Anthropology Discussion - Human Variation

Anthropology Discussion Post

Human Variation - complex

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You might have noticed that there are five environmental stressors on humans: climate/temperature, altitude, ultraviolet light, nutrition, and disease. There is a sixth environmental stressor that we do not always notice: ourselves. Let's think about how we influence our own evolution.

We no longer have predators except for infectious disease and ourselves. How are humans their own predator? What are we doing to influence our evolution and survivorship as a species? What social factors and identities (e.g. race, gender, ability, socioeconomic status, political perspective) affect our survival?

We are seeing the effect of ourselves on our environment, and that will eventually have an effect upon our survival as a species. Take a moment: Calculate your carbon footprint. What can you do to change our effect upon our survival?