HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The anthroposphere (sometimes also referred as the technosphere) is that part of the environment that is made or modified by humans for use in human activities and
human habitat Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, an ...
s. It is one of the
Earth's spheres The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Earth science: Earth science – all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is also known as geoscience, the geosciences or the Earthquake sc ...
. The term was first used by nineteenth-century Austrian geologist
Eduard Suess Eduard Suess (; 20 August 1831 - 26 April 1914) was an Austrian geologist and an expert on the geography of the Alps. He is responsible for hypothesising two major former geographical features, the supercontinent Gondwana (proposed in 1861) and ...
. The contemporary concept of the technosphere was first proposed as a concept by American geologist and engineer Peter Haff, of
Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jame ...
. It has been estimated that as of 2016 the total weight of the anthroposphere - that is, human generated structures and systems - was 30 trillion tons. The anthroposphere can be viewed as a human-generated equivalent to the
biosphere The biosphere (from Greek βίος ''bíos'' "life" and σφαῖρα ''sphaira'' "sphere"), also known as the ecosphere (from Greek οἶκος ''oîkos'' "environment" and σφαῖρα), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be ...
, which is why some authorities consider it synonymous with the
noosphere The noosphere (alternate spelling noösphere) is a philosophical concept developed and popularized by the Russian- Ukrainian Soviet biogeochemist Vladimir Vernadsky, and the French philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Ver ...
. While the biosphere is the total
biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...
of the Earth and its interaction with its systems, the anthroposphere is the total mass of human-generated systems and materials, including the human population, and its interaction with the Earth's systems. However, while the biosphere is able to efficiently produce and recycle materials through processes like photosynthesis and decomposition, the anthroposphere is highly inefficient at sustaining itself. As human technology becomes more evolved, such as that required to launch objects into orbit or to cause
deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...
, the impact of human activities on the environment potentially increases. The anthroposphere is the youngest of all the Earth's spheres, yet has made an enormous impact on the Earth and its systems in a very short time. Aspects of the anthroposphere include: mines from which minerals are obtained; automated agriculture which produces the food consumed by 7+ billion Sapiens; oil and gas fields; computer-based systems including the Internet; educational systems; landfills; factories; atmospheric pollution;
artificial satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...
s in
space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually con ...
, both active satellites and
space junk Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, or space garbage) are defunct human-made objects in space—principally in Earth orbit—which no longer serve a useful function. These include derelict spacec ...
; forestry and deforestation;
urban development Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of peop ...
; transportation systems including roads, highways, and subways; nuclear installations; warfare. Technofossils are another interesting aspect of the anthroposphere. These can include objects like mobile phones that contain a diverse range of metals and man-made materials, raw materials like
aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...
that do not exist in nature, and agglomerations of plastics created in areas like the Pacific Garbage Patch and on the beaches of the Pacific Islands.


See also

*
Anthropocene The Anthropocene ( ) is a proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change. , neither the International Commissi ...
* Anthropogenic metabolism *
biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...
*
space junk Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, or space garbage) are defunct human-made objects in space—principally in Earth orbit—which no longer serve a useful function. These include derelict spacec ...


References


External links


The Anthroposphere
* Wikiversity:Technology as a threat or promise for life and its forms Earth sciences Artificial objects {{geo-term-stub