Land use and Agriculture in New Zealand

1) Almost 90% of New Zealands land has become agriculture in some sort of form. About 5% is forest and the other 5% is urban and wetlands.


2) Monoculture: Pros of monoculture is that it is a lot cheaper and machines are used making it less labor. There's a high rate of productivity of successful commercial crops. Also, in the market its cheap to produce.
Cons are it can deplete nitrogen levels in the soils and diseases can spread very easily through the plants. It relies a lot on fossil fuels, chemicals and technology and it can cause a lot of environmental damage. Also, per acre of land it actually produces less food than usual and it can displace other local crops.

Polyculture: Unlike monoculture farming, one piece of land is devoted to more than one crop in polyculture farming. With polyculture a farmer can have the same yield of crops and a more efficient irrigation system on a smaller piece of land. Natural resources can be used more efficiently. Water and electricity can be used more effectively, which results in a better yield. Animal wastes can be used as fertilizers and manure for crops. The plants that grow near to other plants have a greater and stronger immunity, and fight off the bacteria faster than the plants in monoculture fields. Also, the income for the farmers is a lot more stable and consistent.
Cons are it becomes difficult for the farmers to control and supervise the activities going on in the farm since they have to check and look after every single plant. Planning polyculture farming can be very time consuming and planting it can make it a very laborious task. Also, it will need greater infrastructure to get the work done on a land for polyculture farming.

Slash and Burn: Pros are when Slash-and-Burn is practiced on a smaller land, it is not as harmful as burning down hundreds of square miles. If the technique has decades between each burn, it can actually be helpful for the enivorment and the soil. It is also very cheap to do. 

Cons can be very deadly in slash and burn, if they don't clear the animals out of the land before they set it aflame, the animals could get very wounded and or die. If this keeps happening, then animals can and will, become extinct. Also, slash and burn can cause super poor air quality because of all the smoke.

3) Pastoral farming is the major land use but there are increases in land area devoted to horticulture. In Northland, the major form of pastoral farming is beef cattle. In the Waikato and Taranaki areas, dairy cattle predominate. Through the rest of New Zealand, sheep farming is the major rural activity, with beef cattle farming in the hills and high country, and dairying increasing in Canterbury, Otago and Southland.

Mass Wasting in China

The devastating landslide in Zhouqu, China that killed many and made many homeless has a lot of causes and ways that could have some what prevented it. China is one of the worlds hot spots for landslides, the ground is very shaky. The main issue, according to Zhou Pinggen, head of CIGEM’s geological risk survey and monitoring office, is that the region has been through almost half a century of unrestrained logging. Year by year, forests have declined and the environment has been damaged beyond its capacity to recover. By the time local government woke up to reality and started planting trees to stabilise the soil, the vegetation was unable to take root on the steep, thinly soiled slopes. Many mountain tops have been stripped bare by the logging. They have made efforts to help restore way of life in the western part of China. The restoration of a permanent water supply started in Zhouqu county in northwest China's Gansu Province as the rebuilding of the mudslide-battered area picked up and has mostly been completed now. Safe drinking water will be available within five months of being completed, according to China First Railway Group, which organized the project. Zhouqu's main water supplies were cut after the mudslides and emergency water containers had been used to provide safe water for a while after the disaster.

Water Use in New Zealand

1) I wasn't very surprised that there was all this water being stolen from streams theoretically, but I was shocked by the amount of water and the certain companies doing it. I didn't see Nestle being one of the main thefts of the water, Coca Cola I could see as well as Pepsi. To see all the damage and impacts from these companies on streams and lakes made me feel kind of mad, mainly because if it keeps up and nothing is done to slow it down then one day some places that people love to visit could be all out of water. I agree on whats being done to slow it and stop it, but I don't really agree with what is being done by the companies, yeah they need water to make their drinks, but if they aren't healthy drinks then why take the water and waste by turning it into something unhealthy.

2) In recent years in New Zealand there have been quite a bit more water pollution. An increase in dairy farming is linked to an increase in water pollution, and siltation due to land clearance has affected lakes, rivers, caves and bays. There are more than 800 water quality monitoring sites around New Zealand that are regularly sampled to help protect and restore the polluted water to healthy clean water.
 

