The Influence of Physical Geography on Humans Life - Research Paper Example

April Physical Geography and Human Culture The influence of physical geography on human’s life has been a sphere of deep interest and scientific research. It was stated that “Geography doesnt just determine whether humans can live in a certain area or not, it also determines peoples lifestyles, as they adapt to the available food and climate patterns”. (Auerbach). Indeed, different countries today demonstrate different ways of human’s life, and historical study reveals the ways people have adapted to the local geographic and natural conditions. Introduction The science determines that such factors as land formation, soil, water access and climate are the primary factors influencing human life in certain location. (Auerbach). This paper is aimed at investigation of the local conditions of New Hartford, NY, and their influence on the local inhabitants on the example of the shopping mall located in this city. Hypothesis The hypothesis of this research is that environment and local conditions influence human’s culture. Methods The following methods will be used to perform the research under the topic of the paper: analysis of the reference literature on the research topic; interviewing the local inhabitants about local conditions and their influence on life of the society. Results The studies of the reference literature have given the following results. Geographic factors influence development and life of people in the place of their living. “The “geographical factor” has evolved from a mere reference to a geographical indication of provenance of a product to that of an indicator of qualities or characteristics which reflect its geographical origin.” (Gonzales, Johnston, 225). The above mentioned four points of influence, land, soil, water and climate, determine the way people live: if the land allows for good harvest gathering, the society develops agricultural activity, when water is an insufficient resource, it is necessary to find the ways to make it present and sufficient for society activity and life support. (Auerbach). Japan is a good example of land influence, as it often suffers from earthquakes and tsunamis caused by them. These adverse events made the Japanese develop tactics to resist their aftermath and to quickly react in terms of human lives saving. Literature study provided the basis for the second method of research. According to the New Hartford inhabitants, it is an ordinary US town with little differences from the other ones alike. The suburb city cannot boast at a wide range of big enterprises, important events or sources for breaking news, the older people say. A typical set of natural resources is sufficient to support the society life activity. Water, though making 0,39% of the total area of the town, is available and causes no problem for both the governmental authorities and the population of the town. Employment offers primarily consist of office jobs, as there are not many plants, factories and production sites in this suburb area. The air pollution index is possible to be considered as not very high, because industrial wastes into atmosphere are almost absent, though the car occupants number is relatively high even for such a small town, as per opinion of James Reacord, an experienced driver. He admitted, though, that the automotive transport is the main reason for air pollution, and there is now a tendency in a city that people change their cars to more environmentally friendly ways of transport. Stuart Dean, a social employee, admits that, according to the latest statistics, many young people who have just graduated from their institutions of education, try searching career opportunities in big cities rather than here, as a small town has few careers on offer at all. This, obviously, affects the local demography not the best way: the number of young people goes on decreasing year by year. Jane Irving, an office employee, states that the economic development of the town corresponds to that one of an average US suburb town. The salaries do not exceed a usual national level, the house prices follow the country’s general trends as well, in a word, nothing different from usual state of affairs. She also supposed that a local shopping mall can symbolize stability and well-off being of her home town, as it, firstly, provides many working places, starting from a cleaner and ending with a general manager or department manager at least, and, secondly, contributes to general tax payment of the town to the state budget. The mall also promotes business development in the region as it has on offer area of its premises available for new people aimed at starting their business. The abundance of the goods that can be found on the shelves of the mall shops and the services provided by the companies inside it create an image of a dynamically and stably developing environment, both local and national, and make people feel confident of the tomorrow’s day. The mall pricing policy aimed at involving more and more customers, and trying to feel the needs of all the social classes and their financial opportunities, benefits both to the number of the customers per certain period of time (a day, a month, a year) and to financial rates and indices submitted to the local governmental authorities. This image is supported visually, by means of the mall size – it is, of course, not that big as compared to, day, New York malls, not even the biggest ones, but locally this is one of the biggest and inspires with confidence. Another significant point of concern is that since 2013 the mall administration implemented tobacco free policy, that is, smoking is prohibited on all the territory of the mall. (http://nhshoppingcenter.com/). According to Dean Cummings, an environmental scientist, this facilitates local inhabitants’ taking up healthy way of