Honors World Geography Blog

2010-06-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

Chapter 33

Section 1

1. The Aborigines and Maori were the major indigenous groups of people in Australia and New Zealand.

2. In the more rural areas of Australia and New Zealand, people may have to communicate through radio or mail for teaching instructions and other things of that nature. Indigenous tribes suffer from mistreatment of the modern age and also from more mundane things, such as malnutrition and poverty.

Creative Writing: Europeans discovered Australia when exploring the South Pacific region, and in later years it became an island of convicts from overcrowded British prison. In the mid 1800s, the British started to forcibly remove the indigenous people from New Zealand and Australia, causing the native people to fight back, but lose in the long run.

Section 2

1. The everyday life of the people of Oceania reflects cultural diversity from the clothes that the people of those nations were to the sports that they play because it is all a mix of several different nations' way of going through life.

2. Through several conflicts with disease, cultural differences, territory battles, and the World Wars, the Europeans lead several adverse effects upon Oceania.

Creative Writing: As I floated along Papua New Guinea, I began to realize the vast cultural differences between them and Americans. With their innumerable amounts of ill educated citizens, their economy has plummeted, along with their standards of living. Even from the coast, I can see the effects of the poor economy, and yet I envy them. Without money being a constant threat in their lives, as they know that they are destitute, they are allowed to focus on other things, such as family and tradition.

2010-05-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

Chapter 31

Section 1

1. Rice farming is an important agricultural activity in Southeast Asia because it is a staple food and it is the top export of two of the countries in that region, Thailand and Vietnam.

2. The countries of Southeast Asia are industrializing at different rates because the have different products to offer other countries, and because some countries came out of the economic crisis of the 1980s more quickly than others.

Creative Writing: With the help of the Asian Development Bank and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Southeastern countries are quickly weaving themselves into economic interdependence. These organizations promote trade between all countries of the region and make trade much more valuable and worth while for those involved.

Section 2

1. Floods and typhoons kill hundreds of people and ruin millions of dollars of crops every year for the Southeast Asian region. Volcanic eruptions kill hundreds of people and destroy homes, along with blowing gases into the air that affect weather patterns around the world.

2. Economic progression has lead to pollution of land, water, and air, from urban and rural environments and from industrialization.

Creative Writing: While there are man-made issues that need to be dealt with, natural disasters are reeking havoc upon the Southeast Asian region. Typhoons, cyclones, eruptions, and floods cause millions of dollars in damage, as well as deprive us of crops and human lives. Without precautions made to protect ourselves from these disasters, these same effects will be drawn from these problems.

2010-05-16T21:24:00.000-07:00

Chapter 29

Section 1

1. Cordilleras and archipelagoes make up most of the South Eastern Asian region.

2. The rich natural resources of the region help bring the economies of the countries up.

Creative Writing: Southeast Asia depends on its waterways because several farms are more inland. These waterways allow water to get into massive farms of rice, plants, other crops, and simple drinking water.

Section 2

1. Islands of Southeast Asia generally have a subtropical climate, while the mainland have tropical dry and subtropical climates.

2. The main climate types of this region are tropical wet and tropical dry.

Creative Writing: I can understand why urbanization of this area may be important to the people around it, however, our planet is already destroying much of its biodiversity and can afford to lose much more. As we cut down rainforests, we are destroying the homes of millions of creatures, as the rainforests are one of the most biodiverse areas in the world. If we continue to destroy these homes, we will move more species closer and closer to extinction.

2010-05-09T16:28:00.000-07:00

Chapter 28

Section 1

1. In East Asia, China and North Korea are communist, while South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan are democratic. Because of this, China and North Korea have command economies, and South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan have mixed economies and market economies.

2.The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation plays an important role in the economic activities of the East Asian region as it makes trade among China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan efficient and fair.

Creative Writing: It was a very good idea to have let China into the World Trade Organization on the United States' part. China may have had some critisism for past anti-humanitarian actions, that were used in order to stop citizens from speaking out against the government, but these actions can help keep workers in line and focused so that the world wide economy can increase.

Section 2

1. Industrialization of the East Asian region lead to nuclear power, and nuclear accidents like in 1999 in Japan. It has also lead to acid rain, deforestation, desertification and other forms of pollution.

2. East Asian countries naturally recieve many earthquakes and typhoons. Japan alone also has over 80 active volcanoes.

Creative Writing: Japan, since the 1970's has encouraged the stopping of pollution of industries and is now the leader of addressing environmental issues. In 2006, Japan was ahead of all other auto manufacturers in developing fuel cell engines that produced no emissions. Japan has also made aquacultures so that over fishing does not occur.

2010-05-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

Chapter 27

Section 1

1. East Asia's culture and traditions originated from the ancient indigenous ancestors of that region.

2. The people of China mainly speak dialects of Mandarin.

Creative Writing: Before communism in China, people were free to practice the religions that they pleased. Most people were Confucist, Buddhist, or Taoist/Daoist. However, today the Chinese Communist government discourages anything other than atheism, and some restrictions are placed upon people that follow some religions, such as the fact that if a Tibetan is found owning a picture of the Dalai Lama, he risks arrest.

Section 2

1. Most Japanese people are located near the urban areas in valleys and coastal regions due to forested mountains covering a large area of Japan.

2. Japan built an empire from the 1890s to the 1940s through military force and diplomacy, mostly gaining land through wars with the Chinese and the Russians.

Creative Writing: Japan has been touched in several ways from the outside world and those small touches have caused large changes in Japan's culture. After the fall of the Japanese Empire after World War Two, Japan became a democracy, sharing the type of government that many nations in the world are controlled by today. Japanese language, too, has been modified by western influences and Chinese influences as well.

Section 3

1. Because Western diplomats came to visit Korea first with military force, Korea closed its doors to them and became an isolated nation.

