Ashley's Human Geo Blog

Today in human geography we went over the test and what the answers were. I am going to try to get a better grade next time.  We also took notes today on push and pull forces. Many people are trying to go to Canada because it has a free healthcare system. This is a pull factor because people want to go into the country. Another pull factor is religious freedom. Many people are persecuted in places like Syria so they migrate to places like the United States and Canada. The United States has many pull factors, political freedom. In Russia, many people go missing or are put in jail for going against Putin. This is a push factor, which causes people to migrate to other countries.

Today in human geography, we took notes on population. The world population is increasing due to birth control and less people wanting to have five kids and more and wanted to do things with their life. The population has also been increasing by the billions even quicker. We watched a stat based clock that counted the world population and it was slowly going up. Lots of people were dying, but more people were being born.

In human geography we took a test. It was kinda easy but there were a few questions I was confused on. I know I got at least two wrong. I don't test very well. I got sort of confused with the meridians question because the phrase "in between" confused me a little. The essay questions were good though, they were actually kind of fun to do.

Today in human geography we went over what to study for the big test tomorrow. There were some things we needed to know: - The guy who made time zones - What cartography is - What meridians are - What prime meridians are - There are 27 time zones - Mercator vs Peters map - what globalization is - Thinking globally and locally (one example of it) - what a cultural landscape is - Why every place on Earth is unique - Site vs Situation - And what a geographic coordinate system is Sir Sanford Fleming made time zones. Cartography is the fine art of making maps. Meridians are imaginary longitude lines that stretch across the earth and reach across the North and South pole. Prime Meridian is a meridian which has a longitude of 0 degrees and runs through Greenwich, England. Mercator map is more recognized however it distorts the size of objects as the latitude increases from the Equator to the poles. Peters is less recognized however it is more accurate. Globalization is the

Today in human geography, Mr. Schick made people cry. It was a really depressing class because one of Mr. Schicks dogs had to be put down. As some one who loves dogs, I couldn't imagine losing my dog. Some people started crying and some people started telling stories of their pets dying. Some of them were actually so terrible and morbid it was kind of funny. After we all mourned, we went on to talk about global warming and how the government might not be doing enough. Scott Pruitt, a long time adversary of the EPA was recently sworn in as leader. Pruitt has sued the EPA on many occasions for regulations on different types of pollution. It is said that he plans to get rid of many regulations in the fossil fuel industry. I think that this is probably going to end terribly and I'm actually terrified for the future of my country.

Notes: Geographers think about scale at many levels, from local to global. At a local scale, such as an urban neighborhood, geographers tend to see unique features. At the global scale, encompassing the entire world, geographers tend to see broad patterns. A generation ago, people concerned with environmental quality proclaimed, “Think global, act local.” The phrase meant that the environment was being harmed by processes such as global warming that were global in scale, but it could be improved by actions, such as consuming less gasoline, that were local in scale. Contemporary geographers offer a different version of the phrase: “Think and act both global and local.” All scales from local to global are important in geography—the appropriate scale depends on the specific subject. Geography matters in the contemporary world because it can explain human actions at all scales, from local to global. At the national and international scales, geography is concerned with such questions as

Today in human geography we talked about a bunch of different stuff. We mainly talked about how oil is slowly running out. The United States is the leading exporter in Oil and ranked third in imports. We use so much plastic in the U.S which is a problem because there's only so much oil. There are much better alternatives that are better for the environment. Using things like electronic cars and solar panels would help, however, to preserve its immense profit, the coal and oil industry encourages not using these alternatives because "it's too expensive." Oil spills have been proven to be extremely terrible things for the environment, however, with solar panels that's not an issue. We also talked about the issue of global warming. The Earth is heating up rapidly and burning coal constantly is not helping. With the increase of temperature, the Gulf of Mexico would face more threat from hurricanes that get more powerful from all the heat. After all, there was like 7 h

Today in human geography we worked on our maps we had previously worked on. Towards the end of class, Mr. Schick asked us to find one interesting fact about a country of our choosing. I chose Japan, and I found some pretty interesting stuff. Japan's national anthem, "Kimigayo" (The Emperor's Reign) is the oldest anthem lyrics in the world, dating to the 10th century or earlier. It was the unofficial anthem since 1883 and it was adopted in 1999. Also there is some opposition to the anthem, because of its association with worship of the emperor and militarism. This kind of reminds me of the problems we have in America today. Is it hate or history? It's interesting that other countries have some similar cultural problems as America.

Today in human geography, we took a pop quiz. Then, we were assigned with labeling a world map with the top 25 most populated countries in the world. Mr. Schick introduced the CIA's website so we could find the top 25 and also so we could use it in the future for any project relating so a certain country. I was surprised with the amount of information the site had on each individual country. It was interesting to see how the different countries ranged in stats, like literacy and religions. India was second on the top 25 list, with a population growth rate at 1.2%. China however is still ahead of India by about 100 million. Mr. Schick explained to us how by the near future, India would surpass China's population, as China's growth rate is 0.4%. I did some research on China later today and apparently it is expected to witness a zero population growth rate by 2030. It is fascinating to see how many things factor into population.

Today in human geography, we talked about latitude and longitude. Values range from 0 degrees (prime meridian) to 180 degrees East or West longitude.   Parallels are arcs drawn parallel to the equator and at right angles to meridians. Each is numbered, according to a system known as latitude. Values range from 0 degrees(equator) to 90 degrees North or South. We also discussed time zones. Each time zone tends to follow the boundaries of countries because it is easier to keep the same time. For example, Wisconsin and Illinois are apart of Central Time Zone but Indiana is not. Another example is Iceland. It is technically in another time zone (-1 GMT) but it follows 0 GMT. Its interesting to imagine how travelers from places across the world adjust to different time zones. Maybe there would even be a psychological affect?

Today in human geography, we talked about time. We discussed the different time zones and who made them and how there were different meridians. In Greenwich, England, (the 181th meridian) is the center of these time zones, aka prime meridian. For example, the Atlantic area in the United States is -4 hours from GMT. Mr. Schick also went all Socrates on us and asked us why we have different time zones and not all just use the same time. Some people answered with the circadian rythme, some people got really confused and couldn't answer. I think it is an interesting question, and I do believe the only reason why we continue to measure time like we do is because it's been done that way for a long time. It would take much effort to change the system, and that effort is simply something people are not interested in.

Today in human geography we didn't really do much. Most people were finishing the assignment. We didn't discuss anything either. Overall I didn't learn anything. However, Mr. Schick presented a new idea for the uniform. Both guys and girls would wear a flight suit type thing and for each club you were in you'd get a patch like in Boy Scouts. I think this is a pretty good idea considering the unfairness of the uniform. Also I think we would all look pretty awesome.

Today in human geography class, we discussed region and cultural landscape. A cultural landscape is an area fashioned from nature by a cultural group. It is combination of different cultural features like language, religion, climate, vegetation, agriculture and industry. These areas can be quite large or quite small. For example, somewhere like Maine can be distinguished from Nevada because they have very different cultural landscapes. Several neighboring countries can also share important features. We also discussed region. There are several types of regions: formal, functional, vernacular. A formal region is an area within which everyone shares a common one or more distinct characteristics. A formal region is also called a homogeneous or uniform region. Unfortunately, it was harder to concentrate in class because I couldn't stop thinking about the recent terror attacks in Las Vegas. It hit very close to home for me.