Journal 1: August 25th/September 1st

Mr. Harmon,
I have been keeping my journals in word files on my laptop & uploaded them to this blogger account I created this weekend. I have labeled them for each class session, & made sure to put them in sequential order. I'll upload new posts directly to blogger now that I have the page up & running.
Rachel



The last time I took geography was in the 5th grade. I remember making topographical maps & dioramas of biomes. It was a fun segment of the science course for me because it seemed like half art class, half science. Beyond this portion of a science class in the 5th grade I have completed map activities, but always in the context of historical events, not the science of physical structures and processes.

I mentioned in class this week that I took geography because it isn’t math intensive. While this is the primary reason, I have also always been interested in cartography & have been known to get lost daydreaming about places on maps while in class. I also find it fascinating that two cultures on either side of an imaginary line can be so distinct and different. While I get the impression from the greensheet that this class it not a social geography class, I hope to become more familiar more names and information about various nations so that I have more broad view of the world and what is happening within it.

Another geography-related subject I am interested in is humanity’s impact on the earth and what we can do to stop the damage we are inflicting on the land and resources we depend on. I want to know if there are any drastic, sweeping solutions possible because I am not convinced that the small ones are having any effect. It seems that there are so many hypothesis out there about whether or not global warming is real and what we can do to stop it that we have become oversaturated with information, & I want to get the real, scientific facts.