2. Korean life is largely based upon Confucianism.

Creative Writing: The divergence between North and South Korea was due to the Korean War in the 1950s after World War 2, in which North Korea invaded South Korea in order to reunite both countries after their separtion after the second World War. World War Two had divided the countries into two, South Korea, the U.S. backed democratic state, and North Korea, the Communist nation. Due to South Korea's economy being based on capitalism, the economy has been growing and is currently doing much better than North Korea's. This, along with the United State's help has led to an increased life span of the general public, much greater than that of North Korea's. Because North Korea has been isolated by their government, they have had few contacts with any nations and has kept their own culture for much longer than South Korea, whose culture has been mixed with that of the West's.

2010-04-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

Chapter 25

Section 1

1. Many people in the South Asian region rely on sustenance farming to receive their basic necessities.

2. India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan have free press.

Creative Writing: If I were to visit one country in Southern Asia, I would most likely go to Kathmandu, Nepal in order to see and possibly climb Mount Everest. Other regions interest me as well, such as India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, because I would like to learn more about their cultures, but at least seeing Mount Everest would be more important to me, personally.

Section 2

1.The factors leading to internal violence in South Asia include the discrimination of the Tamils in Sri Lanke, the attempts of overthrowing democracy in Nepal for a Communist republic, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan removing his support of Afghan Taliban, and the violence between Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh in India.

2. Negative consequences of rapid industrialization in the South Asian region include rapid deforestation, endangerment of indigenous species, and water pollution.

Creative Writing: Laws are placed in effect to stop people from logging and killing certain things at certain times for reasons that benefit plant, animal, and human alike. When too many deaths occur in a population of a species, that species may go extinct, meaning that you will have disrupted the life span of not only the species you killed, but the organisms that devoured that species and the organisms that the species you killed were killed by. This process produces havoc in the communities of the animal world, but also the plant and human worlds as well. The humans that relied on the species you killed will no longer have that animal to eat and the animals that relied on that species will also be affected, negatively or positively, which will negatively impact you at one point. The plants that used the dead animal as nutrients may also die out, meaning that you will not be able to use that wood for much longer either. Thus, if you disturb the ecosystem by not following the rules but into place to keep the ecosystem flowing correctly, you will destroy not only that species, but any species that was involved with that species, and destroy your own community.

2010-04-18T16:04:00.000-07:00

Chapter 24

Section 1

1. India's population is widely distributed throughout the whole of the country, but in the recent years, more Indians have been found migrating towards the more urban and developed areas.

2. The two major world religions that helped shape India's history and culture are Buddhism and Hinduism.

Creative Writing: Life in the bigger cities of India is much different than in the village where I grew up in. With more money flowing around in their economies, the larger cities are able to spend much more money creating hospitals and schools, greatly improving health care and education. Here in Mumbai, there are twenty times as many films coming out in a year than there were in our village in ten years! The city life seems a little more distant compared to ours though, because people tend to take leisure activities for granted, such as going to the movies or watching television.

Section 2

1. Booming populations and urbanization have become problems for Bangladesh and Pakistan because they countries both have limited resources, especially food, and because the industrialization of these areas have caused mass amounts of pollution.

2. Several poems and plays have come from the Bangladeshi culture. Music and literature are the richest forms of Pakistani art forms, like Qawwali and musha'irahs.

Creative Writing: The Kashmir region is in the region of both northern Pakistan and India. This land was declared to be Pakistani. However, the Hindu prince of the region later fled from the region to Delhi and signed the state over to India. Even though India claimed a legal right to the region, Pakistan insisted it would be a better homeland for the Muslim residents of the region, so the region stayed Pakistani. Today, the two continue the conflict with this region, but are armed with nuclear weaponry, causing problems not just between the two, but now with any nation that tries to interfere.

Section 3

1. The arts of these nations can be seen throughout the region. the Buddhist stupas and dzongs show a religious aspect of their culture. Dance is popular mainly in Bhutan and Nepal. Sri Lanka produced an artist in both literature and theatre.

2. Hinduism and Islam are two main religions in this region.

Creative Writing: The choice between improving the healthcare or the literacy rate between two areas can be a very difficult one to make a definate decision on, but I believe that improving the literacy rate would be a more significant cause. With the improvement of literacy rate in a region, that region would have a firm foundation for which to grow upon. With more people being able to read, the people of this region would be to establish better governments and other things needed for a functioning society over time. Adding to this cause will allow people of poverty stricken countries to recieve the educations they need to improve the region, most likely increasing health care along the way.

2010-04-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

Chapter 20

Section 1

1. The shifting of tectonic plates has caused lakes and rivers to widen, and has caused the formation of several land rifts, such as the Great Rift Valley.

2. A land form known as a delta splits both the Niger and the Zambezi River into two parts. The ground outside of Lake Chad swallows the moisture around it, which is shrinking the lake

Creative Writing: Mines for minerals in regions below the Sahara have several problems that include its topography and its water systems. Areas of large rifts, high mountains, and vast deserts make less than ideal mining camps because of their unstable ground and harsh conditions. Rivers that contain rapids, waterfalls, and those that empty into large bodies of water will not be able to be mined because they will not be able to shut off the river completely.

Section 2

1. Three factors that affect the climate of Africa are ocean currents, prevailing wind patterns, and elevation.

2. Three main kindas of climates in this region are tropical wet, tropical dry, and steppe, and in these climates are dense forests, grasslands and scattered trees, and shrubs and acacia trees, respectively.

Creative Writing: The vast plains of the Serengeti Plains of the central African region and the Great Plains of the central North American region are not unlike one another. Both regions are teeming with wildlife are large amounts of simple grasses and the scattered areas of trees along with a few systems of water, yet not very much fertile soil.

