Blog post 21

Viewing Guide:  Guns, Germs, and Steel: Episode 1

Directions: Before viewing the film, read each question below so you know what information and ideas you should be looking for as you watch Episode 1. Record your answers to each question by providing as many facts, details, and examples as possible to answer each question.

1. According to Jared Diamond, what are the three major elements that separate the world’s  “haves” from the “have nots”?

Guns, Germs, and Steel

2. Jared Diamond refers to the people of New Guinea as “among the world’s most culturally diverse and adaptable people in the world”, yet they have much less than modern Americans.Diamond has developed a theory about what has caused these huge discrepancies among different countries, and he says it boils down to geographic luck. Give several examples from the film to support Diamond’s theory
Answers will vary but could include discussion of people living in the Middle East and all of their resources compared to the relatively small amount of resources provided by the jungle areas of New Guinea, and how having more food resources and the ability to store them led people to become more agrarian and less reliant on being hunter-gatherers. This, in turn, allowed societies to develop specialists who could improve and develop technologies in a variety of areas. Societies that were not blessed with growing conditions that support nutrient rich crops or allow for their easy, long-term storage are simply not as successful at farming, thus must continue to rely on hunting and gathering to survive.

 3. For thousands of years, people have been cultivating crops. Describe the process used to domesticate crops and create plants that yielded bigger, tastier harvests
By domesticating crops, we mean that people interfere with what actually happens in nature by planting and harvesting at specific times, choosing only the biggest, tastiest, easiest to harvest seeds from the crops, and selecting individual plants for usein breeding the next year’s crops to increase the harvest.

4. According to Diamond, livestock also plays a significant role in a civilization’s ability to 

 become rich and powerful. How did the domestication of animals help people? Give several examples.

breeding animals for use as meat and for their milk as well as providing other resources such as skins for clothing, using the animals as beasts of burden/plowing, and using the animals for transportation or warfare. In addition, animals were important to farming because they could eat the stubble from the fields and provide the fields with fertilizer at the same time.

5. List the animals that can be domesticated and where they can be found.

llama-South America, Asia, North Africa, and Europe had the others: goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, camels, water buffalo, reindeer, yaks, nithans, and cattle.

6. Looking at the list of animals and locations from question 5, discuss how Diamond’s theory about geographic luck applies here.

The idea that domesticated animals led to greater productivity, and the majority of these domesticable animals were native to the temperate climates of the world where the most powerful civilizations developed.

7. How did the movement of the early civilizations of the Fertile Crescent (Middle East) further support Diamond’s idea that geography played a key role in the success of a civilization?

The Fertile Crescent had a dry climate and a fragile environment. The people of the time did not have conservation methods. Instead, they over-exploited the land and environment. Over time, the land could no longer support them. The fact that the Fertile Crescent shared the same latitude with Europe and Asia allowed them to move their crops and animals to these areas and continue to thrive. Had they not lived adjacent to land masses that could support their crops and animals, they may have died out.

8. Do you agree with Jared Diamond when he says of a civilization's ability to gain power, 

 wealth, and strength, “…what’s far more important is the hand that people have been dealt, the raw materials they’ve had at their disposal.” Why or why not?

Blog post 20

1.) According to the article, what are the two fundamental aspects of Japan's aging crisis?

There are two fundamental aspects behind Japan’s aging population. One aspect is the increase in the proportion of the elderly in the total population. The other is the slower growth of the population, arising directly from the declining fertility rate. 

2.) By 2030, what percentage of the Japanese population will be elderly dependents (aged 65+)? 

33%

3.) What is the direct economic impact of Japan's aging population?

The decreased workforce is causing the Japanese economy to cease to grow.

4.) How is the Japanese government attempting to address the labor shortages?

The government has tried to meet labor shortages by encouraging more employment of women and older workers, and using more robots and other automation

Blog post 19

According to Malthus, what is the general nature of all animated life?

That is the constant tendency of all animated life to increase beyond the nourishment provided for it.

According to Malthus, what is the most positive check on human population growth that has existed in history?

Law of our nature which makes food necessary to the life of man, population can never actually increase beyond the lowest nourishment capable of supporting it, a strong check on population, namely, the difficulty of acquiring food, must be constantly in operation.

Describe Malthus’ idea of arithmetic growth of food supply v geometric growth of human population. 

population increases exponential place food supply increases arithmetic

Discuss Malthus’ idea of positive and preventive checks on human population. Provide examples of both.  

these are practices which you limit reproduction or fertility. these include abstinence which necessitates moral restraint and delay of marriage. Malthus was aware that moral restraint was difficult as people gain pleasure from sex. yet he was not in favor of artificial birth control methods.

RESEARCH: Was Malthus Right? Read the article and do some outside research if necessary and decide whether or not Malthus was right.  
Yes he was right

blog post 18

1) The One Child Policy- official program initiated in the late 1970s and early ’80s by the central government of China, the purpose of which was to limit the great majority of family units in the country to one child each. The rationale for implementing the policy was to reduce the growth rate of China’s enormous population. It was announced in late 2015 that the program was to end in early 2016.

2) Deng Xiaoping created the policy on September 25, 1980.

