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Colby Parks
Arlene Wallace
Geography 1700
December 12, 2014
Reflection on Geography

Natural Disasters has been a fun class to be part of. I have learned a lot about

the natural forces of this earth that we live on. I have learned about volcanoes,
hurricanes, tectonic plates, tornadoes and even Tsunamis. All of these have been fun
to learn about especially Volcanoes. The best resource to me learning about all of
the content of this class was the final presentation. I learned a lot from the in class
notes and the final slideshows throughout however. As I reflect on what I learned, I
have noticed that I have really enjoyed this class. I have never enjoyed any
geography class that I have taken during high school or middle school. This class has
made a difference for me.

The in class slides have taught me a lot about the different forces of nature.

As I went through some of them I learned about some things that I never knew
before. One of those would be the difference between magma and lava. One is inside
the earth and the other is outside of the earth. Magma is inside and lava is outside. I
also learned that there is a shield volcano in St. George. Who knew that there were
volcanoes here? I also learned that Yellowstone is its own type of volcano. It hasnt
erupted in millions of years.

The final presentation was pretty nice. I learned a lot about the drought that

California is having currently. I also learned that it has actually moved across the

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western part of the US. It started in the central part of the US in 2011 and has made
its way over to California. The drought is so bad that the lakes are starting to get low
to a point where people there are starting to get nervous. This drought is the worst
drought that California has ever had. Governor Garry Brown has even declared it a
drought emergency for the state of California. This was declared on January 17 of
this year.

In this group project we researched the dust bowl and compared it to the

current drought that is currently going on in California. The dust bowl was the worst
drought that has ever happened in the United States. The current drought in
California is about to make its own way up there with the dust bowl. Some of the
lakes that have been affected are starting to reveal lost cars that have been missing
for more than thirty years. As we went throughout the project, I unfortunately was
pretty busy but when the group met we talked about how we could compare the
severities of both droughts. We talked about how the dust bowl affected five states
and how the current drought only covers California.

When we focused on the Dust Bowl in our project, we or I discovered that it

affected five states. They were Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico.
The main areas that it happened were Texas and Oklahoma. The Dust Bowl was so
bad that when a cloud of dust would come towards the people, it would look like a
giant black wall coming for you. They called it a Black Blizzard. The people that
lived in the affected areas had to use a wet cloth and place it over their mouth so the
dust particles would not reach the lungs. If the dust reached the lungs, it would feel
like crystals inside cutting you up.

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The farmers in the central part of the US over planted their crops and caused

the ground to be very dry and the dust from the fields was formed due to the lack of
rainfall that year. The current drought in California is solely caused by the severe
lack of rainfall. As we explained these concepts in our presentation, I feel that we
were able to convey our point exactly how it was needed to be completed. Our
presentation was well formed and well presented. I was not as good as the others in
our group but I feed that I did my part. I feel that it was a success. I thoroughly
enjoyed this class and will always have it as one of my favorites.