People, Patterns, and Places Flashcards
What is ecological footprint?
The area of biologically productive land & water required to produce the goods consumed and to assimilate the wastes they generate
What are ways that humans can affect the planet’s natural resources?
- circular economy - resources should be reused, companies should recycle their own waste instead of pressuring consumers to do it, then they will produce less waste
- overusing & depleting natural resources
- anthropogenic climate change
What are ways that technology has improved humanity’s wellbeing?
- high-yielding crops & sophisticated food supply chains - improve variety & quality of consumed food
- vaccines, medicine, and disease eradication
- carbon fibres - aircraft can fly further with less fuel, better air quality
- geothermal, hydrogen, solar, and wind energy - reduce reliance and fossil fuels & improve air quality - improve health
- buildings & cities
- robotics for work in highly automated factories
- networks & internet for instantaneous global communication & access to information
- protection of endangered species & ecosystems, restoration of environments - better health
- Improves life expectancy, access to education & information, slowed population growth, decreases infant mortality
What are positive environmental consquences of urbanisation and urban sprawl?
- Growing food locally, plants & greenery can reduce ecological footprint
- recycling can reduce pollution
- decrease in carbon emissions per person
What are negative environmental consequences of urbanisation and urban sprawl?
- futher from CBD
- loss of arable land
- biodiversity loss
- increase in carbon emissions
Why is Shanghai’s Metro System so efficient?
- world’s biggest metro system
- 700km track
- 408 stations
- 18 lines
- Second in the world by annual ridership
- Will have 25 lines and over 1000km by 2025
- Everywhere in Shanghai will be within 600m of a metro station
What crops are usually in plantations?
- cotton
- coffee
- tea
- cocoa
- sisal
- palm oil
- fruits
- rubber trees
What is involved in Mediterranean Agriculture?
- land uses are intensive, highly speiclaised, and varied
- subsistence is often side-by-side with commercial
- some crops are for domestic consumption while some are for sale
What is causing changes in global patterns of economic activity?
- Increased demand for food (population growth)
- technological advancements
- increased focus on sustainability
- replacement of human labour with machinery
What is shifting agriculture?
- focuses on maintaining fertility of soil
- rotation cultivated fields
What is intensive subsistence agriculture?
- focuses on the effective & efficient use of small areas of land to maximise crop yields
- Lage inputs of labour & fertiliser are required
- e.g. rice paddies
What is pastoralism?
- traditional practices around managing domesticated livestock
- Animals are bred & herded to provide food, clothing, and shelter
What is extensive commercial agriculture?
uses relatively small inputs of labour, fertilisers, and capital, relative to the land area being farmed
What is intensive industrial agriculture?
- requires capital-intensive agricultural inputs, such as fertiliser, pesticides, and large-scale machinery
- maximise output per unit of agricultural land
What are some advantages of extensive agriculture?
- less reliance on inputs of labour per unit of land
- Large-scale machinery can be used more efficiently over large, flat areas of land
- Labour efficiencies result in lower product prices & higher returns
- animal welfare is less of an issue
- Animals graze on pastures native to area instead of relying on introduced species
- soil management is easier, less fertilisers & chemicals
- large amounts of grain & livestock can be produced relatively cheaply
What are advantages of intensive industrial agriculture?
- Yields are much higher in short-term
- area of land required is smaller
What caused the decline of the US Manufacturing Belt?
- Transfer of labour-intensive manufacturing overseas
- increased automation
- decline of US coal & steel industries
What were the consequences of the decline of the US manufacturing belt?
- Economic decline led to population loss & widespread urban decay
- Some cities & towns adapted by diversifying/transforming economies
- Others experienced severe economic distress & social consequences - rise of right-wing political activism
- New England faced industrial decline - transformed economy by basing it on services, advanced manufacturing, and high-tech industries
What does Zhengzhou, China specialise in?
Major manufacturing hub for:
* IT
* biomedicine
* aviation
* e-commerce
What are the three principal manufacturing regions?
- North America
- Western & Eastern Europe
- South & East Asia
What are the consequences of deindustrialisation?
- Shift in manufacturing jobs to developing countries
- new international division of labour
- affected workers engaged in labour-intensive manufacturing enterprises who lost their jobs
What is causing Indigenous languages to be lost?
dominant languages in:
* media
* shops
* the workplace
What is infrastructure?
includes all structures associated with utilities (electricity, water, gas, telecommunication) and transport
What is a positive feedback loop?
Feedback loop that accelerates or amplifies a change
What is a negative feedback loop?
A feedback loop that slows a change
What is cultural adaptation?
the modification of a culture to incorporate aspects of another culture e.g. Māori culture in NZ
What is cultural adoption?
the acceptance and integration of different cultural elements into one’s own e.g. yoga in Bondi
What is cultural diffusion?
the dispersion, or spread, of different cultural elements between countries and peoples e.g. Americanism
What is cultural integration?
the circumstances that arise when people from one culture adopt elements of another culture while maintaining their own culture
What is a tax haven?
a country or territory where resident individuals or resident companies pay little or no tax
What is a free market?
an economic system of supply and demand, only making things that are profitable
What is neoconservatism?
a political ideology characterised by an emphasis on free-market capitalism and interventionist foreign policy
What is trade liberalisation?
the removal or reduction of restrictions or barriers on the free exchange of goods between nations
What is economic integration?