2010-03-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

Chapter 22

Section 1

1. Cash crop production in middle and southern africa creates problems such as small-scale farmers not being able to meet their needs because the good land is taken up by plantations, famers not being able to use the left over land of plantations because of erosion and desertification, and food production falling low below average.

2. Transportation and communications in this region are changing because of plans like Nigeria building links to all parts of its railway system, the buildings of the Trans-African and Trans-Sahara Highway, and satellites are making telephones and televisions more usable

Creative Writing: Africans have taken on enormous amounts of debt because they have engaged on several large projects that cannot give back as much as they cost. For instance, their farming gave them some money for their cash crops, but because of their mining techniques, they leave the soil dry and unproductive, and in debt because of the purchase of the machinery and the fact that they cannot farm their again. Poorly thought out activities like this and building massive highways throughout Africa have left the people in this region deeply in debt and without a way to relieve themsleves of it.

Section 2

1. Three reasons why food shortages occur in parts of southern Africa and the Sahara are because of desertification due to poor farming practices, conflict between regions, and natural changes in weather, such as flash floods and drought

2. Three ways Southern Africa are helping perserve the environment are by protecting the remaining tropical forests, Ivory being banned world wide, and people renewing forests.

Creative Writing: The threats of man, war and famine are quite related to the threats to the environment, desertification and poaching. If there was no famine in Africa, the demand for the meat of African elephants would be lessened greatly, and there would be almost no demand for the killing of these creatures, because of the ban on world-wide trade of ivory. Also, if famine were eliminated, there would be little need for harsh farming of the land, possibly eliminating desertification as well. With no war, there would be no need for weapons, which would mean less demand for metals that are mined from the ground, and this would mean little to no toll on the environment.

2010-03-10T19:23:00.000-08:00

Alternative Fuel Summation

1. I feel that solar power is the alternative fuel that is most ready for mass production because it is renewable, it produces a good amount of energy, and has little effect on the environment, besides the fact that if we were to make it our main fuel source, we would have to cut down forests and put it in spaces that we may not want to, but this is a problem that follows most alternative fuels.

2. I think that electricity coming from nuclear power would be the best substitute for gasoline because it has the highest energy output compared to all of the alternative fuels, making the energy that consumers receive cleaner, safer, and cheaper.

3. The fuel I think must work out the most problems before mass produced is hydroelectric power. This alternative fuel is not yet widely produced and does not produce much energy compared to gasoline or other alternative fuel sources. And this is one of the main problems: it does not produce enough energy. If it is to be mass produced, it would be more likely to succeed if the fuel cells could obtain more energy from the fuel given, otherwise, most people would simply stay with their regular cars.

4. Even though wind power does not produce much energy, I think that it would have the least amount of problems in mass production. This is because the wind turbines could be placed almost anywhere on the world, even in oceans and other large bodies of water, so forest and other ecosystems would not have to be destroyed in order to create a large amount of these turbines.

5. Despite the high amounts of energy produced by this product, I believe that nuclear power would have the most trouble with mass production. This is because it would take a large amount of money to buy all of the safety equipment used to handle the radioactive materials and their waste products. It would take money to make sure that everyone is acting appropriately around these materials and to hollow out mountains and make areas inside of them to store the nuclear waste. And the more power plants we have, the more likely it is for an accident to happen, resulting in nuclear meltdowns, explosions, etc.

Short Essay: From this project, I have seen the advantages and disadvantages to several different kinds of clean alternative fuels that I did not know of before. These included their effectiveness, their impact on the environment, their impact on the economy, and information like this. The future looks brighter for some fuels than others, but the future of some simply depend on how much the fuel can change for better or for worse. For instance, hydroelectric power may not seem very useful or practical for those on a budget, because it does not produce a large quantity of energy for how much fuel it has. Nuclear power is the most realistic alternative fuel because it can produce the largest amount of energy compared to the amount of fuel that it has, making it the most viable. However, wind power seems to be the least plausible of the alternative fuels presented because it can produce a satisfactory amount of energy at some point, but because the patterns of wind change constantly, the amount of energy will be unpredictable, and the overall cost of a wind farm is very high. The most practical fuel for automobile industries to take up over oil would be nuclear power because, despite the possible toll it may take on the environment, it produces the most energy by far. Some fuels will be more accessible than others. For instance, hydroelectric stations are very rare, making them very inaccessible and thus unwanted and impractical compared to other fuel sources. In the future, I would most likely see myself harnessing solar power by putting them on my roof in order to produce some of my own power to save money, but unless the electricity from other sources are mixed in with the electricity I already receive, I doubt that I would use any alternative fuel sources.

2010-01-17T20:47:00.000-08:00

Chapter 16

Section 1

1. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, state-run farms have been modified for the new market economy, Russian industries have been selling parts of their companies to other parts of the world, private car ownership doubled, cellular phone service has doubled, and telecommunications has increased greatly as well.

2. Russia is focused upon becoming a full partner in global community by expanding trade and building international relationships with the Pacific Economic Cooperation and the World Trade Organization.

Creative Writing: In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev and his successor, Boris Yeltsin, made a transition into a market economy by encouraging privatization and foreign investment. By letting small businesses start and grow, and allowing a turn towards investing in technology, Russia eventually got out of its economic turmoil.

Section 2

1. The World Banks's Sustainable Forestry Pilot Project helps Russia manage its forests, along with several civilians, who also make movements against things like the mining operation in Kamchatka.

2. In Russia's future, they country will have to see the affects of their supertrawlers, which kill millions of fish annually, and the possible oil spills from the large pipelines the build.

Creative Writing: During 1949 and 1987, the Soviet Union was exposed to over six hundred nuclear explosions. One fire, in Chernobyl, was exposed to a fire in the nuclear reactor of their town. This fire had 400 times the amount of radioactivity as post-nuclear bomb Hiroshima and swept over Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and several other countries, causing millions of people to be exposed to lethal amounts of radioations.

