Our Effect on the Environment

Beep! Beep! Beep! Your alarm goes off and you hop out of bed. You wash your face, chat with your family, eat your breakfast, and take the bus to school. Even before you go to school, you have connected with many people and things. All of the things you do affect the environment.

Your environment is all of the living and nonliving things around you. All across Earth, humans are changing the environment in different ways. For example: we cut down trees to build houses, plow fields to grow crops, build roads and parking lots, and empty waste into rivers, lakes, and oceans. We also use large nets and boats to catch huge amounts of fish. Activities like these greatly affect plants and animals in our environment.

A kayaker passes by trash along the shore of the Anacostia River.