Final Project

For the final project I read, "The Demon In the Freezer" By Richard Preston. This book was written about smallpox and its eradication and the possibility of it being used in the future as a form of biological terrorism. You can find more about this book on my webpage by clicking here or by copying and pasting this in to your browser: http://demoninthefreezerbookreview.weebly.com

Chapter 14: Globalization and the Geography of Networks

Article: Globalisation protests turn violent in Milan as Expo 2015 opens
somebody wanted but so then

The Italian government wanted to host the worlds fair in 2015, but many people saw it as a chance to protest globalization in Milan so the begun to protest, then the protests turned violent and resulted in many torched cars and 11 injured policemen.

Maps: These are the remaining maps I had left uncolored in my book.

Europe 

South America 

United States 

Central America 

Chapter 13: The Humanized Environment

Article: US Refuses to Sign Pact to Stem Global Warming

Many wanted to stop the imminent global warming, but the United States refused to sign the Kyoto agreement along with several other treaties that would help the environment so if the United States continues to release ungodly amounts of pollution into the air as they plan on doing then climate change will be unavoidable in the future.

Essay:
Readings: Chapter 13 "The Humanized Environment"
"Population and Natural Resources"
"The Future of Energy" by Douglas Fox

Essay Question: How will the way humanity has treated the environment effect our world in the future? What practices can and or will have to be implemented in the future to reverse the effects of our carelessness?

Since the Industrial Revolution humanity has made thousands of technological advancements which make our lives much easier, but when you take a step back and look at what we have done to our world it makes one question if these so called technological "advancements" were really better or if they were actually a step backwards. In recent years scientists have discovered that the practices we have adopted to make our lives easier are really destroying the planet and the future of our progeny.

One of the practices that has caused an incredible amount of waste and pollution is beef farming and the unequal distribution of protein consumption per capita. Beef farming is one of the most inefficient methods of food production. In order to make 1 kilogram of beef it takes 100,0000 liters of water to produce. In addition to the insane amounts of water it takes to produce just a little beef it also takes an incredible amount of energy.

Cattle consume 16 times more grain than they produce meat. This makes cattle farming one of the most inefficient forms of food production. Cattle farming is not only inefficient, but it is also bad for the environment. Cows produce gasses from their digestive system that contain methane with is a pollutant which contributes to the Green House Effect. In addition to the harmful gasses they emit they also produce tons of Solid Waste. A cow can poop up to 15 times a day and it produces 65 lbs. of manure daily which is 12 tons a year. Many scientists would even say that the gasses cows add to the air are more harmful to the environment than cars, but is there a way to fix this problem? Obviously killing all the worlds cows in an attempt to reduce green houses gasses is not only inhumane, but it is also not practical, however we could reduce cattle farming by limiting the amount of beef Americans consume. The United States is only 5% of the worlds population and yet it consumes one forth of the worlds resources  We consumes 122 killos of meat per capita which is 9 kilos more than the next highest meat consuming country on the list (Cyprus) and 22.4 less kilos than France which is number 10 on the list of the worlds top meat consumers. In the future it may become vital for us to limit meat consumption in certain countries in order to reduce the harmful byproducts that cattle produce and limit reduce the resources we waste by farming them in such large quantities. 

Another reason humans are destroying the environment is because of our ever growing need for oil to support our energy inefficient lifestyle. After a period of time in the 80s where oil prices where cheep President Ronald Reagan withdrew funding for research on renewable energy sources. Oil is by no means a renewable resource. We consume oil 100,000 times faster than the time it took to form. Although with recent technological improvements our machines have gotten more efficient and require less oil to preform, the number of machines and thus the demand for oil has still risen

exponentially. Oil drilling is extremely harmful to the environment. In recent years fracking has become common which is extraordinarily bad for ground water and the surrounding environment. Unfortunately the renewable energy resources we have discovered so far are really not substantially better. If we were to harness all the wind energy in the world it would still only replace around 30 percent of our need for energy. As of right now it appears that our energy in the future will come majorly from solar power, however solar power is very inefficient when it comes to space. Solar panels take up an incredible amount of space in comparison with oil drilling. With our growing need for energy also comes a growing need for space to put these centers for energy production. The fix for this is the fact that solar panels can go on the tops of buildings and in the uninhabited desert. Today the solar power industry is growing by 50% each year and by 2030 it is said that 20% of Americans power will come from solar. This is a bright outlook for the future of energy. If solar power continues to grow in popularity there may just be a chance for us to stop the destruction caused by humanity's thirst for energy. 

