interaction - nelson · 2006. 7. 25. · 3 interaction learning outcomes • locate on a world map...

33 InteractionInteraction

L E A R N I N G O U T C O M E S

• locate on a world map the major population clusters, and explainthe relationship between population distribution and the naturalenvironment

• give examples of the influence of the natural environment onways of life

How the Environment Affects People

O ur physical environment — weather and landforms —affects what we do and how we live. We interact with it.

The Weather and YouWhen we wake up, the first thingmany of us do is check the weath-er. If it’s cold, we wear hats andmitts. If it’s warm, we can wearshorts. The weather dictateswhat we wear. It also controlsour activities. The weathercan rain out your baseballgame. Wind and snow canclose roads and schools.

Long stretches of dull, wet weather makesome people depressed.Changes in the weathercause changes in peo-ple’s attitudes, energylevels, and health.

acid rainatmospherebiospherechlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)emission control systemsfertilizersgeothermal springsground waterherbicideshydrosphereinsulatorsinteractland uselithosphereMid-Atlantic Ridgemonsoonneutralizenitrogennon-point (pollution)ozone layerpermafrostpesticidespoint (pollution)pollutionscrubberssea levelsmogsulphururban sprawlwater vapour

KEY VOCABULARYKEY VOCABULARY

Figure 3.1

All weather affects us,but severe weather canalso cause considerabledamage.

NEL

C H A P T E R 3 : Interaction 41

Figure 3.2

High winds, extreme cold,and long, dark winters arecharacteristic of tundraregions. How is thissettlement built with thesecharacteristics in mind?

Pingos have been tunnelled into and used as natural freezers.

Figure 3.3

Pingos are ice-cored mounds that rise upin permafrost zones like the MackenzieDelta. Some are 20 to 25 metres high.

ShelterManitoba is just like other parts of the world. Climate affectspeople’s behaviour and travel. It affects agriculture and the kindof shelter people need. For example, homes in areas covered bypermafrost must be built on gravel pads or other insulators. Thegravel pads prevent thawing of the ground because of heat fromthe buildings. Thawing softens the earth and causes the home toshift or sink. In northern communities, the utilities (water pipesand electrical wires) often run above the frozen ground frombuilding to building. Insulated pipes, called utilidors, keep thepipes and wires from freezing.

NEL

Environmental Limits on Human Activity

People usually don’t settle onlands that are too rough or

steeply sloped. People preferto settle in areas that have flatplains, gently sloping rivervalleys, or wide coastlines.When European settlers first

arrived in Canada, there weremany such areas. The land was

mostly covered by forest. The landwas cleared and used for building and

agriculture. People moved from one area toanother in search of a good place to live. Some land-

forms — such as mountains, cliffs, canyons, ridges, and wet-lands — hindered or even blocked the movement of people.

Mountain BarriersMountains forced people to move along them until they founda pass — a way over them — like the Khyber Pass in the HinduKush mountains north of India.

In North America, mountains once blocked the flow ofEuropean settlers from east to west. The Appalachians were thefirst barriers to movement inland. Then came the CanadianShield. Farther west, there was the Western Cordillera, or theRocky Mountains.

U N I T 1 : Investigating Geography42

NEL

C

ONNECTION

STO

C

ONNECTION

STO

HistoryHistoryHistory In Canada, finding a waythrough the Rocky Mountains to

the coast was a challenge. Finding andbuilding routes for the railway was an even greater challenge.View the video The National Dream — The WesternMountains. See the obstacles the workers faced on thisdaunting project. Watch how they overcame thesechallenges.

Figure 3.4

Over centuries, theKhyber Pass area hasbeen a majorbattleground for themany groups who tried tocontrol it. What makes itfairly easy to defend?

