GEOG 1020 Final: Study Guide
13 Jun 2018
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GEOG 1020 Study Guide
Defining geography
• One of the oldest disciplines in the world, difficult subject because it encompasses past,
present, future, local, global
• Study of Earth's landscapes, peoples, places, and environments
• Social science: study of human society and social relationships
• Physical science: study of inanimate objects, astronomy
• Bridges social and natural science
Place
• What it’s like
• What is there
• Why it’s there
• Objective (house) vs subjective (home)
Human/Environment interaction
• How we change the environment and how the environment affects us
Movement
• How places are connected
Regions
• How places are groups
Scale
Different Perspectives on Nature
Religious/philosophical perspectives
• Taoist: intrinsic value of nature
• Buddhist: people are integral part of nature, our responsibility to care for it
• Judaism and Christianity: nature created by God, separately from humans
• Aboriginal beliefs: Humans are part of nature, two interdependent societies
• Many believe plants and animals are inhabited by ancestor spirits or deities
• Beliefs affect how resources are used
• Hindu - sacred cow
• Islamic and Jewish religious edicts on eating pics
• First Nations' connection to nature, people are stewards to the earth, resources
should not be exploited but should be taken care of to pass to future generations
Human Impacts on the environment
Rise and spread of agriculture
• Hunting and gathering used for 90% of human history, limited to basic needs
• Beginning of agriculture 12,000 BCE, in Mesopotamia/fertile crescent
• Domestic animals, cattle, sheep
• human settlements, towns, lead to urbanization
• Planting grains for better harvest
• Surplus of people --> other functions in society
• Neolithic farming, massive clearing of land for agriculture
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Medieval times, 80% of Europe's forests cleared
• New buildings
Columbian exchange
• Exchange of plants and animals between "new world" and "old world"
• Domesticated animals (cattle, ox,) brought over to North America
• Transfer of crops, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, pineapples brought to Europe, Africa;
banana, sugarcane, coffee brought to Americas
• Disease
• Mortality rates estimated to be 90% in some areas (measles, small pox) because
indigenous people did not have defence against them
• Considered as genocide
• Colonization
Industrial revolution
• Discovery and use of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas)
• Pollution and environmental damage (use, extraction and transportation)
• 19th century, steam engines originally used to pump out coal mines
• Internal combustion engines
• Rise of automobiles allowed humans to move further, shaped human land use
Silent Spring, 1962
• Emergence of environmental movement
• Warned of dangers of pesticides and wildlife
• Impact of pesticides on other species and ecosystems
Environmental challenges today
• Deforestation
• 1 million hectares of land cut and replanted in Canada
• Clear cutting
• Replanting creates monocultures
• Conversion of approx. 8million square KM of forest globally since 17th century
• Highest in tropical rainforest regions (.5 ha per second)
• Loss of Amazonian rainforest
• Desertification
• Acid rain
• Urban air pollution
• Water pollution
• Loss of biodiversity
• Depletion of natural resources
• Soil erosion
• Climate change
• Greenhouse effect
• Anthropogenic climate change stands in contrast with cyclical changes to Earth's
climate that have happened throughout its history
• 10 indicators of warming world
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find more resources at oneclass.com
• Humidity
• Air temperature near surface
• Sea level
• Temperature over oceans
• Sea surface temperature
• Sea ice
• Ocean heat content
• Land temperature
• Glaciers
• Snow cover
• Major causes of greenhouse gasses
• Cars, lights, entertainment
• Industrial rev - reliance on fossil fuels
• Expansion of agriculture
Case study: Haitian Deforestation
• French colonial coffee and sugar plantations
• Timber industry in 19th and 20th century
• Food and fuel needs for population growth
• Rural clearance of great tracts of land for subsistence farming, slash and burn
agriculture
• Resulted in lack of protection against hurricanes, mudslides
• 2006 - 98% of country's forest is chopped (debated number)
• 30 million trees' worth of charcoal annually
Primary drivers of globalization (technological advancements in):
• Transportation
o Promotes increased interaction between people and places
o Universal shipping containers
o Global network of connected centers emerged
• Communication
o Faster communication with suppliers
o Integrated networks formed by telecommunications and computers
o Fiber-optic cables, satellites, wireless grid link, computer, facsimiles, telephones
3 perspectives of globalization
• Hyper-globalist: Globalization as the process through which mankind can achieve
prosperity and higher qualities of life
• Skeptic: Globalization is over-stated, that it is a myth, as are those perceived benefits
under globalization that the globalists present
• Transformationalist: Globalization is a long term historical process, which its origins in
the colonial expansion of western European states in the 16th century
Flat world
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Place: what it"s like, what is there, why it"s there, objective (house) vs subjective (home) Human/environment interaction: how we change the environment and how the environment affects us. Islamic and jewish religious edicts on eating pics should not be exploited but should be taken care of to pass to future generations. Silent spring, 1962: emergence of environmental movement, warned of dangers of pesticides and wildlife. Impact of pesticides on other species and ecosystems. Environmental challenges today: deforestation, 1 million hectares of land cut and replanted in canada, clear cutting, replanting creates monocultures, conversion of approx. 8million square km of forest globally since 17th century: highest in tropical rainforest regions (. 5 ha per second) Loss of amazonian rainforest: desertification, acid rain, urban air pollution, water pollution, depletion of natural resources, soil erosion, climate change. Land temperature: major causes of greenhouse gasses, cars, lights, entertainment, expansion of agriculture.
