What is the technological treadmill, and why has this proven to be a challenge for farmers in marginal areas in the North American heartland during the past two and a half decades or so?Over the past decades or so, North America has been part of the agriculture and farming systems. A huge percentage of America was earning their living by farming or doing agriculture labor. Obviously, that was a long ago and now the numbers have declined and only a small group of minorities are employed in agriculture. As years passed, Canada and the United States have become great producers and the most productive food-producing region in the world.
Yes, the number of farmers declined throughout the years, however there was no way companies were going to stop producing something when it can benefit both greatest countries and its population, in North America. Furthermore, while technological improvement has generated a significant increase in the productivity of the North American agriculture, that has not been the only change occurring. As new technology rises in the industry, it has put much more pressure on a lot of workers, such as individual farmers.
To increase profit, farmers invest in new technologies that increase individual products or reduce the cost of manufacture. However, all that increasing in individual products increases other things such as the overall crop supply and increased supply pushes down prices. To maintain everything under control and in line, the profit margin must be in a good position compared to other lower profits.
For that to successfully continue, the farmer must keep increasing production and not stop the cycle. After that if production keeps increasing then the use of additional technology is even more required, to not fall behind in the cycle. By doing this, technology will then improve the output and decrease prices simultaneously. Lastly, the process of the technological treadmill at the end repeats its self.
Chapter 4, Question #5 Why are both Canada and the United States known as federal states? As the global economy changed throughout time, that wasn’t the only thing changing. The economy started affecting and influencing the domestic policies of both Canada and the United States. Both have a politically structure that defines how their own government runs.
They are also known as being a federal state, which means that a politically defined place of central government shares power with subunits. To be more exact, governmental power is shared between the federal governments and the state or provincial governments. For example, federal governments based in Washington and Ottawa. Furthermore, these types of circumstances end up influencing the structure of electoral competition. As for the governments types, they both have specific branches like the legislative, executive, and judicial. They both elect representatives to federal, state or provincial, and local legislative bodies. Even though they have similarities, they also differentiate in that the Canadian political system is similar to the one in the United Kingdom, the prime minister can also be the legislator and a member of the house of Commons, simultaneously. However, in the United States the legislative and executive branches are separated.
To conclude, the relations between them are similar, such as their own interaction with the political regulations, but they also have differences in their own political systems. Since they are both federal states, they both chose to lose their entities of international law. They also become states that hold administrative jurisdiction over a specific territory. They both have different role; however, they are still one of the most functional federal states till present day. Chapter 4, Question #9 Why has globalization been viewed more negatively by workers living in rural parts of the United States and Canada as compared to residents in urban areas in North America? As globalization keeps increasing, there is positive and negative outcomes out of it. Globalization in the United States and Canada was creating an effect in the agriculture production and other industries that take upon rural and urban areas. Production and way of producing certain products are done differently in both rural and urban places.
As for the rural communities, the main thing they have been depending on has been the employment of outside occupations, which is very basic employment coming from the primary sector and the secondary sector. Primary Sector is the sector that forms the production of farming, mining, fishing, or forestry dependent on natural resources. The Secondary Sector is primarily focused in the manufacturing and distribution of goods.
These two sectors and other rural communities have been negatively affected by the globalization and till this day it is continuing. For most of problems that the sectors have had in the industry, it is harder for them to recover for their losses, because of the little amount of resources and lack of technology. As for larger cities, they recover faster losses through the development of the quaternary sector, new industries that have sufficient help with new technology, resources, education and one of the most important ones, the government. In conclusion, it is seen negatively by workers living in rural areas, because there are not enough resources, such as technology for them to use. Others use other ways of technology but it is sometimes not good because the companies of those workers sometimes cannot adapt to the technology or do not have enough funds for technology, so it is harder for them to use helpful resources, when they do not know if it is really going to help their companies and increase the profit. Chapter 5, Question #2 Why is the region discussed in this chapter referred to as peripheral area? The region discussed in this chapter is referred as a peripheral area because its economy is determined by the decisions and policies set somewhere else. That’s why it is not considered a core area, because a core area is known for its economic strength and is sometimes more developed than others; it has a sense of nationality.
