Week 4: A Look at Europe - Geography PDF

# A Look at Europe - Geography ## Africa's Great Lion Recovery - First bring in herbivores, then bring carnivores (200 lions) - From 1950s lion pop 0.5 mil -> 20k - They put trackers in lions - In 2018 aerial survey: 100k large animals from air - 200k people living around park, survivors of wa...

# A Look at Europe - Geography ## Africa's Great Lion Recovery - First bring in herbivores, then bring carnivores (200 lions) - From 1950s lion pop 0.5 mil -> 20k - They put trackers in lions - In 2018 aerial survey: 100k large animals from air - 200k people living around park, survivors of war, living on a dollar a day - Employs 1600 workers today, tourism brings cash which goes to people - U.S. foreign aid also gives 6 million a year (helping 89 primary schools) - Helping girls especially, girls often get married off no matter what their opinion is, they didn't have a choice - Nelson Mandela's idea Human Rights Park (for the people) - Mount gorongosa, stripped of trees, coffee trees are given away for the farmers - A coffee roasting plant is built - Another civil war started in 2013, cyclone in 2019 leveled 100k homes - Rangers protect parks ## Europe: A Subcontinent - Europe is a subcontinent of Eurasia - 600 million people - EU has 27 countries - Location is very good, close contact with most of the rest of the world, close to oceans and rivers ### Regions - Western Europe, Northern Europe, Mediterranean Europe, Eastern Europe - European core typically seems to be Western European countries, played large roles in Europe's political, economic, and cultural development - Highest urbanized population, lowest unemployment, most productive agriculture, most conservative politics, concentration of roads - Super high population density in places - Aging population, so immigration is very important, but many countries are against it - In late stages of demographic transition - Immigrant families are often large, use welfare, and take jobs from Europeans (but are those jobs Europeans actually want?) - Europeans don’t want to become the ethnic minority - A lot of exploration by Europeans (believed European cultures and ways were superior to other parts of the world) - Colonization bettered their economy a lot, but not really their colonies - European dominance in global affairs lasted for centuries and are even strong today - Goods, plants, culture brought back from colonies also influenced European culture - Grand Tour: fashionable in the 1800s and 1900s for sons of wealthy British families to go on a tour of Europe, trip to introduce them to the arts in Italy. Thought of as completing education of their offspring. - Most go as it was like a party, others go to get away from social scandal, like young women that got inexplicably pregnant - They would come back with knowledge of culture, business, politics, etc. and expected to use that to help them in politics and economics back in Britain ## European Industry - Did show that there were things Europeans can learn from other cultures, Grand Tour was important, helped build the nation up, foundation for the year now, to broaden people’s world views and figure out what they want to do ### Rise - *1st world region to go from agriculture to industry* - *By 1900, 90% of world’s manufacturing output* ### Decline - *2 World wars* - *Worldwide nationalism (countries want to be free, less colonies, i.e. Sub-Saharan Africa) (less resources, or those that are more expensive) (never recovered to previous levels of manufacturing)* - *Reliance of foreign energy (depends on Russia for oil, not a lot of energy of its own now they used basically all their coal lol)* - *1960s start of deindustrialization (voluntary and involuntary) (polluting energy, costly labor) (move to service economy, production of high tech products)* - *Manufacturing shifted to North America and Asia* ## European Politics - Crossing countries is easy and convenient, different languages though makes industry and politics and unifying countries challenging (like crossing states in the US) (mainly Germanic, Romance, and Slavic languages) - A lot of bilingualism - A lot of conflict from stuff like feudal lords and wars ### Impact of Conflict - WWI - Germany’s and Ottomans vs. British, French, Russian (later US.) - Defeat of Germany - Rise of Hitler ## Expansion of Germany - Expansion of Germany territory (Germany was really in shambles, people struggling, Hitler used that and nationalism to get support, feed into economic uncertainty of people, manipulation) - 1939 WWII (big success early on, erased when the US and Soviet forces pushed it back. Russians actually put up a really big fight) - 1945 “Iron Curtain” (Russians take over Eastern European countries economic systems and stuff) - 1945-1990 Cold War (Did it really end in 1990?) - Formation of EU ## The Cold War - Allied powers met in Potsdam, split Germany into occupation zones, recognized Soviet backed gov in Poland and partitioned Vietnam (Vietnam war later) - Truman told Stalin that they made a weapon to destroy whole cities, then dropped A bomb, made US the most powerful country - Stalin unhappy because they did not get the gains that reflected their efforts (lost ~24 mil people), responsible for huge success in East Europe against Hitler ## NATO - Czech coup in 1948 and launched a blockade of West Berlin (capitalist controlled) - US and allies formed NATO for defense (attack on 1 = attack on all) - 4/4/1949, US, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, UK