GEOGRAPHY OF THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT: Air and Water 1.GEOGRAPHIC INQUIRY Key Concepts: Science – Theory and Reality; Spatial Patterns – Magnitude and Variation of Processes/Situations Science – Theory and Reality Fundamental traditions of academic Geography: spatial studies, area-studies, humanity-land interactions, and earth science (after Pattison, 1964).

GEOGRAPHY OF THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT: Air and Water 1. GEOGRAPHIC INQUIRY Paradigms have a very significant influence on how theoretical and practical issues are addressed. For instance, the issue of how society manages land can be viewed quite differently depending on the interests of the individual: landowners may be concerned about personal gain, financially or in terms of lifestyle lawyers may argue property rights and obligations sociologists may be concerned with social equity and public interests engineers may address building opportunities (soil weight-bearing capacity) economists and the real estate industry may be interested in property values; etc.

GEOGRAPHY OF THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT: Air and Water 1. GEOGRAPHIC INQUIRY. Geographers could be concerned with many or all of these same issues, but: use spatial tools to evaluate them and focus on the sites at which various features, activities and events occur assess how their surroundings determine the properties of these phenomena Social and natural science tradition of progression in activities: from description to explanation and prediction to application Overall to demonstrate understanding (principles, theories and laws) but also to use them

GEOGRAPHY OF THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT: Air and Water 1. GEOGRAPHIC INQUIRY Figure 1 Applied Physical Geography: a focus on the practical relevance of understanding the natural environment. Examples of the types of management decisions are provided dramatically by catastrophes such as ice storms, earth quakes/tsunamis, hurricanes, tornados, floods etc. Human responses following these are seen to be too late, but how impacts could be prevented is much less-well known.

GEOGRAPHY OF THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT: Air and Water 1. GEOGRAPHIC INQUIRY Geography incorporates : the innate instinct of territoriality (protecting ourselves, our sites), the fundamental need to understand where one is (curiosity about how we fit in with our surroundings) the wisdom for dealing with these (with wisdom defined as judgement beyond direct experience) the competence to judge, which relies on an ability to reason, and a grasp of the facts and principles upon which the reasoning depends The objective of this course is therefore to challenge students interested in applying knowledge about natural systems, so that they will be in a position to judge what is appropriate social behaviour in managing ourselves and our environment. Fundamental to this is understanding of physical geographic phenomena, their origins and their interactions, as well as skill in interpreting the implications of these interactions.

GEOGRAPHY OF THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT: Air and Water 1. GEOGRAPHIC INQUIRY Physical geography has long encompassed an ecological view in which natural systems are noted for their interactions: feedbacks can be recognized among various subsystems whose influences cascade into larger exchanges of matter and energy magnitude and frequency of events that often maintain and change the environment The overall goal addressed of the course is to develop the aptitudes of the applied Physical Geographer: bodies of knowledge (facts and concepts) paradigms (ways of thinking) skill sets (ways of doing analysis)