3
Interaction
L E A R N I N G
•
•
O U T C O M E S
locate on a world map the major population clusters, and explain
the relationship between population distribution and the natural
environment
give examples of the influence of the natural environment on
ways of life
How the Environment
Affects People
O
ur physical environment — weather and landforms —
affects what we do and how we live. We interact with it.
The Weather and You
When we wake up, the first thing
many of us do is check the weather. If it’s cold, we wear hats and
mitts. If it’s warm, we can wear
shorts. The weather dictates
what we wear. It also controls
our activities. The weather
can rain out your baseball
game. Wind and snow can
close roads and schools.
Long stretches of
dull, wet weather make
some people depressed.
Changes in the weather
cause changes in people’s attitudes, energy
levels, and health.
KEY VOCABULARY
acid rain
atmosphere
biosphere
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
emission control systems
fertilizers
geothermal springs
ground water
herbicides
hydrosphere
insulators
interact
land use
lithosphere
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
monsoon
neutralize
nitrogen
non-point (pollution)
ozone layer
permafrost
pesticides
point (pollution)
pollution
scrubbers
sea level
smog
sulphur
urban sprawl
water vapour
Figure 3.1
All weather affects us,
but severe weather can
also cause considerable
damage.
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Figure 3.2
Shelter
Manitoba is just like other parts of the world. Climate affects
people’s behaviour and travel. It affects agriculture and the kind
of shelter people need. For example, homes in areas covered by
permafrost must be built on gravel pads or other insulators. The
gravel pads prevent thawing of the ground because of heat from
the buildings. Thawing softens the earth and causes the home to
shift or sink. In northern communities, the utilities (water pipes
and electrical wires) often run above the frozen ground from
building to building. Insulated pipes, called utilidors, keep the
pipes and wires from freezing.
High winds, extreme cold,
and long, dark winters are
characteristic of tundra
regions. How is this
settlement built with these
characteristics in mind?
Pingos have been
tunnelled into and
used as natural
freezers.
Figure 3.3
Pingos are ice-cored mounds that rise up
in permafrost zones like the Mackenzie
Delta. Some are 20 to 25 metres high.
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Environmental Limits on Human Activity
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U N I T 1 : Investigating Geography
TO
People usually don’t settle on
In Canada, finding a way
lands that are too rough or
History
through the Rocky Mountains to
steeply sloped. People prefer
the coast was a challenge. Finding and
to settle in areas that have flat
building routes for the railway was an even greater challenge.
plains, gently sloping river
View the video The National Dream — The Western
valleys, or wide coastlines.
Mountains. See the obstacles the workers faced on this
When European settlers first
daunting project. Watch how they overcame these
arrived in Canada, there were
challenges.
many such areas. The land was
mostly covered by forest. The land
was cleared and used for building and
agriculture. People moved from one area to
another in search of a good place to live. Some landforms — such as mountains, cliffs, canyons, ridges, and wetlands — hindered or even blocked the movement of people.
Mountain Barriers
Mountains forced people to move along them until they found
a pass — a way over them — like the Khyber Pass in the Hindu
Kush mountains north of India.
In North America, mountains once blocked the flow of
European settlers from east to west. The Appalachians were the
first barriers to movement inland. Then came the Canadian
Shield. Farther west, there was the Western Cordillera, or the
Rocky Mountains.
Figure 3.4
Over centuries, the
Khyber Pass area has
been a major
battleground for the
many groups who tried to
control it. What makes it
fairly easy to defend?
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It’s Your World
F
ind the island of Java in an atlas. One of the
world’s most famous volcanoes, Krakatoa, is
on this island. The eruption of Krakatoa in 1883
was so great that it was heard in Australia! Check
the atlas map scale to see how far away that is.
Compare that distance to the same distance from
Winnipeg. Incredibly, few people were killed. There
was so much volcanic dust that the sky was dark
for days. The dust floated in the air for long distances. It had the effect of producing remarkable
sunsets for many weeks after.
