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Discussion
of Case Study Themes
Case
Study 1 -- Lost in Space? Geography Training for
Astronauts
Human/Environment
Interaction
The relationship between human society and the natural
environment has two dimensions: how people adapt to
their local environment and how people overcome the
limitations of that environment. The idea of interaction
is essential to the geographical perspective, for
the field of geography is just as interested in the
physical characteristics of places as it is in inhabitants'
adaptation to and exploitation of those places.
Geographers
have long recognized that environmental circumstances
influence the distribution of people across the face
of the earth. Despite technological achievements,
the distribution of the world's population is heavily
influenced by precipitation, temperature, and soil
type. Space Shuttle astronaut Mike Foale observes
that, from space, vast areas of the world seem to
be one color: brown. The most striking thing one notices
about the world from outer space is that places available
for people to live are few and far between, and we
are already living in all of them.
The
availability of natural resources and the knowledge
required to manage those endowments are not equally
distributed throughout the world. Though the location
of Lanzhou, China is understandable in terms of its
proximity to the Silk Road, it is equally important
to observe that the people living in this semi-arid
environment have cleverly adapted to their surroundings
through careful management of rich, though highly
fragile and erodable, loess soils (Lanzhou is discussed
in depth in Program 11). Assessment and adaptation
to local conditions is an example of the concept of
human/environment interaction.
A
Strange Kind of Geographic Field Work
Geographers are fascinated with why the world looks
the way it does. The first program shows how maps,
site-level information, and a spatial perspective
provide NASA with a greater understanding of the world
and its problems. Geographers use satellite observation
photography and other imaging processes, as well as
data collection in the field, to construct cartographic
representations of the world in which we live.
Arguably
the most unusual form of geographic field work is
space travel. The geographer featured in Geography
Training for Astronauts does just that, not as
an astronaut, but as an expert in earth observation,
an important objective of Space Shuttle research.
Justin Wilkinson, a physical geographer with a doctorate
from the University of Chicago, teaches astronauts
something about what the world looks like and what
major issues arise in the sciences today. By understanding
the distinctiveness of different places, astronauts
are able to conduct a unique kind of field work using
photography from outer space.
Case
Study 2 -- Globalization and Revolt
Scale
The concept of scale may be the most complex as well
as the most utilitarian of the tools used by geographers
to analyze the world. Scale is indispensable, for
example, to the creation of maps. Scale refers to
the ratio of the distance between two places on a
map and the actual, real world distance between those
places. Maps represent varying levels of generalization
with respect to the earth's surface depending on the
scale used: the larger the area represented, the smaller
the scale. As scale changes, so too does the level
of detail about the earth's surface. Large scale maps
portray smaller portions of the earth's surface while
small scale maps portray larger portions. Thus, large
scale maps have more detail about the surface of the
earth than do small scale maps.
The
concept of scale is also used to describe the world
encountered by geographers in their field studies.
The information geographers use to make generalizations
changes depending on what they are observing: streetscape,
neighborhood, city, metropolitan area, state, nation,
or region. To geographers, there is an important correlation
between the extent of an area, the scale of measurement,
and the detail captured.
For
example, if one views Australia at the scale of an
individual street in Fairfield, the country's Asian
population seems predominant. In contrast, when the
country is viewed at the scale of the larger metropolitan
area of Sydney, one sees an urban area predominately
settled by Europeans. As scale changes to that of
the nation as a whole, and then to the entire Western
Pacific region, the historical, economic, and cultural
interaction of the Australian continent with the rest
of the world takes on new meaning. (Australia is explored
in program 15.)
Geography
Provides Insight Into Contemporary Issues
It is through maps that geographic analysis grants
insight into a range of contemporary issues such as
ethnic conflicts and environmental pollution, two
phenomena that seem to be growing in intensity around
the world. Geographers use maps to provide a generalized
understanding of places through description as well
as to specify relationships between places. But in
the effort to understand such relationships, the geographer
must be concerned first and foremost with the distinctiveness
of different places. This principle of geographical
research makes field work indispensable to the art
of generalization and policy recommendation.
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