- the growing interdependence of national economies
- driven by a reduction in, and ultimately the removal of, tariff and non-tariff barriers to the free market
What are some changes caused by economic restructuring?
- money and other resources rapidly moving in and out of industries and sectors
- development of new ways of carrying out and rewarding work
- Rapid technological change - workers who lack skills are left behind
- Increases social disruption caused by retrenchments, factory closures and changes to the organisation of production
- Structural changes occurring are deindustrialisation
What are the pros of cultural integration?
- Enriches cultures
- People are allowed to blend beliefs and ideas
- Don’t have to give up culture
- Leads to multiculturalism
- Increases technology and trade
- Mass consumer culture is integrated into a country’s culture
What are cons of cultural integration?
- Threat to national sovereignty and cultural diversity
- Can be forced - lack of culture that is watered down
What are factors that determine the nature and rate of international integration over time?
- Development in aviation technologies increase international tourism and trade
- Technological developments in shipping and cargo handling increased international trade expansion
- Investments in rail and road infrastructure incr. land transport and trade
- Development in global communication
How did developments in shipping and cargo handling technologies increase international trade expansion?
- Incr. size - transport costs declined
- Specialised bulk acrries, oil tankers, and container ships lower cost & reduce how long ships are in port
- Road, rail, or ship - goods can travel by multiple modes of transport
What are some principal developments in land transportation?
- Faster & more competitive over long distances
- High-speed rail systems
- New cargo handling equipment
- Increased efficiency
How have advanced telecommunications technologies been beneficial to developing countries?
they are now included in
* growing global networks in trade
* transport
* finance
* communications
What is China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative?
- Create new trade corridors to areas to the West of China
- Goal is to improve trade relationships through investing in transport-related infrastructure
- Claims it will boost poorer countries economies and less-developed regions in West China
What are some effects of China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initative?
- Cements China’s status as a major economic and political power
- Chinese manufacturing would benefit from infrastructure investments
- Markets for Chinese manufacturing will open - transition to higher valued industrial goods
- Will have environmental impacts
- Some see it as a debt trap and economic imperialism
What are some revolutionary transport technologies?
- The internet of things - system of computing devices that transfer data over network without people interacting
- Autonomous vehicles
- Lightweight vehicle materials - decrease fuel use
- Hyperloop - pods travelling through sealed tubes free of air resistance or friction at super-fast speed
What are transnational corporations (TNCs)?
Businesses that operate internationally, usually very large and powerful
Why are TNCs important?
They are central to development of economic and cultural integration
How has Apple minimised taxes?
- Shift large amounts of domestic products to tax havens
- Loophole in country’s tax code called deferral
- Shifts US profit overseas
- Holds 90% of cash holdings offshore
What have been the effects of the global supply chain?
- relocation of labour-intensive manufacturing to low-cost countries
- lowered consumer prices
- increased product availability
- job losses and lost earnings
What are the pros when TNCs establish a presence within a country?
- Job creation
- Expertise and capital needed to exploit natural resources
- Improvements to the skill base of the country’s workforce
- Stable incomes that are more reliable than those derived from farming
- Export income
- Economic diversification
What are the cons when TNCs establish a presence within a country?
- Relatively few workers employed
- Worker exploitation
- Pollution in the absence of enforceable environmental laws
- Profits being sent to parent company based in developed country
- Little reinvestment in local area
- Factories are often footloose and jobs are insecure - if labour costs increase, the company may move elsewhere
- Natural resources are often over-exploited
- Corruption of government officials is relatively common
What is cultural imperialism?
the promotion or imposition of a culture, usually by a politically powerful nation, over a less powerful one
What is the main concern about cultural imperialism?
potential to crowd out local cultures
How do movies influence culture?
- influence a global mass culture
- integral to the culture of their country of origin
- reflect the concerns, attitudes, and beliefs of the people
- reinforce national identities
- AMPAS insisted that the best picture-qualifying films must meet inclusion standards due to the BLM movement in 2023
What are the ‘Big Four’ world cities?
- London
- New York
- Paris
- Tokyo
Why is London a world city?
- global financial capital
- 193 corporate HQs
- Europe’s top technology star-up centre
- birthplace of capitalism
- second best global air connections
- powerful media hub & major advertising centre
Why is New York a world city?
- hosts world’s top investment banks and hedge funds
- 217 corporate HQs
- Highest stock exchange
- Global leader in media & advertising, music, fashion, and luxury retailing
- Tourism attracts more money than any other city
- many higher education and research institutions
- Broadway theatre
- Sporting capital