The World is getting crowded: A pictorial story

Hi guys, below are pictures that depict of the problem of overpopulation around the world and how you can see if overpopulation is left alone on its own, how much stress it will put on the world resources, land supply, water supply, etc...this is really happening around the world and do think about its impacts and how can we actually slow down or help prevent a crisis from happening due to overpopulation...

Imagine every inch of the transport mode/system is filled with people, imagine Singaporeans hugging onto the SMRT train!

Jammed Transport networks: Getting stuck in Singapore's peak hours is quite bad..imagine having to queue even longer...look at the picture below and u will get what I mean...

Overcrowded Housing: Amount of land able to contain all the housing needs of such a burgeoning population is going to be a feat..

Fighting for jobs: Below are the number of people appearing at a job career fair...wages one have to take in the future is going to spiral downwards if population of the world is just going keep spiralling upwards.

Crowded Amenities: Imagine swimming in a public pool with so many people, on a side note, imagine if one person secretly pees =P...and everyone does the same thinking that others will not do it...ewwwww....

It's scary seeing the pictures of so many people and imagine its like that in Singapore, with every step you take, you bump to another Singaporean....scary....

Credits of photos: http://www.crookedbrains.net/2008/01/world-is-getting-crowded.html

Chapter 4: Agriculture-Wet Rice cultivation

Below is the video I showed in class of the processes of Wet Rice Cultivation in Sri Lanka. A visual re-cap, so you can look through it again.

Below is the video about how Technology have changed the way people

farm, especially in developed countries, in this instance, the video shows

about Japan.

Chapter 4: Agriculture-Shifting cultivation (Hill Rice Farming)

Go this website to know about hill rice farming in East Malaysia, the website also gives a good idea about the process of hill rice farming.

Click here!

Below is the video I showed in class about how shifting cultivators actually carry out the process of "Slash and Burn" to prepare the land for farming. A visual re-cap of the process of Shifting Cultivation.

A Member of Parliament's view on Old Age in Singapore

Below is an article by Member of Parliment, Hri Kumar on the issue old age, and the problem of Singaporeans not wanting to take the responsibility of taking care of the elderly. I mentioned in class before as we talked about the consequences of having an aged population and that I hope that none of you would entertain the thought of sending your parents to the old age home when you grow up to be fathers on your own.

Read the blog post by Hri Kumar below and maybe ponder and think about what he said in his post, especially about putting in place legislation so that the aged would be taken care of (kind of sad, don't you think if a law has to be put in place to teach Singaporeans about filial piety?)

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OLD AGE

Taken from : http://hri-kumar.blogspot.com/2009/07/old-age.html

One of the hardest part of my job as MP is meeting elderly Singaporeans whose children are unwilling to support them. It is not just the challeges that they have to go through to make ends meet. The thought that your own flesh and blood have abandoned you must be infinitely more wounding. There is no single reason why they find themselves in this situation. I am sure not one side is completely to blame, just as no one is entirely blameless.

But whatever the cause, the elderly must be helped. How we should do this is the big question.

When (then) NMP Walter Woon introduced the Maintenace of Parents Bill in Parliament, it caused no end of controversy. Many felt that the Government should not interfere in family relationships and dynamics. I do not believe anyone wants this. It would not be necessary if everyone looked after their parents. But some do not. The counter is that the State should provide for the elderly, so that the children do not have to. That is one solution, but is this also what we want? First, many Singaporeans love and respect their parents, and will happily provide for them. That is a value we must preserve, and our policies should not discourage this. Second, should everyone then have to subsidise children who are not willing to discharge that responsibility? Because when one asks the State to pay, in reality it means that we all pay.

We then come to the group which poses the real difficulty: children who are willing to support their parents, but say that they cannot afford to. There are of course such genuine cases. But there are unfortunately also some who say they cannot afford it, but what they really mean is that maintaining their parents is not high on their list of priorities. So, we have recently read in the newspapers of people who say they cannot pay the nursing home charges for their parents, but can nonetheless afford cars. Should Singaporeans be subsidising this group?

