Author Archives: sjsinks

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https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/thailand-sea-turtles-coronavirus-scli-intl-scn/index.html

Sea Turtles thriving in Thailand after beach closures

Researchers have found a very high number of sea turtles on the beaches in south Thailand, the highest in over 20 years. Phuket is Thailands most popular resort island, however many resorts have been put on strict lockdown from the coronavirus outbreak. This has a positive impact on marine wildlife, not just turtles, but many species are now gone up in numbers, which shows a large impact on marine conservation, and not just in Thailand, but all over the world. It takes about 60 days for sea turtle eggs to hatch and since Thailand has had strict lock downs since early march, there is now a huge number of healthy sea turtle hatchlings on the local beaches. This is due to not only lack of people on the beaches, but also because of less plastic waste and little to no artificial light, which can cause baby sea turtles to become disoriented, example would be night time beach lights, headlights from vehicles driving along shore, or peoples phone cameras. Some of the geographical aspects in this article are Thailand, which is a country in South East Asia. South Thailand where the coast line is along the Gulf of Thailand. The beach in south Thailand, which is now home to many hatchling sea turtles thriving.

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The two countries I have chosen to compare are Haiti and Dominican Republic.

Haiti:

97.7 males per 100 females
396.6   people per sq. km
2.6 children per woman
10.9M population
14.5M estimated population 2050

Dominican Republic

102.3 males per 100 females
215.2 people per sq. km
2.3 children per woman
10.4M population
12.5M estimated population 2050

The population graph for both these countries are very similar and show that there is a higher birth rate for both countries. The population for the age groups from 0-24 remain similarly the same percentage of the population, then it slowly declines evenly to make a pyramid. The percent of the population for age groups in 40-80 are slightly higher for the Dominican republic, which shows they have a lower death rate and an overall higher average life expectancy.

The current population for these two countries are off by only half a million, but the estimated population by 2050 is 2M higher for Haiti. This is reflected in the population pyramid because the birthrate is higher, meaning their population will grow more than the Dominican republic by 2050.

 

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https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2020-03-26/experts-venezuela-is-worst-case-scenario-for-coronavirus-spread

This news article explains how Venezuela has rampant poverty and an already damaged health care system. The health care system began crumbling 10 years ago and ever since the mortality rate has been increasing. The deputy assistant secretary for Cuba and Venezuela said that the country is lacking in water, soap, and electricity. The country has an official population of 30 million with only 90 ICU beds. At the time the article was posted there was only 91 active cases and no reported deaths but other countries in South America already had considerably high amount of cases such at 2,000 in Brazil. However the numbers are probably much higher due to lack of a good health care system.

Some of the geographical concepts in this article are physical, how Venezuela physically borders Brazil. The article also discusses economic growth and how the countries health care system is diminishing and 90% of the countries population are under the poverty level.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-51423110?intlink_from_url=

Russia has agreed to boost military and economic co-operation with Venezuela to help the South American Nation deal with growing US pressure. In this article it explains how Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met with the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. Shortly before this article was written the US imposed sanctions on Venezuela's state run airline stating that the company was being used to "shuttle corrupt officials around the world". However Lavrov states that Russia has firmly expressed their support to Venezuela's sovereignty. The Russian minister discussed that practical details would be finalized in May when Venezuela president visits Moscow. Russia is a very important ally of Venezuela because they lend billions of dollars to back their oil industry and military. The geographical location of these two countries are very different on different continents but regions such as Moscow and the country of Venezuela are discussed.

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Hello, my name is Samantha Sinks. I am from western Washington State. I moved to Alaska a little over 3 years ago after visiting the Kenai peninsula a few times after high school. I love the area down there however I chose to move to Fairbanks because it was somewhere I had never been but heard so much about the interior of Alaska I wanted to venture out of my comfort zone and start fresh. I took the risk, packed up my suburban with my two dogs and cat and made the 3,000 mile journey through Canada onward to Alaska, living out of my truck for three months, taking my time and enjoying the journey. I arrived in Fairbanks late summer not sure if this would become my home or if I would venture somewhere else. I explored the area and shortly after decided to stay and I have not once regretted that choice. Now I am happily engaged and getting married this summer with the love of my life who I met here as well, and he did almost the exact thing I did but coming from the east coast instead. I have a great job where I manage a busy restaurant and have recently just moved from a small cabin to a nice large house where are dogs can run around in our wonderful backyard about 20 miles from town. I have not studied geography before, however I have taken this class before When I first moved here but was unable to finish the class due to being a victim of domestic violence with my first partner here in Alaska. This course is not a requirement of my degree (Wildlife Biology), however I was very interested in this class and still am and would like to actually complete it this time. Thank you for taking the time to read my long introduction and I look forward to learning more about the geography of our planet throughout this course!

I was born in Shelton, WA. Currently reside in Moose Creek Alaska, and would love to visit Oslo Norway.