sign treaty for NATO - USSR did similar thing with Warsaw Pact (USSR, Poland, East Germany, 7 satellite states) - NATO is pushing against Russia's borders, Putin not happy - Finland, Sweden, Ukraine didn’t want to join anyone, but Putin invaded Ukraine, making them worried so they tried to join NATO ## European Supranationalism - The voluntary association in economic, political, or cultural spheres of three or more independent states willing to yield some measure of sovereignty for their mutual benefit ### 1944 Benelux Agreement (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) - They came together to bring economic integration, free movement of people, goods, money, and services (common policy in trade) - People can work across borders, pass money, etc. Standardized transport rates, welfare policies coordinated (WOW) - 1970 border control between countries abolished ## European Union - Supranationalism on a realm level (better for economy, politics, welfare, etc.) - Many EU members abandoned their currency for Euro (not the most popular thing) - Wealthy EU members didn’t like it if they expanded into poorer EU countries, so they had to support them - Members disagree on economic, foreign, and military policy (doesn’t work the best) ### The Euro - Better for long standing democratic countries than unstable countries - Poorer members of EU had to help other much poorer EU countries subsidies - They pay for subsidies, but also receive subsidies (affluent countries) ## Weaker Members - Weaker members can’t really keep up with other members of EU, so they can’t move forward at the same pace (i.e. recent environmental policy) - There is a cap on debt for a country (countries can’t do their own economic policy, or lower their own interest rates to help economy) - Countries like Greece depends on European Central Bank, high debt, they had to be bailed out by Brussels so they don’t collapse (a year later, it happened to Ireland then Portugal) in 2010 those economies most stabilized - The UK never adopted the Euro, suspected this ## Brexit (2016) ### Leave: - Popular referendum - People think they were contributing too many funds that are used to help other member states ### Remain: - UK must control its own borders to reduce immigrant workers and refugees - People think UK spend half their exports to EU countries, played prominent role in the free movement of people in the EU - Can lower their voice and opinion if they leave in realm wide policy - UK stayed outside Euro so didn’t deal with Euro crisis - Immigrant workers contribute to UK economy a lot - For 3 years they failed to negotiate proper terms of exiting with the EU - Theresa May resign 2019 -> Boris Johnson’s govt., wants to leave for sure - Issues: Scotland and Northern Ireland, whose majorities voted to remain in EU - Scotland had independence movement, Northern Ireland would reinstate a hard border between them and Ireland which led to a lot of conflict when it happened - Protocol made to make sure the hard border doesn’t happen (N. Ireland had benefit to remain in UK customs territory, but access to Single Market of EU, allow for North-South cooperation in important issues) - Brexit made frictionless trade between UK and EU impossible ### VAT taxes - (addition paperwork and checks for moving from one part of UK and vice versa) - Mobile phone roaming not guaranteed - N. Ireland remain Irish citizens, also EU citizenship - Goods moving between N. Ireland and Ireland had no tariffs, customs restrictions - Brexit took place 4 years ago (dramatic consequences, such as recovering from COVID) - EU in Oct 2021, trade exceeded pre-COVID levels (recovered) - UK stagnated 7% in 2015 -> 6% 2019, 4.4% -> 3.9% of imports - Estimates of falls of more than 1% in 2022 - More red tape, more inspections etc., push up cost of trading making it harder to trade with UK (higher production cost in UK) - 2019 50% UK imports from EU, 47% exports go to EU - UK only member of G7 advanced economy, with smaller economy now than before - Participating in EU ## Not In The EU - Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, N. Macedonia, Kosovo - Schengen Area (abolished border control at mutual borders) (26 countries) - EU countries not in Schengen: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Romanic - Schengen but not EU (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland) - Passports brutal for those that were out of country when brexit finalized (didn’t have British and EU passport) stranded - Countries want to be part of EU, EU doesn’t want them sometimes due to ethnic and economic concerns - Ukraine, Turkey ## Refugee Crisis - Refugees North Africa and SW Asia since 2011 to Europe - 400k in 2014 -> 2 mil in 2015 crossings into Europe - Thru Mediterranean: Africa - Thru Balkans: Syria SW Asia - Frontline for receiving refugees: Greece, Italy - Many are going to Germany and Sweden - Germany thought every country should accept their share of asylum seekers - Balkan routes put up fences - Poland stepped up in taking refugees from Ukraine ## Incurred Support for Populist Right-Winged - Difficulty of distinguishing migrants who seek better economic future vs refugees who seek asylum from danger ## Demographic Transition - 2015: 83% of immigrants in EU were under 25, prime working age (important for EU’s demographic transition) ## Alpine System - Is a crescent shape with 3 main biomes (forest, shrub, open space, mountains) Complex climate, allows Alps to