Today, mountains still obstruct human
movements. It is difficult to construct railways or roads through them. Some mountains are active volcanoes. They present
even more challenges. Volcanic ash enriches the soil, but volcanic eruptions can be a
constant threat. Iceland is really the top of
a volcanic mountain area, which is part of
the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland has many
volcanoes. Most of the heat and hot water
needed by residents comes from the underground geothermal springs. The people
use the inner heat of the volcanoes to meet
their needs for heat. However, if the volcanoes erupt, homes, fields, and communities
may be buried in lava.
Figure 3.5
Mount Vesuvius erupted suddenly and violently in AD 79.
These are the remains of a citizen of Pompeii, buried in
ashes. Could a similar disaster happen today?
Figure 3.6
Swamp and wetland
areas are drained for
human activities. How is
the wildlife affected?
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Water Barriers
There are many types of wetlands. Five
common ones are river deltas, lagoons,
swamps, bogs, and marshes. These areas
are very rich in plant and animal species.
However, wetlands forced settlers and
settlement to go around them. In the
southern parts of North America, huge
swamplands, like the Okefenokee or the
Everglades in Florida, kept people on
their outer edges.
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At Cherrapunji, north
of Bangladesh, it
rained continuously
for over two years!
Hazardous Building Sites
Some areas are not stable enough to build on. Where there is no
solid bedrock for foundations, the land becomes waterlogged. It
won’t support heavy buildings. In other areas, regular flooding
forces people to live high above ground in houses built on stilts.
Homes such as these are found in the Amazon River basin in
South America and in Bangladesh in Asia. Nearly all of
Bangladesh, with its 120 million people, is only a few metres above
sea level. Two large rivers, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, flow
from the northern hill country and flood regularly. The flooding
has destroyed many communities. It has also drowned hundreds
of thousands of people over the years.
The summer monsoon winds blast Bangladesh and bring
heavy rains. They increase the height of the Indian Ocean’s waves
and tides. This pushes water farther inland. Fields and homes are
submerged. Many people in Bangladesh have rebuilt their homes
completely, 10 to 20 times!
Figure 3.7
Before widespread logging in the
mountain and hill country, severe
floods happened only once every
50 years or so. After the trees were
removed, the land lay open and
bare to the rains. Nothing was left
to slow the flow of water. Now,
floods happen every second year.
BHUTAN
NEPAL
G an g e s
iv er
Brahmaputra R
Cherrapunji
River
INDIA
BANGLADESH
Dacca
INDIA
Calcutta
Chittagong
MYANMAR
Bay of
Bengal
S U M M ER M O N SO O N S
I N DI A N OC E A N
Figure 3.8
Disastrous floods wash away homes,
kill livestock, and ruin crops. These
people have few resources and little
wealth. They have almost no control
over what is decided about land use.
What two things can you suggest to
help change the situation?
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Figure 3.9
As times change, people’s
methods of living change
as well. What changes do
you see in this photo of a
trapper in the North?
The Physical Environment — Challenge and
Opportunity
People display an amazing ability to adapt to the physical environment. We use what the environment offers. We build snow
houses, sod houses, leaf and thatch houses, houses made from animal skins, log houses, and even homes inside natural caves or cliff
sides. We make adaptations for travelling. We use trees to make
canoes. We use animals and vegetation for going across snow and
ice or for moving settlements. We adapt our surroundings to get
food. We build stone weirs, or fences, to catch fish. We move water
to irrigate farmland.
People recognize opportunities. We find, clear, and farm fertile land. We discover how well the environment can support a
fishery, a mine, logging, or tourism.
Other Viewpoints
Not every group of people sees the environment in the same way.
When Europeans entered North America, they placed a value on
furs that the Aboriginal groups would have thought foolish. The
First Nations people used the furs they needed for survival. The
Europeans used the environment for its riches. The native populations lived with the environment. They used what they needed,
but they didn’t exhaust the resources.