3) There were some exceptions, for example, twins, triplets, quintuplets, and parents within some ethnic minority groups or those whose firstborn was handicapped were allowed to have more than one child. Methods of enforcement included making contraceptive methods available, offering financial penalties and employment opportunities, imposing sanctions against those who violated the policy, and at times, invoking stronger measures such as forced abortions and sterilizations

4) The one-child policy produced consequences beyond the goal of reducing population growth. Most notably, the country’s overall sex ratio became aimed toward males—roughly between 3 and 4 percent more males than females. Traditionally, male children have been preferred—particularly in rural areas—as sons inherit the family name and property and are responsible for the care of elderly parents. Another consequence of the policy was a growing proportion of elderly people, the result of the concurrent drop in children born and rise in longevity since 1980. That became a concern, as the great majority of senior citizens in China relied on their children for support after they retired, and there were fewer children to support them. A third consequence was instances in which the births of subsequent children after the first went unreported or were hidden from authorities. Those children, most of whom were undocumented, faced hardships in obtaining education and employment. Although the number of such children is not known, estimates have ranged from the hundreds of thousands to several million.


5) I watched it

Blog 17

Describe the economic and cultural forces that shape the choice to have children—or not- in each of the countries listed in the article. Use the first hand accounts from the women in each of the countries to build your answer. You will also want to include background information about fertility rates and how we use them as human geographers. *Your response must be a minimum of 4 paragraphs. 



Answer-

The economic and cultural forces that effect fertility rates in these countries are:

France- The French fertility rate went from 2.9 in 1960 to 1.9 in 2017.  In France women make 72% of the income that men make.  The wage gap exists in this country.

Saudi-Arabia- Women in Saudi-Arabia have one of the lowest rate of labor force participation and have low economic power.  25% of the women in this country are in the workforce.  Women earn 22% of mens earnings.  In Saudi-Arabia women have very little choice in what they want to do in life, this is because men have so much power over them.  For example, the women in the account wanted to travel abroad to study media, but her dad made her study something else.

China- In China there is a limit to how much children you can have.  This limit has brought fertility rate down from 5.8 children in 1960 to 1.7 children in 2017.  The culture of women working has also led to a steep decline.  A recent crackdown on gender discrimination has also led to decreased fertility rates.  Women in china get very little sympathy.  In the account, a pregnant women was told to go. on a business trip.  worried that the condition she was in was not fit for traveling, she reached out to her CEO, who was also female.  her CEO said "overcome it".  The company that she worked hard for treated her poorly even tho she was pregnant.

Nigeria- The fertility rates have not changed much compared to other countries like China.  In 1960, the fertility rate was 6.4, in 2017 it was 5.5.  Nigeria is predicted to be a main contributor to world population growth. 


Fertility Rates are important statistics that can help determine wether the population of a place will drop or increase.  Fertility rates are the amount of live births per woman 15-65 years of age.   

blog 16
Video Notes:

• 10 million people in the year 10,000 BC
• 1800 was when population became 1 billion
• This is because of the industrial revolution
• Most of the growth has been from Asian countries
• The population grew so slow because most of the children born died before they could grow up
• Thanks to medical advances, the children died less and people live longer
• Today the average fertility rate is 2.5 
• Its was 5 in 1963 
• It is still decreasing
• One of the most important things to happen is two child families to become most common
• The best geographers project that population growth will stop at 11 billion people
• Education is so important for the progress of a country

Blog 15

1. Somalia
2. Ethiopia 
3. Kenya
4. Madagascar
5. Tanzania 
6. Malawi
7. Swaziland
8. Lesotho
9. South Africa 
10. Egypt
11. Sudan
12. South Sudan
13. Uganda
14. Rwanda
15. Burundi
16. Zambia
17. Zimbabwe 
18. Libya
19. Chad
20. Central African republic 
21. Democratic republic of the Congo
22. Angola
23. Namibia
24. Botswana
25. Niger
26. Nigeria
27. Cameroon
28. Equatorial Guinea 
29. Gabon
30. Congo republic 
31. Algeria 
32. Mali
33. Burkina
34. Ghana
35. Togo
36. Benin
37. Morocco
38. Western Sahara
39. Mauritania
40. Senegal
41. Gambia
42. Guinea Bissau 
43. Sierra Leone
44. Liberia
45. Djibouti
46. Eritrea
47. Tunisia 
48. Malawi
49. Guinea 
50. Comoros
51. Sao Tome + Principe
52. Cote D'Ivoire 

Blog #14

KQ1: Where is the worlds population distributed?

LO1. Define Population, Demography, and the key demographic indicators

Population- refers to the size and distribution of the Earth’s human population

Demography- a social science which entails the statistical study of human populations

In class we discussed mortality rates and how they can be used to find out population count and the stats that are associated with it.  We also learned how to use crude birth and crude death rates to find population increase/decrease.  

IMR- Infant mortality rate (0-1 years old)

CMR- Child mortality rate (0-5 years old)

Demographic Collapse- When the population suddenly plummets

We also talked about how we find out stats like population change

Rate of Natural Increase (RNI): a statistic that expressed a country or region’s annual growth rate; expressed as a percentage

• Made up of crude birthrate. (…/1000)
• Gives us # of births
• Made up of crude death rate (…/1000)
• Gives us # of deaths
• CB-CD= RNI
• To calculate the RNI, demographers subtract the death rate (number of deaths per 1,000 people/year) from the birth rate (number of birth per 1,000 people/year) and convert the answer to a percentage.