Americans Move to Cities

Census and housing data reveal that young Americans are moving into cities, rather than settling in the suburbs.

Following World War Two, American families flocked to the suburbs giving rise to housing developments, cookie-cutter houses, shopping malls, and white picket fences. Now, 60 years later, Americans are reversing the trend to return to life in the city.

Census statistics for March reveal that single-family home sales have decreased 13.3% since March of last year. Meanwhile, metropolitan areas are growing at faster rates than the other areas in the country. Cities like Seattle, Washington, and Austin Texas, have experienced an influx of young Americans. The majority (62%) of the millennial generation prefers the life of the city to the suburbs where many were raised. These young Americans are attracted to social hangouts and shorter commutes which decreases automobile usage.

To accommodate the migrating young Americans, apartment buildings have been in high demand. Over 40% of current construction projects are apartment buildings. This contrasts with the 1.7 million single-family homes that had started construction in 2005 alone. Due mostly to the recession caused by overspeculation in the housing market, that number shrunk to just 300,000 in 2013.

Inside the Push to Make London a National Park

Map courtesy of the Greater London National Park*. Maps displays GiGL data 2014. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown Copyright and database right 2014.

To end National Park Week, we interviewed Daniel Raven-Ellison, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer. He has recently started a campaign to make the greater London area into a national park. According to him, the Greater London National Park is officially a "notional park." You can follow Daniel and the Greater London National Park on Twitter at @LondonNP.

What inspired you to promote the making of London as a national park?

Last year I visited all of the United Kingdom's beautiful National Parks. They are all important in their own right and include a wide range of habitats. From the moorlands of Dartmoor in the south of England to the peaks of the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland, most major habitats are represented except one... a major urban habitat. 

Urban areas cover 7% of the UK and so with 15 National Parks I think it makes sense for the next one to be a major city. It is not just a point of representation. 80% of British people live in urban areas and it is in these places where we have to work most to develop a new kind of relationship with nature. 

Are there any precedents for turning such a vast, urban area into a park?

Around the world there are National Parks inside and beside cities, there are also villages and small towns inside National Parks... but no... there are not any National Parks that encompass an entire city the size of London. To put it into context, at 1,572 km² in area London would be the UK's 7th largest National Park. 

What makes London the perfect city to be turned into a national park?

Let me give you some numbers.

1,572 km² in area

7th largest National Park* in the UK

300 languages spoken

8.3 million people

152 miles – London’s orbital footpath which is longer than most national trails

13,000 species of wildlife

13 species of reptile and amphibian within the M25

3.8 million gardens

2 Special Protection Areas

3 Special Areas of Conservation

4 UNESCO World Heritage Sites

2 National Nature Reserves

36 Sites of Special Scientific Interest

142 Local Nature Reserves

1300 sites are recognised by the GLA as being of value to wildlife

30,000 allotments

3000 parks

Lots of cats and dogs

And according to GiGL’s Greenspace Information for Greater London, 2013 (http://www.gigl.org.uk/our-data-holdings/keyfigures/):

60% is open and undeveloped land

47% green space

24% domestic gardens

22% Green Belt

6% sports areas

2.5% river, canals and reservoirs

I think these are some excellent statistics, but in reality I can see many other cities being great National Park Cities too.

 

Would purpose would the creation of the Greater London National Park serve?

In the UK the purpose of a National Park is to

• conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage; and
• promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of National Parks by the public. 

I think these aims can fit a city just as well as a more remote and rural location. I am not calling for London to share the same definition as the current countryside National Parks, instead I would like to see it named as an Urban National Park or a National Park City. This is for a couple of different reasons.

Firstly, I don't want to undermine the importance of our wildest places. Cities are different and they should be treated differently.

Secondly, smart National Park Cities should be allowed to develop, evolve and be dynamic. I would like to see an Urban National Park inspire, inform and co-ordinate practice but not adding a new layer to planning permissions for developments.