Today, mountains still obstruct humanmovements. It is difficult to construct rail-ways or roads through them. Some moun-tains are active volcanoes. They presenteven more challenges. Volcanic ash enrich-es the soil, but volcanic eruptions can be aconstant threat. Iceland is really the top ofa volcanic mountain area, which is part ofthe Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland has manyvolcanoes. Most of the heat and hot waterneeded by residents comes from the under-ground geothermal springs. The peopleuse the inner heat of the volcanoes to meettheir needs for heat. However, if the volca-noes erupt, homes, fields, and communitiesmay be buried in lava.


It’s Your WorldIt’s Your World

F ind the island of Java in an atlas. One of theworld’s most famous volcanoes, Krakatoa, is

on this island. The eruption of Krakatoa in 1883was so great that it was heard in Australia! Checkthe atlas map scale to see how far away that is.Compare that distance to the same distance fromWinnipeg. Incredibly, few people were killed. Therewas so much volcanic dust that the sky was darkfor days. The dust floated in the air for long dis-tances. It had the effect of producing remarkablesunsets for many weeks after.

Figure 3.5

Mount Vesuvius erupted suddenly and violently in AD 79.These are the remains of a citizen of Pompeii, buried inashes. Could a similar disaster happen today?

Figure 3.6

Swamp and wetlandareas are drained forhuman activities. How isthe wildlife affected?

Water BarriersThere are many types of wetlands. Fivecommon ones are river deltas, lagoons,swamps, bogs, and marshes. These areasare very rich in plant and animal species.However, wetlands forced settlers andsettlement to go around them. In thesouthern parts of North America, hugeswamplands, like the Okefenokee or theEverglades in Florida, kept people ontheir outer edges.

NEL

Hazardous Building SitesSome areas are not stable enough to build on. Where there is nosolid bedrock for foundations, the land becomes waterlogged. Itwon’t support heavy buildings. In other areas, regular floodingforces people to live high above ground in houses built on stilts.Homes such as these are found in the Amazon River basin inSouth America and in Bangladesh in Asia. Nearly all ofBangladesh, with its 120 million people, is only a few metres abovesea level. Two large rivers, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, flowfrom the northern hill country and flood regularly. The floodinghas destroyed many communities. It has also drowned hundredsof thousands of people over the years.

The summer monsoon winds blast Bangladesh and bringheavy rains. They increase the height of the Indian Ocean’s wavesand tides. This pushes water farther inland. Fields and homes aresubmerged. Many people in Bangladesh have rebuilt their homescompletely, 10 to 20 times!


At Cherrapunji, north of Bangladesh, it rained continuously for over two years!

Figure 3.7

Before widespread logging in themountain and hill country, severefloods happened only once every50 years or so. After the trees wereremoved, the land lay open andbare to the rains. Nothing was leftto slow the flow of water. Now,floods happen every second year.

Figure 3.8

Disastrous floods wash away homes,kill livestock, and ruin crops. Thesepeople have few resources and littlewealth. They have almost no controlover what is decided about land use.What two things can you suggest tohelp change the situation?

INDIA

INDIAN OCEANSUMMER MONSOONS

Bay ofBengal

BANGLADESH

Calcutta

Dacca

Chittagong

Cherrapunji INDIA

BHUTANNEPAL

MYANMAR

Brahmaputra River

Ganges River

NEL

The Physical Environment — Challenge andOpportunityPeople display an amazing ability to adapt to the physical envi-ronment. We use what the environment offers. We build snowhouses, sod houses, leaf and thatch houses, houses made from ani-mal skins, log houses, and even homes inside natural caves or cliffsides. We make adaptations for travelling. We use trees to makecanoes. We use animals and vegetation for going across snow andice or for moving settlements. We adapt our surroundings to getfood. We build stone weirs, or fences, to catch fish. We move waterto irrigate farmland.

People recognize opportunities. We find, clear, and farm fer-tile land. We discover how well the environment can support afishery, a mine, logging, or tourism.

Other ViewpointsNot every group of people sees the environment in the same way.When Europeans entered North America, they placed a value onfurs that the Aboriginal groups would have thought foolish. TheFirst Nations people used the furs they needed for survival. TheEuropeans used the environment for its riches. The native popu-lations lived with the environment. They used what they needed,but they didn’t exhaust the resources.

