Key Concept 6.1 Science and the Environment: Rapid advances in science altered the understanding of the universe and the natural world and led to the development of new technologies. These changes enabled unprecedented population growth, which altered how humans interacted with the environment and threatened delicate ecological balances at local, regional, and global levels.
I. Scientific Advancement
A. Electrification of homes and businesses
1. Beginning in the late 19th century, electric power arrived in homes and businesses that were located in cities in the United States and Western Europe. As the 20th century progressed, more and more people were added to the electrical grid.
- Electric lights, stoves, refrigerators, and radios were among the first electrical appliances that people came to take for granted in the West.
- Electricity in homes and businesses change people's sleep patterns, work patterns, and consumer choices.
- By the end of the century, most of the populated world had access to electricity, but significant areas – especially in Africa – remained without lights.
B. Communication and Transportation
- New modes of communication and transportation virtually eliminated the problem of geographic distance.
1. Communication
i. Telephone
i. Telephone
- The telephone was invented in 1876 in the United States.
- Until the 1920s in the West, it was used mainly by the rich and privileged in the "developed" countries of Europe, Australia, North and South America, and Japan.
- In the economic boom of the roaring 20s that occurred in most Western nations, more and more people could afford to have a telephone in their homes.
- Telephonic technology remained almost unchanged until the 1980s, when cell phones became available in large cities. The pattern repeated itself: at first, only wealthy people could afford cell phones, but as prices went down, availability went up. By the early 21st century, cell phones had become almost a necessity in the industrialized, developed world.
ii. Radio/Television
- Originally considered a device for one-to-one communication – "wireless telegraph" – by the 1920s, radio networks began broadcasting entertainment and news two national audiences.
- Television gain popularity after World War II, so much so that by the 1960s in the United States, more homes had televisions than indoor toilets. It rapidly became more popular than radio as a means of information and entertainment.
- Both radio and television were used by governments to propagate their messages to citizens and foes alike.
iii. Computers and the Internet
- The first electronic computer was developed in the United States in the late 1940s. It took up a hold room.
- By the early 1980s, the first personal computers (PCs) were available to the public. Computers that are now considered antiques were originally high-priced and mysterious toys for the wealthy.
- Prices of computers began to drop and their popularity began to rise with the advent of the Internet by the mid-1990s
- Originally designed as a way for scientists to transmit computer data across telephone lines in the 1960s, the Internet became a global phenomenon.
- By the early 21st century, the Internet connected billions of people and businesses, but there were still many areas with little or no in Internet access, primarily in parts of Africa and Central Asia, although access was improving.
2. Transportation
i. The Automobile
- Automobile were introduced in Germany in the late 19th century, but like radios and telephones, they did not become popular in the industrialized world until the 1920s.
- When automobiles did become popular, they change many aspects of Western society. One big change was the automobiles ability to make people more mobile. It became much less likely for people to live their entire lives in one place. Dating without the watchful eyes of parents became the norm. Living in the suburbs in working miles away in city centers became popular. Driving to distant location spots – in Europe that could mean in another country – was also possible.
- Cars also created new industries and jobs: multinational corporations that sold petroleum products, the travel industry, and government – funded modern road construction, to name a few.
- The automobiles popularity also led to less use of public transportation, increased rush – hour traffic, traffic fatalities, and increased air pollution
ii. Airplanes
- The first application of airplanes on a wide scale was in World War I.
- Air travel in the West was for the wealthy and famous "and military pilots" until after World War II, when an unprecedented economic boom occurred and the middle class could afford to join "the jet set."
- By the end of the 20th century, passenger air travel was common in the West, but it did not surpass the use of the automobile.
- One casualty in many Western nations was the passenger train, which had been the most popular form of mass travel for almost 100 years.
iii. Space
- Space travel isn't a common mode of transportation, of course, but its introduction in the mid-20th century heralded technological step that humans had dreamed about for millennia.
- Liquid – fueled rockets were experimental in the 1920s and used as weapons by Germany in World War II. The Soviet Union launched the first missiles to orbit the Earth in the 1950s, followed quickly by its rival, the United States.
- "Race to the moon" fired Cold War imaginations in the 1960s and was won by the United States.
- After the fall of communism in the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, United States and Russia became partners in space exploration with the jointly run international space station.
- By the early 21st century, other nations and organizations, particularly China and the European space agency, had launched missiles into space. The enormous expense of space travel meant only the wealthiest nations could afford it. (You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that.)
- Some of the benefits of the space program included: miniaturization of electronic competence, GPS systems, nonstick coating on cooking utensils, medical imaging (for example, CAT scans), among others.
C. Scientific Understanding alters Society's Views of the World
Researchers made rapid advances in science that spread throughout the world, assisted by the development of new technology.
