Agata Wójtowicz

Explain how we know that harsh climate, high altitudes and difficult
terrain are no longer barriers to human habitation because of
technological advances

Physical used to determine the place of human residence. People tend to

choose places, where they can find food and water, overcome too cold or too hot
temperatures and have enough energy to work. Hence, 75% of people live within
1000 km to the sea and 85% live on altitudes below 500 m a.s.l. (Nagle i Cooke).
However, within extending the possibilities of technology, people extend the area,
which can be inhabited. Human ingenuity refer to methods of building settlements,
agriculture or transportation.

Figure 2 Zain Plant system in Burkina Faso

Figure 1 Encyclopedia Britannica, Burkina Faso location

First of all, human are persistent in overcoming the harsh climate. People
gained possibility to inhabit even arid area and have benefits from natural
resources offered by a destination, thanks to development of agriculture
technologies. To illustrate, Burkina Faso located in Western Africa (Fig. 1)
characterizes with dry, tropical climate. Some rivers become dry during the dry
season and about 80% of soils is infertile (Deschamps and Dresch). However,
people found methods to produce food on the savanna. One of them is irrigation,
controlled amount of water applied to the dry land allow for high er crops of cotton
and sorghum so that reduces hunger. Second technology is Zai Pits, small are dug
into degraded soils. At the bottom of the pits farmers place about two handfuls of
organic material (Fig. 2) (animal dung or crop residues) (Zai Pits) It is not advanced
technology, but this technique by attracting termites make dry, sandy soil more fertile
and increase crop production. In this way, human use technology to provide food in
harsh climate.
 Agata Wójtowicz

Secondly, human developed so advanced transportation techniques that

resources required for settlement can be moved even to high altitudes. Steep
slopes of high mountain such as Fukuoka in Japan (Fig. 3) seemed to impossible
to inhabit. Building a shelter in such place is hard, because it everything can easily
slip down. What is more, in mountains there are not enough resources to build
sturdy construction. Fortunately, modern architecture invented various methods of
overcoming such difficulties, with constructing platforms or bearing down on pales.
What is more an example of modern transport technology is transit of materials by
helicopter (Fig. 4). Thanks to precise machines and people highly developed skills,
helicopter can take part in locating parts of house, which were prepared on

Figure 3 Hiroyuki Ashima, House in Fukuoka Figure 2 Lucy Wang Using helicopter for buidling a
shelter in mounains
lowlands, on the proper place on high
altitude.

Thirdly, even being at risk due to unstable ground of permafrost do not stop
people to settle on areas such as Greenland or Syberia. Permafrost, which can be
found on land below ocean floor is soil, gravel, and sand, usually bound together
by ice (Stanley). This is an example of a difficult terrain to settle, as permafrost in
melting and houses are at risk of falling down. The temperatures are usually below
0 Celsius degrees, hence it is essential for people to have access to technologies,
which allow for sustaining shelter and heat. About 2.2 million people lived on
permafrost in 2017 (Ramage). Hence, engineers have found ways to build on top
of permafrost without raising the ground temperature. These methods include
building on top of wood piles and thick gravel pads. It is not without significance
that there is highly developed technology to monitor permafrost also.
To sum up, our environment has become increasingly more hospitable for
humans due to technological advancements in food preservation, shelter
construction and climate change mitigation. Human move forward to natural
environment, as there are a dominant species on Earth.
 Agata Wójtowicz

Bibliography
Arctic Terrain 3D Modeling

"Arctic Terrain 3D Modeling". Www.Army.Mil, 2023,

https://www.army.mil/article/256154/arctic_terrain_3d_modeling. Accessed 23 Jan 2023.

Deschamps, Hubert Jules and Jean Dresch. Britanica. 16 Dec 2016. 20 Jan 2023.

Farmers embrace zai pit agro innovation to cope with climate change effects – Inades-Formation

"Farmers Embrace Zai Pit Agro Innovation To Cope With Climate Change Effects – Inades-Formation".
Inadesformation.Net, 2023, https://www.inadesformation.net/les-agriculteurs-kenyans-
experimentent-la-technique-zai-pour-faire-face-aux-effets-du-changement-climatique/. Accessed 23
Jan 2023.

Garret Nagle i Briony Cooke. Geography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. 388.

How to Design Architecture for a Steeply Sloping Site - Architizer Journal

"How To Design Architecture For A Steeply Sloping Site - Architizer Journal". Journal, 2020,
https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/stories/houses-on-slopes/. Accessed 23 Jan 2023.

Ramage, Justine. Nunataryuk. 2018. 20 January 2023.

Stanley, Morgan. National Geographic Encyclopedia Permafrost. n.d. 20 January 2023.

Zai Pits. 26 June 2014.