B Block Human Geography - Today we look at the Key Question: Where Are Languages Distributed? Ethnologue estimates that the world has an estimated 7,102 languages...11 of which are spoken by at least 100 million people each (including English with the others being German, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Japanese, Lahnda, and Mandarin).
In Canada more than 200 languages were reported in the 2021 Canadian Census of Population as a home language or mother tongue (a mother tongue is the language first learned at home in childhood and still understood). Quite obviously as a mother tongue, English (20,107,200 speakers) and French (7,189,245 speakers) are the most widely spoken languages however Mandarin (679,255), Punjabi (666,585), Yue/Cantonese (553,380), Spanish (538,870), Arabic (508,410), and Tagalog/Filipino (461,150) are also widely spoken.
More than 70 distinct Indigenous languages are currently spoken by First Nations people, Métis and Inuit in Canada and all Indigenous languages spoken in Canada are considered at risk, being classified as either vulnerable, definitely endangered, severely endangered or critically endangered. According to the 2021 Census, 148,895 people reported an Aboriginal mother tongue and just 85,835 people reported speaking an Aboriginal language most often or regularly at home (Language families include but are not limited to Algonquian, Inuit, Athapaskan, Salish, Tsimshian, Wakashan, Kutenai, Haida and Michif).
There were 180,085 First Nations people in British Columbia in 2021, of whom 14,595 could speak an Indigenous language well enough to conduct a conversation, down 7.1% from 2016. Over half (58.1%) of the First Nations people who speak an Indigenous language in British Columbia learned it as a second language later in life, up from 52.1% in 2016.
And for the 28,420 people who live in the City of Courtenay
You'll need to look at language families from pages 146-149 of the Cultural Landscape book in order to fill in a chart for me.
A Block Legal Studies - You'll start the day with a bit of time to work on these questions from yesterday:
- What is the legal definition of a drug?
- What are the elements of a charge for possession?
- Describe two situations in which someone may be charged with possession while not physically possessing the drug.
- What is "Intent to Possess"? Is intent necessary for a charge of possession?
Today, I'm adding these questions from page 250 of the AAL textbook
- How does the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act define trafficking?
- What two points must the Crown prove to obtain a conviction for trafficking?
- Who has the onus in a trial to prove that an accused person possessed a controlled drug for the purpose of trafficking? What evidence can prove this?
The precise wording for each offence is important because Parliament conveys its intentions in laws through the words it uses. The wording will indicate important information such as the actus reus and type of mens rea required (e.g., words like intentionally, fraudulently, knowingly, willfully, and recklessly have specific meanings that are essential to the mens rea issue for each specific crime). When the court interprets provisions in laws, it will always try to figure out the meaning Parliament intended when it created the law. The court will not impose a meaning to a law that it does not think was Parliament’s intention.
To help:
And remember...British Columbia was granted an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) by federal government in November 2022 which will run until 2026. Under the exemption, up to 2.5 grams of the following four drug types can be legally possessed:
- Cocaine (crack and powder).
- Methamphetamine.
- MDMA.
- Opioids (including heroin, fentanyl and morphine).
D/C Blocks Social and Environmental Sciences - We'll finish our conversation on Palm Oil this morning
After, we'll introduce your land use (terrestrial ecosystem) conflict project.
Covering 36 million square kilometres, or roughly 30 percent of the globe, the world’s forests are among its most important natural resources. For many communities, forests are crucial to food security and nutrition, to meeting energy needs (fuelwood), and to their ability to produce and sell non-timber forest products, which may account for a significant proportion of household income (From the OECD Forests and Violent Conflict). And from the World Resources Institute, Human society and the global economy are inextricably linked to forests. More than 1 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods. And forest ecosystems play a critical role in stabilizing the climate; providing food, water, wood products, and vital medicines; and supporting much of the world’s biodiversity. So it can easily be seen that forests and how they are used can become a source of conflict. From Global Forest Watch
Red = Commodity-driven deforestation: long-term, permanent conversion of forest and shrubland to a non-forest land use such as agriculture (including oil palm), mining, or energy infrastructure
Yellow = Shifting agriculture: small to medium-scale forest and shrubland conversion for agriculture that is later abandoned and followed by subsequent forest regrowth
Green = Forestry: large-scale forestry operations occurring within managed forests and tree plantations
Brown = Wildfire: large-scale forest loss resulting from the burning of forest vegetation with no visible human conversion or agricultural activity afterward
Purple = Urbanization: forest and shrubland conversion for the expansion and intensification of existing urban centers.
The commodity-driven deforestation and urbanization categories represent permanent deforestation, while tree cover affected by the other categories often regrows. The data set does not indicate the stability or condition of land cover after the tree cover loss occurs, or distinguish between natural and anthropogenic wildfires.
Here are some Rainforest facts from Mongabay:
- Tropical forests presently cover about 2.4 billion hectares or about 16 percent of Earth's land surface.
- The world's largest rainforest is the Amazon rainforest and Brazil has the largest extent of rainforest cover, including nearly two-thirds of the Amazon.
- An estimated 50 percent of terrestrial biodiversity is found in rainforests
- Rainforests are thought to store at least 250 billion tons of carbon
- Deforestation and degradation of tropical forests account for roughly 10 percent of global greenhouse emissions from human activities
Farming, grazing of livestock, mining, and drilling combined account for more than half of all deforestation. Forestry practices, wildfires and, in small part, urbanization account for the rest. So, deforestation for agribusiness / industrial agriculture (specifically soy, biofuels and cattle) is an issue.
Some things to consider
- Globally, what are the reasons for deforestation?
- What does the rainforest look like before deforestation and after?
You have a project on a forestry issue in the coming week. Here is the criteria for the final terrestrial biome unit project.
- Why is there a crisis over forested land in your area? What social and environmental factors do you think are contributing to the crisis? Does this forest have intrinsic value? What are common factors that go along with the land disputes, such as political instability, social unrest, economic downturn, heavy unemployment, civil warfare, etc.?
- Who are the “players” or "stakeholders" in this conflict? What are their motives and interests in the forest?
- What (and what type) is the forested land in question (Tropical rainforest; Sub-tropical forests; Mediterranean forest; Temperate forest; Temperate rainforest; Coniferous forest; Montane forest)? How large is the forested space, and how large is the area which it belongs to? Who and how many people use this forest and what do they use it for? Identify 10 dominant plants and 10 dominant animals of the forest. Are there any endangered or endemic species in this area?
- Where in the world and in the country and/or region is the forest? Identify the forest on a map, and highlight areas of the map involved in or affected by the issues in dispute (locations of villages, industries, crops, water sources, country/clan borders, etc.).
- How would the forest and its biodiversity be affected by different outcomes of the dispute (logging, mono culture, dams, agriculture, tourism, human development)? Has any group of humans successfully lived sustainably with the forest?
- How, if at all, would this forest conflict be resolved? What is the current state of the dispute, if it is ongoing? Are there forest products of economic value that preserve the integrity of the forest? What are solutions to the forest crisis? Can you come up with ways that would provide the basis for a forest-sharing plan?
You are not limited to these topics, however here are a few ideas to get you started:
Rondônia or Maranhão in the Brazilian Amazon
Ogun State in Nigeria
Vancouver Island or Haida Gwaii here in British Columbia
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, La Macarena, and San Lucas mountains, and in the regions of Tumaco and Catatumbo in Colombia
Mekong forests of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar
Chocó rainforest Ecuador
Khabarovski Krai in Siberian Taiga, Russia
Kalimantan, Borneo (Indonesia, Malaysia)
Menabe region of western Madagascar
Today's Fit...
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