So cases must be individually assessed, and where necessary, help will be given. The problem is that it is often difficult to define when help is necessary. The children's wages are a good yardstck, but imperfect. A person can have a higher wage, but larger fixed expenses. Then you have to go into which expenses are truly necessary and which are not. It is a minefield. Then there are cases where the children can afford it, but their parents do not want to file a case with the Maintenance Tribunal. That reluctance is understandable, but what is the solution then? Should Singaporeans subsidise such personal choices? If yes, who would want to go the Tribunal in the first place?

This is a difficult issue, and one which will become more challenging as our population ages.

Chapter 3-Settlement: Everchanging

Remember that I said in class that a settlement is ever changing and it can grow or it can actually degenerate? Well the video below is about Manchester (good news for Manchester United Fans, you get to see how Old Trafford actually changed), the city that has been changing over the years. Look at the video and see the features of the urban settlement change, its changing functions and regeneration...enjoy!

Chapter 3-Settlement: Urban settlement

Below are pictures of different well-known cities (urban settlements) around the world. Look at the evidence from each photo which portrays that they are of an urban settlements.

enjoy the photos as some of them are really stunning.=) you can go to this webbie to view other stunning photos too!

Singapore

Shanghai

New York City

Kuala Lumpur

South Korea

All photos and credits to :http://techxav.com/2009/07/20/70-beautiful-stunning-photographs-of-city-skylines-around-the-world/

Hank the singing bottle...Recycling

a video about recycling...enjoy!=)

Chapter 2 Population: Consequences of Population Explosion (High Population Growth)

The vide below is about the consequences of overpopulation that is happening in Egypt and also the actions the government is taking to help curb the

problem.

The video is a good visual re-cap on what we went through in class about the problems of high population growth/overpopulation.

Go to the website below for a pictorial view and audio story of Dharavi, Asia's largest slum...see the effects on how overpopulation can cause a high demand on housing and other resources, this is also a good prelude to the next chapter on Settlement, about the settlement patterns.

Asia Largest Slum

Chapter 2 Population: Consequences of Ageing Population in Asia

Below is an article taken from ChannelNews Asia which predominately talks about the consequences of the growing ageing(greying) population for Asia, do have a read on the article and see if you can sieve out the reasons for the increasing growing population (causes) and also the consequences of an ageing population.

ADB study shows greying Asia faces pensions time bomb
Posted: 11 July 2009 2033 hrs

MANILA: Asia is facing an ageing crisis with weak and inadequate pension systems and family-based support dwindling, a leading development bank said Saturday.

"A young continent reaping the demographic dividend of a large youthful workforce is giving way to a greying continent where the ratio of retirees to workers is on the rise," senior Asian Development Bank economist Park Donghyun said in a study released by the Manila-based lender.

Improved female education and better medical care is inducing Asians to have fewer children, allowing them to live longer and causing a "seismic" demographic shift, Park said.

The median age of China, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam "will exceed the world average by 2050" which spells trouble for their pension systems along with that of the Philippines, the study said.

The greying phenomenon is more pronounced in East and Southeast Asia than in South Asia, it added.

"In contrast to industrialised countries, most Asian countries do not yet have mature, well-functioning pension systems," Park said.

"As a result, they are ill-prepared to provide economic security for the large number of retirees who loom on the horizon."

The bank found "key systemic failures" including low coverage, inadequate benefits, lack of financial sustainability and insufficient support for the elderly poor".

Meanwhile "the weakening of informal family-based old age support mechanisms suggests a greater role for formal pension systems throughout the region".

Asians have traditionally looked to their children to take care of their material needs in old age, in effect relying on a substitute pension system in a region where it was not uncommon for three generations to live under one roof.

However, rapid urbanisation and the reduced role of agriculture in the economy "are creating a vacuum in Asia’s old age support, a vacuum that must be filled by formal pension systems".

