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Geography: The study of the world around us (Key Concepts (Mapping…
Geography:
The study of the world around us
Key Concepts
Place: part of the Earth's surface that's given meaning by people.
Space: something used when investigating the way that things are arranged on Earth's surface.
Change: the Earth is constantly changing
Sustainability: the ongoing capacity of the Earth to maintain all life.
Scale: this concept is used to guide geographical inquiries.
Environment: the living and non-living components and elements that make up an area.
Interconnection: a concept used to better understand the links between places and people.
Mapping
Referencing
Grid
6-figure grid referencing
4-figure grid referencing
Vertical lines are called EASTINGS
Horizontal lines are called NORTHINGS
Environmental Change
Land:
Large areas of forest are cleared. This is because as the population increases, there's a higher demand for towns and/or farms.
Less than one quarter of the world"s original forest remains.
Atmosphere:
The burning of fossil fuels (like coal) makes the levels of gas in our atmosphere increase. This makes the Earth warm up, leading to global warming.
Water:
About 70% of the water we get is used to farm crops and animals
However, some water supplies are too polluted (due to litter) to drink or use. This causes a lot of problems for animals and ecosystems.
Loss of Biodiversity
The five main causes
Habitat change (such as deforestation)
Over-exploitation of resources (such as fresh water)
The spread of invasive species
Pollution of our land, water and air
Climate change
Impacts of the loss of biodiversity
Interruption of the food chain/ecosystem
Humans will no longer be able to rely on plants and animals to provide food and medicines.
Increases the spread of diseases
Food security will be impacted in a negative way
Climate Change: the long-term, permanent change in some or all parts of weather conditions in an area.
The main cause of climate change is greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere.
Greenhouse Effect
The greenhouse effect is the effect of the Sun's energy getting trapped within the atmosphere enough so that the temperatures rise.
Greenhouse gases are released due to human activity. This includes burning fossil fuels, clearing forests and farming animals.
Four main greenhouse gases:
Carbon Dioxide - burning of fossil fuels
Methane - large scale farming of livestock
Nitrous Oxide - use of fertilisers
Fluorinated gases - refridgerators
Impacts of climate change
ecosystems develop in specific environmental conditions
As climate change alters these conditions, ecosystems can respond in 4 different ways:
Changing their basic biology (such as laying smaller eggs)
Changing the time of certain events (such as flowering)
They become extinct - this causes serious consequences for entire ecosystems
They move - migration
Ecosystem Services
Benefits that humans receive from nature's resources
The four classifications
Sources (provisioning services): natural resources that humans use (for examples, coal from the Earth = fuel)
Sinks (regulation services): processes in the natural environment that absorb our waste (for example, food decomposes in the bush)
Services (supporting services): things done for us by nature that don't produce consumable resources (for example, wetlands filter water and slow floodwaters)
Spirituality (cultural services): personal relationships that humans have with the environment (for example, we cannot mine in certain places because of spirituality
Salinity
The movement and concentration of salt in the landscape.
Salinity is a problem because when there's too much salt in the environment, the environment surrounding that area dies, causing a loss in biodiversity
The main cause of salinity is the replacement of deep-rooted trees with shallow-rooted shrubs, so not enough water is absorbed from the soil, causing the water table rise. With the water, the salt rises and is no longer far enough from the plants for them to survive.
Human Wellbeing
Wellbeing:The ability of people to access the resources they need in order to live healthy lives.
Primary needs:
Fresh water
Secure food supply
Shelter
Clothing
Safety
Secondary needs:
Good health
Education
Influences of wellbeing
Wealth
determines our ability to access to the basic necessities of life
Health
Clean air
Clean Water
Secure food supply
Ability to control the spread of diseases
Provide emergency services and health care
Eucation
Better jobs
Higher wages
Improved living standards
Mapping Wellbeing
Choropeth Map: used to show different spatial patterns by using dark and light shades of the same colours.
Human Development Index (HDI): measures life expectancy, education, income and GDP
Cartograms: displays countries in their correct geographical locations but the size of the countries is determined by the variable being mapped.
Scatter Plots: used to display data plotted against two variables and to show the degree that the two variables are related (correlation). When the dots come close to forming a straight line, it means that they're closely related (high correlation).
5 main factors that affect human wellbeing
Environmental
Climate
Land quality + availability of fresh water
Natural Resources
Relative location
Social
Population size and growth
Cultural norms (e.g. gender roles)
Economical
Trade laws
Access to trade routes
Historical
Colonial past
Past conflicts
Political
Political stability
Level of corruption
Wars and civil conflict
Human
Changes in population
Inequality
Political instability
Conflict