 

How do you see the urban setting of London playing into the national park?

This is a great question. One of the key purposes of National Parks is inspire people to enjoy them through recreation. Urban habitats provide different but no fewer opportunities to explore than more remote and rural locations. In London we have woods, hills, canals and rivers to walk, run, cycle and kayak down, but we also have an incredible and iconic urban landscape to enjoy too. An important point to reflect on here is inclusion, access and accessibility. More people can access more of London than many more challenging and wild environments. Cities like London do not offer the same qualities as isolated and sparse locations, but they do still deliver exciting opportunities for people to learn, be active and enjoy themselves.

 

What, if any, role will London's rich history play in the proposed national park?

London has constantly evolved, and developed in a dynamic way. People have been visiting London's site for over 100,000 years, the city was founded by the Romans 2000 years ago and you can visit four World Heritage Sites without leaving town. London has played a leading role in the development of democracy, new technologies and ideas. The city has a rich natural history too. It is this blend that I think makes London an excellent candidate. 

Are there any other cities that you believe could be turned into national parks?

Yes, there are hundreds of them. There is nothing exclusive about this idea.

 

What are some other cities that you think could be turned into national parks?

Let me ask you a different question. Which of your county's cities do you think could be your country's first National Park City? 

What can we do to join in your efforts?

No matter where you are in the world you can help to support this idea. Visit our site http://www.greaterlondonnationalpark.org.uk/ sign our petition to the Mayor of London http://www.greaterlondonnationalpark.org.uk/get-involved/help/ and if you are a teacher, enter the student challenge http://www.greaterlondonnationalpark.org.uk/get-involved/student-challenge/. 

The only way an idea like this will ever happen is if it gets support, so please do click through a help to make it happen http://www.greaterlondonnationalpark.org.uk/get-involved/help/ .

 

Yellowstone National Park

• Yellowstone National Park crosses 3 states: Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana
• Yellowstone was the world's first national park, established on March 1, 1872
• 1988: Fires ravage Yellowstone
  • No major feature destroyed, though
• Covers 2,221,766 acres
• The park's features were formed by an explosion 640,000 years ago
• Yellowstone sits on a dormant volcano
• 10,000 geothermal features
  • Most geysers on Earth
• Attractions
  • Great Fountain Geyser
  • Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
  • Hayden Valley
  • Mammoth Hot Springs
  • Biscuit Basin
  • Pelican Valley
  • Soda Butte
  • Lamar River
  • Old Faithful
  • Lone Star Geyser
  • Shoshne Lake
  • Mt. Wasburn
  • Roosevelt Arch

Yosemite National Park

• Yosemite National Park is located in east central California
• Established: 10-1-1890
  • The park's creation was pushed by John Muir who said: "No temple made with human hands can compare with Yosemite"
• Covers 761,267 acres
• Yosemite Valley is a one mile wide canyon roughly the size of Rhode Island
• El Capitan is the world's largest exposed granite monolith
• Many people ski here during the late fall, winter, and early spring
• Open year-round
• Other Places of Interest:
• Mariposa Grove
• Glacier Point
• Wawona Point
• Tioga Pass
• Mirror Lake
• Sentinel Dome
• Wapama Falls
• Ostrander Lake
• Yosemite Falls
  • The falls is fed by melting snow, so the cascade is dry during late summer, fall, and early winter
• Toulumne Grove

Have you been to Yosemite National Park? Tell us about your experience!

Mapping the Boston Marathon

Images from the Boston Athletic Association

Today marks the first running of the Boston Marathon since two bombs were detonated near the finish line last year. Even before the act of terror, the Boston Marathon was one of the most famous in the world. The 26.2 mile long race takes the runners through 8 towns before finally ending in downtown Boston. This year's field, the largest ever (36,000 runners), will past endless throngs of people and statues that commemorate the race's history. The most famous landmark on the course in Heartbreak Hill, near the campus of Boston College. Heartbreak Hill is the point at which most runners "hit the wall" as their muscles run out of nutrients.

Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

• Located in the Southern Pacific Ocean
• Southernmost Polynesian island 
• Polynesian name: Rapa Nui
• 1722: First Europeans arrive at Easter Island
• 1888: Annexed by Chile as a special territory
• Home to 887 monument statues, called moai, created by the Rapa Nui people
• One of the most isolated inhabited islands in the world (The next closest inhabited island is Pitcairn Island, located 1,289 miles west)
• Easter Island is the furthest inhabited point from every human being (The average human is 9,300 miles away from Easter Island)
• The nearest continental land mass is 2,182 miles away near Concepción, Chile 
• There are three freshwater crater lakes, called Rano. (Rano Kau, Rano Raraku, Rano Aroi)
• Volcanic island formed by the Ring of Fire

Island Devours its Neighbor

A newly formed island in the Pacific Ocean, near Japan, has devoured it's older neighbor. Niijima was formed last year 620 miles south of Tokyo as a result of volcanic activity in the Ring of Fire. Photographs, taken by the Japanese Coast Guard last month, indicate that since its birth, Niijima continued to grow and had taken over its neighbor, Nishino-Shima. The two islands are now conjoined, but Niijima is the dominant mass.

The two islands are the top of an underwater volcano that has been erupting for quite some time now. This is the first major activity of this volcano since the 1970's. As the volcano erupts, sediment is moved underneath the ocean. The sediment collects at the surface and forms an island. Continuous eruptions would cause an island, like Niijima, to grow in size. This type of volcanic activity is called Strombolian explosions.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

• Also Known As: The Soviet Union (USSR)
• Capital: Moscow
• Present-Day nations:
  1. Russia
  2. Belarus
  3. Latvia
  4. Lithuania
  5. Estonia
  6. Ukraine
  7. Moldova
  8. Armenia
  9. Azerbaijan
  10. Georgia
  11. Kazakhstan
  12. Kyrgyzstan
  13. Uzbekistan
  14. Turkmenistan
  15. Tajikistan
• Government: Communist dictatorship
• 1917: Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks seize power
  • The rise of the communist Bolsheviks was not widely supported in the new nation
    • Civil War ensued from 1918-1922
  • This was the first time any nation had based their government off of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto
• 1918: Lenin withdraws the Soviet Union from World War One with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
• 1927: Joseph Stalin becomes leader of the Communist Party over Leon Trotsky
• 1927-1953: Stalin leads the USSR with a tight-fist
  • 5 Year Plans: planned the Soviet economy by increasing industry and agriculture
  • Collectivization: forced peasant labor to carry out the 5 Year Plans and to destroy any ability of the peasantry to oppose the Party
    • leads to the death of many of the peasants
• 1936: Fight Francisco Franco and the fascists in Spain
• 1939: Stalin signs a non-aggression treaty with Hitler's Germany
• 1939-1945: World War Two
  • 1942-43: Battle of Stalingrad prevents both Nazi advance and Nazi seizure of oil fields
  • 1944: Tehran Conference where Churchill and Roosevelt agree to establish a second front (occurs in 1945 on D-Day)
  • 1945: Yalta and Potsdam Conferences
    • Division of Germany into 4 sectors where the Soviets receive the eastern portion
    • Stalin placed in charge of "free elections" in Eastern Europe
      • "Free elections" turn out to be a vote-for-any-communist election, thus establishing the Soviet Bloc or Iron Curtain, as Winston Churchill would say (later the Warsaw Pact nations)
• 1945-1991: Cold War
  • 1948: Stalin blockades capitalist controlled areas of Berlin leading to the Berlin airlift
  • 1953-1964: Nikita Khrushchev rules following Stalin's death
    • "De-Stalinizes" by ending forced labor
    • 1956: Harshly puts down an uprising in Hungary
    • 1957: Launches Sputnik
    • 1961: Begins building the Berlin Wall
    • 1962-63: Cuban Missile Crisis with the United States ends with return of Soviet ships armed with nuclear weapons
  • 1964-1982: Leonid Brezhnev rules following Khrushchev's ousting
    • Undoes Khrushchev's De-stalinization
    • 1968: Puts down the Prague Spring revolt in Czechoslovakia
      • Issues the Brezhnev Doctrine saying that the USSR is the strongest socialist nation and can intervene in any socialist nation
    • 1979: Invades Afghanistan
  • 1985-1991: Mikhail Gorbachev leads the USSR
    • 1989: Berlin Wall falls
    • 1990: Soviet Bloc nations remove communists from power
    • 1991: The Soviet Union disintegrates, Boris Yeltsin leads the new nation of Russia
• United States President Ronald Reagan once referred to the USSR as the "evil empire"