In the other hand the Atlantic Periphery matches more as a peripheral area because it is economically weaker and it is less developed than other core areas. Globally they are considered as areas that don’t receive a lot, they only obtain a small share with regards to the global wealth. The Atlantic Periphery, is in a position where it is lacking in different areas, such as economically, agriculturally, urbanization and natural resources. These are some conflicts that are seen even more when the place is not heavily populated. On the other hand, Megalopolis is the opposite because all the advances seen economically are mainly there. It is a dominant place; a huge metropolitan area by the eastern seaboard of the United States that is heavily populated. When we compare these two types of places, we can easily see the major differences in their environments and the difference in the way they run certain situations. One is more active than the other, since one of them lacks so much in different aspects, which also means that it doesn’t have enough power to make changes.
Reason why it sometimes depends on larger cities that have more education, more resources surrounding them, as well as a fair structured government that fully supports cities with more capacity. The government still helps, however usually indirectly, it might look wrong but there’s always a process to follow, so certain situations or conflicts always stay under control. Chapter 5, Question #4 What are some of the economic, locational, and environmental challenges of the Canadian part of this region, especially the province of Labrador and newfoundland? There are several challenges that come with the economic, locational, and environmental part of this region in Canada. For example, in mainland Canada, the general isolation of communities of this region, the chronic unemployment and poverty, and community abandonment from overfishing in Newfoundland and Labrador. Not only that, also the region is well known as one of the windiest regions in the world. In a general form this region is not a powerful region, in the aspect of economy, since it relies on the Megalopolis. Which is a very large and populated city.
A core area is known to have economic strength and to have great influence over other economies. On the other hand, a peripheral area is economically weaker and usually depends on other decisions and policies made somewhere else. It also does not have good farm land or resources to grow more in the industry. Another challenge is the laws that they have with regards to fishing in the area. The way they run things are a bit different from other different regions. The laws that they currently have there are to deal with the overfishing of the area. They have laws that protect the area from over fishing that has been continuous throughout time.
They use those laws to stop or more so to limit the over fishing, and I say limit, because there are still people out there that do not mind breaking the laws, but that is just an assumption. However, those laws are put there for a reason, to protect that part of the environment. Lastly, there are only small towns, so everything is very limited and that is why they also depend on other larger cities that have more resources to provide on what they are investing in. Chapter 5, Question #7 What are some of the distinctive cultural landscape features that contribute to the Atlantic periphery’s unique sense of place? To begin with the culture of the Atlantic Periphery has been influenced by its economy, their unique settlement patters, and its physical surroundings. Because, of these elements there has been distinctive cultural landscapes, with some strong emotional connections to the environment; very unique.
Throughout the years many people have lived in small fishing villages located by the bays and other parts of the Newfoundland coast, known as outposts. They are located wherever there is sufficient space to build new houses along the coast. The way their economy was used was though the outposts, since fishing mainly sustained them. As the 20th century began the government started seeing inefficiency in the education and other services. As time progressed, they started telling many people to leave the outposts and move to other cities that were larger and more beneficial to the people.
By the 1980’s, many settlements became uninhabited by a lot of people. Also, there was the overfishing going on as well so it was affecting all those outposts out there. However, after that things got better in the sense that the government decided to build bridges connecting some towns, to get rid of the isolation from the mainland. Meanwhile, the isolation also benefited other communities because they sustained themselves with fishing and lobstering, in conclusion isolation from the mainland didn’t stop them from developing cultures of self-dependence. They grew strong and together without having to depend on the help of larger cities, they worked for their own food and sustained themselves well with natural resources.
Chapter 5, Question #10 Why is it critically important to develop and implement sustainable management approaches for grand banks fisheries? One of the major economic challenges has been the regions’ over dependence on and overuse of its natural resources. To be more exact, natural resources are starting to lack since people have been depending on grand banks fisheries for the past years, they could not continue depending on it because it was hurting the environment of numerous fishes. Recent human activities have managed to take all the important resources. Not only that but the commercial side of these fishes has declined massively, so much that the government took the serious matter into their own hands and decided to put laws to prevent overfishing and extinction of fishes. The idea of acting could save the lives of these fishes that were at the edge of extinction, and if they wanted them to continue to have sustainable fishing they would have to give them a break to recover from all the hassle that they went through. It could benefit both the Atlantic Periphery to recover marine resources and primarily save the habitat of the different species of fishes. The other way that fisheries could recover is with freshwater circulation patterns from the ocean, which influence on food supply for the organisms as well as the people living in the affected area. For example, the Great Bank is one of the most prosperous for fishing in the world.
