca/climate/index.html.

The Canada Centre for Inland Waters is a major world source for water research with particular emphasis on the Great Lakes through its "Great Lakes Information Management Resource" www.cciw.ca/.

Environmental education is the focus of EE-Link: Environmental Education on the Internet at http://eelink.net/. Although it is aimed at teachers of the K--12 levels, its basic information, numerous resource links, and emphasis on "key principles" makes it a valuable site for all users. The Environmental News Network also claims to be a "link to environmental education," but emphasizes environmental news and a weekly in-depth look at a current ecological issue rather than purely educational/instructional matters: www.enn.com/.

Many nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations, of which only a few are listed here, maintain home pages. You will find reference to most of them through the linked websites detailed above.

World Resources Institute: www.wri.org/wri

Resources for the Future: www.rff.org/

Nature Conservancy's Wired for Conservation: www.tnc.org/

Sierra Club home page: www.sierraclub.org/

Center for Marine Conservation: www.cmc-ocean.org/