Geography’s Impact on Culture and Society Essay -- Geography

Geography’s Impact on Culture and Society When studying ancient civilizations and the beginning societies in the world, the geography has shaped its story significantly. Depending on the location of the civilization society, whether or not water was nearby was crucial for its survival. With trade networks, metals, foods, and languages were spread. Weapons were able to be formed from these metals which led to a stronger military. Mountain ranges formed the boundaries of civilizations. Geography greatly impacted Asia, Africa and Europe. Asia Asia is â€Å"the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres†. Its land mass covers almost 9% of the Earth's surface area, 30% of its land area and it holds nearly 60% of the world's current human population . Most of central Asia is covered by cold steppes. Dictionary.com describes a steppe as â€Å"an extensive plain, especially one without trees† , consisting mainly of grasslands and considered to be a land that is â€Å"too dry to support a forest, but not dry enough to be a desert† . The coastal border of Asia was inhabited by some of the world's earliest known civilizations that developed around fertile river valleys. These people â€Å"may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel with one another†1. The central steppe region had long been inhabited by nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from the steppes on horseback. The northernmost part of Asia, which includes much of Siberia, was largely inaccessible to these steppe nomads, due to the dense forests, climate and tundra. These areas remained very sparsely populated due to the geography of the land that made living conditions difficult.1 The center a... ... other surrounding Mediterranean lands, helping conquer new territories and further developing trade routes. â€Æ' Works Cited http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/steppe?s=t http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steppes Traditions and Encounters 26 Traditions and Encounters 33 Traditions and Encounters 88 Traditions and Encounters 89 Traditions and Encounters 102,103 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India Traditions and Encounters 310 Traditions and Encounters 310 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa Traditions and Encounters 52 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile Traditions and Encounters 58 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Greece http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens Traditions and Encounters 193

Malthus and Boserup Population Theory

MALTHUS AND BOSERUP The world population is the total number of living humans on the planet Earth. Recently the world has just hit over 7 billion people. It is expected that if the worlds population continues to increase at the rate it is doing now, then we will become overpopulated. Overpopulation is where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. There are various views on this population crisis and throughout this essay I will describe theses views. Thomas Malthus was a pessimist , his theory is that the growth of human populations always tends to outstrip the productive capabilities of land resources.The result is that resources place a restriction on population growth and size and ‘positive’ checks (famine and disease) or preventative checks (limitation of family size) work to reduce population growth. Writing before the agricultural revolution, Malthus presumed that the productivity of resources were permanent because agricultural technolog y was largely fixed. From a Malthusian perspective, technology and environment (considered in terms of land resources) are therefore seen as independent variables that work together to determine the dependant variable of population, which he sees mainly in terms of population growth and size.According to him, human society could never be perfected. He believed that man is a lazy animal, who would lead a satisfied life and procreate as long as his family was well fed. However, as soon as human population would feel constraints in food supply due to increase in population, he would again work hard to provide enough for his family. This might lead to an increase in agricultural production to provide for all, but at the same time man would be back to his complacent stage, where all his needs would be fulfilled. This would start the cycle of overpopulation and food shortage, all over again.Having been a clergy, Malthus validated his theory on moral grounds that suffering was a way of mak ing human beings realize the virtues of hard work and moral behavior. Such kind of suffering due to overpopulation and food supply was inevitable. Malthus' theory had great influence on both Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace, who are the co-founders of the modern evolutionary theory. By the end of the 19th Century, when living standards improved and birth rates dropped in the Western countries, concerns of overpopulation became irrelevant.However, in underdeveloped countries which have agrarian economies, Malthus' theory often finds credibility. On the other hand, Ester Boserup was an optimist. Her theory focuses on the relationships between three factors; population, environment and technology. Her concept of ‘population’ in contrast to Malthus, encompasses population density as well as population size and growth. Ester Boserup stated that an increase in population would stimulate technologists to increase food production.As Boserup said any rise in population would in crease demand for food and this would act as an incentive to change agrarian technology and produce more food. Therefore population growth will inspire innovators who will solve the problem s the increasing population has caused therefore making it sustainable for a growing population. Even though they are two opposing theories they do have some similarities. They are both based on ‘closed’ communities which at a global scale is not true. They are similar by the way they both agree that an rise in population will increase demand for food.However they completely differ on what the consequences will be. As Malthus says increased demand for food will eventually cause food production to decrease due to the law of diminishing returns. As Boserup has a completely opposing view that increased population would increase food production. We have to remember that Malthus wrote his essay in 1798 before the agriculture revolution therefore he excluded technology from his theory ther efore making it slightly inaccurate. As Boserup wrote her theory in 1968 and has seen the effect technology can have crop yield therefore the two theories contrast.Also Mathus and Boserup disagree on the outcomes of increased population as Malthus stated that population cant increase above the food supplies otherwise positive checks would occur. Malthus talks about controlling a population by preventative checks and how the population must be kept below the crisis point otherwise these positive checks will occur. In contrast Boserup does the opposite and stated that famine and war will be prevented by human solutions. Therefore the two theories have different answers as to how to make a sustainable population which will survive in food resources.I personally agree with Malthus and believe that the power of population is much greater than the power of the earth to provide subsistence for man although Boserup states that an increase in population would stimulate technologists to incre ase food production etc. There is only a limit of resources available that can be used and the use of new technology and manufacturing is a massive contributor to the green house effect. Also we cannot rely on an increases in population to stimulate people to find new ways so that we can live sustainably.Some people may argue that ‘positive checks’ are meant to happen. I don’t believe in parts of this theory however if we can reduce the population to a sustainable level then these positive checks will not have to take place. We can reduce positive checks by encouraging people to have fewer children however this has been taken a bit too far in some areas, for example – Chinas One Child Policy. Although this was a massive success in reducing the population, there are also problems that China is now faced with including gender imbalance (for every 6 males there are 5 females) and an ageing population.

The Virtues And Vices Of The Schools - 1162 Words

Evan Arends Philosophy essay 1) School Learning What are some of the virtues and vices of the schools? Why does Descartes decide to leave school as soon as he can? What does he hope to gain by doing so? What are the results? Try to integrate some of your own thoughts about the goods and bads of school as well as any insights you might have about what it means to be human and the task of education. The task of education is split up into different kinds of education. The task of basic education such as modern elementary school through high school is to teach students the basics such as reading, writing, grammar, and about history. These basic lessons in turn are the stepping stones to help you better discover the world and everything and it has to offer. Now higher education such as modern college is meant to help individuals specialize in certain areas of study, but at the same time helping the student improve on the basic education principles. After going through his basis of education Descartes decided to abandon school due to him feeling in doubt of everything he though once was true. He decided to travel the world and see what he could learn from that. For Descartes the schools provided a basis for his education. He was able to go to one of the best schools of his time, the Jesuit college of La Flà ¨che in Anjou. This assures him some of the best teachers and best access to knowledge. The schools taught him a well-balanced education of reading, writing, grammar,Show MoreRelatedComparison Between Aristotle And Kant1388 Words   |  6 Pagesjustice, and virtues. In this essay there will given facts on virtues between two philosophers who have different views on the topic. Aristotle and Kant have two totally different views on virtue, one being based on the soul and how you character depicts you virtue and the other which is based of the fact that anyone has a chance of being morally good, even bad people. 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