Author Archives: rjbowlus

by

 

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/thailand-covid-19-beaches-turtles-nest-baby-12658224

 

Deserted Thai beaches lure rare turtles to build most nests in 20 years

 

I was originally searching for a non-corona virus article BUT there are baby turtles in this one!

Due to COVID-19, tourism around the world has come to a virtual stop. This has left beaches across the world empty. In Thailand, record numbers of leatherback turtles are nesting on the now-empty beaches. So far, 11 Nests have been found on a single beach in Ao Phang-nga National Park which is the most recorded in two decades with no nests being found in the past 5 years. Similar accounts are coming from around the world as turtles nest on urban Australian beaches, deer return to the London suburbs, and dolphins return to Italian waterways.

 

Phang-nga is a southern province in Thailand located on the “elbow' of the Malay Peninsula. Just south of Phang-nga is the island of Phuket which is a highly-populated and a major tourist destination within the country. To the West is the Andaman Sea with Phang-nga Bay to the east protected by many large and small islands. This region is characterized by its striking limestone karsts, canyons, caves, and cliffs.  

Cheers!

I picked Indonesia and Mongolia for this assignment because I know them to have dramatically different populations sizes and climates. I found that despite radically different population sizes and densities, they are at similar stages of population maturity and have similar growth expectations. They are both between stages 2 & 3 and in 50 years-- barring war or disaster-- they will both be at stage 3.

-----------------------------------------------------Mongolia                                           Indonesia
Males per 100 Females                          95.5                                                    100.2
People per square kilometer                2                                                          146.2
Number of children per woman          2                                                          2.1
Current Population                                3.1 M                                                   264.9 M
Estimated Population 2050                  3.7 M                                                   300.2 M
Est. Population increase (%)                 1.19                                                     1.13
Structure of the pop. pyramid             sharp bow at 30-34 & 5-9               soft bow at 40-44 & 15-19
Stage of pyramid                                    between 2 & 3; closer to 2             between 2 & 3; closer to 3
Future Pyramid Stage (2050)                3                                                         3

 

 

by

Rebecka Bowlus
GEOG F101X
Blog South America

Article link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/brazil-amazon-fire-bolsonaro/2020/03/14/70bfdee4-5417-11ea-929a-64efa7482a77_story.html

Article title:
They say they’re firefighters. Police say they’re arsonists. The battle for truth reaches the Amazon.

Summary of article:
In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro and his government are claiming that a group of volunteer firefighters were responsible for setting many of the fires which destroyed 3,500 sq mi of the Amazon rainforest and biome in a massive, international conspiracy to make him appear incompetent orchestrated by NGOs, France, and Leonardo DiCaprio. The article lays out the complex web motivations on part of the government and of the accused.

Geographic concepts:
The accused volunteer fire crew was located in the community Alter do Chao in the State of Para within Brazil. It lays at the confluence of the Amazon River and the Tapajos River which is a major tributary to the Amazon River. The Amazon biome consists largely of lowland plains surrounded by the Andes Mountains to the west, the Brazilian Highlands to the south, and the Guiana Highlands the north. This funnels all rainfall, snow and glacial melt in one direction. The extensive Amazon drainage system covers 50% of Brazil, 16% of Peru and is in 7 additional countries.

by

This article is about the effects that the caronavirus is having on the Russian tourism industry around Lake Baikal. Russia receives 15 million tourists from China yearly and a popular time for travel is during the New Year season. This year however, due to the worldwide panic over the caronavirus and related travel-bans, Chinese tourists are not arriving. In the article, many hospitality-industry businesses are very conserned with the lack of business.

I wanted to pick an article about the Siberian Lake Baikal because its an extremely fasinating geographic feature. While it is only the seventh largest by surface area, it is the deepest lake on earth, the oldest and contains a quarter of the entire world's fresh surface water. This is due to its location in the deepest continental rift valley in the world. It is a part of the Yenisei River basin and is surrounded by the Baikal Mountians and the Barguzin Range. Located just above Russia's southern border with Mongolia, it has a long history of human inhabitation and conflict.

https://www.voanews.com/europe/virus-fallout-hits-lake-baikal-chinese-tourists-stay-away

by

Hello all!

This is Rebecka Bowlus. I have studied some elements of geography in the past. I have taken orienteering classes to travel the back country safely without roads/trails. I have taken several geology classes formally in both secondary school and in college. Finally, throughout high school and for several years in college, I participated in the Model United Nations with which I have gained a decent working knowledge of human borders, geographic borders, and natural resources of many countries and regions.
This course is a requirement for my degree (education) but I am enthusiastic about being here nonetheless.
My mapped locations are Anchorage, AK for my birthplace; Dillingham, AK for my current location; and Istanbul, Turkey because I would love to explore the Cappadocian fairy houses and other World Heritage Sites throughout the country.

Thank you,
Rebecka