Land Subsistence in the American South West

a) Land subsidence is the lowering of the land-surface elevation from changes that take place underground. Common causes of land subsidence from human activity are pumping water, oil, and gas from underground reservoirs, sinkholes, collapse of underground mines, drainage of organic soils, and initial wetting of dry soils. It happens in nearly every state in the United States of America. More than 17,000 square miles in 45 States, an area roughly the size of New Hampshire and Vermont combined, have been directly affected by subsidence.

b) Land subsidence causes many problems including changes in elevation and slope of streams, canals, and drains. Also, damage to bridges, roads, railroads, storm drains, sanitary sewers, canals, and levees. It can cause damage to private and public buildings and failure of well casings from forces generated by compaction of fine-grained materials in aquifer systems. In some coastal areas, subsidence has resulted in tides moving into low-lying areas that were previously above high-tide levels.

c) We could come up with alternate ways to deal with water underground which will help cut down the risk of subsidence becoming an issue. If we cut back on projects like digging holes and uprooting tress it would hopefully help prevent the possibility of subsidence. There's no real way to stop subsidence that we know of, all we can really do is try new things and hope that one day our homes and other beloved locations don't get sucked down into the Earth.

Water Use in Agriculture

Drip Irrigation:
Pros - Some pros to drip irrigation are that since your concentrating your irrigation to specific plants which prevents weeds from germinating nearby. Also, as you spread your tubing around your plants, the subsequent irrigation provides an even distribution of moisture. As a result, you maintain a healthy soil environment for optimal growth.

Cons -If you have improper drip irrigation installation often culminates into poor root development and die back. For example, looping your tubing too wide or installing a small quantity of water emitters creates drought conditions where roots continually grow.

Sprinkler Irrigation:
Pros - An irrigation sprinkler system is a competent and fast system designed to address your plants’ water needs. It’s the closest you will get to simulating actual rainfall to water your plants. You can place them on pretty much every surface giving you a lot of options.

Cons - The efficiency of sprinkler irrigation can really be affected by wind. Also, with regards to crop sensitivity, some crops are affected from leaf scorch, fungal disease, along with other damage which may be caused by salt being deposited about the leaves. They also cost a ton of money to install.


Surface Irrigation:
Pros - Minimal capital investment or energy costs, and less affected by climatic and water quality factors. Easy to see the effectiveness of the system and how much it helps. They help a lot with floods and help keep the plants healthy for the most part.

Cons - They tend to be less efficient than other systems, and they are very labor intensive and sometimes difficult to engineer. Can be very high possibilities of disease pressure especially if it does flood. Drainage can also be a problem in some circumstances, if it cannot drain properly it'll start to flood causing some diseases to get into the plants.

Farmers should use surface irrigation because it is not expensive and it helps keep the water quality and doesn't make it unhealthy for the plants. The only things are is if it is in an area that gets flooded easily and it wont be as efficient.

Deforestation in New Zealand

1. New Zealand was the last land mass to be inhabited by humans. It was mostly all forest except for high alpine regions. The percentage of forest coverage in New Zealand has reduced from 85% to 56%. They have sent a direct action to protect the forests since 1970. There are now many legal rights set up to protect New Zealand's forests.
2. The social impact by deforestation in New Zealand is mostly that a lot of people don't want to loose all the unique beauty New Zealand has compared to a lot of other places on Earth. New Zealand's are very unique with many different species of animals, plants and trees, it would be devastating to loose it all. Also, some people want more room to live since New Zealand isn't a huge country and it is increasing in population. The environmental impact is that some unique plants and animals are becoming endangered since they aren't found in other places around the world. With global warming too it's causing some of the forest to be taken down because it can no longer survive in the rising heat. Economic impacts aren't huge, but the logging companies are not successful in New Zealand because of the laws enforced to protect the forests, and people who are trying to start businesses don't have a lot of space or options to do so.
3. I feel like deforestation is a greater threat in Canada because even though our country is huge we have lost lots of our forests. Even though now there are lots of efforts being done to restore our forests it wont be the same to what it was in the past.