With waters mixed with cool and warm currents that come from the north and the south side, making it very important since it helps to feed the fish. Despite all the challenges the Atlantic Periphery faces, new systems of sustainable fish organizations will contribute positively economically and commercially in the future.Chapter 6, Question #2 What are some major differences between the French-inspired long lot system in Quebec and the English-inspired metes and bounds system more commonly used in the new England? The major differences between the French-inspired long lot system in Quebec and the English-inspired metes and bounds system used in the new England, is that the French government used the long slot system to transfer peasants to live on a Lord’s land and just work for him, and they did that type of exchange for military protection. Another thing that they did was the seigneurial system, which was a land system in French Canada used to distribute land in a very defined and controlled way.
The long lot system was basically long, narrow rows of land that were placed in from of roads and rivers. The farmers would then build their own housed along those two things, which was an easier way to approach transportation. A good amount of the population in rural areas were under this type of seigneurial system, that also made a division in professions amongst the population.
Even though this type of system for years and years, it was then abolished in 1854, which was of good news to many. As for the English-inspired metes and bounds system (measurements and boundaries) in new England, where they used an object to indicate a position or place, such as rocks, roads, trees, and field stakes, also a direction and distance to the next location. It very much contrasted with the French long lot system, in the aspect of settlement, and in other things. The objective of having this type of system was for the land buyers decide on their own boundaries, it had nothing to do with having a controllable and central authority. They could use their purchased amount of land freely to put boundaries based on topographical features, the boundaries could not be past their own land purchase. In the long term the system then became irregular, so no one was up to par with it, so it created a bit of a chaos between land ownerships.
Chapter 6, Question #4 What are some of Quebec’s most serious environmental hazards, and why is this North American region likely to continue experiencing these kinds of disturbances on a regular basis? As we know from the climate and weather has been changing throughout the world, but there have been some immense environmental hazards in the North American region, as in Quebec. For starters, the climate of Quebec is cool and damp, like the climate of the Atlantic Periphery region. So, the natural hazards are snow and ice storms, as well as immense floods, also both seasonal freezing and thawing on subsurface layers of soil. Quebec also has long winters and cold ones, with blizzards that occur frequently. The winter is not the only problem occurring, there’s also the global climate change that has been occurring. It has become a major concern in Northern Quebec, because warmer temperatures have been taking over rapidly throughout the region and it has brought drastic changes to everyone that is currently living there.
Because of all the climate change that has been happening, the overheating has been melting massive snow structures, as well as large flat masses of floating sea ice. All these then pass on to disturb other communities and resources around them, such as the Hudson Bay and other bodies of water that are still being in use. As of now there are people that are trying to find solutions to this big conflict that is affecting the communities in the Northern American region.
Since they are natural issues, it is very hard to stop it for the moment, there’s not much that they can do. They can try but the outcome won’t come out immediately it’ll probably take some time, and because of that it will affect them in a regular basis. They would have to adapt or at least try to adapt to what is happening and all the environmental issues for the moment, until there is a solution.
Chapter 6, Question #5 What are some of the long-term political impacts of the outcome of the Treaty of Paris for Canada and the United States? As we know all the treaties that we have had in the past have impacted the life of everybody that lives here in North America. One of those treaties that impacted the life of others was the Treaty of Paris (1783). Which was a treaty signed in Paris by representatives of the United States and representatives of King George III from Great Britain.
The sole purpose of signing it was to end the American Revolutionary War and to also gain American independence. This treaty had affected everyone in different ways, positively, but also negatively. The Americans were rooting for their goal of having their independence and not having to do anything with the United Kingdom. Other effects were that Great Britain was finally destroyed in North America, mostly in the United States and boundaries were also going to be established after the treaty by the United States.
Furthermore, something that was not very much wanted but still happened was that former colonies that France formerly owned in North America started to get taken over by the British. It was not something that the French wanted, but after that French settlers had to follow the British rule forcefully, if not there was going to be unwanted consequences. Even though that was happening at the time, it wasn’t going well for the British either, because they were still in debt after the Seven Years’ War. For that reason, they started taxing the colonies even more and since they thought it was unfair for that to happen they started a rebellion. However, some of these things were impacts and outcomes that came in long term after signing the Treaty of Paris, it would have taken more time to get the independence that the United States were desiring.
Even though many other successes were to come this was one of the many reasons on how the United States received their Independence.
