Geography exam review + vocabulary

Population distribution

• The way people are spread out across the surface of the earth.

• Persons per square kilometer

Physical factors affecting population distribution

• Climate

• Temperature

• Natural disaster

• Pollution

• Elevation

• Coastal

• Access to natural resources

  • Water and food

• Fertile crop soil

Human factors affecting population distribution

• job opportunities

• Higher pay

• Stability

• Friends/ family

• Cultural beliefs

• Education

• Healthcare

• Taxes

• War/conflict

• Communication

• Infrastructure

• Safety

  • Crime rate

• Political beliefs

• Good government

• Good economy

• Standard of living

  • Cost

  • Poverty rate

• Urban development

• Manufacture

Scale of population distribution

Global population distribution

• By physical factors over human factors

Local/regional scale

• Human factors over physical factors

World Bank GNI

Dollar value of a country's final income in a year, divided by a population

Causes of Economic development

Social,historical, Economic,environmental, political

Internal Economic development

• Demographics

• Political systems & corruption

• Natural resources

• Climate & diseases

• Internal Capital formation

External Economic development

• Colonialisation

• Trade & Financial flow

  • TNC

  • Foreign Aid

Demographics

Youthful dependent vs economically active vs elderly dependent ratio

• Productivity

• Economic strain

• A population's future on DTM

Political systems & corruption

Policies that allow more open trade e investments

= faster more stable growth

(HK & Canada)

Compared to less transparent political systems

(North Korea) 북한

Natural resources

↑minerals, fossil fuels = ↑wealth

→ Not always true

• Paradox of plenty

  • Could have poor management, lack of capital,poor infrastructure & corruption (drc)

• Countries with ↓resources can have ↑money due to open trade &transparent political systems (Japan)

Climate & disease

Hot & humid tropical climates

• breeds insects that spread diseases

  • malaria

  • dengue fever

  • African sleeping disease

• impacts human health and development

• ↓capacity to attend school and learn skills and work

  • animals like livestock also get diseases

Internal capital formations

• a country procures financial support of their own to fund development projects

• LIC → low incomes

  • Housing, food, water = little savings

    • Less tax revenue = ↓ investments into development

    • ↓infrastructure, services and education

    • “cycle of poverty”

Colonisation

Colonies bring skills customs, infrastructural development

BUT!!

• political systems can limit high level involvement by locals

  • Unstable post-independent

• Useless infrastructure

Aid, Trade & Financial flows

• global organisations, NGOs, bilateral/multilateral if funds for countries that lack the capital to invest into their own development

  • political/economic strings attached

  • TNC or MNC invest in countries

    • Expect profits back and loan repayments

HIC

12,535

Institutions

• safety

• Education

• Health

• Transport

• Corruption = poverty

Culture

• less beliefs

  • ↑money

• belief in change

Geography

• coastal

• better agriculture

• less disease

Internal Migration

Movement of people within a country, for a different job and life opportunities

• not necessarily permanent

• Often rural-urban, city to city, village to village

Voluntary

• Job

• Education

• Healthcare

• Standard of Living

• Cost of living

• Climate

• Family

• Beliefs

Core-periphery patterns

As general prosperity grows worldwide, the majority of that growth is enjoyed by a ‘core’ region of wealthy countries, regions or groups of ppl despite being severely outnumbered in population by those in a ‘periphery’ that are ignored

Core

• strong foreign investment

• High employment and salaries

• Reliable communication and technology

• Large tertiary and quaternary industry sector

• Quality infrastructure

• Net immigration

• Cultural diversity

Periphery

• Less foreign investment

• High unemployment and low salaries, large informal economies

• Low levels of literacy

• Large primary and secondary industry sectors

• Less reliable infrastructure

• Possible resource shortage

• Net emigration

• Les cultural diversity

Semi-periphery

• combination of the two economic situation improves while infrastructure also is slowly improving

  • Leads to increasing levels of disparity within a country

chain of production (industries)