2010-01-10T16:17:00.000-08:00

Chapter 15

Section 1

1. After the fall of the USSR in 1991, people are able to explore their faiths and traditions and express them, because during the time of the Soviet Union, people were encouraged to take up atheism and not practice their former religions.

2. Russia's major ethnic groups include the Slavs, the Caucasians, and the Turks.

Creative Writing: The practices of post-Soviet Russia have improved greatly compared to the limited action allowed in the USSR. Now that our schooling is more free, we are able to take classes to learn of our heritage and our history as Russians, rather that simply focus on math and science. We can now also take our expressive ideas and use them for our future in arts, now that the Soviet government is no longer limits our art to glorifying the government. As you can see, our country, now, is able to show its true opinions, making this era the better one for Russia.

Section 2

1. The ancestors of the ancient Russians were the Slavs.

2. The causes of the breakup of the USSR include the weakened economy, disagreements between the wages of the workers and the luxuries that their leaders enjoyed, and the conflict that the Soviet Union had with the US.

Creative Writing: During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and America had a virtual "race" as to who could make the best nuclear weapon and were trying to control other countries by their influences of communism and capitalism, respectively. Both of these countries wanted to uses these questionably real weapons as a threat towards the countries that did not follow them. As these countries continually tried to make better weapons, Russia found themselves steadily losing funds that were going to this as well as other causes. With their economy in shambles, the USSR broke apart into several independent countries.

2010-01-03T20:18:00.000-08:00

Chapter 14

Section 1.

1. The land area of Russia is 6.6 million square miles.

2. Russia's natural resources are fossil fuels, such as petroleum and coal, and minerals such as nickel, aluminum, gemstones, and platinum-group metals.

Creative Writing: While Russia is one of the major producers of fossil fuels and minerals in the world, many people may not care what else may lie in its soil. Russian land holds about one fifth of the worlds forests and thus is second only to the Amazon in terms of how much oxygen is released back into the atmosphere. In addition to the amounts of oxygen that the forests put back, they also create a home for millions of living creatures, from single-celled bacteria to woodland creatures. For not only the good of these creatures, but for the good of humanity, the Russian forests must be preserved.

Section 2.

1. Russia's major climate region include steppe, humid continental, subarctic, and tundra.

2. In the tundra, only small plants, such as moss, shrubs, and algae can survive. Softwood timber and other coniferous trees are the major vegetation supported in the subarctic region. In the humid continental regions, there are grasslands, several crops, like wheat and sunflowers, and coniferous-deciduous forests. The steppe climate allows sunflowers, mint, and beans to flourish.

Creative Writing: I have marched with my brothers, sometimes running, in order to try to enter a burning house so that I might find some scraps of food. The moral of my superiors is fading just as quickly as the rest of the men as they see their men fall into the snow from starvation, freezing, and exhaustion. We lose a man with every step towards the fleeing Russians and yet, I have not seen a frozen Russian, most likely due to the fact that they are much more prepared and have adapted to the inhospitable freezing wasteland. While I may not be able to see a few meters in front of me, the outcome of the war is quite clear: not one third of the men will ever see the border of Russia again.

2009-12-12T23:18:00.000-08:00

Chapter 13

Section 1.

1. Three major reasons for economic change in Europe are genetically modified foods, The Maastriccht Treaty, and because more countries are shifting towards a service industry

2. Since the fall of Communism, farming has improved because farmers have more incentive to work harder, the two television networks linked to form INTELSATs, and the European Union was formed.

Creative Writing: While transportation systems are important for service industries, it is much more valuable and worth-while to first develop communications, because without proper communication between industries, tasks cannot be completed and transportation cannot be improved with their lack of money.

Section 2.

1. Because some farming industries overgraze their livestock, remove too much vegetation, etc. soil erosion begins to occur. Industries that have business in building cities cut down forests in order to make them. Due to industries that produce carbon emissions, global warming causes flooding in cities.

2. In order to protect Europe's environment by legally attacking industries who create too much pollution, replacing carbon fuels with natural gases, and organized clean ups in rivers, lakes, etc.

Creative Writing: The anti-pollution laws and acts put in place by members of the EU certainly help the environment of Europe in the present and in the future. Without these laws, major industrial companies would continue to use fossil fuels and put Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere to aid climate change.

2009-12-06T18:47:00.000-08:00

Chapter 12

Section 1

1. In the last hundred years, the populations of islands have increased greatly due to immigration, mostly from South Asia and the West Indies. After World War II, refugees settled in the UK for the most part.

2. For the most part, the most inward part of the land in Northern Europe push people towards the coast, as it usually has a harsher land and climate and the coast has more fertile land.

Creative Writing: The poor in countries with welfare have an obvious benefit of getting money for doing almost nothing, which, although may be an advantage for the people, is a disadvantage for the country as a whole, for they are losing money for citizens who will do almost nothing for it. Workers in countries without welfare may also have a stronger drive to do a good job and do it right, because if they are injured or are fired early in their life, they would not have access to the same amount of money that they would have.

Section 2

1. Religion has helped shape the history of Western Europe through World War II and the Crusades, and the Holy Roman Empire has helped shape both history and government.

2. World War II helped shape the population patterns of Western Europe by moving Jewish refugees out of Germany and into Allied countries, like the UK and France.

Creative Writing: In the next twenty-five years, due to the aging of Western Europe overall population, businesses that require able-bodied men may have problems finding employees. The armies of the countries may also find it more difficult to find new recriutes. Other risky proffesions may come to find less willing people to do those jobs.

Section 3

1. Some of the effects on population patterns and cultures of Southern Europe now that immigration is outpacing emigration includes the obvious result of having a lower population in Southern Europe, but most likely the same amount of cultural activity dispite the amount of people in the region.

2. Cultural elements shared by most of the region of Southern Europe include Latin-based languages, being a Roman Catholic, and being involved in soccer and bull fighting.

Creative Writing: The culture of Ancient Rome still influences the region of Southern Europe with the work of some of the greatest architects and artist of their time. Many of the most known buildings in Southern Europe are influenced by the architectual elements of Ancient Rome, like their columns, arches and domes.

2009-11-29T14:32:00.000-08:00

Chapter 11

Section 1

1. Landforms formed by glaciation include rounded mountains in the northwestern mountain ranges. The Northern European Plain is an example of a landform that is changed by wind for loess that comes from glaciers fertilizes it. In the Mediterranean Sea, tectonic activity help form large islands like Sicily.

2. Rivers vital to Europe's economy include the Thames, which allows oceangoing ships to reach London's ports, the Rhine, which connects several industrial cities, and the Danube, which flows through Germany , Hungary, Romania, and the Black Sea.

Creative Writing: The countries on the Rhine River, especially those that are down stream, will have political both political and economical issues with what the water is used with in the countries it passes. If the water reaches them and is polluted by dirty water mills, their drinking water and their fish would be contaminated.

Section 2

1. Western and southern parts of Europe that lie along large bodies of water recieve the warm maritime winds of the North Atlantic Current. Just like all the other areas of the world, latitude, landforms, and altitude also determine the climate of the regions in Europe.

2. Winds, like the North Atlantic Current, affect the climate of Europe by warming its coast and its water. The prevailing winds also bring warm, moist air to western Europe.

Creative Writing: Possible reasons for these temperatures to differ so greatly are very numerous. Ireland, being a small country on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, will get a great effect from coastal winds even if the area is as inland as possible. Meanwhile, Minnesota is very inland in America, which is quite large in comparison to Ireland. Thusly, it would not get as much effect from the winds. The altitudes of these locations could also by different, causing one to have a naturally high or low temperature.

2009-11-15T15:04:00.000-08:00

Chapter 10, Section 2

1. The development in Latin American countries has caused people to destroy large areas of forests at a time.

2. Due to the massive growth in Latin America's urban population, poor people of some areas must move out into shantytowns, where they are susceptible to the effects of air pollution, widespread disease due to unsanitary communities, and natural disasters such as mud slides and floods.

Creative Writing: Countries in Latin America are dealing with several major problems currently, two of which are overpopulation and border disputes. Most major cities have shantytowns and slums surrounding them, filled with disease and pollution, which can affect the regions around them and the whole world. During border disputes, several billions of dollars are used to aid both sides of the arguement to keep them from going to war and these wars can use major resources that otherwise could have been used to better both sides of the war and the whole world.

2009-11-15T14:38:00.000-08:00

Chapter 10, Section 1

1. The basis of the economies of most of the countries in Latin America is agriculture.

2. Latin America was put into an economically dependent status because they needed to finance industrial developments in the 1960s and the 1970s, and thus borrowed funds from foreign banks. Unfortunately for the Latin American countries, when an economic slowdown occurs, they need to decrease monthly payments, which raises the total amount of interest on their debts.

Creative Writing: A major advantage has been given to the country of Mexico because of the NAFTA, which is the amount of trade, especially in the service industry. With NAFTA, trade between the three countries grew by ten to fifteen percent annually, which benefited Mexico greatly. However, because the workers in Mexico are willing to work for such a minuscule amount of money, and in businesses that harm their environment, Mexico has not seen much economic or environmental improvement

2009-11-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

Chapter 9, Section 3

1. The biggest problem that this area has with the urbanization of its population is the sharp clashing of the rich and poor districts of the cities. This causes megacities to have problems with housing, employment, maintaining infrastructure, crime, and traffic.

2. The two most determining factors of the healthcare of a region are the economy and standards of living.

Creative Writing: If I had a choice between living in a rural area in South America and living in a city, I would choose the city. In a city, the lifestyle would be much more industrialized, leaving with more job offers for my family as long as we do not live in an overpopulated region. In that region, healthcare is also more likely to be an improvement as their would most likely be a higher population and thus a higher demand for good healthcare, which I suppose could also mean a decline in service because people of medical profession could be busy with other people.

2009-11-08T19:43:00.000-08:00

Chapter 9, Section 2

1. In Central America, the majority of the population practices Roman Catholicism.

2. The major ethnic groups that make up this region include those of the indigenous people, Europeans, mestizos, blacks, asians, and mixes between those.

Creative Writing: During his travel to Panama, Vasco de Balboa found that there was but a small peice of land that stood between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This later became important because in 1914 the United States had completed the Panama Canal. This path became a very important trade route to ships making trips that would otherwise make them go around either side of the Americas, which was both dangerous and expensive.

2009-11-08T19:23:00.000-08:00

Chapter 9, Section 1

1. Latin America's Native Americans empires have left cities, terraces, courts, temples, and accurate calenders. The Mayans also left their temples and cities for Latin Americans to explore and investigate.

2. European rule has caused Mexico to political revolts, uprising, etc. for hundreds of years due to Mexico no longer being controlled by natives, then being controlled by wealthy landowners, and finally a president.

Creative Writing: Mexico has many sports that were originally created and practiced in several different nations that Mexico has come to adopt. Mexico's main sport, bullfighting, is derived from its native culture, not foreign nations like other sports. Soccer, another major sport, was created by the English and baseball, which traces of can be found from France all the way back to 1344 AD.

2009-11-01T16:18:00.000-08:00

Chapter 8, Section 2

1. The climate regions represented in Latin America are tropical wet, tropical dry, humid subtropical, steppe, desert, mediterranean, marine west coast, and highland.

2. Areas in Latin America may get changes in climate in specific climate regions because of sudden incline, causing the area to get colder and drier. Also, along the windward side of the continent, new breezes may come in to warm and cool the area while on the leeward side, the area may get drier and hotter.

Creative Writing: On September 17th, my family and I went on I hiking trip up one of the shorter mountains on the Andes. At about noon we drove to an area right in the middle of the tierra fria, around nine thousand feet above sea level, where we could only see evergreen trees every three hundred meters or so, but dense shrub and small plants everywhere. For the next few hours, it was quite cold and dry. After about a mile, we had clearly passed the tree line and there was only grass to be seen, but the cold and dryness of the area could always be felt. By about six o'clock, we had crossed the puna and the snow line and it had gotten to cold for my family, or the vegetation to go further, so we turned back, keeping a quick pace down the mountain, and got back to the car around ten-thirty.

2009-11-01T16:00:00.000-08:00

Chapter 8, Section 1

1. Geographers often divide Latin America into three sub-regions: Middle America, the Caribbean, and South America.

2. Latin America is an economically important region because they are among the leading producers of energy resources like oil and natural gas. They also have large amounts of gold and silver, the world's finest emeralds and several other precious and nonprecious resources.

Creative Writing: The people of Latin America have many uses for the water systems in their countries. For the larger rivers, the people can use the waterways as commercial routes. Rivers can also be used to generate hydroelectric power for that region. Human-made waterways, such as the Panama Canal can be used to cut time out of travels from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.

2009-10-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

Chapter 7, Section 2

1. The United States and Canada could manage their natural resources better by making strict seasons where fishing and hunting is illegal so that the are not under- or over-populated and put harsh legal punishments on poachers. They could find which kinds of trees could supply the best wood and which could grow the fastest and try to farm those, and they could make more natural reserves for trees and animals.

2. Causes of pollution in a region may be caused by lack of plants that can take in carbon dioxide to regulate the amount of fossil fuels that humans are burning and the carbon dioxide regularly exhaled by animals. They could also be chemical waste seeping into water supplies and into soil. These polution factors could result in global climate change, having less trees, thus less animals, and then less people.

Creative Writing: Due to the permafrost melting near the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline, evergreens and other plants could grow around the pipe and start to breach its barrier which may cause the plants to eventually start sucking the moisture out the tube, causing the oil to be altered in one way or another, possibly making the oil unusable. Even if jobs were created to try to cut down the plants growing into the pipline, severe damage would have already come to the pipeline and hundreds of gallons of oil would be wasted.

2009-10-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

Chapter 7, Section 1

1. Due to the development in postindustrial economies in the United States and Canada, people tend to live comfortably next to their workplaces and in a close proximity to some sort of recreational facility because these business are typically placed next to suburbs and recreational facilities.

2. The United States and Canada are interdependent upon each other because we use our trade to help balance out the money we lose from our massive amounts of outsourcing and imports and Canada uses this system to take in our wheat, corn, minerals and other products.

Creative Writing: The United States and Canada both have have market economies, postindustrial economies, and global economies. In a market economy, people are allowed to operate and own their own businesses, which helps postindustrial economies to take place because the owners can focus more on the quality of their service. The most efficient way to improve the quality of their service of course is to make it more high-tech, which leads to a postindustrial economy. And once businesses are able to make high quality goods quickly, they can ship them to other countries, helping form a global economy like the United States and Canada have joined.

2009-10-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

Chapter 6, Section 2

1. Two economic factors that encouraged growth in Canada's western population were the Klondike Gold Rush and the fertile soil in the Prairie Provinces.

2. Canada's religious practices reflect the nation's diverse immigrant population. Its languages now tell us how there was a struggle between British and French settlers and their decedents.

Creative Writing: If America had remained part of the British Empire, trade with Canada would have suffered as things like the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement would no longer exist, which would make trade with Canada less desirable and thus, American culture would be less shown in Canada. Great Britain also might have been less interested in Canada and the money that it could bring in because of the money that America would be bringing in with its gold and silver rushes and things of that nature, which would have made an impact in Canada's development.

2009-10-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

Chapter 6, Section 1

1. When America was first becoming a nation, the population was distributed in a way that people would stay where they could make a living. This way, they would stay near fertile land, areas where fish were abundant, places where they could easily take timber, and other areas that could supply them with plentiful goods they could sell. As technology was increased and made superior, and the industrial revolution was in play, people were able to move out into areas with little water, like the Great Plains and farm cash crops by using the technique known as dry farming.

2. Four cultural elements influenced by immigrant roots that are still practiced today in America are language, religion, arts, and education.

Creative Writing: The Irishman, Peter Mckinly, immigrated to America in 1845 at the age of 20. Because he had arrived in the ages of the Industrial Revolution, he quickly found work building a railroad in northern America. He worked hard on this job; for seventeen years he plowed stakes into the ground with three swings of his hammer. One day, he read in a newspaper about the tragedies of the Civil War and decided to serve in the American Army. During his service in the army, he worked as an artillery man and was very good at it, being able to kill at least one man with each naturally inaccurate shot from his weapon. Miraculously, Peter survived in the war until the surrender at Appomattox Court House, where he was shot in the leg and nearly died of gangrene. After his service, he spent the rest of his life on a farm with his wife and kids in an area in the Great Plains until he was shot in the heart by a rouge Native American at the age of 70 in 1915.

2009-10-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

Chapter 5, Section 2

1. Throughout the United States and Canada, climates that could be found include subtropical, tropical, desert, Mediterranean, humid subtropical, marine west coast, humid continental, steppe, subartic, tundra, and ice cap.

2. Three weather-related hazards found in the United States and Canada are blizzards, supercells, and hurricanes.

Creative Writing: Two cities at the same latitude may have highly different climates because of their exact position, its vegetation, and the amount of water in the area. For instance, Pheonix, Arizona has around the same latitude of Charleston, South Carolina, but because it is on the leeward side of the Rockies, the Sierra Nevadas, and several other landforms, it recieves little moisture whereas Charleston is windward and is drenched in vapor from the Atlantic Ocean. Because Arizona is leeward, its vegetation recieves little water and gives off little while Charleston has many many plants that swell with moisture and keep the air very humid.

