Hello everyone!

My name is Teresa Bernstein. I am a Junior majoring in International Relations (a branch off of the International Politics major) and currently attend the World Campus “location”. Even though I was born in North Carolina, I was raised here in Bernville, Pennsylvania. Bernville is a rather small town about 12 miles away from the more well-known city of Reading (if you need a point of reference). In the future I hope to get into politics – hence my major – and maybe even represent the United States abroad (as I have my Bachelor’s in German from Lycoming College already). The part of this course that I am most anticipating is talking about human-environment interactions and the implications thereof. I do not have too much to say about myself fact wise; I am very big into music and can play 6 different instruments (some of which I taught myself how to play), and like to participate in karate in my free time (a hobby of mine since I was about 9 years old).

One issue that geography would be well suited to address is human-environment interactions. Environment and Society Geography can help analyze why certain areas of the world are left with a larger human footprint than others. Globalization and integration as a result also play a large role in this particular issue. If Country A has a natural resource that Country B wishes desperately to acquire, the Cultural integration between these two countries could lead to Economic integration in order to meet the desire for this resource. Too large of a demand then has the possibility to stress Country A and could deplete resources at drastic rates unless sanctions are put in place. As a result, this can fuel the fires of an economic and/or political battle – which all started with Geography. I believe it is important to understand how much of an effect we have on our surroundings because it ties into more than one would think at first glance.