Map: I chose to color a map of China because China has recently surpassed the US in CO2 emissions.

Extra Credit Video: Man

This video essentially depicts the destruction man has caused over the years in a short animated film. At first I thought it was a little dramatized, but the more I thought about it I came to the realization that it really isn't too far off from reality. In the video the animated welcome man is shown having complete disregard for his actions and killing many animals and trees for things such as boots, pianos, and coats. Although the video may be a tad dramatized I feel like it does a fairly accurate job of representing how man treats the environment. 

Agriculture Chapter 12

Extra Credit:

Shipping container houses have many advantages. They are a relatively cheep alternative to building an entire framework for a house. They are hard for the shipping company to dispose of so you can buy them for around 5,000 and they will deliver it to your desired location. They provide strong structures and easy to add onto an existing structure to bring a unique look to any home. 


Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/20/fracking-campaign-contributions_n_4311016.html

The Fracking industry wants pro-fracking politicians in office to support their growing industry, but in order to get these politicians into office the industry needed to up their donations, so they nearly quadrupled there political donations from the previous year then republican candidates received over 12 million dollars in donations.

Map:

I chose Russia for my map because it is the worlds number one producer of oil and it has several regions of major industrial activity. 

Essay:

Readings:
“Chapter 12: Industry and Services,” Human Geography
“Services: The Next Big Thing,” The Economist

Essay Question: Why is outsourcing bad for our economy and why is it starting to stop?

The goal of every company is to make a profit. Since the beginning of industry companies have always been trying to improve their profit. Almost every large company has special employees purely dedicated to making sure the company is run as efficiently as possible. Decades ago some of these such employees and administrators realized that the cost of labor was much higher in the United States than it was in other countries such as India. In order to take advantage of this difference in labor cost many companies began to shut down their american factories and technical support call centers and moved them overseas this process is called Outsourcing.

Due to the vast difference in labor cost companies were willing to pay a little more money to transport their goods from overseas and disregard The Friction of Distance. Outsourcing became the obvious and smartest thing to do for many companies to improve their profits, however it was not so helpful for the American Economy. Outsourcing or Offshoring meant that American workers would loose their jobs to people on the other side of the world and the out flow of us money from our economy into that of other countries around the world began to be noticeable after several years. To stop companies from outsourcing the government created high taxes for all goods made out of the United States which drove some companies back. In more recent years the factors that have driven companies back however where not the terrifs on goods, but the raise in wages in other countries and the american people themselves. Many consumers have recently expressed anger about having to talk with people not in their country for tech support and goods not being made closer to home. Although many call centers have started training for their employees to perfect American accents to fool the consumer, many companies have also begun to move back home. Another factor that has driven companies back to the US is that the difference in labor cost is starting to dissolve and it is quickly becoming almost equally as expensive to have call centers in the US as it is in India. Additionally many companies appreciate american ideas and think that bringing their agglomeration back into the US might bring new innovative ideas that are closer to what America needs.

Chapter 11: Agriculture

Extra Credit:

After hearing the Extra Credit assignment I thought it would be extraordinarily hard to locate a farm with a sewage pool on google earth. I was shocked by the fact that it took me only minutes to find several. It is impossible to look around Sampson County, North Carolina without running in to at least 10 of the massive factory farms in only minutes of looking. 


Article: 
A Lonely Quest for Facts on Genetically Modified Crops by Amy Harmon 

Many citizens in Hawaii wanted GMOs to be labeled or even made illegal, but many members of the government only see the potential benefits of them so the bill to make them illegal never passed now people continue unknowingly eat unlabeled GMO foods. 