Sectors of business

Primary - Natural resources, Agriculture

Secondary - Production

Tertiary - Services

Quaternary - Knowledge/intellect

Megacity

10 million ppl in population

Push and Pull factors for mega cities

Pull

• economic

  • ↑job+↑income

• Infrastructure

  • Buildings, roads, transport

  • Network, communication

• Social

  • Family

  • Friends

• Cultural

  • Majority religions

• Political

  • Freedom, transparency

• Health

  • Healthcare services

Push

• Economic

  • ↓Trade +↓Economic

  • Flow= low employment

• Conflict

  • War or conflict

• Infrastructure

  • Unsafe, low quality

• Too expensive

Demographic Transition Model

The Demographic Transition Model (DTM) is a model that describes the transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as a country develops from a pre-industrial to an industrialized economic system. It is a widely used model in the field of demography and helps to explain changes in population growth rates over time.

Natural increase

The difference between the number of births and the number of deaths recorded over a period. When the number of births exceeds the number of deaths resulting in an increase in population

Total Fertility Rate

Average no. Of births per 1000 women of child bearing age

• status of women → leaves of education

• Location of residence →religion

• Health of mother → economic prosperity

• Need for children

Life expectancy

Average lifespan of a person in their lifetime

Composition of a population

• division of males and females

• Division of age groups

• Often in a population pyramid

dependency ratio

Ratio between economically active ppl within a country and dependent population

• ↓Economically active, ↑strain on government resources to meet population needs

formula= 100(P(0-14)+P(+64)/P(15-65))

Consequences of Megacities

• not all needs are meet => over populated

  • Slums

  • Homelessness

  • Crime

  • Congestion

  • Urban sprawl

  • Pollution

Societal Consequences of megacities

Congestion

• insufficient funds to provide transport infrastructure

Urban sprawl

• cities spread horizontally to cover more land

  • More used of private/public transport = more carbon emissions, pollution and congestion

Air and Water pollution

• small areas makes dispersal of pollutants and waste difficult

Forced Migration

When a migrant has to leave their home as a result of racial religious, political etc. reasons and would be at risk of they stayed

Causes of Forced Migration

• Natural Disasters, flooding, earthquakes or volcanoes

• Outbreak of disease such as malaria

• War

• Political persecution → religious, personal identity

• Drought and famine

• Economic development

  • Large construction

• Other disasters

  • Deforestation

  • Sea-level change

  • Leak of radio active material

consequences of forced migration and internal displacement

destination

• impact of job opportunities

  • ↑competition

  • strain on those with low wages

• pressure of public services, infrastructure, and government finances

  • housing, education, healthcare

    • ↑language barriers

  • social and political tensions

    • may cause less foreign investment in the destination

Migrants

• poor living conditions, with high population densities

  • ↓sanitation, food, health

• loss of family and friends

  • depression

• ↑disease → diarrhoea and cholera - malnutrition

China and USA case study - uneven population distribution

Contemporary megacity growth

Informal Settlements

ProNatalist Policies - Japan

Demographic dividend - Thailand

Forced Migration - Syria and Sahel

Family Size

a group of people who make a common provision for food, shelter, and other essentials for living

Sex Ratio

ratio of males to females in a population

102:100 → global

Ageing/Greying

↑life expenctancy ↓mortality↓fertility

Policies related to ageing societies

• Increasing retirement age

  • when people can receive government pensions

  • Increases Tax revenue

  • Increased Labour

  • Increased skill set

• unpopular with population → especially blue collar jobs

• increasing taxes

• means-test pensions

• obligatory private pensions

Pronatalist policies

• baby bonuses or monthly cashouts

  • for every child born

• free public transport for children

• income tax reductions = ↑children ↓taxes

• tax penalties → for those without children

• paid maternity and paternity leave

• government subsidies for childcare

• government aid for housing

• free education and healthcare and dental care for children

Gender equality

when all gender have equal access to resources and opportunities

Gender equality policies - Iceland

• law that makes it illegal for men to have higher salaries

  • levelling the playing field for both women and men

• Iceland’s population is only 380k

  • not enough economic productivity in the country if only men worked

  • +both men and women can have paid parental leave

Anti-trafficking policies - Italy

• patrolling of libyan coast line

• curb human trafficking and bring migrants from smugglers’ boats to Libya

• 200,000 accommodations for migrants and refugees

GOAL:

