Chapter Ten: The Southern Coastlands- On The Subtropical Margin

Nevada like many other states is landlocked, and nowhere near the coast. Even though there is not any major water bodies actually in the city of Las Vegas there are a couple just outside of it, Lake Mead being one of them. Lake Mead is in Clark County (the same county that Las Vegas is in) and holds 28.5 million acre feet of water. Lake Mead is one of the largest manmade lakes and reservoirs in the United States, and it gets its water from the closest major river, The Colorado River, through the Hoover Dam. Lake Mead, like many/most water bodies in the World, is drying up due to global warming, increased demand, and natural affects such as evaporation. The lake, as of May 2009, was only holding 43% of its capacity, and researchers have claimed that the lake may dry up within the next decade. Since May there have not been any significant changes to the water level in the lake, and due to the fact that the lake receives minimum rainfall every year I doubt that we will see a dramatic increase in the water level any time soon.

www.nps.gov/lame, www.lakemead.areaparks.com, www.ens-newswire.com

Chapter Nine: The Changing South

Las Vegas was not really a big part of the African slave trade, but one type of slave trade they have become known for in recent years is the sex slave trade. Many of us may think that prostitution is legal in Las Vegas when in fact it is not it is just a perception. According to Shared Hope International the ages of children being sold for prostitution in Las Vegas is, on average, between 12 and 14, this number is alarming, but unfortunately not unusual. On the Las Vegas strip, specifically at night time, people advertise prostitution through flyers, and offer services such as delivering the girl to your hotel room, or even driving you to the brothel. This type of victimization is driven by the demand for it, and sadly demand is high. Much like the African slaves, these young girls are kidnapped and then taken to Vegas where they are sold/ auctioned off to pimps (slaves from Africa were taken from their homes and sold/ auctioned off to their white master). Even though these are two completely different situations it all comes down to the fact that they are both inhumane acts that have and are occurring in our society. "Las Vegas is known as the city where anything goes, but when it comes to the illegal sex trade that is going too far" (Reporter for MSNBC: Las Vegas).

www.youtube.com, www.sharedhope.org

Chapter Eight: Appalachia & the Ozarks

Las Vegas is obviously not a part of Appalachia, and I would argue that it is a polar opposite of the eastern region. One of the main differences between the two lies in their economies, and the affects it has had on the people. The estimated median household income for a family living in Vegas is $54,357 whereas in Appalachia that number is below $18,400. This means that most of the population in Appalachia are living below the poverty level. One of the differences regarding poverty in both of these areas is that the white race is not affected nearly as much in Vegas as it is in Appalachia. "Appalachia is the largest predominantly white region in the United States" (152) and almost 100 percent of them live in poverty. In Las Vegas the opposite is true, only 6.5 percent of the white residents live in poverty. Both of these regions are very different from one another in more than just the economic aspects, but if Appalachia continues to attract more vacationers to their ski resorts, and elderly people looking for remote retirement homes then who knows, maybe one day it will become one of the up and coming regions in America.

www.city-data.com

Chapter Seven: The bypassed east

The bypassed east and Las Vegas are the ultimate opposites, one is surrounded by water whereas the other is land locked, one is full of life, giant m&m's and probably uses more electricity in a day than the other uses in a year. Unlike the bypassed east, Las Vegas is usually always hot, does not receive a large amount of precipitation, and is definitely not the city most think of when asked about mountain ranges or any other type of physical region for that matter. One thing that Las Vegas and the bypassed east have in common is that farming is not easy in either place. In the bypassed east "farming has declined due to the rocky soils and hilly terrain." (130) Las Vegas is not the ideal place for farming either as it is in the middle of the desert, and this type of terrain, as one can imagine, is not desirable among farmers. Vegas has become heavily populated in recent years which is one of the main differences between itself and the bypassed east which is a sparsely populated region. There are many differences between the bypassed east and Las Vegas, but if these differences did not exist then Vegas would not be the unique place that we know and love.

Regional Landscapes of the United States and Canada

Chapter Five: The North American manufacturing core

Las Vegas is not a part of the North American manufacturing core, as is true for all of the cities on the west side of the United States. One of the main topics in this chapter is minerals, and even though Vegas does not look like the most mineral rich city it does have a couple of active mines. The first mine is one that produces 2 million tons of limestone a year, and the second mine produces gypsum at a rate of 1,148,642 tons per year. Limestone is primarily used in the construction industry, which due to the increase in population over the past couple of years in Vegas, definitely comes in handy. The company that owns the mine in Las Vegas extracts the limestone and uses it to produce materials that are used to create buildings. Gypsum is used as a strengthening agent, especially when mixing concrete and materials used to make wall boards. Vegas may not be a part of the North American manufacturing core, but they could be referred to as the tourism core of Nevada.

www.minerals.state.nv.us, www.rinkerpipe.com, www.pabcogypsum.com