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Wednesday, March 4, 2015

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. 

Thursday, February 26, 2015

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
Screen Shot 2015-02-26 at 2.13.39 PM.png

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.
Screen Shot 2015-02-26 at 2.19.25 PM.png
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.
Screen Shot 2015-02-26 at 2.33.17 PM.png
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.     

"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>.



Thursday, February 5, 2015

Chapter 9 - Urban Geography

Article:

somebody wanted but so then 
Developers want to develop as much land as they can, but in this process they are hurting the environment by turning the world into a concrete jungle, so some cities are discussing plans to give developers small tax breaks for creating environmentally friendly solutions then they will perhaps leave a slightly smaller carbon foot print.  

Sector Model: 


This model proposes that a city is not divided in rings but as slices of a pie, each pie slice representing a different zone. This model was created by Hoyt.


Concentric Zone Model: 

The Concentric Zone Model separates cities in to 5 concentric zones each represented by a different ring. This model was created by Burgees.


New and Improved Model of Latin American City Structure 

The New and Improved Model of Latin American City Structure revolves around the CBD (the top connected black box) and then shows the commercial and upper-class and then the "mall" (the bottom connected black box). The model also shows the "disamenity" part of the city (the orange) which is the poorest part of the city.

 Multiple Nuclei Model :
 The Multiple Nuclei Model is different from the other models in that it does not depict a city with a single nuclei, instead it proposes that a city can have multiple nuclei. This model was created by Harris and Ullman in the 1940's 


 Model of a Subsaharan African City: 
The Model of a Subsaharan African City depicts three different CBDs. The first is the lasting CBD from colonial occupation. The second is the transitional business center where commerce is from curbside, stalls or storefronts and the third is informal and sometimes periodic market zone.

The Generalized Model of  Land Used Areas in the Large Southeast Asian City Model 

The Generalized Model of  Land Used Areas in the Large Southeast Asian City Model has no CBD in its place is an old colonial port zone and what is considered a largely commercial district containing a western commercial zone, the government zone and an alien commercial zone (characterized by Chinese who's dwellings are attached to their businesses).

Map:


The map I chose was Japan, because Japan is one of the most densely populated places in the world and is its suburbs are a perfect example of urban sprawl. The tightly packed suburbs are seemingly endless in the often uniform neighborhoods of Japan.




Part I



AP Human Geography chapter 9 Urban Geography Part 2


  • Across
  • 1. a model showing similar land‐use patterns among the medium‐sized cities of Southeast Asia.
  • 5. In a model urban hierarchy, the idea that the population of a city or town will be inversely proportional to its rank in the hierarchy.
  • 6. The focal point of ancient Roman life combining the functions of the ancient Greek acropolis and agora.
  • 7. Homes bought in many American suburbs with the intent of tearing them down
  • 9. Economic activity that is neither taxed nor monitored by a government; and is not included in that government's Gross National Product (GNP); as opposed to a formal economy
  • 10. A discriminatory real estate practice in North America in which members of minority groups are prevented from obtaining money to purchase homes or property in predominantly white neighborhoods
  • 12. Movement of upper‐ and middle‐class people from urban core areas to the surrounding outskirts to escape pollution as well as deteriorating social conditions 
  • 13. “Restricted neighborhoods or subdivisions, often literally fenced in, where entry is limited to residents and their guests.
  • 16. The movement of millions of Americans from northern and northeastern States to the South and Southwest regions (Sunbelt) of the United States.
  • 18. The study of the physical form and structure of urban places.
  • 19. The division of a city into different regions or zones
  • 20. adjacent to every town and city within which its influence is dominant.
  • 23. Areas of a city, the main purpose of which is to encourage people to consume goods and services; driven primarily by the global media industry.
  • 26. The urban area that is not suburban; generally, the older or original city that is surrounded by newer suburbs.
  • 28. The transformation of an area of a city into an area attractive to residents and tourists alike in terms of economic activity.
  • 29. “The rehabilitation of deteriorated, often abandoned, housing of low‐income inner‐city residents
  • 30. A country's largest city
  • 31. Unplanned slum development on the margins of cities, dominated by crude dwellings and shelters made mostly of scrap wood, iron, and even pieces of cardboard.
  • 32. cities with 10 million or more residents
  • Down
  • 2. These cities are characterized by extensive amounts of office and retail space, few residential areas, and modern buildings
  • 3. The very poorest parts of cities that in extreme cases are not even connected to regular city services and are controlled by gangs or drug lords.
  • 4. a residential area or a mixed use area, either existing as part of a city or urban area or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city.
  • 8. Homes referred to as such because of their “super size” 
  • 11. The Concentric Zone Model divides cities into five concentric zones defined by functionally 
  • 14. Theory proposed by Walter Christaller that explains how and where central places in the urban hierarchy should be functionally and spatially distributed with respect to one another.
  • 15. a model of the Latin American city showing a blend of traditional elements of Latin American culture with the forces of globalization that are reshaping the urban scene
  • 17. an urban design that calls for development, urban revitalization, and suburban reforms that create walkable neighborhoods with a diversity of housing and jobs.
  • 21. Area of a city with a relatively uniform land use
  • 22. Rapid change in the racial composition of residential blocks in American cities that occurs when real estate agents and others stir up fears of neighborhood
  • 24. Legal restrictions on land use that determine what types of building and economic activities are allowed to take place in certain areas
  • 25. Unrestricted growth in many American urban areas of housing, commercial development, and roads over large expanses of land, with little concern for urban planning.
  • 27. Dominant city in terms of its role in the global political economy



Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Chapter 9 Extra-credit Word search

AP Human Vocal Urban Geography 


N M A T V Z R R K H A I Z H U N P S Q C Q H T E A D S R S E G X V K Y A J S R U 
W O C A G U V L J K L J H U B O R Q U U U X C C S E R E X I R L V N R L Y E F I 
O U I M H K R O S B G M E F F I I J O A I O R F I T I V K Z I D P A I D X C R F 
M L T T A B U A S P B P Z W I T M W N G N O Z T A T D O A N F O B B C C Q T N O 
C G W A A N Y V E A F G O X O A A G M O P O I L I Z S L C C F U F R E T T O U Y 
W I T N C Z S B U S I N E S S Z T E M O N N A C O I C U N O I T A U T I S R R D 
P O T Q Y I I I A R O G A B K I E Y L I U D A N F A S T U R N L A I C O S O E Q 
D A X I P P T L O L W A R P S N P I N M B G A U U A S I R Z F Z E J X O E S P D 
L O C W E W R S A N M E O W W A S G M O E T G S X B U O W V O E L E X H C J Z Y 
Y A P T Z S Z Y F I S F N O Z B Q O O M I Z F J B R V N R T R S C Q T Z D Z Y Z 
O O N G W M P B Y J C B G P V R C J Q O C S Y L F U P D H O D A T J V P Y F A R 
T X C Q U G V D L D Y R W W U U T O N M S I N A B R U X P W L R I I Y Y F X X D 
P C I D C H W N J A O B E D B B A K S F Y K M K L H X Q H P P E Q F I S S Z G N 
V H Q U F B Z A A F M X K M P U N S N W H K J Z A Q M U A V G U L U W V G W J H 
A I M A T O P O S E M R X B M S W E E Y A R R S R I S M K Z D O T F Y Z S U A K 
S I V W B I Z E X R V E O A J O C G W C B L D N T F V Q G R O I S U N I K I I T 
F I R S T Z D V A M E L I F G K C Y K L A M T W N H T X N T U Z S U R P L U S B 
C C P O U P Q D F D R S M B N R D Z O M E P N O E T X D I K H L M T Y O Y D T I 
S U B U R B V A C V S O U E Z I I C U G C O S T C R E M N N I L E X R E T N L Y 
D K Z C N V D H Y A R P V L Z W K C A I I P D Y L A N O I T C N U F S I L A I I 
L U L X G J Z E L P A B O T P B O L U T N F W T L E D V L Y Q H H Z E K C L Q S 
O E P T L I T C H O A K J Y U T L T A L A A O N I H P V D Y D D X S C W Z T A I 
X I A T B I A O I V R W W S M I E C F T T H S A N X W N E F X Q E Q O V N W W V 
P V Z D S G L A R M N P T Q V Z I G M U L U O H D X X D R R F C Z O N Q X W B C 
C Z A C E O B B C N U I F N H F G A I L E I R S U M O D E L N O W H D V P F V T 
K G L L G R Y A D I N R W B I Z Q Q E P Y H N A S W N R E K N H C L A Q D H A X 
W B M Y L P S T Q G R B O T A R E A W A C V S U L Z C U D E Z I N H R H B M D I 
W I X R K E P H N O R E A F G R Y E D D I O J N G O T M A G D M E A Y T B M E Z 
I L H B Y F Y H I H Q R M D T K K A Z O R P M L S O M Y R W I S A U T J P W S T 
W D D X M N Q S L P T M W A K E M Z Q R T Q W G R M X N T T T A T T A M S T Y P 
M Z S R J Y Z T X S N L C M O F X Q Q E N Y R C W S K G R V O I E B D R J H N T 
A Z S W Y T Z K I O W O H G L S G Z S O E V R C D R X R K L G Q D Z U T V Q E J 
H V G A B K X B B I S H N R E Y E N U J C S H N I V D D I S A M E N I T Y S K O 
U O P R M P J Z U E O B W E H E W M C O N S U M P T I O N V I M R Q B S B V I D 
G E N T R I F I C A T I O N M O L Y J V O I M K I L T G B R E W L B I G K P S W 
Z C W W A J F M F T K E R B D O W V F X C S Y W H S Q G Z R P R C P G V S N M X 
T I P M T J S S K O Z O G R H O N D I L F Z E E C D Z A G W A Z P Y J F D E A X 
O O I C E G X P C P Z I A H R D H E D B Q Q P L I U N T E G D E F R O E O B L R 
M Y J O M G R A B A G E T L R U J M H R P R S Q I V S E M Z K R U T A I U A P L 
V B L F Y T I C W C T A D Z L B J I H P X U J T Z N L D D G L T N T K K A B A C 