• captures the smugglers behind trafficking

  • arrest boat drivers

  • set laws in place to persecute those whose actions resulted in the death of migrants

Demographic Dividend

accelerated economic growth when a population has many working age people

• empowered

• educated

• employed

↓family size + ↑lifespan = demographic dividend

• labour supply

• saving

• human capital

• economic growth

key investments are necessary to lower fertility and mortality and allow population structure to change

Investments towards demographic dividend

Health

• improving child’s health

  • healthy adulthood

• adolescent delay childbearing

• youth transition to healthy, productive adults

  • keeps adults participating in the work force and economic growth

Education

• education increases skilled workforce

• after every year of school, wages ↑10%

• youth can compete in global economy

Economics

• foster growth in the skilled workforce

• foster domestic savings and expand access to economic opportunities

Governance

• laws, efficiency, accountability and transparency

• strong and transparent institutions

Atmosphere

a thin layer of gas surrounding the earth that is ~500km thick = <0.5% of the depth to the centre of the earth’s core

Solar radiation

aka insolation

• incoming solar radiation

• short wave energy entering from the sun

long wave radiation

• energy reflected by the earth’s surface

• long wave (infrared) radiation

energy balance

• the difference in energy between solar and long wave radiation

  • amount of solar radiation coming in and long wave radiation is in balance in order to maintain a stable average temperature and stable climate clime on earth

  • EX:

  • • 100 incoming

  • -23 insolation reflected by clouds

  • -7 insolation reflected by the earth’s surface

  • -49 longwave radiation from atmosphere

  • -9 longwave radiation from clouds

  • -12 long wave radiation from the earth’s surface

• 43% of insolation is visible light

  • absorbed by water, land, and vegetation into heat energy and re-radiated as long wave radiation (invisible)

• incoming radiation >outgoing radiation = global warming

• incoming radiation <outgoing radiation = global cooling

natural greenhouse effect

A phenomenon caused by gasses naturally present in the atmosphere that affect the behavior of the energy radiated by the sun

1. Incoming solar radiation, aka Insolation, from the sun enters the earth’s atmosphere

2. Insolation is reflected off clouds and areas such as snow and ice as they have a high albedo = high reflectivity of surface

3. Insolation is also absorbed by clouds, CO2, water vapour and dust, as well as the earth’s surface

4. Light that is absorb is turned into infrared/long-wave radiation (heat)

5. Reradiated back out to space

6. However, greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide delay the escape of heat and causes the heat that is trapped to reradiate back to the earth’s surface

Milankovitch Cycles

• Earth’s orbital movements affect how much insolation reaches the top of the earth's atmosphere

• [1] eccentricity : orbit shape

  • Affects distance between sun and earth

• [2] Obliquity : earth's tilt

  • More tilt more extreme sun seasons

• [3] precession: wobble

  • As the sun rotates it wobbles upon its axis

  • Makes seasonal contrasts more extreme in one hemisphere & less in another

Feedback loops

positive and negative = dynamic equillibrium

negative =↓change by reducing inputs

• returning stabilty

positive =↑change, snowball effect

• overload = imbalance

Global energy balance - External forcing

• External forcing

  • Sun cycle every 11 years

  • Changes how much insolation the sun gets

  • Changes in the sun's activity increases or decreases sunspots

  • More

Global energy balance - Volcanic eruption

• Volcanic eruptions and global dimming

  • Volcanic eruptions eject ash particles and soulful rich gasses into the earths atmosphere

  • Water droplets with particulate matter form clouds, therefore the particles from the volcanic eruption form a barrier that block sunlight

  • And the sulfur rich gasses from acidic aerosols that absorb Insolation

Terrestrial albedo changes - feedback loop

Sea ice is melting/decreasing

• declined between a third and a half

  • albedo of the artic ice decreases as the ice decreases

• ice reflects light back into space v effectively = >70%

• melting ice = moreseas water

• more sunlight is absorbed into oceans

• more infrared radiation

Methane gas release - Feedback loop

• as ice freeze, methane rises to the surface

  • trapped in the surface of the ice

• permafrost in thawing due to the high temperatures which causes ground surface to collapse

