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Period 5 - conclusion

  The course is coming to an end and it’s time to conclude some final thought about the course and the things we covered. All in all, I think I learned a lot from the course even though the topics were familiar to me from before. Like I was hoping, the course really updated the knowledge and information I have of the world, and I feel really pleased with that. It feels amazing how you think you already know a lot about a subject yet how much more you can still learn, especially when it comes to this world. I found the topic of globalization especially interesting, and the idea of global citizenship inspired me. I hope that I too, can do my part for this planet and its people and I hope that many people want to do the same. I think that when we come together, we really have everything we need for a positive change. Hopefully this idea will become more widespread and accepted so everyone on the planet would have equal opportunities despite the circumstances into which they are bo...
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Period 4 - Globalization

The subject of period 4 was globalization. It is a subject that I've heard about almost throughout my life and therefore seems quite familiar.            In addition to the videos we watch in the periods, there were now some articles we read that addressed globalization from different viewpoints. I found the OECD's article about globalization’s impacts on the environment especially interesting and it gave me a lot of insight into the complex relationship between globalization and the environment. I feel like they are often talked about quite separately or that the environment is only discussed as a sidenote. In reality these two are linked in more ways than I even realized even though they don’t necessarily have direct effects on each other. Globalization supports a lot of development that causes emissions, such as burning fossil fuels (Huwart & Verdier, 2013). But then on the other hand, it also raises awareness of environmental problems and sust...
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Period 3 - Changes in land cover

The topic of this period ‘Changes in land cover’ wasn’t a topic I initially had many expectations about. I feel like it's talked about talked quite often about but now I was able to get deeper into it.                       I found the videos, once again, really interesting. Many of the videos have been TED talks and I think they are a great way to learn more about today’s world and keep oneself updated on factual and new information. The video ‘The Other inconvenient truth’ discussed changes in land cover. There was a lot of information for me, and some was really shocking. I never knew about the Aral Sea and how it dried up due to human activity and how now there's toxic waste becoming airborne, and how weather conditions are now changing. Or even if I've heard about it, it's never been a big thing that's been taught.  It was also really sad to see the Colorado River and how...
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Period 2 - Population growth

In this period, we learned about population growth, its effects and things affecting it. The subject was really intriguing and even scary sometimes. There was a video 'Human population through time' that showed the evolution of human population through time, and it was crazy to see how the population exploded in the 19’s when before that the growth had been quite slow. It seems funny to me how much the world has changed in such a short time, even thinking of my own lifetime. For example, when I was little, phones didn’t have touch screen and now we can control them with just speech. So much development has happened after the industrial revolution, and it seems it just keeps getting faster.                       The Population is predicted to hit 11 billion by 2100 (American Museum of Natural History) which seems scary when considering that the carrying capacity of the Earth is limi...
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The course starts - introduction

The course started with an introducing period in which the goal was to get more familiar with the course. The first thing we had to do was to watch a few videos and then start a conversation based on them and the thoughts they evoked. I found all the videos rather interesting. The Gapminder Dollar Street –site was new to me but I’m happy it was included in this course because it was eye-opening to see how different the living conditions can be in different places and how privileged we truly are. I showed this site to a friend as well and she also found the site very interesting and important. I feel like the site would be something that would be beneficial for everyone, especially in developed countries, to see to get some perspective.   One other video we watched was a TED-talk given by Hans Rosling. This video showed how outdated a lot of the knowledge we think we have of the world can be. The video left me wondering; who’s responsibility it is to widen people’s knowledge and u...
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Starting the course - a quick look

The course 'World Regional Geography' is starting next week, and its Moodle opened yesterday so I had quick look at the course on the whole. The course seems interesting as the subjects we’re going to cover are very much what interest me the most in geography. Climate change, environment and population growth are some subjects that I find interesting, and I think there's going to be something related to this.  As a geographer, and a citizen of this planet, I feel like it's important to know what's going on in the world, with the planet and its inhabitants.  I’m looking forward to learning more about the world today and I think this course will give me a lot of new insight and understanding. 
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