Reading Diagnostics: A Message From Mother Nature

* What is the main point of this article?
The main point of this article is to show the readers that the climate is changing in real, not in theory.
* List four vocabulary words that you do not recognize or understand, lookup the definitions, write them out using your own words.
Reluctant: Doing something in an unwilling way
Battered: To smash something hardly; to damage
Droughts: An extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply
Variability: Being uneven; the state of being variable
* What is the difference between “weather” and “climate”?
Weather is the state of climate for a short period of time, while climate is weather for a long period of time.
* What are the examples listed in the article of “extreme weather”?
Record-breaking heat wave in Russia, flooding in New England, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma,...
* What experiences have you had with “extreme weather”?
On a sudden and unexpected rain, waters flooded my house (an apartment on the 8th floor).
* What does the word “perception” mean?
To be aware of something
* What is your “perception” of global climate change?
My perception of global warming is the rising of sea level might causes flood in Vietnam and coast cities.

The Raptor Republic

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My world map’s latitude and longitude goes up by 100. 1cm on the maps equals 100km in real life. My map’s theme is battles fought between the Raptor Republic and the Evidalia. Battles usually occur along the borders of the 2 countries and at No Man’s Land.

Physical characters include elevation, oil rigs, mineral mines, rivers, lakes and mountains. Places near the Bartholomew Mountains are usually highlands. There’s a huge deserted land bordering RR and Evidalia. This area was deserted because too many battles were fought there, so everything was destroyed.

My people mine minerals and oils, settling in No Man’s Land, representing Human-Environment Interaction. Lots of settlers settle along rivers and lakes so they can grow crops and harvest seafood such as fishes. They also settle a lot near mountains to gather minerals such as rocks and gold. Military bases, government agencies were built at each state to provide protections for my people, along with unmarked hospitals, police departments and other public services.

Transfer of Raptor Republic’s people to No Man’s Land is part of movement. No Man’s Land has a lot of natural resources, enabling them to harvest under protection of the armed forces. Transfers and deployment of soldiers to NML is also part of movement.

Time line:

0: Raptor Republic was founded

12: The Evidalia was founded

15: Raptor Republic sent representative to Evidalia for a peace treaty

16: Representative murdered.

22: Evidalia sent armed forces to Raptor Republic, invading the country.

25: The war ended. Invading forces were pushed back.

27: Senator Terry Cao from the Sheil State elected Prime Minister of the Raptor Republic.

28: No Man’s Land was found. PM Terry Cao deployed scientists and geographers to explore the land. Scientists reported back with positive characteristics, perfect for transfer of settlers. 2 months later, contact was lost.

29: Army Special Forces found the bodies of the scientists, confirmed being killed by Evidalian.

30: Foot mobiles from Evidalia were deployed into NML, trying to take over the land. Raptor Republic Marine Corps were deployed along with the Air Force.

32: PM Terry Cao confirmed a border war with Evidalia.

Study guide

Here's what I think we should include in our study guide:

1/ The 6 essential elements of Geography
World of Spatial terms
Places and Region
2/ Tools that geographers used in their career (GPS, GIS, etc)
3/ 5 themes of Geography
Location
Region
Places
Movement
Human / environment interaction
4/ 5 jobs relating to geography

• Climatologist
• Land surveyor
• Urban planner
• Cartographey
• Location analyst

5/ Vocabulary
Geography
Spatial
Region
Place
Environment

Friday homework

After the Family Tree project, I think this is a very exciting and interesting project! I learned a lot from my friends' origins, traditions, religions, etc. An example is when I found out that Jennifer's father is a Norwegian! I also found out that she doesn't look like a plain European because her mother was half Vietnamese and half Australian.
Howsoever, what impressed me the most is when I found out that almost everyone in my class have 5 or more aunts and uncles! I only got 1 aunt and 1 uncle, but I have 14 great aunts and uncles instead! I can conclude that during a 30 year-or-so period, Vietnamese people want to have a lot of children. I guess that's why Vietnam's population is so high, 88 millions!