Think global, act local

I will not be in class today (Wed Oct 18), so here is the work you are responsible for in class. This applies to both Honors and Regular sections.

First of all, I want to say how happy I am to see more class discussion in the last couple sessions. I really believe that the topics and material we cover in class have a direct bearing on our lives, so you should feel free to offer your opinions - whether or not you agree with me! "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism," especially in the classroom.

In class today, please read the rest of this blog, take notes on this material, and post the notes in your blog. Then, go online and find two other definitions of Globalization, and post them to your blog. ALSO, do the assignment that is described under "Thinking Geographically: From Global to Local." Post this information to your blog.

Thank you for your cooperation - be nice to your sub - be focused and productive! I will see you tomorrow. 

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Geographers think about scale at many levels, from local to global. At a local scale, such as an urban neighborhood, geographers tend to see unique features. At the global scale, encompassing the entire world, geographers tend to see broad patterns. 
A generation ago, people concerned with environmental quality proclaimed, “Think global, act local.” The phrase meant that the environment was being harmed by processes such as global warming that were global in scale, but it could be improved by actions, such as consuming less gasoline, that were local in scale. Contemporary geographers offer a different version of the phrase: “Think and act both global and local.” All scales from local to global are important in geography—the appropriate scale depends on the specific subject. Geography matters in the contemporary world because it can explain human actions at all scales, from local to global. At the national and international scales, geography is concerned with such questions as where the population is growing rapidly, where the followers of different religions live, and where corporations place factories. Geography also studies why these arrangements can cause problems.

GlobalizationScale is an increasingly important concept in geography because of globalization, which is a force or process that involves the entire world and results in making something worldwide in scope. Globalization means that the scale of the world is shrinking—not literally in size, of course, but in the ability of a person, object, or idea to interact with a person, object, or idea in another place. People are plugged into a global economy and culture, producing a world that is more uniform, integrated, and interdependent. The world contains only a handful of individuals who lead such isolated and sheltered lives that they have never watched a television set, used a telephone, or been in a motor vehicle. Even extremely isolated and sheltered people are at least aware of the existence of these important means of connection

Thinking Geographically: From Global to Local

Take some time to freely and openly explore your own personal items (computers, notebooks, pencil cases, clothes) and various different items in the classroom. Record where your items come from or where they are made. Think about the things that you use most at your home. Do you know the name brands of the items that you use the most? (i.e. TV, Samsung, Computer, Apple) List these items and their country of origin. Try answer these questions about each item: What company made them? Where is that company from? Where was your specific product made? Enter this information in your blog.

the Geographic Grid - Latitude and Longitude

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position, and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation.To specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. We place the geographic grid of parallels and meridians onto the map projection to be able to identify any location on the earth's surface.

The Geographic grid is a system of imaginary arcs drawn in a grid pattern on Earth’s surface.

–Meridians are arcs drawn between the North and South poles. Each is numbered, according to a system known as longitude.

Values range from 0º (prime meridian) to 180º east or west longitude.

–Parallels are arcs drawn parallel to the equator and at right angles to meridians. Each is numbered, according to a system known as latitude.

Values range from 0º (equator) to 90º north or south

• Here is a video that may help you visualize how these projected lines actually work.

Time Zones

A time zone is a region of the globe that observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries of countries and their subdivisions because it is convenient for areas in close commercial or other communication to keep the same time.Most of the time zones on land are offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) by a whole number of hours (UTC−12 to UTC+14), but a few zones are offset by 30 or 45 minutes (e.g. Newfoundland Standard Time is UTC−03:30, Nepal Standard Time is UTC+05:45, and Indian Standard Time is UTC+05:30).

How Did Time Zones Begin?

Scottish-born Canadian Sir Sandford Fleming proposed a worldwide system of time zones in 1879. He advocated his system at several international conferences, and is thus credited with the instigation of "the initial effort that led to the adoption of the present time meridians." In 1876, his first proposal was for a global 24-hour clock, conceptually located at the center of the Earth and not linked to any surface meridian. In 1879 he specified that his universal day would begin at the anti-meridian of Greenwich (180th meridian), while conceding that hourly time zones might have some limited local use. He also proposed his system at the International Meridian Conference in October 1884, but it did not adopt his time zones because they were not within its purview. The conference did adopt a universal day of 24 hours beginning at Greenwich midnight, but specified that it "shall not interfere with the use of local or standard time where desirable".

By about 1900, almost all time on Earth was in the form of standard time zones, only some of which used an hourly offset from GMT. Many applied the time at a local astronomical observatory to an entire country, without any reference to GMT. It took many decades before all time on Earth was in the form of time zones referred to some "standard offset" from GMT/UTC. By 1929, most major countries had adopted hourly time zones. Nepal was the last country to adopt a standard offset, shifting slightly to UTC+5:45 in 1986.

Today, all nations use standard time zones for secular purposes, but they do not all apply the concept as originally conceived. North Korea, Newfoundland, India, Iran, Afghanistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, the Marquesas, as well as parts of Australia use half-hour deviations from standard time, and some nations, such as Nepal, and some provinces, such as the Chatham Islands of New Zealand, use quarter-hour deviations. Some countries, such as China and India, use a single time zone even though the extent of their territory far exceeds 15° of longitude.

MAIN POINTS

Earth as a sphere is divided into 360º of longitude.

–Divide 360º by 24 time zones (one for each hour of day) equals 15º.

Each 15º band of longitude is assigned to a standard time zone.

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is…

–Located at the prime meridian (0º longitude).

Passes through Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England

–Master reference time for all points on Earth.