life and giving up harmful habits. This is another proof that administration concerns itself with the society and reacts to its demands by taking new measures. Provided that most mall visitors come here with their children, this is an excellent example of proper social behavior and promotion of health rather than consuming harmful products, and children seeing the non-smoking adults tend to do so in their later lives. He admits that such practice is common in most cities and towns, and the number of places implementing it increases year by year which proves its necessity. Local state services, Scott Jameson points out, such as police and fire departments, work fast, and though the local crime rate is not high and there are typically no breaking news of violent criminals, their officers arrive to the place within a couple of minutes and do not make people wait for them. People positively esteem their work and stay vigilant to help them do it better by means of noticing suspicious things and events and informing the appropriate authorities. Discussion The above mentioned information allows for determining how the New Hartford conditions affect the human life and culture of its inhabitants. Absence of plants and other production factories results in relatively low index of air pollution, but this positive effect is opposed to the negative one, namely, low number of job offers which are typically abundant in places with factories and plants available. A big number of cars in this town constitute the main part of air pollution index, though not very high, but dangerous for a small town. It is no wonder that this is a point of concern of the local citizens, as, according to Martin Hughes, car emissions adversely influence human’s health, and “New York’s asthma is a chronic, occasionally debilitating inflammatory disease of the airways that may be caused by air pollution from cars, factories or power plants.” (Hughes). Local salaries of usual level, as per the interviewees’ opinions, lead to youth flow-out from the town, making it “older” and depriving it from labor force capable of formulating tax payment basis, which is, logically, one more adversely affecting item. One of the New Hartford’s sites, its mall, is considered to be a symbol of economic growth. This is right because it has on offer career opportunities and supplies the citizens with the goods and the services. The mall administration always moves towards the customer and the society coming up with new ideas and policies, such as tobacco-free policy, and this makes people feel necessary and important for the society. As the mall comprises big shops and restaurants, it is able to satisfy the society’s economic, recreation, cultural demands, and pricing policy positively affects on the customers number. Being used to low prices, though, some people are distracted from the mall when the prices increase, which usually happens in time of economic crises and slowdown. The mall also fosters development of local business because it offers large areas of its premises, and people who are thinking on taking up own business may use this opportunity. Governmental services – police and fire departments – fast react to the challenges they face and the needs the society has. This may develop the habit of constant presence of these services and thus feeling safe, but there are situations when due to certain reasons a police patrol or a fire team cannot arrive right now to the crime or fire place. In this case, some people may feel discouraged and tend to blame these services without sufficient reasons, and this may cause lack of trust negatively influencing image of these structures. Taking the above said into consideration, it is possible to state that small towns affect the human culture and development both adversely and positively, and make their inhabitants acquire new skills or features, such as, on the example of New Hartford, close interaction with law enforcement structures, namely police departments, ability to use environmentally friendly ways of transport, for example, bicycles, in order to keep the surrounding air clear and breathable, ability to manage financial state of affairs, both their own and generally in the town, as the income sources are limited because of absence of plants and other production sites, and organize social care for pensioners whose number year by year increases, and the youth leaves the city leaving them with nobody to assist. Living in a small town also presupposes tight social contacts, because, due to small number of inhabitants, there are many places in which many people usually gather. Conclusion Having analyzed the literature and the interview results, it is possible to conclude that local environment and conditions affect the human’s life, culture and geography both positively and negatively, which proves the hypothesis of the research. The example of New Hartford, NY, displays that the geographical factor affects cultural, economic, and social aspects of life, and it was stated that small towns like the one above mentioned are subjected to such positive points of influences as relatively low pollution level, sufficient level of economic stability, rapid operation of governmental services, social initiatives of local business, and such adverse ones as big number of car occupants, not very high level of salaries, and youth flow-out to big cities. Works Cited Auerbach, S. “How Does the Physical Geography of a Place Affect Human Life?”. 2015. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. Gonzales, M., Johnston, K. “The Geographical Factor”. 2012. Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice. Print. Hughes, M. “Diseases Caused by Air Pollution”. 2014. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. New Hartford Mall. http://nhshoppingcenter.com. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2015. Read More