Western Civilization

Flora Lau  11/25/19 Guns, Germs and Steel 1. According to Jared Diamond, what are the three major elements that separate the world’s  “haves” from the “have nots”? 1.) Guns 2.) Germs 3.) 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. 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  rural  and less reliant on being hunter-gatherers.  3. For thousands of years, people have been cultivating crops. Describe the process use

Flora Lau 11/20/19 Japan's Aging Crisis 1.) According to the article, what are the two fundamental aspects of Japan's aging crisis? Two fundamental aspects of Japan's aging crisis are   the increase in the proportion of the elderly in the total population and t he 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+)? By 2030, one in every three people will be 65 or older                    3.) What is the direct economic impact of Japan's aging population? The direct economic impact of Japan's aging population is the slower growth of the population arising directly from the declining fertility rate which reduces the labor force and that is a major factor in  production.                    4.) How is the Japanese government attempting to address the labor shortages? The Japanese government is attem

Flora Lau 11/8/19 Why is Global Population Increasing? - Video Infant Mortality Rates HIGH = Total Fertility Rate HIGH 1800 population hit 1 billion Population is still growing 7 billion on earth In 10,000 BC. people started farming In 1800 the population was 1 billion When the population was growing, people thought the Earth's couldn't support all these people 1963 the average kids were 5  2012 average is 2.5 of kids and is still decreasing in 1800 population growth was low because 6 most kids would die young in 1900 1 out of the 5 children would die 1 billion people are in extreme poverty the industrial companies made countries wealthier 1963 Asia was in extreme poverty but got wealthier fast later on the climate might change in the future due to carbon dioxide burning (FUEL)

Flora Lau 11/18/19 The Theory of Population 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? The positive checks to population are extremely various, and include every cause, whether arising from vice or misery, which in any degree contributes to shorten the natural duration of human life. Describe Malthus’ idea of arithmetic growth of food supply v geometric growth of human population.  The population increases exponential place food supply increases arithmeticall y. Which means   he believed that population can never increase beyond the food supply necessary to support it. Discuss Malthus’ idea of positive and preventive checks on human population. Provide examples of both.   The preventative check, peculiar to man, arises fr

Flora Lau 11/14/19 One Child Policy               The official definition of the one child policy is  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 one child policy was created by Deng Xiaoping and was implemented in 1979 and by 1980 the central government sought to standardize the one-child policy nationwide .  On September 25, 1980, the government called upon all to adhere to the one-child policy. The program was enforced by the government by only allowing families to only have one child each and if they complied then they would get incentives like money and preferential employment opportunities. If they didn't, most women had abortions. Some exceptions such as for minority peoples or for those whose firstborn was handicapped, those measures included allowing rural families in some areas to have two or even three childre

Flora Lau 11/13/19 Global Fertility Crash                Globally each woman has 2.4 live births each. That growth in fertility rate is what makes the population stable from generation to generation. Economically that means more workers, consumers, and citizens. Which means more people to get things done, come up with new things, and pay the government taxes. In the world, the fertility rate is higher than the replacement rate which is a good thing because once people die off, more lives are born. If this didn't happen then, there would be more people dying off than being born. Which means a decline in fertility rates and a decline is replacement rates.                 In France, I personally, would love to have children because there are public day cares that are in place that would help. As Celine Grislain stated, she started a job after she gave birth and her employers didn't mind because they knew that the day care would help her with her baby for a couple hours. S

Flora Lau 11/7/19 1. Somalia 2. Ethiopia 3. Kenya 4. Madagascar 5. Tanzania 6. Mozambique 7. Eswatini 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. African Republic 21. Democratic Republic of Congo 22. Angola 23. Namibia 24. Botswana 25. Niger 26. Nigeria 27. Cameroon 28. Equatorial Guinea 29. Gabon 30. Republic of Congo 31. Algeria 32. Mali 33. Burkina Faso 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. Seychelles 51. Sao Tome and Principe 52. Ivory Coast

Flora Lau 10/31/19 Introduction to Human Geography                  Today was the start of a new unit. The unit is Population and we learned the definition of population, demography, and key demographic indicators. Population refers to the size and distribution of the Earth's human population.   Demography  is a social science which entails the statistical study of human populations. Key demographic indicators                   We learned that birth  rate  are higher than death rates. Every single place is unique due to the birth and death rates. Underdeveloped countries have way less births than a more developed countries. Also infant  mortality effects the population as well. But in some places there are huge gender difference. 

Flora Lau 11/6/19 Why is Global Population Increasing?                  We learned the the three components of measuring population change, the progression of population change over time, and the impact of total fertility rate and infant mortality rate on population statistics. Geographers measure population change in a country or the world as a whole by using three measures which are Crude Birth Rate, Crude Death Rate, and Natural Increase Rate. Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is the total number of live birth in a year for every 1,000 people alive in society. Crude Death Rate (CDR) is the total number of deaths in a year for Every 1,000 people alive in society. Natural Increase Rate (NIR) is the percentage by which a population grows in a year. To find the Natural Increase is to use the computation CBR-CDR=NIR. and if you divide by 10, it makes  it a percentage.                     In early eras, there weren't key elements that helped the population increase. Once we discovered a