CNS World Studies Hybrid 2014-15

Economic & Environmental Geography

Economic Geography
Economic Development
Sectors of the economy
Primary: sector of an economy making direct use of natural resources. (Agriculture,
forestry, fishing, mining)
Secondary: secondary processing of raw materials. (Food manufacturing, textile
manufacturing)
Tertiary: service sector or the service industry. (Restaurant, retail, sales)
Economic Base Model: are used to understand regional economic growth and development; a
region's growth is determined by the growth of the export (basic) sectors.
Subsistence economies: non-monetary economy which relies on natural resources to provide for
basic needs, through hunting, gathering, and subsistence agriculture. (United States, Canada)
Development
Social: focuses on the need to put people first in development processes.
Economic: Process whereby simple, low-income national economies are transformed into
modern industrial economies.
Categories of wealth (More Developed Countries (MDC) vs. Least Developed Countries (LDC))
MDC: is a sovereign state that has a highly developed economy and advanced
technological infrastructure relative to other less industrialized nations. (United States)
LDC: a nonindustrialized or Third World country. (Congo)
The Human Development Index (HDI): A tool developed by the United Nations to measure and
rank countries' levels of social and economic development based on four criteria: Life
expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling and gross national
income per capita.
The north/south split: is the socio-economic and political division that exists between the
wealthy developed countries, known collectively as the North, and the poorer developing
countries (least developed countries), or the South.
Fair Trade movement: a social movement whose stated goal is to help producers in developing
countries achieve better trading conditions and to promote sustainability. ( Members of the
movement advocate the payment of higher prices to exporters, as well as higher social and
environmental standards.)
Micro-lending (Grameen Bank): the lending of very small amounts of money at low interest,
especially to a start-up company or self-employed person.
Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) impact on development issues: They have a huge
impact on the development issues and provide a lot of assistance that governments cannot do.
Formal (an official economy recognized by the government with regular wages and normal
hours.) vs Informal Economy (economy that is neither taxed, nor monitored by any form of
government. Ex: street vendors)
Digital Divide: the gulf between those who have ready access to computers and the Internet, and
those who do not.
Foreign Direct Investment: is a controlling ownership in a business enterprise in one country by
an entity based in another country.
Technology transfer: the transfer of new technology from the originator to a secondary user,
especially from developed to less developed countries in an attempt to boost their economies.

CNS World Studies Hybrid 2014-15

Economic & Environmental Geography

Debt crisis: a situation in which the large debts owed by a number of individuals, organizations
or countries threaten to overwhelm them, so that they become unable to service their debts
which, in turn, may threaten the stability of larger structures.
Primary Activities Agriculture & Mining
Agriculture: the science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing
of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products. (Growing corn)
Commercial agriculture: The production of crops where the main goal is to turn a profit. (grocery
store food)
Subsistence agriculture: is self-sufficiency farming in which the farmers focus on growing
enough food to feed themselves and their families.
Agricultural Revolutions: is a period of transition from the pre-agricultural period characterized
by a Paleolithic diet, into an agricultural period characterized by a diet of cultivated foods.
Extensive (Large amounts of land and minimal labor input. The difference between this and
commercial is there is a low product per land unit, because only necessary commodities
produced/used. (ex Nomadic Herding + Shifting Cultivation/Slash and Burn)) vs. Intensive
subsistence agriculture (High yield, and high population density. This is intensive meaning high
input for a high yield proportion wise. Small plots of land and high labor units per land.
Subsistence so used for themselves or extras to the market for example. Sometimes is the
production of many crops in one field because it is subsistence.)
Extensive (Large scale farming used for the primary purpose of profit, on less expensive land
that needs to be used less intensively. There are larger farm units due to low cost. (ex large scale
wheat farming and livestock ranching)) vs. Intensive commercial agriculture (The production of
crops giving way to high yields and high market value per unit of land. (ex dairy and truck
farms))
von Thunen model of agricultural production:

CNS World Studies Hybrid 2014-15

Economic & Environmental Geography

Green Revolution: a large increase in crop production in developing countries achieved by the
use of fertilizers, pesticides, and high-yield crop varieties.
Agribusiness: agriculture conducted on commercial principles, especially using advanced
technology. (Seed and agrichemical producers)
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs): any organism whose genetic material has been altered
using genetic engineering techniques. (wheat)
Monoculture: the cultivation of a single crop in a given area. (corn fields)
Examples of Globalization of agriculture
United States: Where in 1900 over 40% of the workforce in the United States was
employed in agriculture, only 100 years later less than 2% were.
For example, in 1992 Mexico imported 20% of its food. By 1996 (a mere two years after
the implementation of NAFTA) Mexico was importing 43% of its food and by 1997 one
out of every two peasants were not getting enough to eat.
Sustainable agriculture: is the production of food, fiber, or other plant or animal products using
farming techniques that protect the environment, public health, human communities, and animal
welfare. (Organic foods)
Aquaculture: The science, art, and business of cultivating marine or freshwater food (fish or
shellfish, such as oysters, clams, salmon, and trout,) under controlled conditions. This term could
also refer to hydroponic plant cultivation.
Secondary Activities Manufacturing & Production
The Industrial Revolution: the transition to new manufacturing processes in the period from
about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. Predominantly agrarian, rural societies in
Europe and America became industrial and urban.
Manufacturing regions of the World/US
World: North America, Europe, East Asia
United States: California, Michigan, Illinois, New York
Fordism: is a notion of a modern economic and social system based on an industrialized and
standardized form of mass production.
Bulk gaining (An industry in which the final product weighs more or has a greater volume than
the inputs. ex: fabricated materials, beverage production) vs. bulk reducing industries (An
industry in which the final product weighs less or comprises a lower volume than the inputs ex:
copper, steel)
Site factors of industrial location
Labor costs
Situational factors of industrial location
Transportation costs
Just-in-time manufacturing: An inventory strategy companies employ to increase efficiency and
decrease waste by receiving goods only as they are needed in the production process, thereby
reducing inventory costs. This method requires that producers are able to accurately forecast
demand.
Maquiladoras: a factory in Mexico run by a foreign company and exporting its products to the
country of that company.

CNS World Studies Hybrid 2014-15

Economic & Environmental Geography

Agglomeration: A snowballing geographical process by which secondary and service industrial

activities become clustered in cities and compact industrial regions in order to share
infrastructure and markets.
Deglomeration: The process of industrial deconcentration in response to technological advances
and/or increasing costs due to congestion and competition.
Export-Processing Zones (EPZs) & Special Economic Zones (SEZs)
Rise of Chinese economy
From 1949 until 1969 Soviet planners helped the China industrialize
Shanghai recently beat out Rotterdam as the busiest port in the world.
China has many jobs that or outsourced or moved offshore.
Shanghai & Chang River district is the 2nd largest industrial region of China-rail cars,
ships, books, food & chemicals
Outsourcing (examples and reasons): outsourcing manufacturing for cheaper prices.
Deindustrialization: decline in industrial activity in a region or economy. (Detroit and the
American automobile industry)
Tertiary Activities Services & the Knowledge Economy
Economies of scale: a proportionate saving in costs gained by an increased level of production.
Footloose industry: industry that can be placed and located at any location without effect from
factors such as resources or transport.
International division of labor: closely follows the NorthSouth socio-economic and political
divide wherein the Northwith one quarter of the world populationcontrols four fifths of the
world income while the Southwith three quarters of the world populationshas access to one
fifth of the world income.
Multiplier effect: An effect in economics in which an increase in spending produces an increase
in national income and consumption greater than the initial amount spent. (a cooperation builds a
factory and employ workers and stimulate employment in the vicinity of the factory)
Outsourcing: obtain (goods or a service) from an outside or foreign supplier, especially in place
of an internal source. (Apple outsources its products)
Offshoring: the practice of basing some of a company's processes or services overseas, so as to
take advantage of lower costs. (Labor in china outside)
Postindustrial: of or relating to an economy that no longer relies on heavy industry.
Transnational corporation: Any corporation that is registered and operates in more than one
country at a time; also called a multinational corporation. (Nike)
Threshold/range: The determining factor in the location of any central place is the threshold,
which comprises the smallest market area necessary for the goods and services to be
economically viable. Once a threshold has been established, the central place will seek to expand
its market area until the rangei.e., the maximum distance consumers will travel to purchase
goods and servicesis reached.
Environmental Geography
Sustainable Development: development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Renewable (replaced naturally and can be used again. Ex oxygen, fresh water, solar, energy,
timber, biomass) vs. Nonrenewable Resources (cannot be readily replaced by natural means on a
level equal to its consumption. Ex fossil fuels)

CNS World Studies Hybrid 2014-15

Economic & Environmental Geography

Industrial pollution issues (air and water pollution): According to the 2000 Toxics Release
Inventory (TRI) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), over 2.95 million metric
tons (6.5 billion pounds) of toxic chemicals from about 2,000 industrial facilities are annually
released into the environment, including nearly 45,360 metric tons (100 million pounds) of
recognized carcinogens.
Global warming: a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere
generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide,
chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants.
Acid rain: rainfall made sufficiently acidic by atmospheric pollution that it causes environmental
harm, typically to forests and lakes. The main cause is the industrial burning of coal and other
fossil fuels, the waste gases from which contain sulfur and nitrogen oxides, which combine with
atmospheric water to form acids.
Biodiversity: the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.
Alternative energy: energy generated in ways that do not deplete natural resources or harm the
environment, especially by avoiding the use of fossil fuels and nuclear power.
Kyoto Protocal: international treaty among industrialized nations that sets mandatory limits on
greenhouse gas emissions. The greenhouse effect is the warming effect of the sun on greenhouse
gases, such as carbon dioxide, that act to trap this heat in our atmosphere.
Carbon emissions: the release of carbon into the atmosphere
Carbon trading: a system by which countries and organizations receive permits to produce a
specified amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which they may trade with
others.