• any organic matter that was in the permafrost will get released into the water, releasing methane (decomposing material releases gases)

• methane raises to the surface of the lakes and is released into the atmosphere when the ice melts

• contributes to the rising temperatures causing the melting of permafrost

The enhanced greenhouse effect

The disruption to the earth’s climate equilibrium caused by the increase concentrations of greenhouse gasses that has led to an increase in global average surface temperatures

• GHG: carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, water vapour, prevent long wave radiation from leaving the atmosphere

  • reradiating the heat back to earth

**** FOSSIL FUELS

The amount of GHGs emitted by a country is linked to the levels of econ development, globalization and trade

Development and globalisation that contribute to enhanced greenhouse effect

All countries start with subsistence farming then move into mechanized agriculture that require less people in farms and result on people moving to urban cities to work in secondary sectors, as education rises and life expectancy increases as well more people move into tertiary and quaternary sectors.

Then there is a need to build urban areas, transportation, public infrastructure and electricity resulting in higher greenhouse gas emissions

Mechanisation of Agriculture

• releases people from the land, facilitating the development of the industry

• initiates large amounts of carbon emissions

  • running machinery

  • produce GMOs, fertilisers, pesticides

then,

• construction of urban areas

  • transport links and buildings

  • public infrastructure

  • electricity

  • waster generation

Economic Development

• Agricultural dependence to industrial economy

  • Combustion of fossil fuels increases

• Drive towards development has lead to an increase in GHG emissions

HICs - GHG emissions

not necassarily the largest emitters anymore

as they have moved from heavy industry & manufacturing → services

• outsourcing to middle or lower income countries

Green Movement

• environmental laws are strict and legislation require industry to clean up emissions at source

• deforestation restricted, reforestation increasing

• kyoto protocol

  • target the reduction of GHG emission

KOF Index

measures economic, political and social globalisation by accessing economic flows, restrictions, information flows, personal contact, and cultural proximity

Globalisation

• ↑international interactions

• ↑integration of nations, governments, companies and people

• driven by free trade, information technology, improvements in transportation and freer movement of capital, goods and services

Pros

• job creation

• FDI in LICs

• sharing of ideas and culture

• awareness of globalisation

Cons

• disparity between rich and poor

• domination by TNCs

• loss of cultural identity

Isostatic and Eustatic Changes

Isostatic (local impact)

• vertical movement of land and sea level rise

• land can come up after weight of glaciers is gone

• land can go down due to accumulation of sediment

Eustatic (global)

• change of volume of water in the seas or (change in ocean basin shape)

• tectonics move and alter the shape and volume of ocean basins

Carbon Stores - Oceans

• dissolution of atmospheric CO2 it temperature dependent

• Polar regions have higher absorption as water is cooler

• Increased warming results in lower absorption

• Acid depositions from acid rain result in lower absorption as a result in the change in chemical composition of the oceans

Carbon Stores - Ice

• organic matter is stored in permafrost and ice sheets, as cold temperatures stall the chemical decomposition of organic matter

• However, as ice and permafrost melt the carbon dioxide gets returned to the atmosphere

Extreme Weather - Hurricane

• Warming climate = more hurricanes

  • as all storms require moisture, energy, wind conditions

• Warmer the sea surface the more water vapor is evaporated is more water vapor drives the hurricane

• ↑heat nourishes storm - ↑heat energy = ↑more hurricanes

formation

1. humid air condenses after it rises from the sea, with wind present → thunderclouds form

2. rising air builds up a storm system, the rotation of the earth causes the system to spin

3. air pushed back in and out, cloudless eye of storm consists of dense cold air spinning at a min of 119km/hr

Extreme Weather - Heatwaves

a period of at least 5days with a temperature 5 degrees above average

• impact health of wildelife and ppl

Extreme Weather - Floods

• deforestation removes natural vegetation that stores and increases overland flow of water, moves the water faster

• urbanisation stops the water from draining into the soil and increases overland flow