In north Africa, local peoples lived more or less in balance withtheir environment. They grew grains and raised animals. TheEuropeans saw a chance to grow cash crops like peanuts. Thesecrops had high value, but growing them made the soil less fertile.It became more easily eroded. Drought affected the soil more eas-ily. The price of growing cash crops became the environment.


Figure 3.9

As times change, people’smethods of living changeas well. What changes doyou see in this photo of atrapper in the North?

NEL


NEL

Figure 3.10

As technology hasdeveloped new materialsand new constructiontechniques, the length andshape of the bridges webuild have changed. Whatare some advantages tobeing able to span hugebodies of water withbridges? What are some ofthe environmentalproblems we could causewith such bridges?

Figure 3.11

This tunnel (called theChunnel because it’s atunnel under the EnglishChannel) runs betweenEngland and France. Ithandles cars, trucks, andtrains. Research to findout more about it. Howlong is it? How long didit take to build? How wasthe Chunnel constructedunder water?

How People Affect theEnvironment

We interact with the environment all the time. We take from theenvironment, and we change it. We have a relationship with theenvironment. Imagine that we walk in a forest, pick a flower, andenjoy what we see. We have taken from the environment. Wehave also changed and related to the environment. Our foot-prints change the ground under our feet. The picked flower isgone, and the plant’s cycle of life is changed. We have experi-enced the forest, and that experience has become a part of us.All parts of the interaction are important.

Creating a Built EnvironmentHuman beings are inventive. This inventiveness has made it possible for many amazing things to happen. We link areas by building bridges. We also link areas by tunnelling great distances under water or through mountains.


NEL

We control our local environmentsthrough engineering and technology.We add heat or cold to our buildingsand homes when we need it. We useresources such as oil, natural gas, andcoal to produce electricity. We havelearned to take advantage of the sun,moving water, the tides, and the windto provide power.

Big urban areas use up a lot of ener-gy. We have built power lines to moveenergy to cities and towns from thepower sources.

Absorbs wastes fromproducing electricity(e.g. hot water, sulphur and carbon dioxide)

Altered by transmissionand transport systems(e.g. pipelines/power corridors

Reduced resource areasthrough extraction(e.g. coal mines, oilfields)

Modified to provide settings to produce electricity (e.g. hydro-electric power dam)

Use electricityin industries tomake products

Use electricityin businesses

Build structures to create electricity

Extract resourcesto product electricity

Use electricity in our homes

Use electricityfor sometransportation

Create systemsto move electricity

PEOPLE

ENVIRONMENT

INTERACTIONS

What we do

How what we doaffects theenvironment

Figure 3.14

How people and electricity interact

Figure 3.12

Windmill farms canprovide enough energy tomeet the needs of a townof 50 000. Could everycommunity have one ofthese?

Figure 3.13

The power in these lineswas generated from threemajor source types. Canyou name them?

Waste ManagementThe artificial environments in our citieswaste a lot of energy. In recent years,we have tried to use more energy-saving methods such as betterinsulation, windows, heating sys-tems, and lighting. In spite ofthis, Canada is a world leaderin energy consumption. This isnot a “Number 1” that wewant. We can all reduce theamount of electricity we use.Just remembering to turn offthe lights would help a lot!

Put the Garbage OutWhen we use resources, we also generate waste products — leftover,unwanted resources. Some societies gen-erate very little waste of this kind. Others,like ours, create huge amounts. North Americahas a major problem storing and disposing of its waste products.

Who Produces The Most Garbage?

CanadaAustraliaUnited StatesSwitzerlandNetherlandsUnited KingdomJapanSwedenChina

1.71.61.61.31.10.90.90.80.5

kg/person/day

Sweden produces less than half the garbage per person thatCanada does. Why do you think Canada produces the most garbage per person?

