Water Woes

March 5, 2016 by lindsayhaskins 1 Comment

If I could I would travel back in time and talk to the leaders in Turkey. I would begin by explaining the current situation we are in. Turkey currently only has 1,600 cubic meters of drinkable water per year per person. Compared to countries considered water rich who have 8,000-10,000 cubic meters of drinkable water per person per year. It is estimated that this will decline to 1,000 cubic meters of drinkable water by 2023. Though in comparison to other Middle Eastern countries that have an average of 900 cubic meters of drinkable water per person per year, Turkey is water rich.

The blame is not fully placed on Turkey as a government but also on climate change. The problem is a combination of the governmental planning, societal growth and climate change. Urbanization and industrialization is part of the problem when it comes to global warming and climate change so the problem is almost complete circle. In 2014 winter rainfall in Turkey had only reached one third of the normal levels.

As the population grows in Turkey so does the amount of space needed to live. Urbanization has taken over wetlands, forests, fields and other areas for water resources. But as the population grows, so does the amount of water needed.

Re-routing water from sources such as the Melen river could be a possibility but not a sustainable one. This would just drain another ecosystem of its resources. Recycling water could potentially increase water but people and the government would need to be trained properly on this for the safety of the population. I think in a government like Turkey, still becoming industrialized and urbanized it would be hard to implement such things like green habits such as recycling water because they are so far from that point as a society.

I would want to have the policies that were implemented at the specific time I was referencing. Not only the policies on water usage, and or resources, but also any policies for the environment or policies that had visible harmful effects on the environment. I would want to know specifics on where the government and society are at in comparison to countries that are implementing policies that are fighting climate change. I would also want to know how surround countries are affecting the water resources in the specific country, Turkey if I continued with this as a starting point. I think I would be able to find some of this information through database and research articles. Also since most of the information is government related there should be records of most of it.

Concept Map Assignment

February 28, 2016 by petewcook Leave a Comment

Hey y’all. I thought I would dive deeper into what I noticed between Hagia Sophia and Japan’s Ise Grand Shrine. Hagia Sophia was built as a Christian Orthodox church 3 times. The cultural beliefs were to have mosaics, paintings, beautiful architecture, etc. for this structure. It was habit to build from marble, brick, and long-lasting materials so the structure would last a very long time, or at least that was the intent. As a mosque the structure was also changed so that it incorporated the beliefs and habits of the Muslims such as Minarets, Mihrab, medrese, Imaret, Sadirvan, etc. There was no belief of renewing the structure though, because it was built to last each time it was built. These two religions valued superb Byzantine architecture, the mosaics, the paintings, the structure as a place of worship (church and later mosque), and the great minds that built these structures. At one time this structure was the largest cathedral in the world for over a 1,000 years.

On the other hand we have Japan’s Ise Grand Shrine. Japan had a different take when it came to one of their most sacred shrines. Somewhere in the 680’s A.D. Emperor Tenmu established the Sengu ceremony tradition of rebuilding the shrine every 20 years in order to make the shrine last “forever”. The cultural beliefs were to preserve and hand down traditional skills and crafts to the succeeding generations and convey the roots of Japanese culture. The cultural habits were to rebuild the shrine with wood, thatch, etc., simple materials that could be reused and renewed for many generations to come. Sacred treasures were moved to the new shrines and they would worship in these shrines for another 20 years until it was time to renew them. Some of the values from the Japanese were the crafts and skills of carpenters and other artisans to be passed down to the next generations, renewing their structure so it would last “forever”, and to continue their culture through this practice from generation to generation.

Pete Cook

Concept map

February 27, 2016 by indeabennett Leave a Comment

I did my concept map of cemeteries and how they are effected by urban planning. I choose to compare the Paris Catacombs and the San Francisco cemeteries . First i looked at the where it was happening because the geography of a specific place is very important in understanding why certain choices are made. Also history of a place plays a large apart in it as well. for example both Paris and California created these large burial sites in part by the influence of illness/ hard times. But also this is due to poor urban planning reactions to growing cities. Paris experienced rapid growth with is proximity to ports and growing population. California was caught in the swell of the gold boom, for a long time there were only one or two cemeteries available in the area and if you died you would be going to it as well