Chapter 8 Homework

Chapter 8, Section 1

1. How do geographers divide the large region that is known as Latin America?

Answer:
Geographers divide Latin America into the Middle American region, the Caribbean region, and the South America region.
 

2. What natural resources make Latin America an economically important region?

Answer:
Latin America's oil, natural gases, gold, emeralds, and copper make it an economically important region
 

Creative Writing: The people of Latin America benefit greatly from their water systems. Write a paragraph that describes how the people use the region’s rivers.

The people of Latin America use their rivers for transportation and energy.  The rivers are used as waterways to transport goods from one part of Latin America to all across the region.  Some waterways, such as the Panama Canal, provide shortcuts where ships and boats can travel from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean without having to go down the tip of South America.  Fast moving rivers also supply hydroelectric power which powers most of the cities.

Chapter 8, Section 2

1. Which climate regions are represented in Latin America?

Answer
The climate regions represented in Latin America are the Tropical wet climates, the tropical dry climates, the humid subtropical, the desert, the Mediterranean, the marine west coast, and the highland.
 

2. How do Latin America’s location and landforms affect climates even within particular regions?

Answer

The location of the climate affects the temperature.  Places closer to the equator with have hotter climate, while locations farther from the equator will be colder.  Landforms such as mountains and forests can affect the climates as well.  Mountains can either cause more rainfall in a region, or block the rain from a neighboring climate, resulting in a desert area.  Forests help keep climates cool by shading the sun. Another factor that can affect the climate is wind.  Shifting winds and dry coastal winds mixing results in no rainfall which leads to no vegetation, no water, and a desert.

Creative Writing: Pretend you are on a hiking tour of one of the climate regions of Latin America. In the form of a journal entry, write about the area you are hiking by describing its vegetation and climate

Answer:

Wow, today on our hiking tour we hiked in the puna region.  It was so cold!  I think, at warmest, the temperature was maybe 55 degrees Fahrenheit, a lot colder than I'm used to.  As we hiked on, it got colder.  At one point I asked the tour guide what temperature it was, and she said -65 degrees Fahrenheit!  No wonder I was freezing.  I didn't see any trees in the puna zone, or any shrubs.  The only vegetation was a few, non-varied species of grass.  Although the trip sounds bad, I had a lot of fun.  We got to see cute fluffy sheep grazing around  We even saw a group of llamas hanging out, just there in front of us!  On the way down, I could have sworn I saw another creature which looked much like a llama, but it could have easily been an alpaca.

Chapter 7 Homework

Chapter 7, Section 1

1. How has the development of a postindustrial economy in the United States and Canada affected where and how people live?

Answer:

The development of postindustrial economy in the United States and Canada let people have more freedom in choosing where to live.  Postindustrial jobs are jobs in government, educating, health care, and banking which are often located in areas between cities and suburbs all of the countries. The housing for people working in those jobs is not limited by location. The growth of postindustrial economies has led people to have more freedom in where they live

2. How are the economies of the United States and Canada interdependent with each other and with those in other parts of the world?

Answer:

The United States and Canada both export and import goods.  Canada exports goods such as timber to parts of the world that lack timber.  In exchange, those countries trade resources that Canada doesn't have to Canada.  The United States takes in a lot of imports, ranging from electronics to food.  The United States exports air crafts, aerospace equipment, and food to other countries in exchange for the goods.

Creative Writing: Write a paragraph about the economies of the United States and Canada that explains how the terms market economy, postindustrial economy, and global economy are related.

Answer:

The market economies in both the United States and Canada allow the people to make decisions about what kind of business they want to own, what they want to do, and how much they profit.  This leads to some people creating businesses that include more high-tech and service jobs which leads into postindustrial economies.  The postindustrial economies provide service jobs and technology jobs in which people help others with technology problems.  People from all around the world seek help from these people, making the postindustrial economies into global economies.

Chapter 7, Section 2

1. What are examples of three or more ways that the United States and Canada could manage their natural resources more responsibly?

Answer:

The countries can start managing their natural resources more responsibly by first stop cutting down so many trees and burning wildlife to make room for more people.  How about we plant more trees and stop expanding urban areas?  We can build our cities upward instead of horizontally and we'll take up less land space and leave more room for forests.  Another way to help the environment and conserve the fossil fuels is to use alternative forms of energy such as electrical energy, hydrogen fuel, and wind power.  the last way we can help conserve nature's resources is to stop killing the natural predators.  Without predators, herbivores will overpopulate and eat away all of their food resources.  Once the food runs out, the herbivores will start dying and their predators will have even less prey.  If we would stop driving out and killing animals, then the environments might have a chance to recover.

2. What are the causes and effects of pollution in the region?

Answer:

the pollution gas of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that come from factories can cause acid rain.  Acid rain is basically liquid rain that can poison water and timber as well as burn skin and kill animals.  Another affect of air pollution is smog.  Smog kill plants and animals and greatly damages people's eyes, throats, and lungs.  Industrial wastes such as fertilizers and pesticides are often dumped in rivers, streams, or leak into ground water.  these toxic chemicals contaminate water and poison all wildlife, whether it be animals, fish, plants, or humans, that drink it.  the water pollution also kill natural alge.  This causes all the fish to die.  Another affect of pollution is immense algae growth which will turn a lake into a marsh and gradually into a dry land.