2009-10-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

Chapter 5, Section 1

1. Rivers like the Mississippi in America help with trade processes as boats can be used to transport goods up and down the river. Coastal waters can be used for aquaculture and fisheries. Areas around America and Canada are rich with petroleum, minerals, and fossils fuels that could allow those regions to create several different products like gasoline and numerous metal compounds. Timber can also be found in several areas around these areas which could be used to build various structures.

2. Large rivers and the coastal regions of America and Canada play an important role in both countries. Rivers can be used for transporting goods, fishing, and can be used for easy, cheap, and clean water. Coastal regions of these countries can be used for aquaculture and for ports. All throughout America and Canada, there are many natural minerals, renewable resources and a large amount of fossil fuels that could make a very large profit.

Creative Writing: If I were on an airplane going from Virginia to Washington, the first major geographical feature I would see would be the eroded Appalachian Mountains stretching across to both sides of the horizon. Shortly afterward, I would being noticing some of the tributaries of the Mississippi River constantly joining together and picking up speed as they slowly become one river. From then until the Rocky Mountains, I would see almost nothing except the flatlands of the Great Plains and the Central Lowlands and the animals that inhabit it. Then I would see the seemingly endless landforms of the Rockies, along with (if I was taking a path near California) the Sierra Nevadas, the Great Basin, the Columbian Plateau, and finally the Cascade Range, where I would soon be able to see Seattle.

2009-10-04T19:07:00.000-07:00

Chapter 4, Section 4

1. A major factor in determining a country's economic development and trade relationships is knowing what natural resource is abundant in that area.

2. Because of the amount of environment harming substances that are helpful to humans is so high, the Earth is constantly being attacked. With oil tankers and offshore drilling rigs causing oil spills, industries dumping chemical waste, pesticides entering the underground water, and radioactive waste leaking into the soil, our soil and water supplies are constantly being tainted. Air pollution is also a problem due to fossil fuels being continuously burned and acidic chemicals entering the atmosphere.

Creative Writing: My answer on whether undeveloped countries could use fossil fuels would really depend on the resource that replaced fossil fuels. First off, if the resource that replaces fossil fuels is something like corn, then I would agree and say that undeveloped country could use fossil fuels because we, as developed countries, would already be using so much corn as food, not to mention fuel, that in might be more environmentally and economically responsible to just allow them to use fossil fuels. It would also depend on how developed and large the country is already. Using corn as an example again, if the country was small and in the middle of becoming fully developed, then it would be smart to make them use corn, as they would not consume as much with their humans or with their machines.

2009-10-04T17:15:00.000-07:00

Chapter 4, Section 3

1. Autocracy is a form of national government in which a single person has all the power and authority, which is usually given to them by inheritance or ruthless use of police or military power. An oligarchy is a system of government in which a small group holds power which is common in communist countries. In a democracy, leaders rule the country with the consent of the citizens of that nation.

2.Two major economic systems in the world today are the traditional economy and the market economy.

Creative Writing: Because I live in a democratic society, my life is not completely controlled as it would be in communist societies, who would decide for me who should rule the country, what my yearly salary should be, etc. With this democratic society, it is also much harder for corruption to occur in the political officials because there are so many as opposed to oligarchies. However, in this society, political decisions are made slower and are often driven from their actual point because they are checked by too many people with different people with different opinions. People who serve in a market economy have the advantage of producing and selling whatever they want with almost no interference from the government, and thus can set prices to what they want to and make a more profitable business. They also have the ability to over- or under-charge products and either destroy other businesses or their businesses, making a poor national economy.

2009-10-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

Chapter 4, Section 1

1. The factors that define a culture are its language, religion, daily life, history, art, government, and economy.

2. Migration and the information revolution affected interactions between cultures in recent years. Migration because it allowed cultural diffusion to give way in large amounts and the information revolution because it allowed people to connect in a several new ways.

Creative Writing: If I lived in a world that had not gone through the information revolution, I would wake up with the sound of a normal clock ringing and would have gotten out of bed. I would then eaten some regular bread with some jam, packed a lunch, gotten in the shower, and gotten ready for school as cosmetically, not wearing contacts because computers would not have been able to find the curvature of my eyes. I would have then gone to Edison where I would be taught by teachers that used untechnologically advanced equipment, such as chalk boards and physical files that were not on a computer to input grades and do other tasks like that. I would go home on my bike, get ready to run, and go back to school for cross country where I would run across streets whose traffic was directed by someone who needed community service or a police officer. I would get back home from the practice afterward and do some homework that I would get out my binders only because I could not print them out, then eat dinner, then do more homework, and finally get ready for bed and fall asleep around nine o'clock.

2009-09-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

Chapter 3, Section 3

1.
Geographers classify the climate regions of the world based on their characteristic soils and natural vegetation.
2.
Reoccuring phenomona can stop, change or reverse the patterns of the prevailing winds and currents, causing a warm up or cool down or a certain area .
Creative Writing:
Where I live, our soil is quite fertile, supporting a large variety of crops. We will rarely recieve rain, and when we do, it is in small quantities. Because of the amount of vegetation we have, we also can support several different kinds of wildlife in abundance, such as bears, several birds, and a large amount of ocean and desert life.

