Explain why death tolls from hurricanes are much higher in poor countries
What will be an ideal response?
ANSWER: The majority of the population are impoverished and forced to live in areas at high risk of natural disasters. Many people of South America are forced out of fertile valleys and onto vulnerable hillsides to live. Resource-rich delta regions are dangerous low-lying coastal areas to which people of poor countries often look for food despite being in danger of floods and storm surges. Much of Central America is mountainous, with fertile valley bottoms that are mostly controlled by large corporate farms. Many people have big families that survive on little food and marginal shelter; unable to afford land in the valley bottoms, they decimate the forests for building materials and fuel for cooking, leaving the slopes vulnerable to frequent landslides. Others migrate in search of work to towns in valley bottoms, where they crowd into marginal conditions on floodplains close to rivers subject to flash floods and torrential mudflows fed from denuded slopes.
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The center of a map projection is determined by the:
A. standard meridian and central parallel B. standard parallel and standard meridian C. standard parallel and central meridian D. central parallel and central meridian
The most frequent time of day for hail based on a sample of five U.S. cities is
A. 6 a.m. B. 4 p.m. C. noon. D. 10 p.m.
The sharp increase in global carbon emissions since 1950 most closely parallels the
A) rise in pH of the ocean over this same period. B) size of the polar ice caps over this same period. C) global surface temperatures over this same period. D) increases in the speed of the Atlantic Ocean conveyor system over this same period.
Environmental literacy calls for each citizen to be fluent in the principles of ecology.
Answer the following statement true (T) or false (F)