Figure 3.16

Compare how much garbage wetrash to how much we recycle.

Family of 4 in One Year

Recycles Throws outas garbage

500 kg

2400 kg

Figure 3.15

What is your opinionabout what we shoulddo with all the garbagewe produce?


NEL

1. In your local region, list some physical features that have been obstacles orbarriers to settlement or development. How have they affected your area?

2. Explain two physical factors that affect agriculture in southern Manitoba.3. Where does our electricity come from? Write to your power supplier to discover

how the power we use is generated and moved to your community. Record anyenvironmental problems you see.

4. Why is conservation such an important topic?

Out of Sight, Out of MindFinding places to put our garbageis a hot topic. We have dumpedgarbage in the ocean, in lakes, inrivers and streams, in old quarries,and many other places. Our envi-ronment has been damaged by ourgarbage dumping. The piles oftrash smell and look ugly. Overtime, leaks from the dumps causemany serious problems, such ascontaminated water and disease.

Figure 3.17

Cities and towns canconstruct safe dumping areas,that is, sanitary landfill sites.Harmful substances arecontained or removed, toprevent them from enteringthe surrounding area.

Figure 3.18

What do you thinkmakes cleaning upthese sites sodifficult and costly?


NEL


Change Is ConstantLooking at the past helps us to understand the geography ofour country today. How people first settled the land left animprint on the land. This imprint affected how settlementcontinued. As people settled in central and western Canada, each stage of settlement affected the next stage.Figure 3.20 shows three stages of development. At one time, all urban communities were rural. Settlers moved west seeking new land and a new life. As they settled on the Prairies, they changed the long history that Aboriginal peoples had of living in harmony with the land. Railways were built to link Canadians from coast to coast. Communities formed clusters along the railways. This formed a linear pattern of settlement. With settlement came dramatic changes to the environment. Species after species disappeared. Ecosystems were changed or destroyed.

C

ONNECTION

STO

C

ONNECTION

STO

ArcheologyArcheologyArcheology The ruins of Machu Picchu sithigh up in the Andes Mountains in

Peru. They overlook the narrow UrubambaRiver valley. Tourists ride a rickety train or hike for days to get tothe site. They go to see the stone ruins of homes and temples fromthe 1500s. Many questions remain unanswered about this imprintof the Inca Empire. Why was this ancient mountaintop cityabandoned? Did some Incas use it to hide from the Spanish asthe invaders stripped gold and other resources from this partof South America? Even though there are still questions,the human imprint remains.

Figure 3.19

Ancient human imprints such as MachuPicchu are still visible on the land.

NEL


NEL

ROCKYMOUNTAINS

WEST

buffaloPlains-dwellingFirst Nations

Wagon train

Recreation

Grainelevators

Oil pumps

Forest-dwellingFirst Nations

1700s

1800s

Late 1900s

FORESTS

EAST

GREATPLAINS

Figure 3.20

Changing settlement patterns and land use in the Prairies.What do you think will look different in 100 years?

Figure 3.21

A grain elevator in Warren,Manitoba. These woodenstructures are beingreplaced with larger,concrete terminals.


NEL

Changing PatternsSettlement patterns on the Prairies changed greatly in the 1900s.The population grew. Oil and natural gas were discovered, andpeople began to use these resources. There were also advancesin technology.

Have you noticed the wooden grain elevators in the villages andtowns along the Canadian Pacific Railway line in western Canada?Over 80 percent of these grain storage buildings have been closed.In 1981, there were 3117 grain elevators on the Prairies. By 2002,there were 412 left. The ones that are left are disappearing quickly.Most farmers now have to haul their grain to larger, concrete storage facilities. These grain terminals are often outside biggerurban centres. As a result, basic services in many small towns — suchas the general store, the farm equipment dealer, the post office, andthe bank — have closed. Some towns have even disappeared.Technology has advanced in agriculture. This means that farms onthe Prairies are much larger than they were in the past. Thesehuman activities create constant change in settlement patterns.