New scientific paradigms (Theory of Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Big Bang Theory, Psychology) transformed human understanding of the world
Researchers made rapid advances in science that spread throughout the world, assisted by the development of new technology.
New scientific paradigms (Theory of Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Big Bang Theory, Psychology) transformed human understanding of the world
1. After the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century, people's "faith" in science in the West reached a level where even scientific theories affected society itself.
i. After Darwin published his theory of evolution in the Origin of Species in 1859, major debates ensued in Western society.
ii. In the early 20th century, the German mathematician Albert Einstein contributed to the theory of relativity.
- In basic terms, hisTHEORY overturned Newton's ideas about a constant universe and postulated instead that space and time can vary, depending on the point of view of the observer.
- In this new view of the universe and humanity's placed in it, there are no absolutes.
- This view of the universe had tremendous impact on Weston society after World War I.
- The "great civilized powers" of Europe had set out to destroy each other with weapons produced by the Industrial Revolution, and about 20 million people were killed. Newton's view off and ordered, rational universe didn't make sense anymore.
- Philosophers, artists, composers, and geology and stood the scientific concept of relativity and applied it to society. Right and wrong were no longer absolutes but instead were concepts for each individual to determine.
BELOW, NDT explains Einstein's Relativity (and the Twin's Paradox)
BELOW, NDT describes the development of the BIG BANG THEORY
D. Medical Technologies Extended Life Expectancy
1. Throughout the world history, infant mortality was the greatest factor in limiting life expectancy. Children who survived past their 50th birthday could generally expect to live into their 60s.
2. The results of systematic scientific research from universities, hospitals, and medical – related corporations were medicines, healthier lifestyles, and surgical techniques that greatly increased life expectancy in the 20th century.
- The polio vaccine, antibiotics, improved surgical procedures such as sterilizing equipment, and advances in cancer treatments all contributed.
- Deadly infectious diseases such as smallpox and whooping cough were virtually eliminated through global campaigns off inoculation, yet other diseases developed and spread.
- More effective forms of birth controlgave women greater control over fertility and transformed sexual practices.
3. These medical advances were largely limited, however, to industrialized nations. In 2011, for example, 26 nations with the lowest life expectancy were in Africa.
E. Developments in Energy Sources:
- Energy technologies including the use of oil and nuclear power raised productivity and increased the production of material goods.
1. Fossil fuels
- Cool was used as an energy source around the world for many centuries, but the Industrial Revolution's powerful machines demanded unprecedented amounts of fuel.
- Diesel and gasoline, refined from petroleum ("rock oil") in the second half of the 19th century, were found to be even more efficient fuels, and industrial production increased even more.
- Like cold, processing petroleum products can damage the environment. Throughout the 20th century, governments and fuel – related businesses struggled to find a balance between societies demand for these fuels and the health of the environment.
- By the end of this Iraq, despite some implementation of other forms of energy such as solar and wind power, fossil fuels remain the cheapest and most widely used source of energy.
2. Nuclear energy
- The struggle over the use of atomic energy power plants was particularly intense. In the 1950s, the Western nations and in the Soviet Union, atomic energy was promoted as the clean, efficient energy source of the future, but over time it lost favor.
- In 1979, a nuclear plant in the United States narrowly avoided a nuclear disaster.
- In 1986 in the USSR, the Chernobyl nuclear facility exploded, creating unprecedented destruction from a nonmilitary atomic source.
- In 2011, and earthquake and tsunami struck nuclear power plants in Japan, and an explosion occurred. This event had been dumped the worst nuclear meltdown since Chernobyl but the full extent of damage, human health effects and environmental impacts will not be known for several years.
- Nations and individuals sought alternative forms of energy such as solar and wind power, but by the early 21st century, there were far behind fossil fuels in terms of electrical output.
II. Environment
It is important that you understand that the "environment" in the AP world history does not refer to just trees, birds, and rivers. People and their interactions with the environment are integral parts. More people make more demands for more food crops and acquire more housing for shelter.
A. Global Population Soared during the 20th Century
1. Because of better medicine, plentiful food, and healthier habits, people lived longer in the 20th century than even before.
- Longer life tends to mean more children.
- Population growth assumed in the 20th century, with few signs of abatement by the early 21st century.
- The highest numbers of people were concentrated in South and East Asia, which had been the norm for thousands of years.
2. Concerns over high population growth led some nations – China and India, in particular – to initiate government policies to limit the number of births.
- China enacted "one child policy" aimed at urban couples. By the year 2000, China's population was over 1 billion.
- India's government adopted a national population policy, which incorporated many attempts to curb birthrates, but it's population continued to climb.
B. Innovations in Farming led to a So-Called Green Revolution.
- The Green Revolution produced food for the earth’s growing population as it spread chemically and genetically enhanced forms of agriculture.
1. In the mid 20th century, the development of powerful fertilizers and pesticides combined with new high – yield, disease – resistant crops led to predictions of a famine– free world.