ACROPOLIS
AGORA
AGRICULTURAL
AND
AREA
BELT
BLOCKBUSTING
BUSINESS
CENTRAL
CITIES
CITY
CLASS
COMMERCIALIZATION
COMMUNITIES
CONCENTRIC
CONSUMPTION
DISAMENITY
DISTRICT
ECONOMY
EDGE
FIRST
FORUM
FUNCTIONAL
GATED
GENTRIFICATION
GRIFFIN-FORD
HEARTH
HUANG
INDUS
INFORMAL
LAWS
LEADERSHIP
MCGEE
MCMANSIONS
MEGACITIES
MESOAMERICA
MESOPOTAMIA
MODEL
MORPHOLOGY
NEW
NILE
PERU
PHENOMENON
PLACE
PRIMATE
RANK-SIZE
REDLINING
REVOLUTION
RIVER
RULE
SECONDARY
SECTOR
SHANTYTOWNS
SITE
SITUATION
SOCIAL
SPACES
SPRAWL
STRATIFICATION
SUBURB
SUBURBANIZATION
SUN
SURPLUS
SYNEKISM
TEARDOWNS
THEORY
TRADE
URBAN
URBANISM
VALLEY
VALLEYS
VILLAGE
WEI
WORLD
ZONATION
ZONE
ZONING

Monday, January 26, 2015

Chapter 8 - Political Geography

Article: Hoping for Asylum, Migrants Strain U.S. Border


Thousands of Mexicans migrants cross the U.S. boarder each year in search of a better live, but the U.S. boarder patrol has caught over 90,700 apprehensions in the Rio Grande Valley in the past six months so now the migrants are seeking asylum from gang violence then the U.S. has to go through the legal trouble of looking at each case and deciding if asylum can be granted. 

Map:



I choose the UK because it is a very interesting display of boarders and a multi-nation state. Although Ireland, Scotland and Wales are all under British rule they consider themselves to be separate, in a recent vote however Ireland did not voted not to claim independence from the UK.




