Geography is the science that deals with the descriptions, distribution and interactions of the diverse physical, biological and cultural features of the landscape.
Geography is the basis for all human interpretation of the landscape- all human-land relationships.
Geography is a wide field with many specialities and increasingly important,
encompassing field such as:
Climate change- a rapidly increasing carbon dioxide level raising the temperature of the planet.
Medical geography –diseases like bird flu, malaria, SARS emerge from climate change.
Demography-movement of people, life history, age, gender, income
Biogeography- invasive plant and animals changing ecosystems.
Ecomonic geography- oil-oil-oil-and it’s geo-political impact around the world.
Cartography-mapping, Geographic Information Systems, Global positioning Systems.
Physical Geography is a special discipline-
Explains the special dimension of earth dynamic processes and systems.
That’s why the text is called Geosystems.
GEOSYSTEMS-An Introduction to Physical Geography
7th Edition
R.W. Christopherson
Spacial analysis of all the physical elements and processes that make up the environment : Energy, air, water, weather, climate, plate tectonics, landforms, rocks, soil, microorganisms/plants/animals/ecosystems and the role humans play = Planetary Health.
Deals with the environment, and powerful earth systems that influence our lives and the many ways humans influence the earth systems:
Duality
Physical= the stage vs. Cultural= the actors
Systems
What is a system?
A system is a related set of items and their attributes, regularly interacting, mass or matter in the physical space.
Systems are linked by energy flow, having the capacity to change or move mass or matter.
Systems are nestled in each other; there are subsets, systems within systems that just barely affect each other- A similar example is of khachakas- or Russian nesting dolls, each inside of each other.
The earth holds 193 million square miles of surface, 25,000 miles around. That’s a lot of surface of interaction of all spheres.
The book GEOSYSTEMS is organized into four major parts