In north Africa, local peoples lived more or less in balance with
their environment. They grew grains and raised animals. The
Europeans saw a chance to grow cash crops like peanuts. These
crops had high value, but growing them made the soil less fertile.
It became more easily eroded. Drought affected the soil more easily. The price of growing cash crops became the environment.
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How People Affect the
Environment
We interact with the environment all the time. We take from the
environment, and we change it. We have a relationship with the
environment. Imagine that we walk in a forest, pick a flower, and
enjoy what we see. We have taken from the environment. We
have also changed and related to the environment. Our footprints change the ground under our feet. The picked flower is
gone, and the plant’s cycle of life is changed. We have experienced the forest, and that experience has become a part of us.
All parts of the interaction are important.
Figure 3.10
As technology has
developed new materials
and new construction
techniques, the length and
shape of the bridges we
build have changed. What
are some advantages to
being able to span huge
bodies of water with
bridges? What are some of
the environmental
problems we could cause
with such bridges?
Creating a Built Environment
Human beings are inventive. This
inventiveness has made it possible for
many amazing things to happen.
We link areas by building bridges.
We also link areas by tunnelling
great distances under water or
through mountains.
Figure 3.11
This tunnel (called the
Chunnel because it’s a
tunnel under the English
Channel) runs between
England and France. It
handles cars, trucks, and
trains. Research to find
out more about it. How
long is it? How long did
it take to build? How was
the Chunnel constructed
under water?
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Figure 3.12
Windmill farms can
provide enough energy to
meet the needs of a town
of 50 000. Could every
community have one of
these?
What we do
Extract resources
to product electricity
Build structures
to create electricity
Use electricity
in businesses
PEOPLE
Use electricity
in industries to
make products
How what we do
affects the
environment
Figure 3.13
Create systems
to move electricity
Use electricity
for some
transportation
Use electricity
in our homes
INTERACTIONS
Modified to provide
settings to produce
electricity
(e.g. hydro-electric
power dam)
Absorbs wastes from
producing electricity
(e.g. hot water, sulphur
and carbon dioxide)
ENVIRONMENT
Altered by transmission
and transport systems
(e.g. pipelines/power
corridors
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Reduced resource areas
through extraction
(e.g. coal mines, oil
fields)
The power in these lines
was generated from three
major source types. Can
you name them?
We control our local environments
through engineering and technology.
We add heat or cold to our buildings
and homes when we need it. We use
resources such as oil, natural gas, and
coal to produce electricity. We have
learned to take advantage of the sun,
moving water, the tides, and the wind
to provide power.
Big urban areas use up a lot of energy. We have built power lines to move
energy to cities and towns from the
power sources.
Figure 3.14
How people and electricity interact
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Waste Management
The artificial environments in our cities
waste a lot of energy. In recent years,
we have tried to use more energysaving methods such as better
insulation, windows, heating systems, and lighting. In spite of
this, Canada is a world leader
in energy consumption. This is
not a “Number 1” that we
want. We can all reduce the
amount of electricity we use.
Just remembering to turn off
the lights would help a lot!
Put the Garbage Out
When we use resources, we also
generate waste products — leftover,
unwanted resources. Some societies generate very little waste of this kind. Others,
like ours, create huge amounts. North America
has a major problem storing and disposing of its waste products.
Figure 3.16
Figure 3.15
What is your opinion
about what we should
do with all the garbage
we produce?
Compare how much garbage we
trash to how much we recycle.
Who Produces The Most Garbage?
Family of 4 in One Year
kg/person/day
Canada
Australia
United States
Switzerland
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Japan
Sweden
China
1.7
1.6
1.6
1.3
1.1
0.9
0.9
0.8
0.5
Sweden produces less than half the garbage per person that
Canada does. Why do you think Canada produces the most
garbage per person?
2400 kg
500 kg
Recycles
Throws out
as garbage
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Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Finding places to put our garbage
is a hot topic. We have dumped
garbage in the ocean, in lakes, in
rivers and streams, in old quarries,
and many other places. Our environment has been damaged by our
garbage dumping. The piles of
trash smell and look ugly. Over
time, leaks from the dumps cause
many serious problems, such as
contaminated water and disease.
Figure 3.17
Cities and towns can
construct safe dumping areas,
that is, sanitary landfill sites.
Harmful substances are
contained or removed, to
prevent them from entering
the surrounding area.
Figure 3.18
What do you think
makes cleaning up
these sites so
difficult and costly?
1. In your local region, list some physical features that have been obstacles or
barriers to settlement or development. How have they affected your area?
2. Explain two physical factors that affect agriculture in southern Manitoba.
3. Where does our electricity come from? Write to your power supplier to discover
how the power we use is generated and moved to your community. Record any
environmental problems you see.
4. Why is conservation such an important topic?
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Change Is Constant
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Looking at the past helps us to understand the geography of
our country today. How people first settled the land left an
imprint on the land. This imprint affected how settlement
continued. As people settled in central and western
Canada, each stage of settlement affected the next stage.
Figure 3.20 shows three stages of development.
At one time, all urban communities were rural.
Settlers moved west seeking new land and a
new life. As they settled on the Prairies,
they changed the long history that
Aboriginal peoples had of living in
harmony with the land. Railways
were built to link Canadians from
coast to coast. Communities formed
clusters along the railways. This
formed a linear pattern of settlement.
With settlement came dramatic
changes to the environment.
Species after species disappeared.
Ecosystems were changed
or destroyed.
TO
The ruins of Machu Picchu sit
high up in the Andes Mountains in
Peru. They overlook the narrow Urubamba
River valley. Tourists ride a rickety train or hike for days to get to
the site. They go to see the stone ruins of homes and temples from
the 1500s. Many questions remain unanswered about this imprint
of the Inca Empire. Why was this ancient mountaintop city
abandoned? Did some Incas use it to hide from the Spanish as
the invaders stripped gold and other resources from this part
of South America? Even though there are still questions,
the human imprint remains.
Archeology
Figure 3.19
Ancient human imprints such as Machu
Picchu are still visible on the land.
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Figure 3.20
Changing settlement patterns and land use in the Prairies.
What do you think will look different in 100 years?
1700s
WEST
EAST
Forest-dwelling
First Nations
buffalo
ROCKY
MOUNTAINS
Plains-dwelling
First Nations
GREAT
PLAINS
FORESTS
1800s
Wagon train
Late 1900s
Recreation
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Grain
elevators
Oil pumps
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Changing Patterns
Settlement patterns on the Prairies changed greatly in the 1900s.
The population grew. Oil and natural gas were discovered, and
people began to use these resources. There were also advances
in technology.
Have you noticed the wooden grain elevators in the villages and
towns along the Canadian Pacific Railway line in western Canada?
Over 80 percent of these grain storage buildings have been closed.
In 1981, there were 3117 grain elevators on the Prairies. By 2002,
there were 412 left. The ones that are left are disappearing quickly.
Most farmers now have to haul their grain to larger, concrete
storage facilities. These grain terminals are often outside bigger
urban centres. As a result, basic services in many small towns — such
as the general store, the farm equipment dealer, the post office, and
the bank — have closed. Some towns have even disappeared.
Technology has advanced in agriculture. This means that farms on
the Prairies are much larger than they were in the past. These
human activities create constant change in settlement patterns.
Figure 3.21
A grain elevator in Warren,
Manitoba. These wooden
structures are being
replaced with larger,
concrete terminals.
