Economy & The West

Contents

The 5 Themes of Geography - Page 3-4
Introduction to Photo Reflections - Page 5
The Last Spike - Page 6-7
Golden Skybridge - Page 8-9
Cave and Basin - Page 10-11
Lake Minnewanka - Page 12-13
Sundre Museum - Page 14-15
The Badlands - Page 16-17
Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump - Page 18-19
Pipe Mountain Coaster - Page 20-21
Video Activities - Page 22-24
Photo Activities - Page 25
Fun Photos - Page 26-27
About the Author - Page 28

Here is my comic! It's a short comic, with 5 cells, each explaining a theme of geography. The other half of this comic is on the other page.

This theme of geography is place. There are 2 assets to place. These are cultural and physical assets. Cultural assets can be anything that's man-made and has to do with human culture. In this photo, the cultural asset is the Canadian beaver logo. A physical asset is anything natural, such as mountains or trees.

This theme of geography is human environment interaction. In human environment interaction, there are 3 types of interactions. These are modifying, adapting, and depending. Modifying is building something, or digging a trench, or any way you're changing the environment. Adapting is when we change ourselves, or do something for ourselves, to be able to survive or use the environment. Finally, depending is when we rely on the environment for anything.

These are the other 3 themes of geography. They are region, movement, and location.

Regions could be described as a set area. There are 3 types of regions: formal, functional, and vernacular. A formal region would be a region set by the government. For example, Canada is a formal region. A functional region is a region used for a certain function. An example could be a bus route or paper route. Finally, a vernacular region is a region set in peoples minds. An example could be deep cove, because people think that deep cove is a certain area, but it actually isn't officially a certain region.

Movement is, in the simplest form, the transportation of things. The 3 main things that can be moved are goods, people, and ideas. This photo shows the movement of people over the bridge.

Location! There are two types of location: absolute and relative. Absolute location is a set location. For example, GPS coordinates or an address. Relative location is a location in relativity to something. For example "across the street from the library" or "down the road from the mall."

In the next 16 pages, I will be showing 8 photographs paired with 8 reflections (one for each) of different locations that we visited on our field school. Each photo can be used to explain what geography is, and it can also explain what made and makes the west, specifically relating to economy. Let's dive in!

The Last Spike

Table of Contents

What is geography? Geography encompasses 5 themes, each being a part of it. This photo represents movement, which is one of the themes. This helps explain what geography is because it shows the connection between the land and the things that live on the land. This could be goods, people, animals or plants. This connects to the driving question by showing how we and our goods move around the land.

This photo helps to explain what made and makes the West by showing how we move around the land. If it didn't take so long to get across the land, it wouldn't be necessary to have the train. If we hadn't built the train, we wouldn't have the same tourism, which influences the social and economic ideas we have.

I have a personal connection to this place because without the railway, I wouldn't have a lot of the things I have, because the ideas of moving luxurious goods wouldn't have been shared across the country.

Golden Skybridge

Table of Contents

How can I explain what geography is? Geography can be described through 5 different themes. My favourite is- just kidding, I'm not just going to pick my favourite. It's a bit more sophisticated than that. This photo shows human environment interaction. Human environment interaction includes 3 different means of interaction. They are adapting, modifying, and depending. A way that this photo shows an adaptation is building the bridge so that we can cross the canyon. I way that we depend on the environment that is shown in this photo is tourism and how this attraction is used for this. This fuels the economy, which is something we depend on. So, what is geography? Geography is, in part, how we interact with the environment. This photo is just one example.

This photo shows how the West was shaped? Really? I'm a little bit surprised, too. That's okay, because I can explain how. Like I said earlier, this is quite the tourist attraction, which fuels the economy. Without a well functioning economy, we would be in terrible debt, just like BC was before it joined Canada.

When I was taking this photo, I was thinking about how much this tourist attraction relies on AND fuels the economy, and how it's the same for myself. It's all about how much money we spend and how much money we make. Reading what I wrote above, you can see how this photo shows what shapes the West. In shaping the West, these things shape me as a person, because of quality of life, the people I'm exposed to, and the things I see. All of this happens, in part, because of tourist attractions like this.