Protests Reignite in Ukraine

A House Divided Against Itself: The green areas represent areas of Ukraine where pro-Russian protestors have occupied regional government buildings. The orange area is home to pro-Russian protestors, but these protests have not resulted in much violence yet. The red is Russia who has troops ready to assist along Ukrainian borders.

Less than one month after Crimea voted to separate from Ukraine and join Russia, protests in the ethnic Russian regions of Ukraine are calling for further divisions of the nation. Armed protestors have seized government buildings in the regions of Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Luhansk. The cities of Donetsk and Slovyansk have had the most active protestors. These areas have a large Russian-speaking population that supported the now-ousted Ukrainian prime minister Viktor Yanukovych. The Donetsk protestors first called for a referendum similar to Crimea's, but later changed their demands to autonomy. These pro-Russian protests come after a large military buildup by the nation along Ukraine's border. On Thursday, news arrived that groups in eastern Ukraine have been passing out pamphlets mandating that Jewish Ukrainians register with the government. This move has been highly criticized by the interim government and the United States.

The interim government of Ukraine in Kiev, a city which interestingly went through similar types of protests prior to Yanukovych's impeachment, has called an emergency meeting of the nation's security council. The government in Kiev has offered amnesty to protestors if they leave the buildings and weapons. It also has previously shown willingness to use force to stop the protests, an action that Russia has stated it would condemn.

South Africa

• Capitals:
  • Pretoria (administrative)
  • Cape Town (legislative)
  • Bloemfontein (judicial)
• Major Cities
  • Johannesburg
  • Durban
• Major Geographical Features
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Indian Ocean
  • Orange River
  • Kalahari Desert
  • Cape of Good Hope
• Official Name: Republic of South Africa
• Religion: various Christian faiths
• Languages:
  • Afrikaans (official)
  • English (official)
  • Ndebele (official)
  • Pedi (official)
  • Sepedi (official)
  • Sesotho (official)
  • Swazi (official)
  • Tsonga (official)
  • Tswana (official)
  • Venda (official)
  • Xhosa (official)
  • Zulu (official)
• 1806: Settled by the British
• 1867: Diamonds discovered
• 1886: Gold discovered
• 1990s: Apartheid rule ends
  • Apartheid was the system of racial segregation in South Africa
  • 1994-1999: Nelson Mandela serves as president. He was the first black South African to hold that office
• Independence: 1910 from Great Brittain
• Government: republic
• Currency: rand
• Two Texases are slightly larger than South Africa
• Literacy: 86.2%
• Climate: Dry Mid-Latitude (Grassland)
• Completely surrounds Lesotho, almost completely surrounds Swaziland
• Hosted the 2010 World Cup
• Richest and most modern nation in Africa
• Also called the "Rainbow Nation"

Ebola Virus Outbreak in West Africa

A strain of the deadly Ebola Virus broke out in Conakry, the capital of Guinea. The virus quickly spread to neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia, leaving all of West Africa on high alert. Senegal, Mali, Ghana, and Mauritania have possible cases of Ebola that are being currently investigated. In total, there have been 1202 cases of Ebola in West Africa in 2014 which have left 673 dead. The mortality rate for this epidemic is 56%.