Von Thünes's Model Drawing 

Von Thünes's Model was developed in order to display how agriculture is grown in relation to space, spoilage rate and transportation cost.  The closer to the center, the more valuable the goods grown there should be because that is where the most perishable items are typically grown and the products that are the hardest to transport must be closer. The next ring is the forest because wood is expensive to transport large quantities. The third ring contains grains that aren't as hard to transport because they don't really spoil. The final ring contains ranching and livestock. 


Map: I chose the Western United States because California is home to the most fertile soil in the nation and brings the most farming revenue to the U.S. 

Chapter 11: Agriculture: Food Ark: Katie, Charlotte, Seth, TJ

Our article was Food Ark by Charles Siebert. My slides were 1-5 in which I talked about heritage farms and heirloom seeds. If you are unable to access the video we have on slide 5 click here to watch it. Also here is the link to our presentation on google drive for better image clarity.

Development in the Dominican Republic

I recently was given the opportunity of a life time and I got to go to the Dominican Republic and Build schools, while I was there I noticed some very interesting things about the developing country. 

The most interesting thing I saw was that all their advertisements featured non-dominican looking people. I never saw an advertisement which displayed anything other than caucasians.  This was extraordinarily interesting to me because when advertising you would think you would want to display people like the consumer so that they could picture themselves buying the product, but there are very few caucasians in the country. There are so few that in fact that many of them hadn't seen many, if any white people at all. When I was working children kept coming up and asking me if my hair was real and if they could cut off some and keep it. As a group of 56 white and hispanic americans we gathered a small crowd every day of people wanting to watch "The yellow people" work. The dominican dream seemed to be to acquire a green card. Multiple little children asked me if I would pick them up when they got their papers. The dream of leaving the country to go to America was even in the minds of children at the age of 5. This to me was a clear example of lack of independence. Idealizing another country or group of people through advertising is not helpful for a developing country. 

(this picture was taken off the internet because I was only able to take pictures in a moving vehicle and most of the billboard pictures were blurry)

One area the country did show strong characteristics of development was politically. The D.R. is a democracy similar to that of the united states. The largest advertisements were almost always political. Many billboards featured the faces of one of the representatives running for office. Politically the country is quite developed, although it holds little global power because it is a relatively small country. Additionally the country has its own currency that is not tied to the dollar unlike many other Nations in the Caribbean.

This is a billboard for Julio Romero who is running  for political office. (Although not likely win due to recent sex scandal)

The Dominican Republic has a GNI of about 5,000 per capita which compared to the U.S. GNI per capita of 53,500 is startlingly low although it is about mid range for the Caribbean islands. One of the reasons for this is its huge informal economy due to street vendors who don't pay sales tax (although some do) and an alarmingly large drug and slave trade run by the dominican Mafia, who we actually came in contact with twice on the trip. While we were working one day the several men from the Mafia pulled up to the work site in a purple mustang and pointed to one of the high schoolers in our group and offered us $50,000 in cash on the spot if we would sell him. Another day two men came up and asked again if they could by two of us for $75,000. Both times we said no we are americans and thankful they left without any trouble. Prostitution is also a huge business in the Dominican and many of the guys in our group were approached on more than one occasion. One of the people in our group even had a pimp flash a gun at him after accidentally bumping into a hooker on the sidewalk. Unfortunately I decided asking a hooker or one of the men in the purple mustang if I could take a selfie with them probably wasn't the greatest idea so I don't have any pictures for this section.

Street venders selling fruit

Another way people in the D.R. try to avoid taxation is by leaving buildings "unfinished". Due to the building taxation laws the government is unable to tax unfinished buildings. In order to take advantage of this law many people leave huge lengths of rebar sticking out of the tops of their houses and storefronts claiming they are planing on building a second level and therefor the building is currently "unfinished" and not taxable.

Notice the rebar at the top of the building. This means the owner is not paying property tax. 

