[custom_adv] The environment is something you are very familiar with. It's everything that makes up our surroundings and affects our ability to live on the earth—the air we breathe, the water that covers most of the earth's surface, the plants and animals around us, and much more. [custom_adv] In recent years, scientists have been carefully examining the ways that people affect the environment. They have found that we are causing air pollution, deforestation, acid rain, and other problems that are dangerous both to the earth and to ourselves. [custom_adv] Humans impact the physical environment in many ways: overpopulation, pollution, burning fossil fuels, and deforestation. [custom_adv] Changes like these have triggered climate change, soil erosion, poor air quality, and undrinkable water. These negative impacts can affect human behavior and can prompt mass migrations or battles over clean water. [custom_adv] Environment, the complex of physical, chemical, and biotic factors that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival. [custom_adv] The Earth’s environment is treated in a number of articles. The major components of the physical environment are discussed in the articles atmosphere, climate, continental landform, hydrosphere, and ocean. [custom_adv] The relationship between the principal systems and components of the environment, and the major ecosystems of the Earth are treated in the article biosphere. [custom_adv] The significant environmental changes that have occurred during Earth’s history are surveyed in the article geochronology. [custom_adv] The pollution of the environment and the conservation of its natural resources are treated in the article conservation. Hazards to life in the biosphere are discussed in the articles death, disease, and immune system. [custom_adv] The environment is something you are very familiar with. It's everything that makes up our surroundings and affects our ability to live on the earth—the air we breathe, the water that covers most of the earth's surface, the plants and animals around us, and much more. [custom_adv] In recent years, scientists have been carefully examining the ways that people affect the environment. They have found that we are causing air pollution, deforestation, acid rain, and other problems that are dangerous both to the earth and to ourselves. [custom_adv] The relationship between the principal systems and components of the environment, and the major ecosystems of the Earth are treated in the article biosphere. [custom_adv] The Earth’s environment is treated in a number of articles. The major components of the physical environment are discussed in the articles atmosphere, climate, continental landform, hydrosphere, and ocean.