Earth Lights at Night
Canada's population is almost exclusively along the US border. There is a high population concentration along the Mediterranean Coast.
It's easy to spot London, Paris, Stockholm and Vienna. Note the Nile River and the rest of the "Dark Continent." After the Nile,
significant lights don't come on again until Johannesburg. Look at the Australian Outback and the Trans-Siberian Rail Route. Note the difference between North and South Korea. Note the density of India and Japan.
What else can you see?
This is what the Earth looks like at night. Can you find your favorite country or city? Surprisingly, city lights make this task quite possible. Human-made lights highlight particularly developed or populated areas of the Earth's surface, including the seaboards of Europe, the eastern United States, and Japan. Many large cities are located near rivers or oceans so that they can exchange goods cheaply by boat. Particularly dark areas include the central parts of South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The above image is actually a composite of hundreds of pictures made by orbiting satellites.
Human-Environment Interaction
What two things do the following photos have in common?
What two things do the photos have in common?
People and Nature
Human-Environment Interaction:
The study of the interrelationship between people and their physical environment.
1. How Does the EnvironmentInfluence Human Behavior?
2. How Do Humans Influence Their Environment?
Two Important Questions?
By understanding how the Earth’s physical features and processes shape and are shaped by human activity, geographers help societies make informed decisions.
Why study Human-Environment Interaction?
Settlement patterns Housing materials Agricultural activity Recreational activity Transportation patterns
How Does the EnvironmentInfluence Human Behavior:
How do people use their environment, how and why do they change it, and what consequences result from these changes?
Examples: Diverting water: dams, canals, polders Changing the landscape: terrace
farming, deforestation, desertification Changing the environment: acid rain,
pollution
How Do Humans Influence Their Environment?
Aswan High DamFACTS:
Built 1979
Control FloodingNile River
Aswan, Egypt
Lake Nasser
Helped with Irrigation
Decreased soil fertility
Aral Sea
FACTS:
Central Asia
UzbekistanKazakhstan
Formerly USSR: Diverted water to grow cotton/rice
Disappearing waters and poisonous runoff from the fields have caused the sea to shrink and increased desertification.
Colorado RiverFACTS:
1450 miles
Through SW U.S. and NW Mexico
Source – Rocky Mtns.
Mouth – Gulf of California
More than 20 dams
Water diverted to the Imperial Valley
No longer reaches the Gulf of California
Polders in the NetherlandsFACTS:
Northern Europe
Most of the country is below sea level
Sea walls/dunes protect it from the sea.
DeforestationRainforest FACTS:Contain more than ½ the world's 10 million species of plants, animals and insects
One-fifth of the world's fresh water
20 percent of the world oxygen
Brazil – SANepal – AsiaMalaysia - Asia
Once covered 14 % of earth.
Now cover 6%
1-1/2 acres lost every minute
Desertification
Greatest Areas of Impact
Africa – Sahara DesertAsia – Gobi Desert
Central AsiaSW United States
CAUSES:
Overgrazing
Drought
Poor Farming Techniques
Overpopulation
Natural Climate Patterns
Acid Rain
Given the causes, where might you find acid rain the most?
Acid Rain
Developed Countries: US, Europe, China
Coniferous forests in the Appalachian Mountains destroyed by acid rain.
Pollution
AIR
LAND
WATER
Mexico City, Mexico Buenos Aires, Argentina Beijing, China Cairo, Egypt Seoul, South Korea Karachi, Pakistan Jakarta, Indonesia Los Angeles, California USA
Most Polluted Cities:
Mexico City reports unhealthy ozone emissions nearly 85% of the year. Mexico's geographical location--in the center of a volcanic crater and surrounded by mountains-- locks in the air pollution, causing smog to sit above the city.
Mexico City
Chernobyl, Ukraine
Chernobyl, Ukraine - Chernobyl is now infamous for the 1986 nuclear disaster that killed 30 people, forced 35,000 to evacuate their homes, and left a 19-mile radius around the plant that is still uninhabitable to this day.