Oregon Man Arrested for Collecting Rainwater http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fo43gQr2Ww#t=68 http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=nestle+and+controlling+public+water+supply&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=2B585D6C41FD13CCEA412B585D6C41FD13CCEA41

Based on your homework, please answer the following questions… What is sustainable development? What is cultural ecology? Based on the video from yesterday, do you believe that a person has the right to collect rain water for his/her own use or should it be controlled by the state?

Sustainability and Resources Environmental Pillar – conservation and preservation What is the difference? Wise usage vs non-usage Economy Pillar – greater the supply, lower the price, higher the demand, higher the price (EX?) Society Pillar

Cultural Ecology - geographic study of human-environment relationships Environmental Determinism Possibilism

Environmental Determinism Goes back to Aristotle – related traits of people to climate Human behavior is strongly affected by physical environment Climate is critical factor in how humans behave “ideal” climate is in the eye of the beholder

Possibilism Natural environment merely serves to limit the range of choices available to a culture BUT human cultures frequently push the boundaries of what is “environmentally possible” through advances in technology

Research Today Focuses on how and why humans have altered environment and on sustainability of their practices Cultural Ecology Political Ecology Culture as a system of adaptation and alteration of environment Fundamentally concerned with environmental consequences of dominant political-economic arrangements and understandings (human societies are diverse & human will is too powerful to be determined by environment

Which one is environmental determinism, which one is possibilism? The highlands environment of western China encouraged the development of a herding culture: People migrated to the desert southwest in post WWII period in the United States with the help of technological advancement of air conditioning: 1 – environmental determinism 2 - possibilism

2005 Hurricane Katrina How is this disaster an example of how physical geography & human geography intersect?

New Orleans Before Katrina

New Orleans after Katrina 2005

Physical Geography & Katrina Explains process by which hurricanes form in Atlantic during late summer & autumn and gather strength over warm waters of Gulf of Mexico When it passes over land it can generate powerful storm surge that floods low-lying areas.

Why did Katrina cause such massive damage? Made landfall near heavily populated areas like Biloxi & Gulfport, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana

Weren’t these low-lying cities protected? Government agencies had constructed a complex system of levees, dikes, seawalls, canals and pumps Katrina proved humans are not able to control and tame all forces of nature

What questions do these maps suggest?

Concerns with uneven impact of destruction Victims primarily poor, African American, old Lived in lowest-lying areas most vulnerable to flooding Many lacked transportation, money, & info that would have enabled them to evacuate in advance

Concerns with uneven impact of destruction Wealthy portions & tourist attractions like French Quarter were spared the worst because located on slightly higher ground Slow & incompetent response by local, state, & federal emergency teams was blamed on victims’ lack of voice in political, economic, and social life of New Orleans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxbprYyjyyU