terms to know: * european union (eu) * maastricht treaty * heavy industry * light industry * mixed...
TRANSCRIPT
*Chapter 13: Europe Today
*Section 1: Living In Europe
Terms to Know:
*European Union (EU)
*Maastricht Treaty
*Heavy industry
*Light industry
*Mixed farming
*Farm cooperative
*Collective farm
*State farm
*Genetically modified food
*Organic farming
*Changing Economies
*Economies – diverse and changing
*World’s major manufacturing & trading regions
*European Union (EU) unites western Europe into one trading community
*Greater volume of trade than any single country in world
*Former communist countries of eastern Europe – building free market economies
*The European Union
*European unity – western Europe struggled to rebuild after WWII
*1950 – France proposed closer links among Europe’s coal and steel industries
*1st step toward united Europe
*More steps taken
*1990s – agree that goal could be reached
*1992 – European governments met in Maastricht (Netherlands)
*Signed Maastricht Treaty
*Set up European Union (EU)
*The European Union
*Set up European Union (EU)
*Aimed to make Europe’s economies competitive with rest of world
*No more restrictions on movement of goods, services and people across members’ boarders
*Single European currency, central bank and common foreign policy
*Worked to boost trade and economies more efficient/productive
*Control government spending for social welfare programs
*Europeans – oppose scaling down welfare state
*Believe step would increase hardships on people during times of rising unemployment
*Extend membership to include additional countries (eastern Europe)
*Eastern Europe
*40 years after WWII – communist governments ran command economies of eastern Europe
*Loyal to Soviet Union
*Government planners made decisions about goods to produce and how to produce
*Employed more workers and managers then needed
*Factories lacked modern technology
*Fall of communism – 1989
*Moving away from command economies to market economies
*Overcome outdated equipment and inefficient production methods
*Retrain laid-off workers
*Lost social “safety net” – provided by communist system
*Free health care, child care, lifetime jobs et al
*Result: death rates high for newborns
*Life expectancy declined
*Adjusting to new way of life
*Industry
*Industrial revolution = birthplace of modern industry
*Large-scale manufacturing centers across Europe
*Produce from computers to cell phones
*Transportation equipment to packaged goods
*Manufacturing
*Development of industry – supply of raw materials
*1800s – large deposits of coal and iron ore
*Led to heavy industry – manufacture of machinery and industrial equipment
*Today – industrial centers are:
*Germany: Ruhr & Middle Rhine districts
*France: Lorraine-Saar district
* Italy – Po basin
*Poland – Upper Silesia-Moravia district
*Vast mineral deposits – U.K., France, Germany
*Leaders in manufacturing
*Light industry – making textiles or processing food
*Countries lacking industrial raw materials
*Netherlands & Denmark
*Service & Technology Industries
*Employ large percentage of workforce
*60% of workers in western Europe
*Top service industries – international banking & insurance
*Switzerland & U.K.
*Belgium – HQ for lots of international companies
*Tourism – large service industry
*Esp. United Kingdom, France, Germany and Switzerland
*High-tech industries – growing part of western Europe
*Ireland – leading manufacturer of computer products & software
*Agriculture
*Has fertile farmland
*Earn living from farming – more than any other single economic activity
*% of farmers in country varies widely
*50% Albania’s workers
*U.K. (industrialized) – 2%
*Crops vary from area to area
*Warm Mediterranean – olives, citrus fruits, dates and grapes
*Cooler plains region – wheat, rye and other grains plus livestock
*Denmark & Netherlands (Northern countries) – dairy products
*Scandinavian – supply fish
*Farming Techniques
*Western Europe
*Use advanced technology to make use of limited agricultural space
*Mixed farming – raise several kinds of crops and livestock on same farm
*Most farmers own land – average farm 30 acres
*Denmark – farm cooperatives
*Organizations in which farmers share in growing and selling products
*Reduce costs and increase profits
*Farming Techniques
*Eastern Europe
*Changes to farming – after fall of communism
*Communism – farmers worked on government-owned collective farms
* Received wages plus share of products and profits
*State farms – not sharing in profits by getting wages like factory workers
*Outdated equipment and lack of incentive – low crop yield
*Move to democracy – private ownership of land and food production risen
*Expected to increase yields and profits
*Use modern equipment and fertilizers
*Agricultural Issues
*New farming methods – many criticize
*Genetically modified foods – foods with genes altered to make them grow bigger/faster or more resistant to pests
*Con: safety of food not known
*Consumers avoid foods grown with toxic chemicals to control insects/weeds
*Organic farming – using natural substances instead of fertilizers and chemicals to increase crop yields
*Agricultural Issues
*Western Europe - Livestock crisis
*2001 – outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in UK
*Highly contagious among animals, harmless to humans
*Thousands of animals had to be killed
*Country’s livestock industry crippled
*Crossed to European continent
*Consumer panic – plummeting beef sales
*U.S. and other countries banned imports of animals, meat and milk from Europe
*Transportation and
Communications
*Network of highways, railroads, waterways and airline routes – best in world
*Modern communication systems – link most parts of Europe to rest of world
*Most transportation and communications system are government owned
*Standards and performance vary from one country to another
*Eastern Europe – improve less advanced transportation and communications systems to match quality of those in western Europe
*Railways and Highways
*Railroads – move freight and passengers
* Connect region’s major cities and airports as well as link natural resources to major industrial centers
* Provide easy access to downtown and suburban areas
*Bridges and tunnels carry traffic over/through barriers
* I.e. water, mountains, valleys
* Denmark & Sweden in 2000 – opened rail and road bridge
* Links Sweden to western Europe
* 1st time since Ice Age
* 1981 – France – high speed train
*Trains a grand vitesse (TGVs) “very fast trains”
* Fastest train in world
* Less damage to environment
* More economical than airline travel
*Other high speed lines in Germany, Italy and Spain
*Chunnel (Channel Tunnel) – high speed rail triangle linking Paris, Brussels and London
* Passes beneath English Channel
*Railways and Highways
*Highway system links Europe’s major cities
*Autobahnen – Germany’s four lane super-highways
*Among Europe's best roads
*Highest number of auto owners in world except for U.S.
*Other methods of transportation?
*Bicycles and motorcycles
*Seaports and Waterways
*Long coastline – seafaring tradition
*Handles more than ½ world’s international shipping at busy ports
*Major ports:
*London, England
*Antwerp, Belgium
*Genoa, Italy
*Le Havre & Marseille, France
*Odessa, Ukraine
*Gdansk, Poland
*Rotterdam, Netherlands – world’s largest port in:
*Surface area
*Amount of freight handled
*Number of ships docked at one time
*Seaports and Waterways
*Many navigable rivers and human-built canals:
*Rhine River & tributaries
*Carry more freight than any other river system in Europe
*Provides access to the North Sea for five European countries
*Kiel Canal – cuts across southern Denmark
*Shortens route between North Sea and Baltic Sea
*Main-Danube Canal – Germany
*Links hundreds of inland ports between North Sea and Black Sea
*Communication Links
*Bring information and programming to Europe
*International Telecommunications Satellite Organization
*Uses communication satellites (INTELSATs) to broadcast & receive television programs
*Eurovision network – links most of western Europe and Intervision network operates in eastern Europe
*Two networks sometimes exchange programming
*Communication Links
*Telephone & print media – vary throughout Europe
*High-quality telephone service not available in eastern Europe but available in western Europe
*Western Europe telephone systems:
*Extensive cable & microwave radio relay
*Fiber optics
*Satellite systems
*Western Europeans – lots use cell phones, e-mail and internet
*Government censorship of printed materials in eastern Europe
*Ended as democracy grows
*Section 2: People and Their
Environment
Terms to Know
Dry farming
Acid rain
Meltwater
Acid deposition
Environmentalist
Greenhouse effect
Global warming
Biologist
*Humans & Environment
*Face challenges posed by physical environment
*S. Europe – 40 million years ago
*Two tectonic plates collided
*Mountain ranges formed: Alps and Apennines
*Earthquakes occur frequently in: Italy, Greece and Macedonia
*Tectonic changes still taking place, earthquakes may follow
*Affect and affected by environment
*Low rainfall – S. Europe
*Meseta (Spain) – very arid, streams dry up, ground scorched, drought common
*Dry farming in area
*Way of farming in dry areas that produces crops without any irrigation and relies on farming methods that conserve soil moisture
*Delta Project
*NW Europe – violent Atlantic and North Sea storms
*Batter countries that border sea
* i.e. Netherlands and Denmark
*Sea travel hazardous along coasts
*1953 – severe Atlantic storm & North Sea heavy spring tide
*Flooded SW corner of Netherlands
*Killed 1,800 people
*Next 30 years – Dutch engineers carried out Delta Plan
*Project aimed to prevent severe flooding
*Dams and dikes built to seal off and protect Netherlands’ SW coast
*Floods
*Heavy rains lashed much of Europe
*Caused widespread floods and mudslides
*Extreme weather led to loss of life, property damage and disruption of transportation networks
*Why? Some scientists say….
