Humans Have Reshaped Earth's Ecology Over the Past 12,000 Years

And now experts are saying this could change the way we think about conservation forever.

Transcript

00:00 (soft music)

00:02 Humans have had a pretty big impact on our planet.

00:06 From building intricate cities connected

00:08 by thousands of miles of roadways

00:10 to the way we've been warming the planet with industry.

00:12 But now a new study by researchers

00:14 from the University of Baltimore, Maryland County

00:16 reveals just how big an impact humanity

00:18 has also had on the ecology of the world.

00:21 This map shows the change of anthromes

00:23 or human land use biomes all over the world.

00:26 With each interval providing an illustration

00:28 of humanity's effects on the globe over millennia,

00:30 centuries and decade intervals.

00:32 As the animation moves through the years,

00:34 you can see the effects of humankind

00:36 on land all over the world.

00:37 And according to the study,

00:38 humans have reshaped most of the ecology

00:41 over the face of the entire planet

00:42 over the last 12 millennia.

00:44 Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems

00:46 at the University of Baltimore, Maryland County,

00:48 Dr. Earl Ellis said about the findings, quote,

00:51 "Our work shows that most areas depicted

00:53 "as untouched, wild and natural

00:55 "are actually areas with long histories

00:57 "of human inhabitation and use."

00:59 Adding, "Areas untouched by people

01:01 "were almost as rare 12,000 years ago as they are today,

01:05 "which some say could change our understanding

01:07 "of conservation and living on this planet,

01:09 "shifting away from a hands-off

01:11 "preservation style approach

01:12 "and moving to a more traditional

01:14 "and indigenous people's way of living

01:16 "more sustainably within nature."

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