Readings:
"Lines in the Sand," Cullen Murphy
"Chapter 8: Political Geography" from Human Geography




How have the European set boundaries lead to more conflict?

              The modern map of the Middle East was largely drawn up by Britten and France based on the two countries agreements to follow a treaty created during WWI. The map that they drew did not really take regional characteristics into account and was created almost entirely for the personal gain of the two countries. The careless mapping of the middle east created geographic states in places which have clashing religions and social behaviors. Originally there was a plan to take regional characteristics into account called the Lawrence plan, however it never came into effect. As the boarders are today there are many divided ethnic groups that do not have a country, the Kurds are one such example of a stateless nation. The division of the Kurds have lead to conflict and unrest in the middle east because they would like to create their own state, however the Kurd territory has oil reserves which Iraq, Turkey and Syria would all like to keep control of. 
              If the boarders had been based off of the Lawrence map the Kurds and other divided nations may in fact have had a state, but because they were not divided in such a manner there will always be conflict among the various nations with in the states. Unfortunately redrawing the states so that ethnic groups and regions are together would now result in more conflict due to states anger over loosing valuable territory, so there is really no practical solution for unifying the divided ethnic groups. 




Gerrymandering explained: This is a great little video that explains Gerrymandering concisely.



Sunday, January 11, 2015

Chapter 7: Religion

Article: French police kill gunmen in twin attacks, free 16 hostages

Somebody wanted but so then
Charlie Hebdo, a satirical french news paper wanted to write and publish a satirical news paper which  occasionally featured cartoons of the islamic profit Muhammad, but it is against the muslim believe system to make depictions of Muhammad so two al-Qaida-linked brothers went into the news paper headquarters on January 9th resulting in the death 

Map:


I chose the Middle East because of the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is in Israel and has huge religious significance for Christians, Jews and Muslims, which has made it a hot zone for conflict throughout the ages. 

Essay: 
Readings: 

Chapter 7: Religion from Human Geography

Arab-Israeli Conflict: Role of Religion Israel Science and Technology Directory

Center for Reduction of Religious-Based Conflict- Hotspots in the Middle East

Who owns Jerusalem? from Aljazeera America


How has religion led to conflict in modern day society and throughout the ages?

Throughout time there has always been religious conflict. The Jewish and Islamic faiths have been  involved in religious based conflict for over 3,000 years. Israel has been a hot spot for conflict between the two religious for thousands of years, partly because the city of Jerusalem has a large religious significance for three of the world's major religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In 1947 when the original Palestine was set to be divided by the untied nations to create two separate Jewish and Arab states, Jerusalem and Bethlehem were deemed corpus separatum due to their religious significance to the three religions. Although Israel's leaders openly accepted the plan to share the two cities, the Arab leaders did not think that they should have to share a city that was "rightfully theirs" in their view. In response to the partition, the Arabs responded with an attack in 1948 which counterproductively ended in them losing a large deal of territory as well as the rights to have shared the city. The war also caused over 700,000 Jews in eight other Arab countries to have to flee and seek refuge in other countries. Later in 1967, Israel continued to change the boundaries, gaining control of the remaining Arab territory and pushing out many Palestinians.
Although many people say the reason for this conflict was not entirely religion based because thousands of Palestinians were evicted from a place that they considered to be home, the impetus for the conflict and the main reason it has continued for so long is due to religious intolerance.
Today the two religions continue to look at the differences in the two faiths instead of their numerous similarities. Some Islamic people practice extreme intolerance toward other faiths and see it as part of their spiritual duty to practice "Jihad" or "war against nonbelievers". Throughout the past several years there has been almost daily attacks of terrorism in the Middle East. Terrorist attacks and religious intolerance have led to millions of deaths not only in the Middle East but around the world. In order for us to facilitate a peaceful world we must teach our prodigy to not only tolerate other religions but to "[emphasize]  those  common  threads  of  similarity  of religions  rather  than  emphasizing  the  differences" (Center for Religious Based Conflict).