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Land Use
Open space and
recreational 7%
TO
Land uses in a typical city
Since January 1999, cyclists from
the Afribike Centre in downtown
Johannesburg, South Africa, have been taking
action. They are riding their bicycles in large groups of 30 or more
through the streets of the city once a month to promote awareness
of this transportation method. They are encouraging officials to
build bicycle lanes on roads leading into the city. They want
officials to provide bike access to commuter trains and pass
laws to protect cyclists. They also provide low-cost
bicycles, tools, and workshops to encourage people to
start using their bikes.
Ecology
Figure 3.23
This photo shows two kinds of
energy use: the truck uses fossil
fuels, while the wind farm uses
the power of the wind to
generate electricity. What are
two advantages and two
disadvantages of each method?
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Industrial 6%
Commercial
5%
Residential
40%
Figure 3.22
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Like most people in the world, most Canadians live in urban
areas. The growth of towns and cities will probably continue
over the next century. When urban areas spread out and grow
into the surrounding rural areas, the result is urban sprawl.
Land use changes as technology changes. In the past,
when people travelled by water, horse, or cart, settlements
could extend only as far as people could travel in a day.
The invention of the automobile allowed people to travel farther in a day. This made urban sprawl possible.
Extensive transportation networks are now necessary to move people around. Many people still commute to the city from the suburbs and surrounding
towns. Some spend as much as three hours each day
driving back and forth to work. That’s 15 hours a
week, or two whole work days, spent just going to and
from work.
Transportation 32%
Institutional and
public buildings 10%
Most people in Canada
prefer cars to other
forms of transportation.
The average Canadian
travels about 18 000 km
a year — over 88 percent
of it in a personal vehicle.
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How People Use the Land
People’s activities and choices affect the patterns and imprints
they make on the land. Planners, developers, governments, and
individuals make decisions about land use. These decisions create patterns of land use. Poor decisions can result in badly
planned cities. Cities that are not planned well use up valuable
agricultural land. They destroy natural habitat for other species.
They contribute to pollution. Public transit is often not planned
well for commuters from the suburbs. This poor planning forces
people to use their cars. More people driving cars mean more
greenhouse gases and greater resource use.
Rural land is used for primary industries like forestry, agriculture, and mining. It also includes land that is forested.
Recreational land and parks outside cities are rural. Wetlands
(swamps and marsh) and wilderness areas are also rural.
Figure 3.24
Types of urban land use include
residential, commercial,
industrial, institutional,
transportation, recreational, and
open-space developments.
a) In which of these types of
residential land use is population
density higher? Which type do you
think has the most impact on the
natural habitat of the region? Why?
b) Many products and services are available in a
shopping mall, where people can shop in climatecontrolled comfort. However, malls are surrounded by
asphalt parking lots. These use up a great deal of land.
What steps could planners take to use less land for
parking?
c) During manufacturing, raw materials are turned into
finished products such as steel or cars. Manufacturing is
one type of industrial land use that requires a large
amount of land. It also requires easy access to water, rail,
or highway transportation routes. This type of land use
can be a source of air, water, and noise pollution. Are
there factories in your area? What do they produce?
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d) At industrial parks like this, high-value products such as computers
and electronic equipment are manufactured. Many industrial parks are
located in the suburbs, where land is less expensive than in the city. These
businesses spread out around a city. They use a great deal of space for
parking and landscaping. They also require land for easy access to
highways and expressways, as trucking is the main method of
transporting their goods. Do you think this is a good use of land? Explain.
e) Institutional land use includes public
buildings, such as schools, churches,
hospitals, and government offices.
f) Almost one-third of all the land within towns
and cities is used for getting people and things
from one place to another. Parking lots, train
and bus stations, airports, and docks are all
considered transportation land use. How did the
car change the way cities are planned?
g) Is this type of
land use
transportation or
recreational?
h) Recreational land includes parks, playing
fields, golf courses, and arenas. Cemeteries and
farmland that is not being used to grow crops
but is sitting vacant waiting for future
development are considered open space.
