What I Learned In CGC1D
(Grade 9 Geography)
Forestry in Canada
(Unit 3)
Methods of Logging
Selective Cutting:
Loggers cut down mature trees with desired size, type and quality. The trees are cut down with care and take time. Not all trees are cut which makes this sustainable.
Shelterwood Logging: Parts of a forest are clear-cut, groups of seed-bearing trees are left standing and the seeds can then regenerate the logged area. This is sustainable since the trees will eventually grow back.
Clear Cutting: Loggers remove every tree in a forested area which leaves a barren/empty landscape behind. This is not sustainable as the trees will not replenish to grow more back.
Sustainability and Unsustainability
Unsustainability:
By harvesting a resource too quickly, the resource loses the ability to replace itself and then will also be gone. An example of this is overfishing. By fishing too much of the same species, the fish will not be able to reproduce and grow more fish which would make the species go extinct.
Sustainability:
By allowing the natural resources to grow back at a rate greater than or equal to the rate they are being harvested, they will be able to renew themselves.
Resources
Human Resources:
Skills and abilities possessed by the population of the country.
Natural Resources:
Substances in nature that populations find useful
Non-Renewable Resources:
A resource which when used, cannot be replaced in a short time. Once they are used, they are gone. (e.g fossil fuels, minerals, etc.)
Renewable Resources:
A resource which can be replaced through natural means in a relatively short period of time. (e.g trees, crops, solar power, wind power, etc.)
Physical Diversity of Canada
(Unit 2)
Canada's Landform Regions
Appalachians:
The appalachians has small curved mountains and freshwater. The dirt is great for agriculture of potatoes, barley, oats, etc. Because this landform region is next to the oceans and many rivers (freshwater sources), it is used for fishing and canoeing. The canoeing and mountains attract tourists to the area.
Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Lowlands:
The lowlands cover a small portion of Canada's land near the east edge of Ontario and Quebec. This land is closest to freshwater sources such as the Great Lakes & the St. Lawrence River. The land also has fertile soil used for agriculture (hay, grapes, apples, beans, etc). This area is the most populated in Canada which has to do with the abundance of easily accessed surface freshwater.
Canadian Shield:
The Canadian Shield is the largest landform in Canada covering most of Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba. This land is full of chemical elements (gold, nickel, uranium, etc.) which are excavated. Because the landform is so large, mining makes up a large portion of Canada's economy.
Interior Plains:
The interior plains are near the west of Canada where Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the west of Manitoba are. The land is very flat and has fertile soil which is great for growing crops/grains such as wheat, barley, oats, corn, etc.
Cordillera:
The cordillera is the west part of Canada's landforms where British Columbia is. It is mountainous, full of nature, and has rivers. A majority of Canada's forestry is done in British Columbia because of the abundance of trees. With the scenery and natural land in the area, it attracts tons of tourists which is a large economy for British Columbia.
Building and Destructive Forces
Destructive Forces: Forces that break down landscapes
Animals and People: Animal habitats, land for agriculture, the building of cities, infrastructure, and mining are all things that break down land.
Chemical: Natural chemical reactions may occur and breakdown rocks. Acid rain is a result of acidic chemicals entering the atmosphere and raining down (mainly a result of burning fossil fuels by humans).
Wind/Erosion: Wind slowly erodes and shapes coastlines, deserts, and mountainous areas.
Water/Weathering: The flowing of water through a river, ocean waves or even rain, shapes landforms. When water freezes then thaws, the land/rocks crack and break.
Building Forces: Geological forces that create or shape land
Folding: Pressures in the Earth's crust that cause it to fold and buckle creating mountains.
Faulting: Pressures in the Earth that cause the crust to crack, creating a fault. One fault is pushed over the other which results in mountains, cliffs, and deep valleys.
Volcanism: When magma is forced up through a crack in the crust and forms a volcanic mountain.
Types of Rocks (Geology)
Sedimentary Rock: Small pieces of separate rocks (eroded by wind, rain, ice) that have merged into a singular rock over a very long period of time due to heat and pressure.
Metamorphic Rock: Multiple rocks transformed and merged into one rock due to heat and pressure over a very long period of time.
Igneous Rock: Rocks made of molten rock from the ground that cools and solidifies. It starts as magma inside the earth, and then turns to lava outside the crust of the earth and cools down and solidifies.