On July 25, 2014, the first case of the virus spreading by air travel was reported. A Liberian man visited Lagos, Nigeria where he was hospitalized and later died of Ebola. In addition, two American doctors who were working with the sick in West Africa have tested positive for the Ebola virus.

As you can expect, the outbreak of Ebola has drastically affected these nations' economies. Many people are unable to work because of infections with Ebola. In addition, people are leaving the nation at high rates to avoid contracting the virus. This affects the transportation industry as well as the hotels in the cities like Conakry.

The Ebola virus attacks the central nervous system but begins to manifest itself with flu-like symptoms. Eventually as the central nervous system is compromised, the Ebola virus leads to fatigue and seizures and induces a coma. There is no specific treatment for Ebola which contributes to its high death rate. The virus typically spreads in outbreaks, most commonly in Africa. The virus was first documented along the Congo River in what is currently the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ghana

• Capital: Accra
• Major Cities
  • Tamale
  • Kumasi
  • Sekondi-Takoradi
  • Cape Coast
• Major Geographical Features
  • Gulf of Guinea
  • Tano River
  • Black Volta River
  • White Volta River
  • Lake Volta
  • Ashanti
• Official Name: Republic of Ghana
• Religions:
  • Indigenous Beliefs (8.5%)
  • Islam (15.9%)
  • Christianity (68.8%)
• Languages:
  • English (official)
  • Indigenous language
• 1981, 1992: New constitutions after multiparty politics banned
• 2000: Opposition party voted in
• 2014: Ghana tests for possible Ebola virus that is sweeping West Africa
• Independence: 1957 from the United Kingdom
  • 1st colonized nation in Africa to gain independence
• Government: constitutional democracy
• Currency: Ghana cedi (GHC)
• Oregon is slightly larger than Ghana
• Literacy: 57.9%
• Climate: Tropical
• Lake Volta is the largest artificial lake in the world by area
• From January to March, Ghana experiences a northeasterly harmattan wind
• Known for its kente cloth
• Exports
  • Gold
  • Cocoa

Survey Says: We Don't Know Geography

Movoto recently polled 400 Americans, asking them to locate 7 states. The average correct identifications will surprise you. 3.4. To make matters worse, 30% of those surveyed believed the United States' population to be between 1 and 2 billion. (The real population of the United States is slightly over 317 million, while only China and India have over 1 billion people with 1.3 and 1.2 billion, respectively.)

Movoto reported that the largest, most iconic states were predictably correctly identified more often than the smaller states. Among these commonly mistaken states are Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Watch the video below to see just how little we know about geography.

Ring of Fire

The recent earthquakes and tsunami threats in Chile is part of the larger seismic activity, complete with volcanoes, that is the Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire surrounds the edges of the Pacific Ocean on both sides of the International Date Line. It encompasses 452 volcanoes and covers 40,000 kilometers. This hotbed for earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes is formed by converging tectonic plates in the Pacific Ocean.

One type of these boundaries is a subduction zone. These subduction zones form when a heavier tectonic plate slides underneath a lighter tectonic plate. The heavier plate consequently melts back into the mantle of the Earth which causes the high volcanic activity in subduction zones. Mount St. Helens is one example of a subduction zone. Krakatoa is another volcano in the Ring of Fire that results from a subduction zone.

A divergent boundary (no, not the movie or book series!) is formed when plates move away from each other. When divergent boundaries occur in the oceans, they reveal hot magma. The colder water cools this magma, creating new crust for the earth. The East Pacific Rise is perhaps the best example of a divergent boundary.

A transform boundary occurs when two tectonic plates slide against each other. This type of boundary is the most common cause of earthquakes, like the ones in Chile, in the Ring of Fire.

APRIL FOOLS'!

Happy April Fools' Day from everyone here at Average Geo's! While Russia may start a war on Ukraine's eastern border any day now, it has not happened yet. Enjoy April!