separate climatic regions (Mediterranean, Continental, Atlantic, polar) - Last remote European areas - Lots of biodiversity (loss of habitat, intensification of agriculture, land abandonment, climate change) - Chamois, Mouflon, Ibex, Marmot, Red Fox, Golden Eagle, (hunted to near extinction: Bearded Vulture, Wolf, Lynx, Brown Bear, due to threat to livestock) ## Western Uplands (Northern Highlands) - Scandinavia, then Spain and Portugal - Hard ancient rock shaped by glaciation - Features left by glaciers like fjords (good scenery). Basalt Columns from volcanic activity - Only land animal was arctic fox, lots of birds (puffin) - Fjord Horse (mane is thicker and black stripe down center of horse) ## Irish White Cliffs of Dover - (Chalk) Mil of years ago much of England (Ireland) area believed to be submerged, sediment compressed into chalk (has animals within the cliffs from the submergence - Resurgence of biodiversity like butterfly and flora ## Scottish Highlands - Highland cow, red stag, red squirrel, Scottish wildcat (around since Holocene, critically endangered) ## Central European Uplands (Western France, Belgium, South Germany, Czech Republic, North Switzerland, Austria) - Foothills of the Alps - A lot of trees, leads to a lot of wood and coal - People settle near rivers (nothing unique in flora and fauna as they share diversity with nearby regions) - Primeval mountain beech forests dominate, important trees for central Europe (used to cover 40% of Europe) - Very few animals left - Mixed deciduous forest and coniferous forest replace by spruce forests to be used for lumber, not the natural trees ## Northern European Lowlands (South UK to Russia) - Below 500 ft in elevation (lots of rivers) - Good farmland, prairies, bogs, lakes, heaths (heath has bad soil) - A lot of land in France is for agriculture, largest agriculture producer in the area (family farm important identity for the French). France has ideal typography, superior climatic and soil conditions good for agriculture, lower population density than many European countries, land for farming - Southern France has Mediterranean weather for vineyards - Also loess soil good for agriculture (good nutrients, easy to plow) - French has affluent market without agricultural restrictions and tariffs around the EU, EU gives generous price support for French Farmers - France and UK connected by the channel ## The Netherlands - (Lowland) (Holland was largest state of Ne) - Netherlands committed to sustainable agriculture (reduce antibiotics and pesticide) - 1300 inhabitants per square mile - Good at agriculture (number 2 export of food by value, beat by the US, super high productivity ) - Fields surrounded by suburbs and skyscrapers - A lot of greenhouses (lots of tomato, potato, onion) 2nd top exporter of vegs - Chicken farms, max production remaining humane, 150k birds in boiler houses - Lots of water (Polder mound) - Only 50% is over 3 ft above sea level - 26% below sea level - Rich soil, subsiding, Netherlands sinking - Fighting rising water for thousands of years - Dykes and windmills - Good at fighting against water - Everything built to stand against 10000 years of flooding ## Room for River - (40 diff projects to land to set aside to accommodate flooding) - People had to leave their homes and farmlands, due to being in flood zones - Rewilding projects, beavers, otters, badgers, nature’s engineers, help fight against water - 99.9% of countries houselands have access to clean chlorine free drinking water (don't have to treat) ## Port of Rotterdam - (Second largest port in world, largest in Europe ) - Bicycle capital in world (more bikes than people) (in some municipality no cars at all, only bikes) ## Netherlands Location - The Hague, international law capital of world, international city of peace and justice - They are susceptible to air pollution due to their geography (air flows towards them) (basin that collects pollution from other areas, UK, France, Germany) - Dutch solution is policy, most advanced frameworks for achieving sustainability out of any industrialized nations in the world, national environmental policy plan was adopted in 1989 - Master plan: 70% of green plan goals have been reached (how to treat water, waste, what to release in the air) VERY expensive - People pay green taxes (expensive, a lot of cooperation) one of the happiest countries in the world (deserts and rainforests too) # India and Bangladesh: Two Tales ## India - 4% of Earth’s land area but ¼ of Earth’s human population - Most of realm was part of British empire until 1940s - *Tectonic Evolution* (Indian and Eurasian plates collide create Himalayas, which continues today. A lot of earthquakes) - Ganges River, Indus River, Brahmaputra River (water get regulated by Dam, gets regulated by those that are at head of river) - Monsoons are bad. Low pressure system from huge heat, leads to moist ocean air come to continent leading to condensation and rain (West from Arabian Sea, east from Bay of Bengal) (Wet and dry season) - Goes West and dries around Pakistan - *Annual monsoons bring* 75% of rainfall to India - 70% of population depend on farming, 58% of total employment thru agriculture (Rain really important) - Climate change leads to erratic monsoon seasons (later, more intense) ## Bangladesh - Low lying like Netherlands, but without the technology, so subject to flooding - 700 Rivers, almost entirely flat and below sea level - 6.33 births per adult female in 1975 to 2.15 today, loss of live birth rate