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CHALLENGES FOR HUMANS IN EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS (Remoteness ((http://www.abs…
CHALLENGES FOR HUMANS IN EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS
Climate
Challenges in cold environments
Infrastructure/buildings
Hard to build on permafrost surface
Soil layer is very mobile - makes buildings sink and subside, roads crack and sometimes trees can fall
Houses are often built on stilts to prevent subsidence
Lives
Have to keep warm and not die of hypothermia
Have to hunt for their own foods (seal, whale, fish)
Inaccessibility
Hard to get around - expensive
Sparsely populated and have few communication links
The colder it is, the more accessible the area might be (ironically) as roads can be built on ice
Government might place sensitive buildings in these areas (such as emergency food storage)
Food and resources
Water is beneath the permafrost (hard to get)
Hard to get resources/live by their own lord
Water tastes weird (minerals build up)
Some places have reserves of gas, coal, silver and iron ore
References
http://www.coolgeography.co.uk/gcsen/GCSE_LW_Development_Issues.php
http://www.pitlanemagazine.com/lifestyles-and-subcultures/pros-and-cons-of-living-in-a-cold-climate.html
Example
: Oymyakon (Russia)
Average temperature is -50 C; the coldest that it's been is -71.5 C (1924)
Oymyakon means "unfrozen water"
Great risk of frostbite - just by spending a few minutes in the cold
Not able to grow crops, so the people mainly rely on meats
Challenges in hot environments
Lives
Tourism is generally not developed - tourists stay here short and are infrequent
Underground water may not be accessible as it is expensive to build boreholes
Food and resources
Exporting minerals and resources is expensive (if there are any) - long distances of transportation
Hard to farm due to sandstorms and high winds
Remoteness
Some regions can be remote but not inaccessible, ex: Grand Canyon. Government has built great numbers of roads which makes the place accessible.
education isn't available conveniently for children as there won't be schools located nearby
An example of a remote region would be point nemo, which is 2688km away from Ducie Island, Motu Nui and Maher Island. In fact, the closest place is the International Space Station, which is 400km away. -classroom
Many desert areas are remote due to the sheer scale of the desert. Especially those that are away from the coast and habitable areas such as river valleys will be remote. -textbook
http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/home/remoteness+structure
Measuring remoteness: accessibility/remoteness index of Australia (ARIA+). Road distances measured between populated localities -> used to generate an index with values from 0 (high accessibility) -> 15 (high remoteness). -> Forms the basis for the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/about-the-department/our-reforms/local-schools-local-decisions/reform-agenda/resource-allocation-model/location
https://www.cdu.edu.au/sites/default/files/the-northern-institute/10.18793-lcj2016.19.06-revised.pdf
Inaccessibility
Hard to find food and water supplies
(ex) In places with large, continuous stretches of permafrost, finding water takes a lot of effort. People can sometimes get water from nearby lakes and rivers by melting ice or snow but they cannot get liquid water directly in extreme cold environments. Extreme hot environments are even worse. They can hardly find water anywhere because it dries up quickly due to the extreme heat.
Education
There are very few education facilities around extreme environments because for people living in either extreme hot or extreme cold environments their priority is to find food and water to survive.
Health care
:Since the place is inaccessible to people, medical facilities have a hard time reaching this place. As a result, people living in these extreme environments have to walk long distances to go to the hospital or otherwise they will die.
Human discomfort
The Bedouin of the Arabian Peninsula and the Fulani of Africa, they have learned how to cope with the temperature by avoiding sunlight and taking rests as much as possible. Therefore, they tend to travel in the early morning when the temperature is lower and return in the late afternoon. In addition, their clothes are also loose-fitting for comfortableness as it reduces sweating.
Cold weather acts as a vasoconstrictor, wich narrows that blood vessels. Therefore it increases the probability of having a heart attack
heat slows down the central nervous system making us feel tired, stressful, and short tempereed
80 - 90 °F Fatigue possible with prolonged exposure and/or physical activity.
90 -105 °F Heat cramps and heat exhaustion possible with prolonged exposure and/or physical activity.
105 -130 °F Heat cramps or heat exhaustion likely and heatstroke possible with prolonged exposure and/or physical activity.
130 °F or higher Heatstroke highly likely with continued exposure
in extreme cold environment:
corneas might freeze
skin, muscles and tissue freezes solid, therefore blood can't flow
hypothermia
Relief
Low temperature
As the relief is higher, the temperature decreases because the pressure decreases. Since the temperature decreases, it is very cold at high relief areas, so there is a risk to suffer from frostbite, and it is difficult to make fire/get warm.
Lack of food supply
It is hard to see plants and trees growing in cold areas because they don't receive enough nutrients. This leads to lack of food, since vegetables and fruits don't grow, and it is rare to see animals living in cold mountains.
Moreover, since the transportation is difficult, transportation of food supply is difficult too.
Low quality of transportation
Arid & Cold: steep slopes are difficult for transportation
Periglacial: it is dangerous because the slopes are very slippery
Hard to construct houses/buildings
Since the transportation is hard, it is also difficult to construct houses and buildings; the slopes are steep, so there is a possibility of the buildings falling, and it is hard to transport the materials for construction