*Natural climate cycle
*Global warming
*Pollution
*Europe’s high concentration of industry and population – devastating impact on land, air and water
* i.e. “black triangle” – central Europe – heavily industrialized area in Poland, eastern Germany and Czech Republic
*Soot covers ground, air smells like sulfur from smokestacks
*Before 1989 – eastern Europe – no laws to control pollution
*Communist emphasis on rapid industrial growth
*Pollution of air, water, soil increased
*Resulted in – harming public health
*Today – efforts to clean environment
*Too little, too late?
*Western Europe – serious environmental damage from dumping of industrial wastes in air and water
*EU – requires environmental protection and cleanup from members
*Acid Rain
*1960s – industries built high smokestacks to carry pollution away from industrial sites
*Worked locally but pollution from others drifted across national borders
*Pollution contained acid-producing chemicals
*Combined with moisture in air – created acid rain
*Effects – eastern Europe – severe
*Why? Lignite coal (brown coal) still main fuel source
*Found close to earth’s surface – cost of production low
*Burns inefficiently and pollutes heavily
*Result: acid rain ravaged 35 % of Hungary’s forests, 82% of Poland’s and 73% in Czech Republic and Slovakia
*Acid Rain
*Not limited to forests – falls on lakes and rivers
*Winter – snow carries industrial pollution to ground
*Spring – meltwater (result of melting snow and ice) carries acid into lakes and rivers
*Acid concentration builds – fish and aquatic life die
*20% of Sweden’s lakes have no fish
*1/3 rivers in Czech Republic and ½ in Slovakia – can not support aquatic life
*Acid Rain
*Auto exhaust – adds acid forming compounds to air
*Acid deposition – wet or dry acid pollution that falls to ground
*Harms natural environment and historic buildings
*Damage from acid deposition have hurt:
*Acropolis – Athens
*Tower of London – England
*Cologne Cathedral - Germany
*Air Pollution
*Traffic exhaust & industrial fumes – cause eye irritations and asthma
*Netherlands – people drive greatest number of cars per square mile in Europe
*High levels of air pollution – affect public health
*2000 – Swiss researches est. pollution from autos and trucks responsible for 6% of all deaths across Austria, France and Switzerland
*Eastern Europe – communist built factories – belch soot, sulfur and carbon dioxide into air
*Result? Poland, Romania and Czech Republic among world’s most polluted countries
*Life expectancy lower in area
*Cancer rates and birth defect rates – higher in area
*Air Pollution
*Air quality – global consequences
*Environmentalists: people concerned with quality of environment
*Studying effects of increased carbon dioxide in earth’s atmosphere
*Gases trap sun’s heat near earth’s surface and create greenhouse effect
*w/o greenhouse effect – earth so cold that oceans would freeze
*Burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) – raised amounts of carbon dioxide in atmosphere
*Increased greenhouse effect
*May cause earth’s average temp. to rise 2.5 to 10.4 degrees (F) by 2100
*Known as global warming
*Air Pollution
*Global Warming:
*Warmer global climate – melt polar ice caps and mountain glaciers
*Cause oceans to submerge coastal areas
*Weather patterns might change
*New extremes of rainfall and drought
*Global warming – big problem – but governments give less attention
*Combat with international cooperation
*Water Pollution
*Mostly in Mediterranean Sea
*Used for transportation and recreation
*Also used for waste disposal, dump sewage, garbage and industrial waste
*Past – bacteria in sea broke down most waste
*Now – growing population and tourism increased environmental problems
*Small tides & weak currents – keep pollution where people place it
*Mediterranean Sea – open to Atlantic at narrow Strait of Gibraltar
*Century to renew completely
*Water Pollution
*Contaminates marine and animal life
*Creates health hazards for people
*Mediterranean – overfished and cannot provide as did in past
*Small schools of tuna enter from Atlantic; disease claimed monk seals
*Seaweed and shellfish compete with foreign species carried by ships
*Affects rivers and lakes
*Danube River – affected by agricultural runoff
*Fertilizers enter river – encourage algae growth
*Algae – rob river of oxygen and fish cannot survive
*Water Pollution
*Raw sewage – dumped into rivers
*Warsaw – ½ of sewage treated
*Other ½ released untreated into Vistula River
*Western Europe – industries deposit wastes into Meuse and Rhine Rivers
*Eventually flow into North Sea
*Pollution levels – Netherlands to Denmark – doubled over last years