Stage 5 Changing Places

Some nice graphics on consumption levels of China, compared globally and regionally.

This article about  Mexico's  serious water supply  issues realtes to geography because it

is talking about how there is  a lack of a natural resource being water. This lack of water is mainly caused  by pipe leakage.

This escalator seems like a waste of money. I understand that it will make life easier for the locals and possible cut down crime. But I feel with $7 million the government is choosing to attack the symptoms of living in the shantytown rather than treating the cause of inequalities. Perhaps they could have opened up local markets, started some sort of commercially viable industry, or help educate citizens that could provide the community members with a way to get out of poverty rather than.just making it easier to live in these shantytowns.

This is an interesting idea simply because of the discussion that can arise from it. Would the construction of this escalator actually benefit the people living within the slum to any foreseeable degree? On one hand some claim that yes it will have a positive impact as it could cut back on the number at attacks and muggings of those stopping to catch their breath as well as simply allowing them to conserve energy. While those on the other side of the issue say that the benefit the escalator my bring doesn't out weigh the cost of building it. Simply throwing money at a situation like this wont actually bring any relief. 

I sincerely believe that was a waste of money. Sure people can now get out of the area in “6 minutes” instead of “30 minutes” which, as was mentioned in class, can get people out of the area so as to get to jobs quicker. However what good does that really do in the grand scheme of things? Do the citizens still have poor jobs? Are their homes unsafe? Are there still sanitation issues? I am pretty sure the answer is yes, to all of the above. Clearly, these issues are more pressing than an escalator. So even if investing in an area can benefit a population, I think the improvement could have been greater because there are other more pressing needs of the area where the money could have been invested. 

I am actually surprised people were happy with the new addition. Given that it was a short clip, not all sides were seen. However, I feel that once people get over the novelty of the new toy and back to the reality of their everyday situation tensions could raise. Especially if the outdoor elevator breaks down, which is bound to happen given its exposure to mother nature, as the escalator just adds more of  a maintenance cost in a place that doesn't seem to have money. It wouldn't surprise me if people were later angered by the addition. In fact, I am actually surprised their wasn't protests that stopped the escalator from being built in the first place.  

This article tells us the eleven most colorful cities in the world. Although they give us eleven options, everyone knows that the first one is going to be the best one. Number one, the picture that is shown above, is located in Guanajuato City, Mexico. As you can tell from the photo, all of the buildings are different colors. The city was founded in 1554 next to one of the richest mining areas of Mexico. In the 16th century, there was a mining boom, thus led them to the construction of this colorful, beautiful city. Alleyways are spread out in every direction surround by a breathtaking mountain view. This was the only spot that Mexico took on the top eleven scale. The Netherlands took the number two spot along with the number eight spot. First with Willemstad and second with Utrecht. India was another country that took two spots on our countdown. The last two spots were claimed by Jaipur and Jodhpur. Places that were on here that I was surprised about included places like Italy and Sweden. The pictures do not do it justice. The places looked magnificent and I only hope and hope to see them up close and personal one day.

Unit 2

This video shows how the global population has changed throughout time. It illustrates how the population went on a massive incline, and based on the DTM, will soon go onto the decline as more countries become developed. 

More and more people are moving to the cities than ever before.  As a result I believe there are more megacities on the way.  However I think there is a limit to these cities.  How are they going to be powered?  How are the people going to be fed? Where will they work?  how will these cities impact the environment?  Where is all the fresh water going to come from?

It is a good thing that there is more megacities being created because you can see more people move in which will help the city function better economics wise. When it comes down to the population that is a different story because there is more people to worry and deal with. The increase of people could go both ways because it can be good but at the same time it can go bad because people will start arguing in which it can get physical which means city ratings going down.

Great info graphic on mega cities. 

China's pollution problem is astronomical. Im not sure many people really understand how bad it is. China has actually began placing billboards of murals for travelers to take pictures in front of because the smog is so bad you cant see more then 20 feet. They're water ways are also so toxic that whole ecosystems are failing. Much of this is do to China's economy  depending heavily on the massive export industry, and while many of the manufactures are violating environmental protection laws government is afraid to do anything about it because the need these manufactures to run for economic purposes

So, by 2030, its likely that there will be 2 billion people living in slums.

Wonderful.

What I find most peculiar is, that no matter how much the first world nations insinuate that they are doing their best to solve the problem, work together to end world hunger, blah blah blah. The fact is, according to a video I recently watched, that no matter how much money in alms are given to those in poverty, the country will almost always include taxes, pay deductions, etcetera, and this amount is more than the amount that they had given to them. So technically, the situation is getting worse.

Fantastic.

