Current Events Summary

Name: Date:

Current Events Summary With Regards to the 5 Themes of Geography

PURPOSE:

The students will use the five themes of geography to break down and analyze a world news event related to world geography. The student will use any media source TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, etc. The student must be able to point out the location of where their news story took place on a world map in front of the class. By relating the Five Themes of Geography, students will gain a better understanding of how geographical elements are interrelated when discussing world events. The student should choose news events that are related to the region we are currently studying in class and the news event should have taken place no longer than 2 months ago.

POSSIBLE RESOURCES:

www.cnn.com Here, you can search by World Region on the left side. www.nationalgeographic.com Interesting Articles in Geography www.foxnews.com World News www.whitehouse.gov Here you can search by region and/or topic. www.classzone.com Go to your textbook and then on Current Events.

National Geographic Magazine Time Magazine Newsweek Magazine

New York Times Newspaper Washington Post

CNN or Fox Headline News- Be specific on the details of the report. You may have to do some additional research if the news only gives minimal information.

Georgia Public Radio

GRADING:

Current Events assignments are due every single Friday, regardless of whether or not I remind you. If I am not here on a Friday, expect to turn it in on Monday. You only have to do ten current event assignments to possibly receive the maximum credit. Any more than ten will be counted as extra credit. You will receive zeros in Pinnacle until you have completed the first ten. After that, the assignments will be exempted on Pinnacle. Each current event is worth 100 points. This means, at the end of the semester the entire project is worth 1000 points. Name: Date:

Current Event Template

Name of Article or Headline: Send Me to Siberia

Detailed Citation: If possible, please attach news article. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2008/06/siberian-oil/paul- starobin-text Date of Event: June 2008 – date of article

Summary of Current Event:

This article describes the amount of oil which has been found in Siberia. It describes the difficult situation that Russians face to live in such an extreme environment in order to collect this valuable resource. The oil has helped the economy and Russia is currently the country that has the most amount of oil, even surpassing Saudi Arabia. It is spurring some movement to Siberia but the harsh environment limits this. Living conditions are difficult and living arrangements are still hard to come by.

Five Themes of Geography---

1. Location- Give exact location including its coordinates using latitude and longitude. Khanty- Mansiysk 60 N, 76 E

2. Place-

Khanty-Mansiysk is an oil boom town of Russia, within the harsh Siberia. It is also the historical, administrative, cultural, and sports center of Ikrug Yugra Province. It has a population of 53,000 people, up from 34,000 from 1989. This place has a subarctic climate with some of the lowest recorded temperatures on the planet. Siberia has seen temperatures as low as -90 F. Name: Date:

That is well below the freezing point. The soil will often remain permanently frozen, even in the summer, making building very difficult.

3. Human Environmental Interaction-

Humans drill for oil in Siberia which contains an enormous amount of natural resources but they are difficult to get to due to climate, temperatures, and permafrost. The population density is really low in Siberia and living accommodations are hard to come by.

4. Movement and Communication-

Movement with Siberia is limited due to the climate. The Trans- Siberia railroad which stretches across Russia has encouraged and allowed some movement across this region. This railroad served as the moving point of soldiers and prisoners of war during WWII. These prisoners were used to extract resources from this extreme environment. This was most often a death sentence for them as they would rarely survive.

5. Regions-

This region is relatively flat within Siberia. Siberia lies East of the Ural Mountains within Russia. Siberia is very large, probably larger than the U.S. itself. It contains the world’s largest forest as well. The region becomes more elevated and mountainous the farther East you travel to the Pacific Ocean. Siberia contains vast stretches of tundra, taiga, plains, and mountains. Russia is larger than the U.S. and lies in the north eastern hemisphere, bordered by the Arctic Ocean in the North and the Pacific Ocean in the East.