Land Use and Livability
(Unit 1)
What Makes a Community Liveable?
Some things that make a community liveable are affordable housing, nearby shops/schools/parks, accessible transportation (walkability), safety from crime, accessible healthcare, good amount of natural aspects in the environment, and a sense of community.
Urbanization: A shift of people living in unpopulated areas to living in a populated area such as a city. This may happen because of better housing, transportation, healthcare, sense of community, and environment.
Rural areas: A lowly populated area such as the countryside.
Urban Land Use:
The way places are arranged in an urban area. The land can be divided into different land uses which determines where things are. This is important as it dictates where people live, the safety of an area, safety of land use conflicts, and how people commute.
8 Types of Land Use (With Colours Used On a Land Use Map):
- Residential: Places where people live
(e.g. Detached Homes, Apartments, Townhouses)
- Industrial: Places for manufacturing, storage, or shipping i products (e.g. Warehouses, Factories)
- Recreational: Places for sports, play, enjoying nature
(e.g. Playgrounds, Nature Trails, Rec. Centres)
- Commercial: Places for buying/selling, where you make __ _ _ money (e.g. Banks, Restaurants, Hotels, Grocery Stores)
- Agriculture: Place used for farming (e.g. Dairy Farms, Apple _Orchards, Farms)
- Utilities: Places that provide electricity, water and waste _ _ _ _management (e.g. Water Treatment Plants, Power Lines)
- Transportation: Places used for the movement of people and i things (e.g. Roads, Highways, Airports)
- Institutional: Places that help the community, often run by _the government with no costs (e.g. Schools, Hospitals, _Places of Worship)
Immigration
(Unit 6.5)
Canadian Immigration System
Immigrants are not all instantly accept into Canada just because they want to live there. Immigrants are allowed into the country based on a point system, reaching a score of at least 67 points will allow for the immigration. This point system mostly applies to skilled workers who want to immigrate to Canada.
The things that will award points are:
- Level of Education (max. 25 points)
- English/French skills (max. 28 points)
- Work Experience (max. 15 points)
- Age (max. 12 points)
- Arranged Employment in Canada (max. 10 points)
- Adaptability (max. 10 points)
Immigration Concepts and Terms
3 Classes of Immigrants
Refugee: An immigrant coming from a country seeking safety from issues such as war, or something unjust such as consequences from political involvement.
Family Class Immigrant: An immigrant who already has family or relatives in the country prior to the immigration.
Economic Class Immigrant: An immigrant who comes to a country because their skills are sought out for in the workforce.
Push and Pull Factors: Push and pull factors are opposites of each other. A push factor is something that encourages a person to leave a country, whilst a pull factor is something that attracts a person to a country.
Examples of Pull Factors: Freedoms, Good Economics/Job Opportunities, Accessible Healthcare, Strong Education System, etc.
Examples of Push Factors: War, Poverty, Political Instability, Bad Healthcare, Bad Education, etc.
Emigrant: A person who is leaving a country for another to live in.
Immigrant: A person who moves to another country to live in.
Demography
(Unit 6)
Population Pyramids
Population pyramids are a series of horizontal bar graphs which represent a population by age and gender. Ages are categorized in 4 year increments with males on the left side and females on the right.
Inferences From Population Pyramids:
By looking at a population pyramid, a lot of information can be inferred/concluded. For example, you can tell that a population is growing if there are more children than there are elderly in the population (more births than deaths). Vice versa, we can tell that more people are aging and not having as many kids (low birth rate). History, economy, health/healthcare, and status of women are some of the things that can be concluded by analyzing a population pyramid.
International Census Database:
Demography Concepts and Terms
Dependency Load (D.L): The dependency load is the part of the population which are considered too young or too old (under 15 or over 65 years of age) to be part of the workforce. Therefore they depend on the people in the workforce for income.
Life Expectancy (L.E): The life expectancy is how long a person is expected to live after birth in a specific country.
Birth Rate: The birth rate is a measurement for how many births there are for every 1000 people.
Death Rate: The death rate is a measurement for how many deaths there are for every 1000 people.
What is Demography?
The study of demography is the study of populations, whether the population is human or non-human. The population can be of anything from bacteria, cats, lightbulbs, livestock, humans, etc. Demography uses populations to represent/infer past, present, and future populations. Demography is important as it is directly tied to economics, the environment, and cultures.