Most people in Canada prefer cars to other forms of transportation. The average Canadian travels about 18 000 km a year — over 88 percent of it in a personal vehicle.

Figure 3.23

This photo shows two kinds ofenergy use: the truck uses fossilfuels, while the wind farm usesthe power of the wind togenerate electricity. What aretwo advantages and twodisadvantages of each method?


NEL

Land UseLike most people in the world, most Canadians live in urbanareas. The growth of towns and cities will probably continueover the next century. When urban areas spread out and growinto the surrounding rural areas, the result is urban sprawl.

Land use changes as technology changes. In the past,when people travelled by water, horse, or cart, settlementscould extend only as far as people could travel in a day.The invention of the automobile allowed people to trav-el farther in a day. This made urban sprawl possible.

Extensive transportation networks are now neces-sary to move people around. Many people still com-mute to the city from the suburbs and surroundingtowns. Some spend as much as three hours each daydriving back and forth to work. That’s 15 hours aweek, or two whole work days, spent just going to andfrom work.

Residential40%

Commercial5%

Transportation 32%

Industrial 6%

Open space andrecreational 7%

Institutional andpublic buildings 10%

C

ONNECTION

STO

C

ONNECTION

STO

EcologyEcologyEcology Since January 1999, cyclists fromthe Afribike Centre in downtown

Johannesburg, South Africa, have been takingaction. They are riding their bicycles in large groups of 30 or morethrough the streets of the city once a month to promote awarenessof this transportation method. They are encouraging officials tobuild bicycle lanes on roads leading into the city. They wantofficials to provide bike access to commuter trains and passlaws to protect cyclists. They also provide low-costbicycles, tools, and workshops to encourage people tostart using their bikes.

Figure 3.22

Land uses in a typical city

Figure 3.24

Types of urban land use includeresidential, commercial,industrial, institutional,transportation, recreational, andopen-space developments.

a) In which of these types ofresidential land use is populationdensity higher? Which type do youthink has the most impact on thenatural habitat of the region? Why?

b) Many products and services are available in ashopping mall, where people can shop in climate-controlled comfort. However, malls are surrounded byasphalt parking lots. These use up a great deal of land.What steps could planners take to use less land forparking?

c) During manufacturing, raw materials are turned intofinished products such as steel or cars. Manufacturing isone type of industrial land use that requires a largeamount of land. It also requires easy access to water, rail,or highway transportation routes. This type of land usecan be a source of air, water, and noise pollution. Arethere factories in your area? What do they produce?


NEL

How People Use the LandPeople’s activities and choices affect the patterns and imprintsthey make on the land. Planners, developers, governments, andindividuals make decisions about land use. These decisions cre-ate patterns of land use. Poor decisions can result in badlyplanned cities. Cities that are not planned well use up valuableagricultural land. They destroy natural habitat for other species.They contribute to pollution. Public transit is often not plannedwell for commuters from the suburbs. This poor planning forcespeople to use their cars. More people driving cars mean moregreenhouse gases and greater resource use.

Rural land is used for primary industries like forestry, agri-culture, and mining. It also includes land that is forested.Recreational land and parks outside cities are rural. Wetlands(swamps and marsh) and wilderness areas are also rural.


g) Is this type ofland usetransportation orrecreational?

h) Recreational land includes parks, playingfields, golf courses, and arenas. Cemeteries andfarmland that is not being used to grow cropsbut is sitting vacant waiting for futuredevelopment are considered open space.

f) Almost one-third of all the land within townsand cities is used for getting people and thingsfrom one place to another. Parking lots, trainand bus stations, airports, and docks are allconsidered transportation land use. How did thecar change the way cities are planned?

e) Institutional land use includes publicbuildings, such as schools, churches,hospitals, and government offices.

d) At industrial parks like this, high-value products such as computersand electronic equipment are manufactured. Many industrial parks arelocated in the suburbs, where land is less expensive than in the city. Thesebusinesses spread out around a city. They use a great deal of space forparking and landscaping. They also require land for easy access tohighways and expressways, as trucking is the main method oftransporting their goods. Do you think this is a good use of land? Explain.

