





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.
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.
1. How Does the Environment
Influence Human Behavior?
2. How Do Humans Influence Their
Environment?
By understanding how the Earth’s
physical features and processes
shape and are shaped by human
activity, geographers help
societies make informed
decisions.





Settlement patterns
Housing materials
Agricultural activity
Recreational activity
Transportation patterns
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
FACTS:
Built 1979
Control Flooding
Nile River
Aswan, Egypt
Lake Nasser
Helped with
Irrigation
Decreased
soil fertility
FACTS:
Central Asia
Uzbekistan
Kazakhstan
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.
FACTS:
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
FACTS:
Northern Europe
Most of the
country is below
sea level
Sea walls/dunes
protect it from the
sea.
Rainforest
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 – SA
Nepal – Asia
Malaysia - Asia
Once covered
14 % of earth.
Now cover 6%
1-1/2 acres lost
every minute
Greatest Areas of Impact
Africa – Sahara Desert
Asia – Gobi Desert
Central Asia
SW United States
CAUSES:
Overgrazing
Drought
Poor Farming
Techniques
Overpopulation
Natural Climate
Patterns
Given the causes, where might
you find acid rain the most?
Developed Countries: US, Europe, China
Coniferous forests in the Appalachian
Mountains destroyed by acid rain.
AIR
LAND
WATER








Mexico City, Mexico
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Beijing, China
Cairo, Egypt
Seoul, South Korea
Karachi, Pakistan
Jakarta, Indonesia
Los Angeles, California USA
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.
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.