The study warned that globalisation had also weakened job security, pushing large numbers of people into the informal sector, where they enjoy no pension or labour protection coverage.

Park said the pension systems of the eight countries covered a mere 13.2-58 per cent of the labour force, with the coverage rates for working-age populations at just 10.8 to 40 per cent.

These compare poorly with around 90 per cent of the labour force of developed countries and between 60 and 75 per cent of the working-age population, the economist added.

- AFP/yb

Image and article take from: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific_business/view/441775/1/.html

Chapter 2-Population: Population Distribution and Density and Population Pyramid

Population Distribution and Density

Below are the tables that the two classes did in class in the factors that affect population distribution and density.

Class 2-3

Class 2-9

Population Pyramid

Below is a short introduction about what a Population Pyramid is, look through and have an idea of what characteristics a Less Developed country (Less economically developed country) and a Developed country (More economically developed country) would have. Enjoy!

Here is another site besides the CIA factbook mentioned earlier in an older post where you can access to a country's facts and figures, statistics and other information. Go into the weblink and click at any country you are interested in. Do look especially at the population pyramids of different countries for a reference which can be found under the headline "age distribution".

Website link: http://www.nationmaster.com/country/

Below are three countries' population pyramids taken from the website above. These countries are the ones we often talked about in class. Compare and see the different shapes of the three countries, look at the different characteristics and what can you deduce from them?

Bangladesh

(Image taken from http://www.nationmaster.com/country/)

United Kingdom

(Image taken from http://www.nationmaster.com/country/)

Singapore

(Image taken from http://www.nationmaster.com/country/)

Chapter 2: Population (Population Growth)

The above video was shown as a hook in class, to get the Chapter on Population started with the classes. This a daily life affair of Japanese in Tokyo getting onto the train and the squeezing is sure far worst then what we experience here in Singapore! They even have people designated to push the people into the train in order to get everyone in. Quit an amazing feat too.

The video below was shown in class and its about Lagos (do look through it again if you couldn't catch the audio), one of the growing populous cities in Nigeria and of course instead of a megacities present, megaslums have actually taken prominence.

Below is a website link that you can go to, to look at the real-time SIMULATION of the birth rate and death rates around the world, in addition to the population growth, it has incorporated also the amount of CO2 that we humans have emitted thus far (though it is actually much lower as compared to reality)

Quite interesting, go click and have a look---> Breathing Earth !

This is another website to get up to date data of the world or specific countries in terms of population growth, birth rate, death rate etc or any other facts on the world--->CIA -The World Factbook

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Human Environment

COMPONENTS OF THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT

P A S T C

Population

Agriculture

Settlement

Transport

Communications

And below the graphic organizer that was done in class last week. =)

Diagram is adapted from Liaw, B. T and Bunnet R B, 2007, Inspiring Discovery in Geography 2A (Population and Settlements), Star Publihsing Pte Ltd, Pg 5

Introduction: What do YOU think is Geography?

Many a times, when the word, "Geography" comes into mind, I think quite instantly, people would associate it with having the knowledge of countries around the world. Or I guess, the skill of reading of maps would come into mind. So in one of my class I showed this cartoon, "Yakko's World" from Animaniacs (1990s) to test if most of my students agree that Geography is about knowing the countries of the world.

Initially, I wanted to show another video, about a 2 year old girl that shows that she is really good with the world map! Amazing! But the clip is like 8 minutes so kind of long, so showed Yakko's World instead. So shall show the other video here instead.

So what do I think is Geography?

Since Secondary One to up to my varsity days, teachers and lecturers alike have always mentioned that the word "Geography" came from the Ancient Greeks and they married the root word "ge" for earth and "grapho" for "to write" to form what we know as "Geography" today. Rightly so, Geography to me is indeed about writing about the Earth BUT not only about countries around the world.

More importantly, Geography I feel is one subject that enables us to find answers to questions about the world around us-about where things are and how and why they got there and the heart of all things that make this world that we call home tick is about the relationship(s) between humans and this world. =)