Question

Using the Land
Earth’s land is used for many purposes. In the United States, there are two different types of land: public land and private land.

Public Land in the United States
Public land is land that belongs to the federal government. This land was acquired by the government as a result of treaties, wars, and purchases. Then, at different points in history, the land was often sold to private individuals as a way to encourage growth, settlement, and economic development. Some of the land—most of it in the West—is still owned by the federal government. For instance, nearly 96 percent of the land in Alaska, nearly 88 percent in Nevada, and 75 percent in Utah is public land. Agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the National Park Service help manage these public lands.

Many of the U.S. public lands are national forests, national parks, and national seashores. They are protected from private development so the public can continue to visit them and appreciate their beauty. Without this protection, some of these natural areas or monuments could be damaged or destroyed over time.

Private Land in the United States
Private land is any land not owned by the government. It can be owned by individuals, companies, or organizations. The use of private land is regulated by state and local government through zoning laws that tell property owners the types of buildings they can construct on their property and the types of activities (agriculture, industrial, commercial development) they can engage in. Private land owners also must pay property taxes in order to keep their property.

Land Usage
Throughout the world, humans use land for many reasons. They build homes, businesses, factories, and other structures. They farm crops and graze livestock. They mine for natural resources and cut timber. They build roads, airports, railroads, and other transportation networks.

The United Nations (UN) estimates that humans have altered approximately half of the land on Earth. As this map shows, very few areas on Earth are pristine—untouched by humans. Pristine lands are in remote areas (like the Arctic or the Australian Outback) or in challenging terrains (like the Amazon jungles or Himalayan mountains).

A world map titled How Humans Have Affected the Land with the following regions marked: Almost pristine, partially transformed, almost fully transformed.A 2 column table with 3 rows titled Land Use Around the World. Column 1 is labeled Activity with entries Farming and Forestry, Pasture, Housing, Industry, Roads. Column 2 is labeled Amount of Land Used for this Purpose with entries 22 percent, 26 percent, 2 to 3 percent.
Then and Now
Land use has definitely changed over time. Records show that in the 1600s, only about 5 percent of the world’s population lived in cities. That number stayed pretty constant over the next 200 years. By 1800, 7 percent lived in cities. By 1900, urban areas started to see more growth. At that time, about 16 percent of people lived in cities. Halfway through the 20th century, though, things had markedly changed across the globe and many more people began living in urban areas. Today, more than half of Earth’s 7.7 billion population lives in cities. The UN expects that number to continue climbing. Experts estimate that by the year 2050, about 68 percent of the people on the planet will dwell in urban spaces.

Environmental Impacts
There’s no doubt that human activities have an impact on the environment. If the wrong crops are planted on land, or the right crops are planted too many times, soil can become depleted of nutrients. This can cause devastating impacts, such as the Great Dust Bowl that affected the U.S. Great Plains in the 1930s. Humans can overgraze their animals on land or cut down too many trees in a forest and cause deserts to form where grasslands and rainforests once existed. They can also allow urban areas to sprawl into pristine wildernesses. When such habitat destruction occurs, plant and animals go extinct as ecosystems are destroyed.

The UN believes that Earth is in danger and that humans need to do more to take care of it and its natural resources. Human activities can cause topsoil depletion, flooding, landslides, erosion, ecosystem destruction, and global climate change. On a global scale, regulating and monitoring human activities that affect the environment now could prevent catastrophic changes to Earth in the future.


Study the map and read the chart. What approximate percentages of land have been used for housing and pasture areas? (site 1)

Answer 1

Housing: about 2–3% of land
Pasture: about 26% of land