GEOG 1110 Introduction To Human Geography

Article Summary:

It has been found that a large number of people are visiting the national parks like Banff, Zion national park, Moraine Lake and other places (Cecco). At the same time, this has resulted in major concerns to the conservationists and groups like Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society because the parks are now congested, crowded and there are line-ups and no parking space available. Factors like successful campaigns of the majestic sights and nearness to airports are adding to the increased number of visitors. The media article "'Crowds, Congestion, No Parking': Should Canada Limit Visitors To Its Majestic Parks?" on human geography by Leyland Cecco, published in Guardian.com highlights the challenges faced by the country in terms of conserving the popular national parks of Canada.

Keeping this alarming situation in mind, the authorities are limiting the people to visit certain sensitive parts of the parks. With the increase in human foot traffic, the grounds are also getting trampled with more garbage. In order to overcome these issues, the conservationists are aiming to come up with a quota that would restrict the number of visitors and would help in reservation. Other strategies include availing shuttles and increasing awareness campaigns to alert people on the major issues. However, the conservationists claimed that high number of visitors will have a long-term impact of these parks (Cecco).

The two different geographic concepts: 

Distribution (Location):

As stated by Knox et al., distribution refers to something that is spread over a larger area or is arranged over a particular geographical location. This concept is often accompanied by other factors like the distribution of particular species of animals, plants weather pattern and in fact, some disease or infection. Distribution as a core concept of human geography can be categorised into location (Francis). Location is the term used to define a place more specifically, like the locality and the settlement of people in a particular place. In the selected article, it has been identified that the primary reason of the increasing numbers of visitors is due to the location of the place. The National parks are located at such places those are surrounded by majestic scenery. However, it has to be mentioned that the article talked more about the data of people visited in the various national parks and did not talk about the attractive places located. The majestic scenery has been supported by two images that signified the beauty of nature.

According to Whatmore, the distribution of nature in a particular place is an important factor of distribution or location, as a part of geography. The fundamental characteristics of a place and the availability of animals and other living beings are not merely incidentals but it is only of the distinguishing factors of geography. The article highlighted about the Moraine Lake and the presence of this lake is one of the distinguishing characteristics of geography. The presence of animals like lion and deer are evident from the article but it could have added more details if the information on the type of climate and the animals present in the location were also mentioned.

Place (Ecocentrism):

Place in geography has been defined as a characteristic feature as a physical and human presence. Ecocentrism as a sub-section of place denotes the nature-centred and the political philosophy of a place rather than the human centered. Ecocentrism comprises of the ecosystem, land and water and the other biological and physical factors that connect each other to form the particular characteristics of a place (Kobayashi and Mackenzi). From the selected article, it has been clearly observed that the National parks and other tourist visiting places are indeed located at nearby places and this is one of the primary reasons that have attracted so many visitors each year to visit the place. It has been further stated that the parks and the ecosystem are the major components of nature and cannot be treated as a means of entertainment for the people.

The author of the article has focused mainly on the importance of conservation of the natural places and has also suggested few ways of doing so. There has been the mention of many places like Alhambra in Granada or the Forbidden City in Beijing where the visitors have been limited and the conservationists have been focusing on reducing the long-term impact of the degrading nature. Ecocentrism also contrast on the dominating issues of the human activities and its adverse impact on the ecology (Aitken and Valentine). Ecocentrism also talks about the ethical means of utilising the nature and its components and the priority with which people should consider if a particular place is in danger. This particular point has been highlighted in the article along with the specific role of the political and governmental bodies to combat against such issues and save the ecology (Aitken and Valentine).

References: 

Aitken, Stuart C., and Gill Valentine, eds. Approaches to human geography: Philosophies, theories, people and practices. Sage, 2014.

Cecco, Leyland. "'Crowds, Congestion, No Parking': Should Canada Limit Visitors To Its Majestic Parks?". The Guardian, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/04/canada-national-parks-overcrowding-conservationists-call-for-limits. Accessed 8 Oct 2018.

Knox, Paul L., Sallie A. Marston, and Michael Imort. Human geography: Places and regions in global context. Pearson, 2016.

Kobayashi, Audrey, and Suzanne Mackenzie, eds. Remaking Human Geography (RLE Social & Cultural Geography). Routledge, 2014.

Turner, Francis,. 2017. Cartographies. Geography 1110: Introduction to Human Geography. 15 Sept 2017. Langara College, Vancouver BC, Canada.

Whatmore, Sarah. "Hybrid geographies: rethinking the ‘human’in human geography." Environment. Routledge, 2017. 411-428.