Cultural Regions

Cultural Regions In thinking about why each region on Earth is distinctive, geographers refer to culture, which is the body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people. Geographers distinguish groups of people according to important cultural characteristics, describe where particular cultural groups are distributed, and offer reasons to explain the observed distribution. In everyday language we think of culture as the collection of novels, paintings, symphonies, and other works produced by talented individuals. A person with a taste for these intellectual outputs is said to be “cultured.” Intellectually challenging culture is often distinguished from popular culture, such as television programs. Culture also refers to small living organisms, such as those found under a microscope or in yogurt. Agriculture is a term for the growing of living material at a much larger scale than in a test tube. The origin of the word culture is the Latin cultus, which means “to care for.”Culture is a complex concept because “to care for” something has two very different meanings: To care about—to adore or worship something, as in the modern word cult. To take care of—to nurse or look after something, as in the modern word cultivate. WHAT PEOPLE CARE ABOUT. Geographers study why the customary ideas, beliefs, and values of a people produce a distinctive culture in a particular place. Especially important cultural values derive from a group’s language, religion, and ethnicity. These three cultural traits are both an excellent way of identifying the location of a culture and the principal means by which cultural values become distributed around the world. Language is a system of signs, sounds, gestures, and marks that have meanings understood within a cultural group. People communicate the cultural values they care about through language, and the words themselves tell something about where different cultural groups are located. The distribution of speakers of different languages and reasons for the distinctive distribution are discussed later in the course. Religion is an important cultural value because it is the principal system of attitudes, beliefs, and practices through which people worship in a formal, organized way. Geographers look at the distribution of religious groups around the world and the different ways that the various groups interact with their environment. Ethnicity encompasses a group’s language, religion, and other cultural values, as well as its physical traits. A group possesses these cultural and physical characteristics as a product of its common traditions and heredity. Geographers find that problems of conflict and inequality tend to occur in places where more than one ethnic group inhabits and seeks to organize the same territory. WHAT PEOPLE TAKE CARE OF. The second element of culture of interest to geographers is production of material wealth—the food, clothing, and shelter that humans need in order to survive and thrive. All people consume food, wear clothing, build shelter, and create art, but different cultural groups obtain their wealth in different ways. Geographers divide the world into regions of more (or relatively) developed countries (abbreviated MDCs), and regions of less developed (or developing) countries (abbreviated LDCs). Regions of MDCs include North America, Europe, and Japan, and regions of LDCs include sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Various shared characteristics— such as per capita income, literacy rates, televisions per capita, and hospital beds per capita—distinguish regions of MDCs and regions of LDCs. These differences are reviewed in later in the semester. Possession of wealth and material goods is higher in MDCs because of different types of economic activities than those in LDCs. Most people in LDCs are engaged in agriculture, whereas most people in MDCs earn their living through manufacturing products or performing services in exchange for wages. This fundamental economic difference between MDCs and LDCs is discussed in more detail later in the semester. Geographers are also interested in the political institutions that protect material artifacts, as well as cultural values. The world is organized into a collection of countries, or states, controlled by governments put in place through various representative and unrepresentative means. A major element of a group’s cultural identity is its citizenship, the country or countries that it inhabits and in which it pays taxes, votes, and otherwise participates in the administration of space. Thinking Geographically: Cultural Regions of North America Using the map below as your starting point, identify the various cultural regions of the United States. Then, do some quick outside research and identify three defining characteristics of each region. Finally, create a chart that compares the cultural differences between the regions.

TueSep 26

Regions, and the Cultural Landscape

Introduction
The “sense of place” that humans possess may apply to a larger area of Earth rather than to a specific point. A person may feel attachment as a native or resident of the Baltimore area, or the area of attachment could encompass all of Maryland or the U.S. Mid-Atlantic area. An area of Earth defined by one or more distinctive characteristics is a region.

Cultural Landscape

A region derives its unified character through the cultural landscape—a combination of cultural features such as language and religion, economic features such as agriculture and industry, and physical features such as climate and vegetation. The Los Angeles region can be distinguished from the New York region, southern California from northern California, the Southwest from the Midwest. Carl Sauer, a famous American geographer (1889–1975) ,defined cultural landscape as an area fashioned from nature by a cultural group. “Culture is the agent, the natural area the medium, the cultural landscape is the result.” Ultimately, Sauer and other geographers believed that it was the combination of both physical and human characteristics that uniquely defined places and areas.

Types of Regions

The designation of “region” can be applied to any area larger than a point and smaller than the entire planet. Geographers most often apply the concept at one of two scales:

Several neighboring countries that share important features, such as those in Latin America

Many localities within a country, such as those in southern California.

A particular place can be included in more than one region depending on how the region is defined. Geographers identify three types of regions—formal, functional, and vernacular.

Thinking Geographically: Identifying Regions
A formal region, also called a uniform region or a homogeneous region, is an area within which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics.

A vernacular region, or perceptual region, is a place that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity

A functional region, also called a nodal region, is an area organized around a node or focal point.

Formal Regions:

Using maps A,B, and C above, create a list of states that voted for the Democratic and Republican candidates in the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Presidential election. If asked to create regions based on which states voted for which candidate, how would you do it?

Vernacular Regions:

Using the map above, look at the varying definitions of "The South". Identify the 6 characteristics people use to define "The South"? How would you describe "The South" in the United States? Explain why you chose this characteristic to define the region.

Functional Regions:

Compare the 4 maps above. What regions of the United States are covered by the different phone companies? What differences do you see in the areas defined in these maps compared to the map examples above?