Aquaculture

1. Aquaculture is the rearing of aquatic animals or the cultivation of aquatic plants for food.
2. It effects humans because it can be unhealthy with all the different types antibiotics in the fish and different types of dyes, and fungicides and pollutants that the food can attract. Also, farm fish foods have a lot lower protein levels and other things you benefit from fish. Although it can be very beneficial as it provides humans with the fish they love to eat. The environment will be affected because there's lots of degradation and a lot of suspended solids. Therefor the nutrient and organic enrichment of recipient waters resulting in build-up of anoxic sediments, changes in benthic communities and the eutrophication of lakes. It can help the environment if people are very responsible and help stop the amount of pollution being emitted. It affects the economy because they cost a lot of money to create and keep running, but they're very cheap to buy from and they help create jobs giving lots of people good money.
3. I believe it's a good thing to have in our lifetime. Mainly because it helps prevent extinction to some extent, but in order for it to be very effective we as a society need to stop fishing as much so it can be more beneficial. Also, it provides more jobs for people helping people be more financially stable which I find one of the most important things in this day and age. As we evolve as a generation I believe we can fix the problems of how aquaculture works today. For example, I believe we'll be able to cut down a huge amount of the pollution emitted today and I believe we'll be able to figure out a way to make the fish healthier and better for us to eat. Overall I really think aquaculture will be needed in the future in order for us to keep the fish around we love and still being able to benefit us when they give us the great nutrients they contain.

Earthquake in Vancouver

1. There hasn't been a major earthquake since 1700, known as the 1700 Cascadia earthquake, there could very well be another major earthquake soon especially with a bunch of more recent earthquakes in other subduction zones.

2. Our area is very close to sea level making it vulnerable to a tsunami and feeling major affects of a monstrous earthquake. There are tons of trees and loose rocks on mountain sides and lots of tall sky scrapers in the major cities.

3. a) Liquefaction would be a major issue in the South Delta, Richmond and Tswassen area because they are at sea level and the ground can easily become liquefied.

Landslides would be a major area in the North Vancouver and Vancouver Island and Gulf Island areas because of all the forests and hill sides and mountains with loose rocks all over them.

A tsunami would be a major concern for Victoria and other cities along the coast of B.C. because they aren't a major land mass and can easily be swept under water and many peoples lives would be destroyed.

Flooding would occur along Vancouver Island and all the cities and towns along the Pacific Ocean like Vancouver and Richmond. The sea level would rise causing these areas at sea level to flood.

b) The social impact would be major as lots of lives would be in danger and the people who do survive would have a really long tough time of going back to a normal life.

Economic impact would be huge as many buildings would be damaged and destroyed and lots of roads and bridges and many other man made structures would get obliterated causing a huge price tag for our province and country.

Impact on our provinces infrastructures would be huge as it would take tons of time to repair and rebuild especially since the most expensive things are right at sea level. Also, it would take almost a whole generation to rebuild the affected areas to what they are today.

4. Metro Vancouver is preparing for this major earthquake by putting in earthquake proof pipes in downtown Vancouver and other sea level cities and some skyscrapers mainly in downtown Vancouver are getting earthquake proof structures causing them to be able to sway slightly without getting major damage.

Earthquakes in New Zealand

1. There was a 5.6 magnitude earthquake 14 hours ago (May 4th, 2015.) The one I'm doing this assignment on is a magnitude 6.6 earthquake that happened August 16th, 2013 in Lake Grassmere.
2. The focus was 41.73°S, 174.15°E and it was 8 km in depth, so it was a shallow earthquake.
3. There was also a earthquake a month earlier which was a magnitude 6.5 Cook Strait earthquake on 21st July. Land displacement of GPS stations in both the M6.5 Cook Strait and M6.6 Lake Grassmere. The greatest displacement was seen at Cape Campbell during the M6.6 earthquake, land here moved 18cm to the west.
4. It was a magnitude 6.6 on the Richter scale.
5. a) There wasn't much affect except buildings and roads were damaged making it harder for humans to navigate and live everyday lives.
b) Roads were split in half and liquefaction and sand boils appeared in many areas.
c) There wasn't a huge cost to repair things, but some buildings and roads had to be fixed.
d) Many buildings were damaged or re-damaged after being damaged in the July earthquake and roads had cracked and split, but there were no major bridge and overpass damage recorded.

This is the recorded seismic activity of the earthquake.