NEL


NEL

Our Actions and the FourSpheresThe artificial environments we create have many large-scale effects.These effects involve all four components of the environment. Ouractions affect

• the atmosphere (the air that surrounds the Earth)• the hydrosphere (oceans, lakes, and rivers)• the lithosphere (the outer, solid part of the Earth,

including the crust and upper mantle)• the biosphere (living organisms and their

environments)

People and the AtmosphereWe pollute our atmosphere. The result is a thinning ozone layer,acid rain, and smog.

Holes in the Ozone LayerThe thinning ozone layer is a fairly new and very complex situa-tion. Chemical compounds, called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs),are used in such things as air conditioners and aerosol spraycans. CFCs cause most of the thinning. Efforts have been madeto eliminate CFCs worldwide, but these efforts are not complete.Damage continues to be made to the ozone layer.

Acid RainAcid rain has become a major problem in several areas of theworld. Cars, trucks, planes, trains, power plants, and industryspew sulphur and nitrogen into the air. These combine with sunlight, water vapour, and oxygen to make acids and other toxins, which fall to Earth as acid rain. This increases the acid level of lakes. It makes the water environments unfit for life. Acid rain kills vegetation. It eats away buildings and even makes car paint fade. Areas like the Canadian Shield are the hardest hit. The bedrock cannot neutralizethe acids.

In the southern half of Norway, 80 percent of the lakes and streams are either technically dead — nothing can live in them — or dying.

Figure 3.25

The acid rain that killedthis lake and these treescan be controlled. Whatlaw would you pass tohelp stop acid rain?


NEL

SmogLocal weather reports, especially in big cities, carry smog warn-ings. Imagine, breathing in a big city can be hazardous to yourhealth. Breathing in Mexico City on a hot summer day has beencompared to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day!

Technology: Problem and SolutionTechnology has helped create these problems. It has also givenus some ways to reduce the problems. It is easiest to deal withpollution problems when they come from a single point source,like the smokestacks on a power plant, by adding things likescrubbers to them.

Figure 3.26

Many cities all over theworld have major smogproblems. How do youget governments to cleanup the air?

Beijing, the capital of China, sometimes has been so engulfed in smog that it couldn’t be seen on satellite photos for days.The city of Santiago in Chile has rules keeping 30 percent of all cars off the roads each day.

It’s Your WorldIt’s Your World

P ollution knows no borders or boundaries.Pollution produced in one part of the world,

say North America, causes problems in otherparts of the world, like Europe. Pollution in some-one else’s town could cause problems for yourarea. Is there a major cause of air pollution inyour area? Is anything being done about it? Howcan you find out?

When the pollution is non-point, like the millionsof cars and trucks spread over the world, it is farharder to treat. In the short term, we can helpby developing better emission control sys-tems. The only way to eliminate their harm-ful emissions totally is to have vehiclesthat don’t produce harmful emissions atall. Electric-powered or hydrogen-pow-ered vehicles look like good futurechoices since they are non-polluting.

People and theHydrosphereIn the past, we thought oceans weregreat places to dump things. We feltthat they were so large that therecould never be a problem. Today, weknow that isn’t so.

Our OceansWith so many people living in coastalzones dumping their sewage and garbageinto the oceans, there are big problems forthe water life (the fish we eat!) and for us.People have used the seas to hide other things(out of sight, out of mind). Undetonated explo-sives, toxic industrial wastes, and even nuclearwastes have been dumped in ocean waters. It is nowonder that world fisheries have declined.


NEL

Figure 3.27

Think of ways that wouldconvince people to leave theircars at home and use publictransportation, a car pool, ormaybe even a bicycle instead.

New hydrogen/oxygencars are predicted tocome off assemblylines in the nearfuture.