Extreme Weather - Droughts

sustained period of unusually dry weather causing water shortage and crop damage - famine

• ↑temp = movement of air

• shift in precipitation patters → uneven distribution

• ↑temp = ↑evaporation

Extreme weather - Forest fires

• ↑temp = ↑evaporation = ↑dry soil

• heat + oxygen + fuel

• exacerbated by global warming

Spacial Changes in Biomes

• tundra → willow and alder shrubs once stunted by the harsh winters are now the heigh of trees

  • by 2050 warm enough for lush vegetation

• ↑temp= ↓snow coverage - ↓albedo

• change in climate patterns, changes habitat and migratory patterns of animals

• treelike shrubs are likely to spread - when snowfalls it forms a continuous white blanket to reflect the insolation

• trees rise above the snow breaking up the white and darkening the land surface =↓albedo

• high temps also result in drying of plants that can increase risk of forest fires and desertification

Spacial Changes in Habitats

Artic

• ↑temp → ↑risk of biodiversity loss → ↓permafrost and sea ice coverage

• more shipping and exploitation of oil and gas resources

• ↑land and water temperatures

  • species migrate to colder climates

  • disease carrying insects into new areas

• migration of species damage industries such as forestry and tourism, agriculture

• tensions between nations over shifting resources

Spacial Changes in Animal Migratory Patterns

Changes to Agriculture - Crops

• impacted by climate

  • Increase in the mid-to high latitude regions

  • Decrease in low latitudes, where majority of LICs are located

• High levels of CO2, with moderate warming may increase rate of photosynthesis

  • The benefit is limited by water availability and nutrient levels

Severe heat, waves, droughts, and floods impact crop field

• Extreme rain or temperature events can reduce crop growth

• Plants, get dried out or get washed out

• Spring seasons, come earlier due to increase temperature

• Hot summers can create heat, stress and crops and dry out the soil

Changes to agriculture – limits of cultivation

• High temperatures can lengthen growing seasons

  • Can allow range of props to be increased, spreading into higher altitudes and latitude

• Equator regions have limited crap, Rangers were many crops are reaching Maximum thermal tolerance

Changes to agriculture- Soil erosion

• increase in temperature, resulting increase decomposition rates and lower amount of organic carbon in soil

• Organic matter improves soils, nutrients, and water carrying capacity

• Lost, makes soil, more triable and easier to crumble and blow away

• Drying affect of warming on soils decreases soil moisture storage and increases salt levels of soil

• Increase of precipitation intensity

• Well-drained soil suffer from greater rates of leaching And lowers soil fertility

Health Hazards

1. Many infectious diseases, including water, borne ones are sensitive to climate conditions.

• Climate change, lengthen the transmission season and expand the geographical range of many diseases.

2. Heat waves and extreme weather

   • Heat stress can increase the risk of cardiovascular, respiratory and renal disease

3. Malnutrition and undernourishment

• food insecurity is related to floods and droughts

• Highly impacts, those that are relying on subsistence farming

Migration in relation to climate change

Climate refugees

• Climate, refugees or environmental migrants are people who are forced to leave their homes in due to sudden or long-term changes to the local environment

• Compromises their well-being, insecure, livelihood

• Examples include droughts desert, furcation, rising sea levels

Ocean transport routes

• artic is potentially a faster and more direct route between Asian ports in Europe in eastern North America

• Has become more direct voyage times could fall to less than three weeks in some cases, making Artic shipping potentially more attractive than Southern routes

• ice melts creating more open sea

• Continuous movement result in increased of melting and risk of oil spills, creating more disruption to the habitat

Location on impact of climate change and vulnerability

• Changing patterns of rainfall, increase in temperature and flooding are more frequent

• Long droughts affect harvest in food security

• Droughts and water shortages in syria contribute to the Civil War

• Water security in Palestine Israel, Algeria, Lebanon and Jordan are places that are sensitive to small changes in the water supply

• In Spain, if temperatures rise over 2°C. Much of southern Spain and the Mediterranean basin would be a desert

Wealth on impact of climate change and vulnerability

• Climate change will impose heavy costs on the American economy that will exacerbate wealth disparity and inequality

• An increase in global temperatures of 1.5° is likely to reduce annual output by up to 1.7%.