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Our Actions and the Four
Spheres
The artificial environments we create have many large-scale effects.
These effects involve all four components of the environment. Our
actions affect
• the atmosphere (the air that surrounds the Earth)
• the hydrosphere (oceans, lakes, and rivers)
• the lithosphere (the outer, solid part of the Earth,
including the crust and upper mantle)
• the biosphere (living organisms and their
environments)
In the southern half
of Norway, 80 percent
of the lakes and
streams are either
technically dead —
nothing can live in
them — or dying.
People and the Atmosphere
We pollute our atmosphere. The result is a thinning ozone layer,
acid rain, and smog.
Holes in the Ozone Layer
The thinning ozone layer is a fairly new and very complex situation. Chemical compounds, called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs),
are used in such things as air conditioners and aerosol spray
cans. CFCs cause most of the thinning. Efforts have been made
to eliminate CFCs worldwide, but these efforts are not complete.
Damage continues to be made to the ozone layer.
Acid Rain
Acid rain has become a major problem in several areas of the
world. Cars, trucks, planes, trains, power plants, and industry
spew sulphur and nitrogen into the air. These combine
with sunlight, water vapour, and oxygen to
make acids and other toxins, which
fall to Earth as acid rain. This
increases the acid level of
lakes. It makes the water
environments unfit for
life. Acid rain kills
vegetation. It eats away
buildings and even makes
car paint fade. Areas like
the Canadian Shield are
the hardest hit. The
bedrock cannot neutralize
the acids.
Figure 3.25
The acid rain that killed
this lake and these trees
can be controlled. What
law would you pass to
help stop acid rain?
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Beijing, the capital of
China, sometimes has
been so engulfed in
smog that it couldn’t
be seen on satellite
photos for days.
The city of Santiago
in Chile has rules
keeping 30 percent of
all cars off the roads
each day.
Smog
Local weather reports, especially in big cities, carry smog warnings. Imagine, breathing in a big city can be hazardous to your
health. Breathing in Mexico City on a hot summer day has been
compared to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day!
Technology: Problem and Solution
Technology has helped create these problems. It has also given
us some ways to reduce the problems. It is easiest to deal with
pollution problems when they come from a single point source,
like the smokestacks on a power plant, by adding things like
scrubbers to them.
It’s Your World
P
ollution knows no borders or boundaries.
Pollution produced in one part of the world,
say North America, causes problems in other
parts of the world, like Europe. Pollution in someone else’s town could cause problems for your
area. Is there a major cause of air pollution in
your area? Is anything being done about it? How
can you find out?
Figure 3.26
Many cities all over the
world have major smog
problems. How do you
get governments to clean
up the air?
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When the pollution is non-point, like the millions
of cars and trucks spread over the world, it is far
harder to treat. In the short term, we can help
by developing better emission control systems. The only way to eliminate their harmful emissions totally is to have vehicles
that don’t produce harmful emissions at
all. Electric-powered or hydrogen-powered vehicles look like good future
choices since they are non-polluting.
People and the
Hydrosphere
In the past, we thought oceans were
great places to dump things. We felt
that they were so large that there
could never be a problem. Today, we
know that isn’t so.
Our Oceans
With so many people living in coastal
zones dumping their sewage and garbage
into the oceans, there are big problems for
the water life (the fish we eat!) and for us.
People have used the seas to hide other things
(out of sight, out of mind). Undetonated explosives, toxic industrial wastes, and even nuclear
wastes have been dumped in ocean waters. It is no
wonder that world fisheries have declined.
New hydrogen/oxygen
cars are predicted to
come off assembly
lines in the near
future.
Figure 3.27
Think of ways that would
convince people to leave their
cars at home and use public
transportation, a car pool, or
maybe even a bicycle instead.
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Our Fresh Water
Our inland waters have not escaped this kind of treatment.
Lake Ontario has been called a chemical soup because of
what has been dumped into it by all the industries around it.
