Human Geography
We have put behind us Physical Geography, which dealt with the natural world for
weather, climate, and landforms. Now we’re taking on population, culture, the
environment, political, and economic geography – these are the human sides of
geography involving people on Earth. None of these disciplines of population,
culture, the environment, political, and economic geography operate independently.
Each influences the others, and each in turn is affected by the others.
POPULATION AND MIGRATION
Population geography may seem a bit dry at first, but the ramifications of
population increase and population migration is immense. Think of the last
Thanksgiving dinner you attended and the amount of food and the number of people
there to eat it. I would bet that there was a lot of food left over. BUT, if each year
there were 3% more people at the Thanksgiving dinner table, or 30% in ten years
(which is the rate of World population growth), then how many people would that
be at your table. How about in 20 years; 30 years; or 50 years. At what point would
you not be able to feed them? Yes there are advances in food production, but there
are vast inequities in food distribution and availability. Weather and climate are
integral factors that affect food production.
As for migration, what are the “Push” factors that encourage (and often force)
people to move across space – voluntarily or involuntarily? We’re watching the
classic case now with the Syrian conflict that is forcing people to migrate away from
danger and persecution – crowding onto overloaded boats that sink with heavy loss
of life; or flee to adjoining borders to escape. Look at the immigrant populations of
Seattle or any large city and speculate why they came here. What were the push and
pull factors? Where they “pushed” from where they once lived and/or where they
enticed by some very strong pull factors. WHAT ARE THOSE PUSH AND PULL
FACTORS? List them. What push and pull factors influenced you or your ancestors to
come to live where you are?
CULTURE
France used to be the classic model of one culture in one nation; one country. Nearly
everyone spoke French, and most people were Roman Catholic. France has a long
tradition of law, educational system, political structure, and distinct regions that
were cultural cohesive. Migration has and continues to change France with peoples
immigrating from North Africa, Eastern Mediterranean countries, and Eastern
Europe. Political boundaries arbitrarily set in the 1800s rarely respected cultures,
and today this has caused many riffs, rivals, and splits. Some cultures found
themselves spread over several different countries, such as the Kurdsish people in
Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Lebanon, Western Europe, and
even North America. Is the civil war in Syria cultural? Are these other reasons for
the conflict? Different cultures who exist together peacefully for long periods of time
can suddenly erupt into conflict. Why?
NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT IMPACTS
Climate change is no longer a debated issue. People and businesses are changing the
environment over and above what nature itself does in swings of climate.
Population increase and large-scale economic production are two of the larger
influences and you are the first generation to fully live to the handed-down
ramifications of the excesses of previous generations. Will the air, water, land,
wildlife and food production get so bad that it is irretrievable or can current and
future generations retard, stop, or reverse the effects of climate change? Key words:
sustainability, renewable resources and non-renewable resources.
POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY
Political geography deals with countries, nations, nation-states, borders – their
permeability or impermeability. The concepts of centrifugal and centripetal where
the former has forces that spins the nation apart and the latter has forces that pull a
nation together. Communication and the Internet does not respect borders and at no
time in previous history has there been more wide spread exchange of ideas across
space. You’re living in an era as important as the invention of the printing press in
the 1500s. Both the Internet and the printing press allowed the quick and cheaper
spread of ideas – though the Internet is even cheaper and quicker.
Carefully read and consider the nine "Habits of Highly Effective Countries" proposed
by Thomas L. Friedman and compare and contrast the United States with the
current situation in Syria. Ask yourself if the United States is doing all it can to
improve upon these nine points, and for Syria what is prevents this country from
making headway on these points:
1. The speed that the country and society evaluates, innovates, decision-makes,
deregulates, and adapts is crucial to the thriving of a country;
2. The country must be harvesting its knowledge and putting it to good use to
increase the aforesaid speed;
3. A country needs to be open to the rest of the world—a main factor that has
made the Internet grow as large as it has. A country must be open and
searching for the best minds in the world to increase economic growth;
4. The weight of a country, exporting of raw materials is heavy and the
production of intelligence is light, is very crucial. The success of a country
depends on the lightness of it;
5. A country must be open to its inside to prevent corruption;
6. Strategic vision and strong management must be present;
7. The country must be willing to let go of the "wounded" businesses and
nurture the surviving ones;
8. The country must have friends and alliances that will offer support in times
of war or economic deficit; and
9. A country must build up and encourage its citizens.
ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
Primary, secondary and tertiary economies are concepts you must understand, but
they are simple and basic.
More importantly for economics and businesses, whether it be the independent
owner or a multinational company, ask yourself if the nine Friedman point that
applied to nations apply to companies.
1. The speed that the company and its collective employees evaluate, innovate,
decision-make, deregulate, and adapt is crucial to the thriving of a business;
2. The company must be harvesting its knowledge and putting it to good use to
increase the aforesaid speed;
3. A company needs to be open to the rest of the world—a main factor that has
made the Internet grow as large as it has. A company must be open and
searching for the best minds in the world to increase economic growth;
4. The weight of a company, exporting of raw materials is heavy and the
production of intelligence is light, is very crucial. The success of a company
depends on the lightness of it;
5. A company must be open to its inside to prevent corruption;
6. Strategic vision and strong management must be present;
7. The company must be willing to let go of the "wounded" divisions and
nurture the surviving ones;
8. The company must have friends and alliances that will offer support in times
of financial hard times or economic deficit; and
9. A company must build up and encourage its workers.
These are the topics and ideas we cover in the second part of this course, and the
more engaged you becomes with these topics and ideas, the more you will take with
you to utilize and make inroads of change throughout your lifetime.
Thanks
Bob