Author Archives: Kiara Kearns

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Kiara Kearns

February 14, 2020

Expedition Earth: Introduction to Geography

Blog: East Asia: Current Events in East and Southeast Asia

The first article I found was titled “7.0-Magnitude Quake Strikes off Japan's Hokkaido, Russia's Kuril Islands.' I chose this article because it was extremely current, taking place on February 13th. I also chose it because it had such a strong geographic aspect. Earthquakes greatly interest me personally and have a huge impact on our earth. They literally change the way the ground lays, take down buildings, cause tsunamis, and displace homes.

The second article I found was a little bit less recent but I still found it very intriguing. It was written by National Geographic and was titled “Southeast Asia May Be Building Too Many Dams Too Fast.' It was the impact the dams had that had the biggest geographic effects. One of the dams collapsed and caused places to flood, threatened fish, soil, and people. The article states, “A dam under construction some 155 miles (250 kilometers) upstream, in neighboring Laos, had collapsed the day before after heavy monsoon rains, sending a deluge of water down the already swollen, swirling Sekong. The floodwaters, villagers were told, could reach as far as Stung Treng, the provincial capital in northern Cambodia where the Sekong joins the even larger Mekong River.' I appreciated learning about these new rivers and the geographic effects of breaking dams, although the article was less recent than the first.  

 Huaxia. “7.0-Magnitude Quake Strikes off Japan's Hokkaido, Russia's Kuril Islands.' Xinhua, 13 Feb. 2020, www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-02/13/c_138780954.htm.

Guttenfelder, David, and Soe Zeya Tun. “Southeast Asia May Be Building Too Many Dams Too Fast.' Mekong River Dams Threaten Southeast Asia's Fish, Soil, and People, 23 Aug. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/08/news-southeast-asia-building-dams-floods-climate-change/.

 

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Kiara Kearns

February 9, 2020

Population Geography in South Asia and Beyond

The two countries that I chose were the United States and Canada. I checked the blog and made sure that my classmates have not chosen these countries. I observed and compared these countries’ population pyramids and related information.

97.3 Males per 100 Females

36.3 People per square miles  

Number of children per woman 1.9

Current Population 331.9 million  

Estimated Population 2050 About 400 million

 

Canada has  

98.4 Males per 100 Females

4 People per square kilometer

1.6 Number of children per woman

Current Population 36.1 million  

Estimated Population 2050 41.1 million  

More women are living to be 100+ in Canada while many more millions are being born in the United States. The United States has a larger, thicker pyramid due to the higher population. The biggest difference I noticed was that the US has many more children and teenagers.  

Both in Canada and in the United States, the population is predicted to continue growing and be higher in 2050. Although, the United states is growing faster and at a higher rate. This is reflected in the population pyramids because the US’s pyramid is bigger and thicker than Canada’s and will continue to grow, similarly to Canada’s, but at a higher rate.

 

 

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Kiara Kearns

GEOG 101

January 29, 2020

Blog: Current Events in South America

   

The current event article I found that takes place in South America was titled “Smoke from Aussie bushfires reaches Chile' from 9News.com. This article was authored by Olivana Smith Lathouris and published on 1:01pm Jan 7, 2020. The link to the article is: https://www.9news.com.au/world/australia-fires-smoke-from-nsw-victoria-fires-reaches-chile/3f53b8bf-e598-487a-8923-afda0687d70e

The geographic aspects of the news story include: bush fires, A meteorological trough, and mountains. These geographic concepts are involved in the story because the article discusses how the Australian bush fires are traveling so fast and far that the smoke is reaching Chile and affecting the land. The smoke has crossed the Pacific Ocean and has blanketed Chile. The clouds are also affecting the ground in the area. Paragraph 7 states that, “a reduction in the ultraviolet radiation reaching the ground because of the "cap" that these kind of clouds form over the land.'

 In sum, the article discussed how the smoke from Australia came to Chile and not only affected the sky, but the land below it. The article also shows Satellite images of smoke from Australian fires that have reached Chile, 11,000kms away from where the fires originated.  

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Kiara Kearns, January 19, 2020, Blog : Russia  

The current article I found takes place in Russia and is authored by Neil MacFarquhar. I found this article on NYtimes.com and chose it because I found the topic very interesting and feel it very much relates to Geography.  

The geographic aspects I found in the news story, Russian Land of Permafrost and Mammoths Is Thawing, include: shrinking ground, global warming, permafrost, land movement, and thawing of the ground.

This article discusses the impact thawing permafrost has on the land and how it is deforming the landscape. It begins by introducing a lab assistant that discovered a part of a wolf that had been, as the text states, “preserved in the permafrost, 65 feet underground in Yakutia in northeastern Siberia' (para 4). This wolf is just one of many animals has emerged from the frozen ground recently at an alarming rate. Although, the loss of the permafrost does more than resurface previously frozen animals. It is causing the land to move and change, floods, and the coast line to vanish into the rising water levels and shrink. The text continues on to explain that while researchers in the capital are looking into it, the government does not show much concern.  

Why is the previously frozen ground warming so quickly? MacFarquhar explains this is due to the rising temperatures in the remote region. Paragraph 17 informs us that “the average annual temperature in Yakutsk has risen more than four degrees.' This temperature difference has also affected the migration of birds in the area, the natural migration routes of reindeer, and the plants that find a home in the woods. Lastly, the permafrost is causing the terrain to sink into swamps, lakes, craters, and hummocks (para 32).  

Here’s a link to the article for a very interesting read!  

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/08/04/world/europe/russia-siberia-yakutia-permafrost-global-warming.amp.html

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Hey there, my name is Kiara Kearns and I’m excited for this class! I studied geography a very small amount in elementary school and in middle school but I don’t recall much. This course is a requirement for my elementary education class although I’m happy to take part in it. Three locations I placed on the class map include: Escondido California, Denver Colorado, and Anchorage Alaska. I was born in Escondido, I currently live in Anchorage, and I would love to visit Denver because I have been once before and there was so much to do and I enjoyed it!