NEL

Our Fresh WaterOur inland waters have not escaped this kind of treatment.

Lake Ontario has been called a chemical soup because ofwhat has been dumped into it by all the industries around it.

Untreated human wastes make their way into our GreatLakes. What we put into our rivers and streams pollutesthe water we need for life.

Chemicals — fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides —that we have spread on our lawns and gardens find their

way into our water systems. They can also affect ourground-water quality. Eventually, they affect the

quality of all water. As these chemicals are circu-lated by natural water systems, they become

potential silent killers.

People and the LithosphereWe clear woods for farming. We ploughfields. We quarry rock, sand, and gravel.Each action changes the environment.Clearing land can cause more erosion

and run-off. This process creates land-forms like gullies or increases flooding.

Using the land for agriculture can deplete itsminerals and make it too acidic, waterlogged, or

too salty. Quarrying and mining eliminate somelandforms and change others.

Figure 3.29

Most quarries end up lookingquite attractive when the ownersare finished with them. However,some remain ugly scars on thelandscape. Many people maketheir living working at quarriesor in other construction jobs thatdepend on quarries. Think abouta law that doesn’t take jobs awaybut protects the environmentfrom poorly managed quarries.

Figure 3.28

Manitoba has strongregulations on water quality,but enforcing the regulationsis a difficult problem. Why doyou think that is?

People and the BiosphereOur interactions with the environmentcause major change in the biosphere.Many of the concerns mentioned regard-ing the other spheres also apply to thissphere. The activities of people threatenall forms of life. We know that many ani-mal, bird, and fish species have beenwiped out. Many others are endangered.Our plants and trees are also threatenedby our activities. Our cities are growing.This means there are fewer places leftwhere some plants can grow. For exam-ple, in North America, we have manykinds of beautiful orchids. One suchflower is the western prairie fringedorchid. It is an endangered species. Theonly Canadian province it grows in isManitoba.


NEL

Figure 3.30

How can we prevent the further lossof the western prairie fringedorchid?

QIf all humansdisappeared today, the Earth

would start improving tomorrow. Ifall the ants disappeared today, the Earth

would start dying tomorrow. Scientist and broadcaster David Suzuki

“

“

1. Use two specific examples to explain how land use may change as technologychanges.

2. What land use changes would result if many people within a community chose touse bicycles instead of cars?

3. Explain how the saying “For every action, there is a reaction” applies to peopleand the environment.

Only 15 percent of the people living in rural areas in Canada live on farms.

Leaving Rural AreasPeople are leaving rural areas and moving into cities. What push-es people out of rural areas and pulls them toward the cities? Inthe early 1900s, more and more industries developed in cities.People were attracted away from farms to the new jobs that thesebusinesses provided. Today’s farming inventions mean that fewerpeople are needed to work on farms. People continue to bepulled toward possible jobs in industries in the city.

In developing countries, people leave rural areas for severalreasons:

• High fertility rates —Too many children are born forsmall farms to support.

• Small farms — Farms are divided up into smaller andsmaller plots. New generations inherit traditionalfarms, and more people depend on each farm. Thesmaller plots cannot support enough people.

• Economic opportunities — More jobs are found in cities.• Natural disasters — Earthquakes or volcanic eruptions

cause serious damage in rural areas. People are forcedaway from their homes and villages.

• Violent conflicts — War and other political conflictsaffect land use.


NEL

Figure 3.31

Young girls assemble strawmats in Nouakchott,Mauritania in westernAfrica. The quality of life incity slums can be dismal.Many people, includingchildren, are forced towork in terrible conditionsin factories. Some live onthe street, begging andscavenging food to survive.Despite these conditions,people still see the city as abetter place to live.Urbanization continues.

The “Greening” of CitiesPeople around the world are starting to improve the appear-ance of their cities. They are working to make them useresources more efficiently and pollute less. Urban geogra-phers and planners have outlined some ideas for develop-ing more sustainable cities. These include the following:

• Change land-use planning. Cities and suburbscan be created with a mix ofdifferent land uses. This trendwould result in green, safe,diverse, and lively communitiesclose to public transportationfacilities.