Untreated human wastes make their way into our Great
Lakes. What we put into our rivers and streams pollutes
the water we need for life.
Chemicals — fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides —
that we have spread on our lawns and gardens find their
way into our water systems. They can also affect our
ground-water quality. Eventually, they affect the
quality of all water. As these chemicals are circulated by natural water systems, they become
potential silent killers.
People and the Lithosphere
Figure 3.28
Manitoba has strong
regulations on water quality,
but enforcing the regulations
is a difficult problem. Why do
you think that is?
Figure 3.29
Most quarries end up looking
quite attractive when the owners
are finished with them. However,
some remain ugly scars on the
landscape. Many people make
their living working at quarries
or in other construction jobs that
depend on quarries. Think about
a law that doesn’t take jobs away
but protects the environment
from poorly managed quarries.
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We clear woods for farming. We plough
fields. We quarry rock, sand, and gravel.
Each action changes the environment.
Clearing land can cause more erosion
and run-off. This process creates landforms like gullies or increases flooding.
Using the land for agriculture can deplete its
minerals and make it too acidic, waterlogged, or
too salty. Quarrying and mining eliminate some
landforms and change others.
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U N I T 1 : Investigating Geography
People and the Biosphere
Our interactions with the environment
cause major change in the biosphere.
Many of the concerns mentioned regarding the other spheres also apply to this
sphere. The activities of people threaten
all forms of life. We know that many animal, bird, and fish species have been
wiped out. Many others are endangered.
Our plants and trees are also threatened
by our activities. Our cities are growing.
This means there are fewer places left
where some plants can grow. For example, in North America, we have many
kinds of beautiful orchids. One such
flower is the western prairie fringed
orchid. It is an endangered species. The
only Canadian province it grows in is
Manitoba.
“
Q
If all humans
disappeared today, the Earth
w ould start improving tomorrow. If
all the ants disappeared today, the Earth
would start dying tomorrow.
Scientist and broadcaster David Suzuki
“
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Figure 3.30
How can we prevent the further loss
of the western prairie fringed
orchid?
1. Use two specific examples to explain how land use may change as technology
changes.
2. What land use changes would result if many people within a community chose to
use bicycles instead of cars?
3. Explain how the saying “For every action, there is a reaction” applies to people
and the environment.
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C H A P T E R 3 : Interaction
Figure 3.31
Young girls assemble straw
mats in Nouakchott,
Mauritania in western
Africa. The quality of life in
city slums can be dismal.
Many people, including
children, are forced to
work in terrible conditions
in factories. Some live on
the street, begging and
scavenging food to survive.
Despite these conditions,
people still see the city as a
better place to live.
Urbanization continues.
Leaving Rural Areas
People are leaving rural areas and moving into cities. What pushes people out of rural areas and pulls them toward the cities? In
the early 1900s, more and more industries developed in cities.
People were attracted away from farms to the new jobs that these
businesses provided. Today’s farming inventions mean that fewer
people are needed to work on farms. People continue to be
pulled toward possible jobs in industries in the city.
In developing countries, people leave rural areas for several
reasons:
Only 15 percent of the
people living in rural
areas in Canada live on
farms.
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• High fertility rates —Too many children are born for
small farms to support.
• Small farms — Farms are divided up into smaller and
smaller plots. New generations inherit traditional
farms, and more people depend on each farm. The
smaller plots cannot support enough people.
• Economic opportunities — More jobs are found in cities.
• Natural disasters — Earthquakes or volcanic eruptions
cause serious damage in rural areas. People are forced
away from their homes and villages.
• Violent conflicts — War and other political conflicts
affect land use.
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62
U N I T 1 : Investigating Geography
The “Greening” of Cities
People around the world are starting to improve the appearance of their cities. They are working to make them use
resources more efficiently and pollute less. Urban geographers and planners have outlined some ideas for developing more sustainable cities. These include the following:
• Change land-use planning. Cities and suburbs
can be created with a mix of
different land uses. This trend
would result in green, safe,
diverse, and lively communities
close to public transportation
facilities.
