Author Archives: lskercher

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For this blog post, I decided to compare the population Geography of Germany and France.

Germany:
https://www.census.gov/popclock/world/gm

  • Males per 100 Females - 96.3
  • People per square Kilometer - 230.3
  • Number of Children per Woman - 1.5
  • Current Population - 80.3 million
  • Estimated Population of 2050 - 71.5 million

France:
https://www.census.gov/popclock/world/fr

  • Males per 100 Females - 95.6
  • People per square Kilometer - 105.6
  • Number of Children per Woman - 2.1
  • Current Population - 67.6 million
  • Estimated Population of 2050 - 69.5 million

 

4. The structure of the population pyramid of France seems to be more equally distributed than in Germany. In addition, the birth versus death rate in France is more equal based on the number of young people compared to elderly people. The difference in these rates is 2% for males and 0.7% for females. On the other hand, the death rate is lower than the birth rate because the distribution for Germany has a denser population for the older generations. Overall the distribution for Germany peaks at the ages of 50-60, while in France the graph is roughly evenly distributed throughout.

5. There is a major difference when comparing the estimated populations for 2050. In Germany, the population is going to decrease by a significant number of over 10 million people. However, in France the population is going to increase by about 3 million people.
In Germany, the population consists of mainly people over 45 years old. Therefore a higher percentage of the population will die sooner. In comparison, France has a more even distribution. Therefore because the number of people that die does not exceed the number of people that are born the population will increase.

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With everything going on with the Coronavirus my min immediately went to China for this assignment. This is where the outbreak first happened, and with the time that has passed I was looking for an article to see how the country is doing now. Therefore I found an article on the New York Times entitled, "China Ends Wuhan Lockdown, but Normal Life Is a Distant Dream"

^This is the link to my article. However, I am not sure why it is showing a picture instead of just the plain link like it has before.

This article demonstrates how life in China is slowing going back to normal after the pandemic. On Wednesday the country ended is lockdown of Wuhan after more than 10 weeks. This was the city where the outbreak first occurred. This decision was made after only three new cases were reported in the city in the previous three weeks, including no new deaths as well. The people from the city can no leave after presenting to the authorities a government-sanctioned phone app. This exemplifies whether or not they are a contagion risk based on personal information. In addition across Wuhan, almost 94% of businesses have resumed operation and cautiously calling their employees back to work. Smaller and local businesses are also starting to reopen so that the people can buy fresh vegetables or alcohol for example.

When thinking about East Asia many of us, of course, think of China since it is East Asia's dominant country. In addition, it also contains 85% of the realm's population. This is why the outbreak of the virus was so huge there, simply because of its political geography. The virus also spread so quickly from this country to Europe because of the global connections it has. For example, thousands of flights leave China, going to Europe and places like New York City and the West Coast of the United States. Large cities in China have a very dense population. Wuhan is a city of 11.08 million people which is an average size for a Chinese city. When comparing this city to NYC, United States largest city, NYC is 3/4 of the size. Overall it is very simple for a highly contagious virus to spread from a Global superpower like China because it is so connected with the rest of the world in so many different aspects.

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For this assignment, I decided to focus on a burning current event topic, the coronavirus. When I stumbled across this article I was very intrigued!

"Brazil Isolates Cruise Ship in Northeastern port After Suspected Coronavirus Case"
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/13/reuters-america-brazil-isolates-cruise-ship-in-northeastern-port-after-suspected-coronavirus-case.html

This article informs its readers on the specific situation involving the coronavirus in South America. Brazil decided to quarantine a cruise ship carrying 609 passengers that recently came from a port in Salvador. A 78-year-old Canadian man came down with symptoms of the virus including fever, coughing, and breathing difficulties. It was in South America's best interest to isolate this cruise ship to try and prevent the spread of the COVID-19.

As of the current situation, South America is one of the contents with the least amount of cases of the coronavirus. Therefore they need to protect their borders from people that could potentially spread the virus. Geographically a cruise ship can connect all parts of the world, with people coming from everywhere. This cruise ship crossed an ocean which would have been a natural barrier to diseases. However in our global world today we are very connected with modern travel. In addition, the cruise ship stopped in multiple parts across the world picking up more germs along the way. It was a wise choice to isolate the ship in regard to its geographic location because it had visited other parts of the world.

Looking at the map, using the link below, one can clearly see that South America is not a part of the heavily concentrated coronavirus spots. Therefore if South America acts in the right ways it can prevent more cases coming to its' continent from places like North America and especially Europe and China.
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

 

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The article in the Russian realm that I found was from the “TIME' website. The news story is titled “536 Fishermen Stranded on Giant Ice Floe Rescued in Russia,' and is by the Associated Press. This current event was published on January 29th, 2020.

https://time.com/5773586/russia-sakhalin-fisherman-stranded-ice-floe/

This article discusses that Russia’s emergency services had to rescue 536 ice fishermen after they got trapped on an enormous ice floe that broke off the island of Sakhalin. 60 people were able to make it back to the island on their own, however, the rest did not. The victims tried to save themselves by using the ice sheets as floats and sticks as paddleboards to lure themselves toward the land. It is important to note that this is the third incident that had occurred that week in the Sakhalin area. This could have ties to the island’s geographic region.   When looking at an ocean temperature map one can notice that the island is on the border of the permafrost region. Due to global warming the region of warmer water has penetrated the Bay of Mordvinia, which is on the southern tip of Sakhalin. This causes large pieces of ice to break off uncontrollably.

Below is a link where the World Sea Temperature can be seen more clearly.

https://www.seatemperature.org/

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Hello Everyone!

My name is Laura Kercher and I am on my second semester here at UAF, however my third year of college overall. When I was a senior in high school I was also a freshman in college and took classes at the community college in my town. I originally wanted to become a dentist, but now I have decided to become an elementary school teacher, and I couldn't be happier.

I am originally from Germany and moved to New York State in 2007 because of my dad's work. My whole family is "pure" German, and the rest of my family, besides my mom, dad, and brother, still live in Germany. In 2018 I met my now fiance Jake in our home town while he was home from basic training. We are currently living in Missouri until the end of the summer, and then the two of us will move to Alaska for our next duty station. I am very excited!

I am pretty sure I have studied geography before in grade school at some point, but never at a college level. In addition, it is a requirement for my degree.

The three places I submitted in the map assignment are:
Birthplace: Frankfurt, Germany... More specifically Hofheim
Current Place of Residence: Waynesville, MO
Place Most Want to Visit: Greece because of its beautiful architecture and to experience their culture.