- The Green Revolution held out hope that food could be grown almost anywhere.
- Although food production skyrocketed during the Green Revolution, so did global population.
2. India was an early participant in the Green Revolution in the 1960s.
- New hybrid rice crops grown in combination with strong pesticides produced very high yields, so much so that India seem to end it's long cycle of periodic famine and became a leader in Christ's exports.
- Corn and wheat were other popular hybrid crops.
3. Attempts to spread the Green Revolution yielded mixed results.
- In Philippines, rice yields soared, but in much of Africa, agricultural production stagnated.
- Shifting weather patterns contributed to Africa's lower crop yield, as have the destructive nature of many civil wars since the end of World War II.
4. Despite the setbacks, the amount of food grown globally increased tremendously because of the Green Revolution – and so has global population
5. Criticisms of the Green Revolution included environmental concerns about overuse of pesticides and fertilizers, the tendency of farmers to plant mono crops instead of a variety of grains as they once had, and unprecedented population growth. More food means more people can eat and thus live and reproduce. But from a long – term global perspective, experts wonder whether the green revolution can continue to feed ever increasing numbers of people.
C. Pollution
As the global population expanded at an unprecedented rate, humans fundamentally changed their relationship with the environment.
- Humans exploited and competed over the earth’s finite resources more intensely than ever before in human history.
- Global warming (climate change) was a major consequence of the release of greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the atmosphere.
1. With the benefits of anonymous industrial growth also came pollution of the environment on levels not seen before. Pollution such as wastewater or smoke from fires has always been a part of human society, but mass production of goods often meant mass production of waste products getting into surrounding rivers, ground, and air.
- Pollution threatened the world’s supply of water and clean air. Deforestation and desertification were continuing consequences of the human impact on the environment. Rates of extinction of other species accelerated sharply.
- In 1970, a grassroots proved – environment movement led to more government regulations off industrial pollution in the capitalist West.
- After the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in the late 20th century, there were revelations of massive amounts of industrial pollution, unlike anything seen in the West.
III. War, Disease, and Famine
War and disease have always been significant causes of human fatalities. It would seem logical that a century that saw an unparalleled surge in population would also have high numbers of deaths. But the era1900 to the present seemed to out-do nature itself in the area of human casualties.
- Improved military technology (Tanks, Airplanes, Atomic Bombs) and new tactics (Trench Warfare, Firebombing) led to increased levels of wartime casualties (Nanjing(some of these images may be offensive to younger students), Dresden, Hiroshima).
A. War
1. World War I introduced mass production techniques to the battlefield.
- Machine guns firing as many as 600 bullets per second could kill thousands of people in an afternoon. Estimates are as many as 8 million soldiers and 12 million civilians died in World War I.
- In the Russian Civil War of 1918 – 1920, perhaps 20 million more people died.
2. 20 years later, World War II showed that improved military technology, such as massive bombing campaigns against large cities, could be even more destructive.
- In World War II, over 20 million people died in Russia alone, and roughly 16,000,000 died worldwide.
- The elimination of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs began and it out where instant annihilation on a massive scale was possible.
- As in all wars, most of the civilian deaths were not a result of battlefield conflict but rather of disease and famine.
B. Disease
1. The first truly global disease epidemic was partly a result of World War I. The 1918 influenza pandemic killed roughly 20 million people worldwide. It is thought that returning soldiers scattered the disease to their home countries around the globe, with devastating effects. Through the course of the 20th century, new strains of flu occur from time to time, but they did not have the impact of the 1918 version.
2. HIV/AIDS was the second major pandemic of the 20th century – as many as three 5 million people died from the disease by the early 21st century.
- First identified in the late 20th century, HIV spread through sexual contact and needle sharing, the latter usually by people using illicit drugs. It then entered undetected into hospital blood supplies and was transmitted via transfusions.
- Once it entered the societies of central Africa, it was – and continues to be – highly destructive.
- AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa. In 2007, 2.8 million people died from AIDS – 2 million of those were in Africa. Government programs promoting both abstinence and safe sex had limited success in the continent.
C. Famine
1. One result of modern war on civilian populations is a disruption of the food supply.
- Famine struck Europe after World War I.
- Most of the 20 million deaths in this Russian Civil War are attributed to famine.
2. Government policies of keeping food away from those deemed an enemy of the state killed many millions in the 20th century.
- In the 1930s,Stalin enacted an "artificial famine" against rural communities that resisted his role in the USSR, and approximately 13 million died.
- In the mid-20th century, Mao's insistence on industry over agricultural production costs perhaps 20 million deaths in China.
3. Natural disasters such as droughts and floods in China, India, and East Africa killed still millions more in the era 1900 to the present. High population densities in East and South Asia increased death tolls due to these causes, despite international assistance campaigns.