Chapter 10: Development

Article: Women as a Force for Change by Nicolas Kristof

The United Nations has made a goal to empower women, but unfortunately this has not been incredibly effective, so it is still legal in many countries such as Dubai for rapists to receive custody of children fathered by rape, then the women who were raped can also be prosecuted for having extramarital sex while being raped. 


Model: This is Rostow's Model of development. The model discusses the stages of development a country will go through.

Map

 I chose Mongolia for my map because it has been top ranked on the list of the world fastest-growing economies since 2012. It earned its spot on the list almost entirely by selling natural resources to China in recent years and it is fighting to continue its growth. 

1. 
   "Chapter 10: Development," Human Geography

Essay 
Readings:


"Can Extreme Poverty Be Eliminated?" Jeffery D. Sachs
"The Grameen Bank," Muhammed Yunisa

Why are people impoverished and what can we as a society do to help end extreme poverty?

            We live in a world plagued by poverty and unequal distribution of wealth. In recent years it has become apparent that we are closing in on the possibility of eliminating extreme poverty, however one in ever six people on the planet still are having to survive with only one dollar a day.  Throughout the centuries people have attributed poverty to numerous things: religion, race, gender inequalities,  diseases such as malaria and even the laziness of the poor themselves. But what is the real reason for extreme-poverty? Muhammad Yunus the founder of the Grameen Bank believes the reason is they are not

given the opportunity and resources to grow. He is of the opinion that “People.. [are] poor not because they were stupid or lazy. They worked all day long, doing complex physical tasks. They [are] poor because the financial institution in the country did not help them widen their economic base.” If what Yunus believes is true and the problem is so simple to fix why haven't we fixed it already? 
            The root of the problem truly comes down to a flaw in the economic system and a flaw in humanity itself. Humankind is propelled by greed. Capitalism is based off of the goal of making a profit and in order to make a profit corporations often exploit people in developing countries. When large companies take advantage of people in countries with no minimum wage it creates an incredibly unequal distribution of wealth. The problem with our capitalist system that the pieces of the proverbial pie are vastly unequal. Unfortunately the fix for this inequality has been proposed in the past, however it developed into communism. What if there was another way we could help end extreme poverty without all things being exactly equal like in the communist system? The solution is for each country to give a higher percentage of their Gross National Product toward ending extreme world poverty. Currently the United States gives only .05% of out GNP toward foreign aid, which is extraordinarily low considering we are the largest economy in the world.  If the United States along with the other core countries in the world all raised the percentage of their national budgets designated toward ending extreme world poverty would not only be in sight, but it would be in reach. 

Chapter 10: Development- Colorado Case Study and Field Work -- Per Capita Income, Poverty Rate, Unemployment Rate, Percentage of Smokers, Life Expectancy, and High School Diplomas in Denver, Huerfano, Prowers, Montezuma, Jackson, and Lake Counties

Date Table:

Indicator	Per Capita Income	Poverty Rate (below poverty line)	Unemployment rate	Percentage of Smokers	Average Life Expectancy (years)	High School Diploma (percentage of students that didn’t receive)
Denver	$30,806	19.1%	4.2%	20%	75.9	22.7%
Huerfano	$23,139	20.6%	6.5%	31%	76.3	39.3%
Prowers	$18,429	23.3%	2.9%	19%	75.7	22.9%
Montezuma	$24,616	19.3%	5.3%	19%	74.8	37.5%
Jackson	$23,814	8.9%	1.6%	25%	81.3	40.4%
Lake	$29,836	14.3%	4.1%	15%	80.1	25.8%

**This data table includes statistics on Per Capita Income, Poverty Rate, Unemployment Rate, Percentage of Smokers, Life Expectancy, and High School Diplomas in Denver, Huerfano, Prowers, Montezuma, Jackson, and Lake counties in Colorado.

***NOTE: all of the lines of best fit in these graphs are oppositely reflected due to technical difficulties

This graph generally shows the correlation between unemployment rate and per capita income. Conclusively, the correlation is very weak. It should be concluded that when the unemployment rate increases the per capita income decreases. However, these counties contain outlying information that disrupts the correlation. This could be due to the fact that certain jobs pay less than others, and a high percentage in people in a county might have a job that pays low wages.