Figure 3.32

In a vibrant city, housing, work, shopping,schools, and recreation facilities are allwithin easy walking distance.

Figure 3.33

Vancouver’s Skytrain is an exampleof effective urban transportationplanning.

Figure 3.34

Houses that are close to the street and toone another create a sense of sharedspace and community, even in a big city.

• Change transportation planning.Travel by walking, biking, andpublic transit can be made easierso that people will be encouragedto use their cars less.

• Encourage the building of safe,conveniently located, andaffordable housing for people inall economic groups.

NEL


NEL

QThe well-being of

the planet in the coming centurywill be decided to a significant degree by

cities and their citizens.Trevor Hancock, urban consultant

“

“

Figure 3.35

Parkland trails are inviting to hikers and bikers alike. Cleanupcampaigns, such as clearing aluminum cans from parks andlakesides, can help minimize the bad effects of human activitieson the environment.

Figure 3.36

Planting trees is one way to beautify an urbanenvironment. Can you suggest two other activities thatmight make our cities greener, more pleasant places?

Figure 3.37

What happens to your waste paper after it leavesyour recycling box? This shredded material will beused to make a variety of new paper products.

• Restore natural environments —such as woodlots, rivers, andwetlands — in cities that havebeen damaged.

• Support local agriculture andcommunity gardens within cities.

• Promote recycling and otherprograms to conserve energyand water and reduce wasteand pollution.

Skills for Active DemocraticCitizenship

Write to one or two of the different organiza-tions in Manitoba that are concerned with conservation and our natural habitat. Find out how students your age can get involved.

Design the ideal residential community. Showhow the land will be used in different andresponsible ways to preserve the environment.

What positive changes can you make to yourschool environment to promote a healthy eco-zone? Explain why you feel these changes areimportant. Outline the steps you will need totake to have these changes put into place.

Skills for Managing Ideas andInformation

Compare your neighbourhood to another inyour community. List the similarities and differ-ences — both physical and human — in a chart.

Describe how humans adapt to meet the physi-cal characteristics of a region.

Critical and Creative ThinkingSkills

Predict one change in your activities that mayoccur as a result of each of the following hap-pening in your area:

a) increase in population

b) a series of very dry summers

c) the opening of a new shopping mall

You are planning a fall camping trip to FalconLake. Explain how you will interact with yournew environment. What changes will takeplace? Think about things such as the following:

a) food

b) shelter

c) water

d) heat

e) weather

f) services available

g) wildlife

What are the advantages and/or disadvantagesof having a flower bed or garden area onschool grounds? How would this affect thebiosphere?

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1


NEL

Figure 3.38

Typical residential community in Manitoba

Figure 3.39

Falcon Lake, in Manitoba

Select a form of pollution you see becomingincreasingly more dangerous to the environ-ment. Research the effects of this pollutant andpossible suggestions that will stop or decreasefurther damage to the environment.

Communication SkillsManitoba’s Protective Areas Initiative (PAI) pro-hibits all resource extraction activity within theprotected area. This means that if a forest orwetland in Manitoba is protected, people arenot allowed to take any usable resources (trees,minerals, soil, birds) from this area.

As a concerned citizen, how would youvoice your concerns over an area you feelshould be protected?

When we talk about the environment, peoplehave different ideas about what the word “envi-ronment” means. What does the word “environ-ment” mean to you?

Do you think Winnipeg and Brandon were builtin the right locations? Why or why not? Explainyour answer.

12

11

10

9


NEL

Figure 3.40

A horned grebe sits on its nest in a wetland nearChurchill, Manitoba.

Figure 3.41

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Figure 3.42

Brandon, Manitoba

interaction - nelson · 2006. 7. 25. · 3 interaction learning outcomes • locate on a world map...

Documents