Introduction to Demography Video
Indigenous Issues
(Unit 5)
Assimilation
As the Europeans settled into Canada, an act which is still in effect today, the Indian Act was signed. This act dictated what land the Indigenous could live on, how they were considered unfit for society, etc. Assimilation was used to make the Indigenous become more like a Euro-Canadian. Taking away their land made them lose a large part of their culture, living would be hard unless you gave up your culture/heritage of being an Indigenous person, which all lead to a massive separation from their culture which heavily affected them.
Residential Schools
As a part of the assimilation, residential schools were opened to the Indigenous peoples' children. These schools were created by the Canadian government and were run by the church from the 1830s to 1996. Indigenous children were forcibly taken from their house to go to these schools which were often far away from their homes. Children were taken to these schools are were forced to live in them under terrible conditions, they were not allowed to speak their own language (forcing them to speak and learn English or French), they were abused and malnourished, etc. All of this led to the an extremely high but unknown number of deaths caused by these schools. Survivors of residential schools are left traumatized due to the way they were raised in these schools. As these survivors get older and have their own kids, the way they were raised will end up affecting the way they raise their own kids, which continues from generation to generation (intergenerational trauma).
Treaties
Treaties are agreements that are signed which set rights, responsibilities, and relationships. So why were the treaties so unfair to the Indigenous people? This was because the Canadian government wanted to benefit settlers and themselves with more land. The Indigenous were at a large disadvantage if a war was to start as the settlers were armed with guns which the Indigenous people did not have (had almost no choice but to sign the treaties). This loss of land also contributes to the assimilation of the Indigenous people.
Land Claims/Reserves
Land claims and reserves are spaces of land where Indigenous people are set to live through treaties which have been signed in the past by the Canadian Government and Indigenous leaders. Though it seems like a great idea to give land to the people who lived in Canada before the settlers, the spaces of land that are given are usually extremely remote. Compared to the majority of Canada's population, the land given is further up north and around central Canada. The land is not only remote, the land is bad for agriculture which limits the food for the Indigenous people on the land.
Indigenous and Settler Concepts of Land
Similarities Between Concepts: Land is important, the resources land provides is obviously very useful for humans. Land should be shared without the need of conflict.
Indigenous: Land is something that should be respected. It is sacred and is a large part of their religion. Land doesn't need a human use, it can sustain itself. Humans have a very clear impact on the land as they are part of nature. Everything on land has its own intrinsic value without having to be used by humans.
Water is a very important part of Indigenous peoples' culture, it too is sacred and is respected. Despite the UN saying access to water is a human right, the ability to be part of a religion is one too. But how can Indigenous people celebrate their religion without a core part of the religion, water. The lack of water directly infringes on this human right.
Settler: Land is something that should be owned. It is only useful when their are resources that can be harvested or extracted from the land, or for human uses such as housing. There is a difference between the 'human world' and the 'natural world'.
Managing Canada's Water
(Unit 4)
"Hidden Water Cost"
Everything has a "hidden water cost" which refers to the fact that everything uses water in some capacity. For example, a plastic water bottle has probably 500mL of water in it, but how much water did it take to make the plastic of the bottle? It usually takes about 1.4 gallons to make the plastic, this makes the water footprint of the plastic bottle a lot higher than expected. Baking bread, making clothing, growing the food we eat, manufacturing phones, all requires water to be done.
Issues With Water
Water Advisories: In places of the country with no water treatment plants (mostly Indigenous land), have water access but the water is unsafe. The water must be boiled before use which is a large waste of time and makes things such as maintaining hygiene much more difficult. Without access to clean water, businesses can't be run; drinking, cleaning, and cooking, all becomes very difficult.
Access to Water
Canada has some of the most surface freshwater in the world. The oceans are full of saltwater which can't be used for human consumption, freshwater makes up 2.5% of all water in the world and less than 1% of that is found on the surface. Despite having such a large source of freshwater from the Great Lakes, not everyone in Canada has access to freshwater.
Bottled water
60% of Canadians choose to drink bottled water over tap water, so why do they choose bottled over tap? The general consensus on why people choose bottled water is that it is cleaner than tap water. It is proven that most bottled water companies' water have bacteria levels that are very high. In addition to this, plastic bottles end up creating lots of plastic waste and ends up in landfills.
