Real World: Human Geography

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: The test on this unit will be next TUESDAY, September 29.

It’s easy to relate what we are learning in this class to the real world. News stories about globalization, over-population, even total fertility rates -- are everywhere.

Today we will search for news stories on the Web that pertain to the topics we have been covering in class.

Here are some excellent, reliable sources for news stories:

* Google news
* Yahoo! News
* New York Times
* BBC News
* Guardian
* The Independent (UK)

Here are some possible topics for you to research:

* Globalization
* Net migration rate
* Total fertility rate
* Immigration
* Population pyramid
* Population growth (or Over-population)
* Population decline
* Migration patterns
* World population

The assignment: (worth 15 points, due before the next class): Choose three of the above topics, and find a relevant news story for each one. Use any of the above news sources, or another legitimate source of your choosing. Include the story’s headline, the site it came from, the link to the story, and a short summary of the article. If the story has a photo (or even better, a video!), you may include that. Here is an example of what your posting should look like.

"Bringing Solar Power to Africa’s Poor” (nytimes.com)

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/bringing-solar-power-to-africas-poor/?scp=1&sq=globalization&st=cse

Solar power is being promoted as an alternative to kerosene, oil, and other traditional energy sources. It would be smart to be able to take advantage of Africa’s abundant sunlight without the need to invest in expensive grid networks. This might work well in other places around the world, since 1.6 billion people in developing countries still have no access to electricity.



“Population Growth Driving Climate Change, Poverty: Experts” (Brietbart.com)

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.506b7104e85d35fc4f8355e566ab5fad.261&show_article=1

Population growth will have a number of terrible consequences for our world. These include widespread famine, ecological overload, and even the failure of governments in countries that are overwhelmed by too many people. The population of the earth may increase from 6.8 billion today to over 11 billion in around 40 years. These findings came from a group of 42 respected specialists in environmental science, economics, and demography.



“Russians Get Day Off to Procreate, Then Win Prizes” (denverpost.com)

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_6624865

A Russian region of Ulyanovsk has declared September 12 the Day of Conception and for the third year running is giving couples time off from work to procreate. Government officials are concerned because Russia has a low birth rate and a high death rate, and the population has been shrinking since the early 1990s. Couples who "give birth to a patriot" during the June 12 festivities will win money, cars, refrigerators and other prizes.