Creative Writing: The 800-mile (1,300 km) Trans-Alaska Pipeline carries oil from Prudhoe Bay, on the Arctic Ocean, to the port of Valdez, on the Gulf of Alaska. Oil travels through the pipeline at a temperature of over 120° F (80° C). For most of its length, the pipeline is elevated above permafrost to keep the permafrost from thawing. In places the oil is carried in buried, refrigerated pipes. Describe some of the consequences the melting of Arctic permafrost may have on the pipeline over the next 25 years

Answer:

The melting of the Artic permafrost will make the supports for the pipeline loose.  Eventually the permafrost will either melt completely and collapse, which shall break the pipeline and then no oil shall be transported between Prudhoe bay to the port of Valdez.

Chapter 6 Homework

Chapter 6, Section 1

1. How are population patterns in the United States influenced by the region’s physical geography and by the development of industry and technology?

Answer:

Population increased where there was water and fertile land to farm.  Later as industry and technology started to increase in areas of trade such as the North East of the United States, population largely increased because of people looking for work

2. What are four cultural elements influenced by the immigrant roots of the United States?

Answer:

Four cultural elements that are influenced by immigrant roots are Language, Religion, the Arts, and Education

Creative Writing: Write a biography of an early settler in the United States from the time he or she arrives in New York harbor in 1845, at the age of 20, until his or her death at the age of 70.

Answer:

Antonio arrived in the United States when he was age 20.  New York, the place of his arrival, was bustling with work and factories, so he quickly took up a job at one of the factories.  Antonio spent more of his life working for the factory.  At around age 30, Antonio married and had many children, as was custom in the United States in the mid 1800's.  At age 60, Antonio quit work and his children, who now worked at the factory and other, higher paying, jobs took care of him.  Antonio died at age 70 of old age, having lived a long life for most of the people living in the United States

Chapter 6, Section 2

1. What are two economic factors that encouraged growth of Canada’s western population?

Answer:

Two economic factors that encouraged population growth in western Canada are the discovery of oil and natural gas and the many waterways to support agriculture and trade.

2. How do the country’s religious practices and languages reflect the immigrant history of Canada?

Answer

The mix of British and French settlers with the indigenous Native American population has resulted in the two official languages being English and French.  Many Canadians also speak Cree and Inuktitut, the original languages of Canada.  The religion s practiced is massively affected by the diverse immigrants in Canada  The practiced religions are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Sikhism

Creative Writing: Imagine that the American colonies did not separate from Great Britain and remained a part of the British Empire. How might the history and development of Canada have been affected

Answer:

If the American colonies didn't separate from Great Britain, then Canada would probably still be part of Britain.  The American colonies breaking free of Great Britain might have inspired Canadians to take control of their country.  Canada would also have a smaller French-speaking population and would still have all of its rules made by Britain.

Chapter 5 Homework

Chapter 5, Section 1

1. How have the river systems and landforms of the United States and Canada played important roles in this region’s development?

Answer:

Landforms such as plateus and mountains have greatly affected how regions develop.  Cities and settlements often avoid plateus and mountains because it is harder to grow food and find water.  Rivers, lakes, and streams on the other hand attract settlements because it provides a steady source of water and vegetation.  Other landforms that might drive people away and prevent development are deserts and barren valleys.

2. What are some of the major geographical factors and natural resources that have played an important part in the economic development of the United States and Canada?

Answer:

Some major geographical factors and natural resources that helped the economic development of the United States and Canada are the Appalachian Mountains, the Mississippi River, The Canadian Shield, fossil fuels, timber, and minerals.  The Appalachian Mountains and the Canadian Shield offer natural borders.  The Mississippi River and other rivers serve as trade routes and ports.  Both United States and Canada use fossils fuels for their factories and transportation.  Timber and minerals are both staple exports for Canada and the United States and bring in a lot of money to supply their economies

Creative Writing: Write a paragraph describing the landforms that would be visible from an airplane window if you were flying across North America, from Norfolk, Virginia, to Seattle, Washington. Assume that you are flying low enough to see the ground.

Answer:

As you fly over North American, you can see many land features.  First you see the Mississippi River, a huge blue-brown snake weaving through the mountains.  We pass by the huge peakes of the Appalachian mountains.  Once we pass the peaks, we see the endless plains of the Midwest.  We pass over a few more raised bumps of mountains that mark the Grand Canyon, Sierra Nevada, and other mountains.

Chapter 5, Section 2

1. What climate regions are found in the United States and Canada?

Answer:

Climate regions of the United States and Canada are warm and wet climates, warm and dry climates, interior climates, and coastal climates

2. What are three of the weather-related hazards found in the United States and Canada?

Answer:

Three weather related hazards are hurricanes in warm and wet climates, tornadoes in interior climates, and blizzards in high-latitude climates

Creative Writing: Why might two cities at about the same latitude, such as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (40.0º N), and Salt Lake City, Utah (40.45º N), have widely differing climates? Write a paragraph justifying your conclusion

Answer:

The two cities of the same latitude have different climates because of their longitude.  Philadelphia, Pennslvania is located in a cooler, wet area that experiences varying temperatures and rain.  As a result, Philadelphia has a lot of vegetation that requires water to live.  Salt Lake Coity, Utah, is located in a warm and dry climate.  As a result, it is hotter there, has barely any shrub or rainfall, and is very dry.  Because of how far each place is from water and the coast, the two places differ in temperature, rainfall, and vegetation