• The effects of climate change will impact the poor communities more than the wealthier ones in America

• Contrasting effects of climate change

  • In South America

    • Results in falling crop yields and labour productivity

    • Increase in mortality in crime

  • North-west America

    • More mild winters

    • Agricultural yields can rise due to less extreme climate

• People who are of lower income are more susceptible to the effects of climate change, as they’re unable to put themselves in a position in which they won’t be greatly affected

  • Such as relying on agriculture for income

Measuring vulnerability

CLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABILITY INDEX (CCVI)

• Composite indicator that combines 3 single composite indicators

• Evaluates 42 economic, environmental + social factors linked to human sensitivity

Carbon Trading

1. Market based system aimed at reducing greenhouse gasses

2. Only a certain amount of carbon credits are issued every year which allows companies to emit carbons

3. Allows gov to control GHG emissions

4. Can buy and sell emissions

Carbon Emissions Offsetting

1. Investing in environmental projects around the world (mostly LICS) in order to balance out their own carbon footprints

2. Offsets carbon emission levels

Age on climate vulnerability

• Impact on pregnant, mothers and babies with adverse outcomes such as low-birth-weight, preterm birth

• Young children are more susceptible to asthma, diarrhoeal illness, and heat related illnesses

• Outdoor activities increase the risk of heat-related illnesses, vectorborne, and waterborne diseases and respiratory effects from pollution

• Elderly are more vulnerable

  • Age is correlated with bone density laws, limiting, mobility, and more chronic health problems

  • Many disease-spreading insects are spreading range, affect more elderly as they have weaker immune systems

Women on climate vulnerability

• Women in LICs are charged with securing water, food, and fuel for cooking and heating, rising temperature, result in lower supplies of water as a result of droughts

• Hindering education in some African countries

Risk Perception

• Subjective judgement people make about a particular risk, (severity and possible impact)

• Factors

  • Level of knowledge, confirmation bias

  • Gender

  • Cultural/belief systems

  • Media coverage

  • Prior knowledge

  • Trust in government

  • Immediate threat, high or low

Paris Climate Agreement

• plans for countries to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adaptations to the impacts of climate change

• Wealthier nations (US & Europe) will contribute $$ towards helping poorer countries develop clean power systems and reduce deforestations

GOALS

• Green climate fund and global environment fund to help LICS

  • 100 billion by HICs

• Reduce reliance on GHGs and increase carbon sinks to restore energy balance

• Increase adaptive cap of a city and climate resilience of most vulnerable, w/o threatening food prod.

PROS

• Holds large emitters accountable

• International support

• Aims to mitigate and adapt to climate change

• Transparent method for measuring & assessing how well each country is meeting its targets

CONS

• non-legally binding

• No specific roadmap for each country

• Any one can leave as and when they want to

• Current efforts and pledges do not help stay below the 1.5c mark

Societies with contrasting vulnerability - Switzerland and Canada

Civil society and corporate strategies to address climate change - Greenpeace & Marks and Spencer’s

Giant Sunshade

• Ejecting chalk or aerosols 20 km in the atmosphere to either change the chemical composition of clouds to make them have higher albedo or mimic the effects of global dimming by volcanic eruptions and blocking sunlight from entering the earth's atmosphere

• safe

• has potential for monopolisation

  • exclusive dealing, price discrimination, refusal to supply

• Issues

  • sun to water causes rain = cause droughts

  • a reason for ppl to pollute more

Carbon Sequestration

• The removal of carbon dioxide from either the atmosphere or organic matter such as plant waster to be made pure and used in other industries or buried and stored Ex: Charm industries turns plant waste into oil that is pumped into the ground

• expensive

• unsure of environmental implications

Ocean Mirrors

1. White foam (high albedo) is created on the surface of the ocean (low albedo) to increase the reflectivity of incoming solar radiation to reduce global temps

2. Use boats that are fitted with mechanisms to form bubbles with compressed air

• high energy to do

• short term

Poverty

• The state of being extremely poor lacking material possessions or money