How do political decisions or influences in your region affect you?

You have completed a whirlwind tour of the world’s realms in the last few weeks, examining the human impact on physical locations in the world as well as considering how the local environment influences the growth of human cultures. Now, you will select a concept from the course from the bulleted list below that applies to your own life on which to reflect.

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review readings on your region in The World Today.
• Read the Discussion Spark topic, question, or comment posted by your Instructor in the Discussion thread on Day 1
• Consider:
  • Political influences in your region—how do political decisions or influences in your region affect you?
  • Impacts of industrialization or urbanization—how each affects how and where you live.
  • • Review readings on your region in The World Today.

    Do you live in an area influenced by colonialism? How has this influenced your life?

  • Choose another concept from the course.

With these thoughts in mind, respond to the Discussion Spark post by Day 3 with a reflection on how this particular concept from the course, applied to the region (or regions) in which you have lived, has affected the choices and direction of your own life.

Be sure to support your ideas by connecting them to the Learning Resources in the course, or to something you have read, heard, seen, or experienced.

Assignment 1 Course Project: Global Travel Film—Week 6  Due 02/20/16 by NOON

South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Austral and Pacific Realms

Reminder: For your Course Project, you place yourself in a scenario related to the development of a global travel film. In this scenario, you are a researcher on the script writing team, traveling with the location scouts. You have 6 weeks to travel the world and scout locations for the film.

For these realms, you will make recommendations about aspects that should be highlighted. The special focus areas for these realms will be:

• South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia: Geographical, economical, and human elements that have propelled specific states or regions to economic tiger status
• Austral and Pacific: Influence of the surrounding oceans and other bodies of water on these realms, the fragmentation of the land and human geography, and/or the impact of deforestation

You will write up your recommendations for the script writing team, sharing specific reasons why each aspect is interesting, compelling, or important.

To prepare:

• Read Chapters 8A and 9A on South Asia and East Asia in The World Today.
• Read Chapters 10A, 11, and 12 on Southeast Asia and the Pacific and Austral realms in The World Today.
• Consider the rapid rise of “economic tigers”—do these states pose a threat to the global economy?
• Consider the vast distances that separate the different regions in the Pacific and Austral realms. What is the influence of the surrounding oceans and other bodies of water on these realms?
• Consider the issue of deforestation in all three realms. How is the human impact different in these realms than in other realms?

Your recommendations to the script writing team need to include the following:

• Important areas to film and highlight. (Include a map that shows each location clearly identified. You may want to use color coding or a legend. Include representative screen shots from Google Street View, if available, for each location. For quick tips on how to create screen shots, see the document Creating Screen Shots in the Week 1 Resources area.)
• Insights and observations related to the special focus area for Southeast Asia: geographical, economical, and human elements that have propelled specific states or regions to economic tiger status within Southeast Asia.
• Insights and observations related to the special focus area for the Austral and Pacific realms: the influence of the surrounding oceans and other bodies of water on the Austral and Pacific realms, and the impact of deforestation.
• Notable points about the geography and resources. Include two or more of the following:
  • Examples of how the environment has influenced humans and how humans have influenced the environment
  • Agriculture, industry, and food resources
  • Insights related to population and demographics
  • Major governments and policies
  • Typical foods
  • Political or environmental dangers
  • Other geographical factors of particular interest

Your completed Assignment for Sections 4 and 5 should be 4–6 pages (Section 4: South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia—2–3 pages; Section 5: Austral and Pacific—2–3 pages). Two or more images for each section should be included.