This graph generally shows the correlation between the percentage of people below the poverty line and the percentage of people who did not receive high school diplomas. In Denver, Prowers, and Lake Counties and Montezuma, Huerfano, and Jackson Counties, the  lower percentage of people who did not receive high school diplomas, the higher the poverty rate. These two clusters analyzed together do not share a lot of information. However, when observing the two clusters individually, date analysis is simpler.

It is almost common sense to assume that the more smokers a county has, life expectancy decreases. With three outliers, Huerfano, Jackson, and Lake counties, the graph seems to barely have a correlation. This is most likely because other factors come into play that may affect the average life expectancy of an area such as high-crime, bad diets, or other diseases. The average life expectancy are very closely clustered, which leads to difficulty in analyzing the graph.

***Note: the data in these graphs is very inconclusive due to the low amount of counties that were used for data, and extra circumstances that lead to outliers in the date

Section VIII – Write up - In this section you will be writing a few paragraphs explaining which county you feel most needs help developing. You should be able to give four reasons you chose the county you chose. Use statistics to support your decision.

Prowers, Colorado is one of the counties in Colorado in need of the most help in regards to development. Even though five other desperate counties are in need of help as well, Prowers is at the bottom of the deep hole. With a per capita income of $18,429, Prowers is the definition of poverty compared to the rest of the state. In 2012, the United States median household income was $51,017 with members of the middle class usually earning 50% higher or lower than that value. Therefore, middle class members usually earn $25,500 to $76,500 per capita as income. Based on this analysis from USNEWS.COM, Prowers contains a majority of lower class citizens. Lower class citizens are the most impoverished. These communities are in the most need of help with development. In fact, One of the main indicators of economic development is the Per Capita Income of an area. This highlights the income a person has to put towards purchasing necessities. Prowers, Colorado has the highest rate of citizens under the poverty line out of the six counties analyzed above. Out of every 100 of Prowers’ citizens, 23 earn less than the poverty level (23.3%). This means that these citizens are officially considered impoverished. This high rate is alarming and needs to be lowered as quickly as possible. “For example, a four-person family with two adults and two children is poor with annual cash income below $23,283; the threshold for a four-person family with a single parent and three children is $23,364.” This data is taken directly from the Institute for Research on Poverty. This high percentage of poverty is a burden to the successful development of this county.

Huerfano is also in need of a lot of help in terms of development. The percentage of smokers is the highest in Huerfano compared to the other counties. The high percentage of smokers can lead to many health issues, which is a huge burden to development. If the percentage of smokers would be lowered with aid efforts, development would most likely be more successful in Huerfano. Huerfano county has the highest unemployment rate (6.5%) among the other counties we chose in Colorado. This year the recorded average unemployment rate in the United States is 5.7 %. Therefore, the unemployment is worse than the national average. This means that Huerfano is failing compared to the other counties across the nation in terms of the unemployment level. A high unemployment rate means that a county has many people that are unemployed. Unemployment is a huge burden to the development of counties. If there is a large number of citizens that do not have jobs, the development of the economy occurs slowly or not at all. Job security allows for a citizens to have a higher per capita income. Once this development occurs, other factors such as percentage of smokers, percentage of people failing to receive high school diplomas, poverty rate, and average life expectancy, turn for better in a change reaction.

Works Cited

Williams, Geoff. "What It Means to Be Middle Class Today." US News RSS. U.S. News and

             World Report LP., 24 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.               <http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2014/04/24/what-it-means-to-be-middle-class-today>.

"What Are Poverty Thresholds and Poverty Guidelines?" Institute for Research on Poverty.    

           University of Wisconsin, 2014. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.     

<http://www.irp.wisc.edu/faqs/faq1.htm>.

"StateBook International." StateBookBeta. State Book, 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2015. <https://www.statebook.com/search_results/?state=&q=boulder>.

"United States Census Bureau." Huerfano County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau.

            U.S. Department of Commerce, 05 Feb. 2015. Web. 23 Feb. 2015. <http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/08/08055.html>.