I understand that money is a sensitive matter, but really, if you think about it, the government of poorer countries would be overrun by corruption. All because the richer nations care about making money and put that priority over everything else. And here in the fourth richest nation in the world (as of now), our ministers are getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars monthly to prevent corruption, but we're still rolling in seas of money.So why not help these less privileged countries?

I can think of only one reason, and that reason i have mentioned earlier: Corruption. We might be donating to the people of a country, but before that money goes to the people, it would have to go through the government. And there it begins. Say we donate 2 Million Dollars. A lot of money, right? Well, say that Country X has a hundred members of parliament. And to shut everyone up, everyone gets ten thousand dollars. Common sense tells us that they will not get the full amount. Count the authorities the money has to pass through, how many hands the money has exchanged with, the number of pockets that amount of money has filled, and you get only a fraction of what we gave. Considering Country X is a fairly large country, the amount of money will get further divided and the people will only get probably a millionth of what they were supposed to get.

Now I have lived in Singapore all my life, and I know I am not in the right position to say this, because i probably will never know how the poorest of the poor survive. But I'm gonna say it anyway.

WHY SO MATERIALISTIC???????

The money you have is only temporary. Its just a piece of paper. If you have been corrupted, please stop. Because the poorest people in your country are probably farmers. And farmers make food. More money for them,  more incentive for them to work. More work done, more food you get. The more food you get, the less starved you are, the better your country will improve, and eventually, Country X could be a powerful nation.

Singapore is a perfect example. Back when it gained independence in 1965, the entire country was practically a slum. But now, less then half a century later, we are now the fourth richest nation in the world.

And for the record, I have no idea why I sounded so angry at the beginning.

great interactive guide from the guardian on the flow of remittances around the world.

This seems to be a dangerous circle that potentially has south Asia in a lot of trouble in the foreseeable future.  There is smog in the air from everything that is burned, causing the sun to be blocked and temperatures to drop, which in turn causes people to become cold and burn more wood, hay and cow pies.  This vicious circle needs to be fixed.  However right now is going to be the hardest time to do that.  In the winter it is harder for the smog to go up into the atmosphere leaving the blanket of smog.  It is also colder in the winter months leading to people to burn products to keep themselves warm.  This has however has already created problems especially with the elderly and young children.  With all the smog in the air it has caused respiratory infections leading to the deaths of people.  Not seeing this as a major issue is wrong.  Something needs to be done, it could be the government regulating what people burn to make sure that the smog is not getting to be too out of hand.  People's well being is not the only thing that this smog is hurting.  Cities literally have to shut down because people can't go anywhere, the smog creates a zero or very little visibility stopping traffic, trains, and planes.  Without people being able to get anywhere there is no way of people going to work causing places to have to close down either early or entirely for the day.  The smog is shedding a negative light not only on the environment but the economy and well being of the people around.

South Asia's extremely massive population comes at the expense of heavy energy consumption. In turn it leads to pollution cause by the burning of fossil fuels in the area, and this pollution has been getting worse and worse to a point where its affecting the daily lives of those in South Asia. This pollution has been causing smog to become more prevalent as the days go on. The burning of fossil fuels through motor vehicles and manufacturing plants has taken its toll on the environment in an extremely negative way. A switch to green energy would help fight this issue, although no plans have yet been set in stone to remove the consumption of oil

My insight on this would be how that Latin American countries have more educated people than other countries, then they spread to surrounding counties, providing many challenges and opportunities. Some opportunities would be that speading education would bring jobs. And the challenges would be the issue of mixing diversities, which could cause stds and gene mutations.- walker

This article points out how when the pattern of immigration shifts it creates new challenges for the country of immigration, even if it is internal migration as opposed to external migration.  The path and flow of people moving from place to place can change the shape and nature of a country.  

Consequences of migration: socioeconomic, cultural, environmental, and political; immigration policies; remittances-

This article speaks of how migratory patterns are changing for illegal immigrants, and how it is causing problems. It states that as more countries and cities are exploited, their needs to be more jobs created. Sometimes, even new immigration policies are needed.

This article portrays the idea of consequences of Migration because it speaks of what those nations must do in order to thrive and survive the wave of illegal immigrants.

This video shows how the populations of each country  are  increasing and decreasing in a very unique way. It explains how the populations are increasing and decreasing as the years go on.  It also shows that the death rates and the birth rates are  being combined to make the true populations as accurate as possible.

This video is good at helping people better visualize population because you can easily see the difference of each continent. It shows how the population started small and rapidly expanded because of the agricultural and industrial revolution and decrease in deaths making it and the births unstablized. It even goes on to talk about the future population and how it is believed that the population won't continue to grow rapidly but once again stabalize.

China & its population is something that we as geographers must be aware of; this ever growing population of people will play a large part to our human geogrpahy. 

We constantly talk about the one child policy - this is also another near future concern in China.