first assignment!

chapter one, section one
1. Two concerns that cartographers have when choosing map projections are the size proportion of the land masses and oceans, and the distance between places on the map.
2. Two physical features seen on an urban area map might be a beach, and a river. Two man made features would be a freeway and an office building. two political features seen on a map might be a capitol building and a political monument.
ceative writing: if i were a city planner in a growing urban city, and i had to choose locations for new elementary schools, i would look out for any hazards to young children. the information that i would need to choose a safe location would be: if there were any busy streets of intersections nearby, or if there were any developing neighborhoods nearby (new families with young children).
There would be numerous features on a map of an urban area. The physical features would probably include any rivers, hills, lakes or ponds nearby. These would be important when choosing safe places for an elementary school, because they can be hazards to younger children. the human made features that would be shown on a map would be sub-urban neighborhoods, streets, freeways, buildings, and abandoned structures.
these could also be dangers if near a school. Lastly, the political features would be police buildings, fire houses, hospitals, and the capitol buildings in the city. these would be essential should there be an emergency at the school, and it would be helpful if they were in close proximity.

chapter one, section two
1. The major branches of geography are region(weather, average temperatures), human-environment interaction(use of resources, pollution), political(governments, economy), site(in relation to other cities, countries), and location(where a certain place is in the world).
2. Geography is used to study the earth, its features, the plants and animals that live here, and the things that happen in different areas of the world, and how they affect life there.
creative writing:  In Huntington Beach, in southern California, we live in a hot, dry coastal desert. with a drought upon us, many of  us do our best to conserve energy, whether it be water, or electricity, or oil. While living above the solstice of cancer does little to cool down the hot summer months, many still conserve water (I turn off the sink when I brush my teeth), although we have plenty of it! the ocean is right in our backyard, and we use it! the beach is always a popular spot during spring, summer and early fall, but not all is well in the swells. trash is sprinkled along the sand and parking lots along the coastline, yet another issue with the environment. although monthly beach clean-ups are held throughout the year, its still important to make sure everything gets into the trash cans!
  People immigrate to California from all over the world. in the 1900's, Asian immigrants came into our country through San Fransisco, people from Africa, Asia, Europe and immigrants from Mexico still come in today. this has a great impact on the culture of Huntington beach. everybody knows somebody from a different background and ethnicity, somebody who is different from themselves.with so many people, we have many view points and opinions, about ourselves as a whole, as individuals, and as a species in an endangered environment.

Here in HB, living next to the ocean is a large part of human-environment interaction!