Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
States over the next fours years, with a peak in 2002-03. The epidemic usually
occurs during the summer, when it is transmitted by
Culex
mosquitoes. Birds are
amplifying hosts of the vector-borne disease. In cases of human infections, the virus
causes fever in a few cases, and sometimes causes death. There is yet no effective
treatment against the virus. Protection against mosquito bites is recommended to
those in the United States. The invasion of the United States by the West Nile virus
reflects the disruption of ecosystems caused by globalization and climate changes.
Wetbacks
: In 1845, the border between Mexico and Texas was set at the Rio
Grande. Since the 1930s, many illegal immigrants have swum across the border -
hence the term wetbacks to describe illegal immigrants moving from Mexico to the
United States.
Wetlands
: Wetlands are humid areas usually found at the interface of
continental ecosystems and aquatic ecosystems, such as oceans, lakes, or rivers.
Wetlands are unique ecosystems due to their biodiversity and high endemism. There
are freshwater wetlands and saltwater wetlands (brackish or salty water). There are
also flooded forests (swamps) and herbaceous wetlands (marshes). While tropical
and subtropical mangrove forests typically grow in saltwater wetlands, freshwater
swamp forests are found in the southern United States. Cypress swamps are
freshwater wetlands. Until recently, Americans considered wetlands as wasteland
and converted them by drainage for agriculture (Florida) or urbanization (New
Orleans), or used them for logging. The rehabilitation of wetlands came later with
the population's growing ecological consciousness and awareness of the
environmental benefits of wetlands in terms of purification of fresh water (Clean
Water Act 1977), and their role as buffer areas against floods. Since the 1970s, the
United States have implemented policies to preserve and possibly restore wetlands
(the Everglades, Florida). In the Mississippi delta, the restoration of the delta's
marshes is now considered a priority to fight against the risk of storm-surge flooding
caused by hurricanes
.
However, the Coast 2050 restoration plan, approved in 1998,
had been considerably delayed due to lack of federal funding until the Water Bill
2007 when Congress overrode President G.W. Bush's veto by a two-thirds majority
vote .
White flight
: The term refers to the migration trend of middle-class and white
working-class people from towns with large minority inner-city neighborhoods to
suburban areas. The trend began between the two wars and really took off after the
Second World War. White flight is an integral part of the urban sprawl phenomenon,
and is based essentially on racial segregation. Discriminatory practices such as red
lining were used to prevent black people from moving in and to preserve the racial
homogeneity of the freshly incorporated new suburbs. Besides the ethnic conflict,
