Thinking Spatially - AP Human Geography and Current Issues

The new edition of the Avengers series has everyone up in arms. Infinity War has many political and social standings in the movie. All have been debated and talked about frequently. One that has brought a lot of interest, is the similarities between the infamous, cosmic god,  Thanos of Titan, and the geographic theorist / political economist Thomas Malthus. The similarities stem from their theories of conservation. Malthus proposed the idea that the resources at the present time in 1798 would not sustain the upcoming population. His work proved that the increase of food was linear and not inclined to handle the exponential population increase. He was not prepared for the Industrial Revolution. This proved that food production was no longer linear and became a stepping progression. The steps followed the exponential population growth. Thanos of Titan had similar fears of the population growth within the universe. His solution was bit more direct and obviously a little more drastic. ...

Studies have found tourism has a large impact on global warming and environmental problems. Recently it has been found that tourism accounts for 8% of global greenhouse gases, which does not sound like much but is 4 times more than originally thought, and has shown to be growingat 4% annually. Greenhouse gases aren’t the only environment- harming effects of tourism, as tourism hurts biodiversity and creates ozone layer depletion. One of the biggest environmental problem tourism gives us is hurting biodiversity, taking over wildlife reserves and killing species. It hurts biodiversity as hotels, restaurants and tourist attraction are built, destroying rainforests and other land areas that used to be animal and plant habitats. So how is tourism hurting the environment so much? Tourism accounts for greenhouse gases mostly through transportation. Transportation caused 75% of tourisms greenhouse gases, with planes being the main source of that. Greenhouse gases are what causes the gree...

Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to save the world.” Though the U.S. ranks 17th in schooling throughout the globe, leaders of the nation don’t find it “world saving.” Focus on education and the small amount of money allotted to it is one of the biggest issues in the U.S. today, and it’s something that needs to be taken note of ASAP. Oklahoma has one of the best examples of uneven wealth distribution in our society, as teachers have been hit by devastating tax cuts over the past decade, while casinos and tribal gaming fees have almost doubled in profit. Over the past decade, Oklahoma has put forth a series of tax cuts, that in return give less money to teachers. Beth Walls, an assistant band director at a school in Oklahoma quotes, “We have buildings that are falling apart and textbooks that need to be taped together.” Teachers have banded together to bring up ideas on “walking out,” so that state officials can see how serious this issue re...

Between California and Hawaii, there is a swirling vortex of trash that is threatening the underwater ecosystem. This mass of garbage grows every day, and researchers now say it is twice the size of Texas and will continue to increase exponentially. Many people have never heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Two questions that I have is how did we let this happen? And what can we do to fix it? Video link: https://youtu.be/0EyaTqezSzs  There are five offshore plastic accumulation sights in the world. The largest one is right by the U.S. in the North Pacific Ocean. The trash starts off in rivers and eventually makes its way to the ocean where the currents pull it into the gyres. Once there, it will break down into smaller microplastics making it less likely for the disintegrated trash ever to leave. Each year it is estimated that 1.15 to 2.41 millions tonnes of plastic enter the ocean each year. Most of the trash is less dense than water meaning it will float. Right now the ...

Imagine being raised to know you were physically and spiritually unclean: an Untouchable.This is life on the bottom rung in the caste system of India: the “Dalit”. Their social status can be traced back to their traditional occupations and habits, which involved ritualistically polluting activities, i.e., coming in contact with body waste or dead animals. Being born into a family who had committed even one these “crimes” caused people to be excommunicated from entering many temples, most schools, and even the wells from which higher castes drew water. Dalits have made great strides; for instance, Kocheril Raman Narayanan, who served as president of India from 1997 to 2002, was the first member of the Dalit to become a high-ranking official in the country’s government. However, one look at the statistics illuminates their current rejection and abuse: the country’s latest census shows that 4 or more dalit women are raped everyday, though they comprise only 16% of the total populatio...

In December 2017 United States President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced the U.S. would move its embassy to the city. The move is praised by most Jews but despised by most Muslims. The area has been the center of religious conflict for centuries. Muslims and Jews are the latest to clash over the Jewish state known as Israel. In the 20th century Jews living in Europe sought refuge from persecution by establishing Israel. Muslims who had been living in the region for centuries saw this sudden intrusion as an act of war, and in 1967 a war broke out that left part of Israel to be known as Palestine and under Muslim authority. Now it seems the ticking time bomb planted by history is going off as the West formally recognizes Israel as Jewish and Jerusalem as the capital. Pakistanis protest the U.S. moving the embassy to Jerusalem on Monday May 24 According to The Guardian on May 14, “Israeli forces opened fire on demonstrators in Gaza on...