Figure 3.32
In a vibrant city, housing, work, shopping,
schools, and recreation facilities are all
within easy walking distance.
• Change transportation planning.
Travel by walking, biking, and
public transit can be made easier
so that people will be encouraged
to use their cars less.
Figure 3.33
Vancouver’s Skytrain is an example
of effective urban transportation
planning.
• Encourage the building of safe,
conveniently located, and
affordable housing for people in
all economic groups.
Figure 3.34
Houses that are close to the street and to
one another create a sense of shared
space and community, even in a big city.
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C H A P T E R 3 : Interaction
• Restore natural environments —
such as woodlots, rivers, and
wetlands — in cities that have
been damaged.
Figure 3.35
Parkland trails are inviting to hikers and bikers alike. Cleanup
campaigns, such as clearing aluminum cans from parks and
lakesides, can help minimize the bad effects of human activities
on the environment.
• Support local agriculture and
community gardens within cities.
Figure 3.36
Planting trees is one way to beautify an urban
environment. Can you suggest two other activities that
might make our cities greener, more pleasant places?
• Promote recycling and other
programs to conserve energy
and water and reduce waste
and pollution.
“ The well-being of
the planet in the coming century
“
Q
will be decided to a significant degree by
cities and their citizens.
Trevor Hancock, urban consultant
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Figure 3.37
What happens to your waste paper after it leaves
your recycling box? This shredded material will be
used to make a variety of new paper products.
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64
U N I T 1 : Investigating Geography
Skills for Active Democratic
Citizenship
1 Write to one or two of the different organizations in Manitoba that are concerned with
conservation and our natural habitat. Find
out how students your age can get involved.
2 Design the ideal residential community. Show
how the land will be used in different and
responsible ways to preserve the environment.
Critical and Creative Thinking
Skills
6 Predict one change in your activities that may
occur as a result of each of the following happening in your area:
a) increase in population
b) a series of very dry summers
c) the opening of a new shopping mall
7 You are planning a fall camping trip to Falcon
Lake. Explain how you will interact with your
new environment. What changes will take
place? Think about things such as the following:
a) food
b) shelter
c) water
d) heat
e) weather
Figure 3.38
Typical residential community in Manitoba
f) services available
g) wildlife
3 What positive changes can you make to your
school environment to promote a healthy ecozone? Explain why you feel these changes are
important. Outline the steps you will need to
take to have these changes put into place.
Skills for Managing Ideas and
Information
4 Compare your neighbourhood to another in
your community. List the similarities and differences — both physical and human — in a chart.
5 Describe how humans adapt to meet the physical characteristics of a region.
Figure 3.39
Falcon Lake, in Manitoba
8 What are the advantages and/or disadvantages
of having a flower bed or garden area on
school grounds? How would this affect the
biosphere?
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C H A P T E R 3 : Interaction
9 Select a form of pollution you see becoming
increasingly more dangerous to the environment. Research the effects of this pollutant and
possible suggestions that will stop or decrease
further damage to the environment.
12 Do you think Winnipeg and Brandon were built
in the right locations? Why or why not? Explain
your answer.
Communication Skills
10 Manitoba’s Protective Areas Initiative (PAI) prohibits all resource extraction activity within the
protected area. This means that if a forest or
wetland in Manitoba is protected, people are
not allowed to take any usable resources (trees,
minerals, soil, birds) from this area.
As a concerned citizen, how would you
voice your concerns over an area you feel
should be protected?
Figure 3.41
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Figure 3.40
A horned grebe sits on its nest in a wetland near
Churchill, Manitoba.
11 When we talk about the environment, people
have different ideas about what the word “environment” means. What does the word “environment” mean to you?
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Figure 3.42
Brandon, Manitoba
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