2009-09-27T16:54:00.000-07:00

Chapter 3, Section 2

1.
Lower latitudes will generally have a lot of direct rays from the sun year-round and warm and hot climates while higher ones will have indirect but continuous sunlight year-round or have near continuous light almost all year. In midlatitudes, areas will rarely see a drastic change in temperature, except when they change seasons. Generally, the higher the elevation of an area, the less heat.
2.
The winds from the poles blow towards the equator and the tropic winds blow towards the poles do to the temperature differences on the Earth's surface, thus giving parts the Earth warm wind at one point in the year, and cool wind at another point. As ocean currents circulate, cold water from the poles cool land when they pass just as warm water warms the land. Landforms may influence the climate with the rain shadow effect meaning that the windward side of a mountatin range recieves most of the ocean from the ocean while the leeward side becomes hot and dry.
Creative Writing:
If the North Atlantic Current weakened or shut down permenately, Western European climate would drastically change. The coast of this land mass would lose a great deal of heat, on both the windward and leeward side of mountain ranges. And because of this cool down, the wind would carry even less heat to other regions of Europe as well.

2009-09-27T16:28:00.000-07:00

Chapter 3, Section 1

1.
Earth's postition in relation to the sun affects the temperatures on Earth because the sun is the Earth's source of heat, thus the closer one area is to the sun, the hotter it will become, and the further away it is, the cooler it will be.
2.
Global warming will make bodies of water evaporate more rapidly, generating mare rainfall and increasing humidity. The Earth's soil, therefore, will dry out more quikly between rains and because of this, the atmosphere will have less oxygen coming in from plants, and will also have the gradual increase of carbon dioxide coming from the burning of the fossil fuels.
Creative Writing:
I agree and disagree with the thought that global warming is natural and there is nothing we can do to stop it. With the population increasing at an alarming rate, people will naturally take in more oxygen and produce carbon dioxide while eating more plants that will absorb this. So, in this sence, global warming could be natural, however, I do not agree that there is nothing we could do to stop it. We could drive more fuel efficient cars, or less cars, find cleaner energy sources, and do other things to burn less fossil fuels.

2009-09-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

Chapter 2, Section 2

1.Plates under the surface of the Earth have moved the land masses from a supercontinent known as Pangea. These same plates also formed oceans, mountains, volcanoes, trenches, and produce earthquakes. Layers under the surface of the world like these plates are slowly creating land masses and spreading them apart and pushing them together.

2.Internal forces of change differ from the results of external forces of change because one may have a much greater affect in a particular way. For instance, internal forces may be able to move countries and oceans around, cause eruptions, and cause earthquakes. Meanwhile, external forces would be able to wear certain surfaces away through wind, glacial, and water erosion and through weathering.

Creative Writing: Because of the internal forces of change, North America has changed much from what it was 225 million years ago. If not for these forces, North America would still be bordering Eurasia, South America, and Africa, meaning that we would probably be sharing some of the same physical characterics that they do today. Also, the islands of Hawaii would never have been created, along with any of the volcanoes we have today and any changes made by earthquakes would not have happened.

2009-09-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

Chapter 2, Section 1

1. The hydrosphere are the oceans, lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water that make up 70% of the Earth's surface. The lithosphere makes up about another 30% of our planet, which includes the continents, islands, and the ocean basins of Earth. The atmosphere is a layer of gases extending above the Earth's surface and is composed mostly of nitrogen and oxygen. The part of the planet that supports life is the biosphere, which naturally takes place in the atmosphere and around the area of the lithosphere.

2.The Mariana Trench, located in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Guam, is at the greatest distance from sea level.

Creative Writing:
When objects from space land on the Earth, they can devastating effects on the areas of the world. On impact of the lithosphere, large meteorites can destroy hundreds of miles of land and any creatures of the biosphere in its path, making it so those creatures could never have offspring, so in the long run, millions of creatures could have been born if not for those deaths. The same effects could be seen if it landed in the hydrosphere as well, as the shock waves could have killed several marine animals.

2009-09-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

Chapter 1, Section 2

1.
Two major branches of geography are physical geography and human geography. Physical geography covers the Earth's physical features such as climate, land, water, plants, animal life in terms of their relationships to one another and to humans, and animal and plant ecosystems. Human geography studies human activities and their relationship to the cultural and physical environments as well as political, economic, social, and cultural factors of humanity
2.
Geography can be used by businesses to determine whether or not a site is suitable for human habitation or has resources worth developing. It can also be used by planners to decide to build new schools or highways in a particular place by checking population growth and migration.
Creative Writing:
The site of Huntington Beach is its location at the bottom of the San Pedro Bay. Its situation is as a farming land and a tourist attraction. This city is a perceptual region for most of its citizens are republicans. Huntington Beach has changed a great deal due to the people who have moved into it. Before the cities in California became cities, the were filled with gold and oil, but as the number of settlers increased, the amount of these products dwindled. More recently, the amount of migration towards this city has not greatly altered our cultures somewhat laid back and eco-friendly culture, besides making it more "green" with things like separated trashcans that were supplied to the public to support recycling.

2009-09-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

Chapter 1, Section 1

1.
Two concerns that cartographers have when they select a map are finding a location to map and deciding how much detail they want in it. This is because on some standard versions of maps, some areas are more distorted than others, for instance the Mercator projection is more distorted towards the poles than most others, so that would not be the logical projection to use when mapping places like southern Argentenia. Knowing how much detail the cartographer wants in it is just as important because this will affect how large the projection will need to be as well as how much he will need to space between certain areas to show things like names of lakes clearly.
2.
On a typical urban area map, two physical features might be plains or woodland areas. Human-man features may include buildings and streets. And if the projection shows the edges of cities, borders and city names could also be found on an urban area map.
Creative Writing:
If I were to be a city planner looking for areas to put elementary schools, I would want to put several forms of data into my GIS. I would start by finding out how much children would be eligible to go to elementary schools in all areas that might be used the site to find out how many students that school could plan on receiving and to find areas that would be easily to accessible to most of those possible students. Next, I would attempt to find the amount of adults with teaching credentials to see how many adults would be able to teach in that area. I would also want to check the area for negative influences, such as possible gang or other criminal activity to assure that the students attending the school would not would not be influenced by that kind of life style.

2009-09-10T18:35:00.001-07:00

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