Living Physical Geography:
The Big Picture
We are all living physical geography. Weather and climate strongly influence where we live and the types of crops farmers can grow. Almost half the world’s population lives within 150 km (93 mi) of the coast, mostly in large cities situated in bays and estuaries at the mouths of major rivers. Floods and drought, cold snaps and heat waves, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, soil development and landslides all influence human beings. Physical geography is now more relevant to society than ever. Changes in air quality and climate, losses of habitat and species, soil and water resource demands, and burgeoning renewable energy technologies are all topics that are in the news daily and are all central to the science of physical geography.
The idea for this book originated with my desire to highlight the relevance of physical geography to students’ daily lives and to address the most pressing environmental and resource issues that people face today. Living Physical Geography is unique in that it emphasizes how people change, and are changed by, Earth’s physical systems. This approach creates a student-
Three major themes are woven throughout this book:
Earth is composed of interacting physical systems. The atmosphere, the biosphere, water, and Earth’s crust are major physical systems that interact with and affect one another. Energy from the Sun and energy from Earth’s interior change these systems.
Earth is always changing. The physical Earth is in a constant state of change on many different time scales. The weather changes within minutes, tides ebb and flow over hours, rivers shift their channels across centuries, and over millions of years species evolve, mountains grow and are worn down, and whole continents move.
The influence of people is important. Earth’s land surface, atmosphere, life, and oceans are extensively changed by people. It is not possible to study modern physical geography without considering the influences of human activity.
There are other important themes that also provide the foundation for and enliven the study of physical geography in this book:
Spatial and temporal relationships underpin geographic thinking. Geographers often ask why things occur where they do and how they change through time. For example, why do deserts and rainforests occur where they do? How long have they been in their present locations? How are they changing now? Living Physical Geography examines Earth’s physical features and processes through the lens of geographic space and time.
People depend on Earth’s natural resources. From the energy we use, to the materials in the things we acquire, to the food we eat, people depend on natural resources from Earth’s physical systems.
People are influenced by physical geography. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, the development of rich agricultural soils with river flooding, severe weather and climate change, storm protection of coastal cities by wetlands, freshwater supplies from groundwater and streams are a few examples of physical phenomena that influence the lives of people.
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Science is driven by people. Scientific inquiry in the Earth sciences is driven by a fundamental curiosity about how the natural world works.