Tag Archives: environment

Storm Kai-Tak expected to affect Manila and northern provinces
Aug 20 2012

Philippines floods: the aftermath

See on Scoop.it – Geography Education

The torrential rains that caused widespread flooding in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, have left the city reeling…

This is a grim, but captivating photo gallery showing how people adapt to environmental disasters.  Human settlements are vulnerable to disasters based on their environmental situations but people still display an amazingly capacity to be resilient in the face of danger.  “The torrential rains that caused widespread flooding in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, have left the city reeling. Thousands of people remain in evacuation shelters, and those who stayed in their homes during the deluge face a major clean-up operation.”

See on www.guardian.co.uk

Mar 20 2012

Jared Diamond: Why societies collapse

Via Scoop.it – Geography Education

This talk (based on his controversial book, Collapse) explores the economic and environmental causes behind why a society that is overextended might collapse or recede from a golden age. Jared Diamond uses multiple historical examples such as classical Mayan civilization and Easter Island as well as modern societies such as Rwanda and Haiti, to argue that unsustainable management of the environmental resources might lead to short-term economic successes, but the environmental degradation may threaten the long-term economic viability of the economic system. This talk ties agricultural patterns, economic practices and political policies that can strengthen or weaken a society and the book looks to the past to assess the challenges of the present and future. This TED talk brings geographic concepts and spatial thinking to many of contemporary global issues.

Via www.youtube.com

Mar 16 2012

Mapping the Anthropocene

Via Scoop.it – Geography Education

As follow-up to an earlier post about how we have enter the age of the Anthropocene, this stunning map is a fantastic visual representation of the forces that merit the dawning of a new geologic age.  This map depicts the lights at night, major roads, railways power lines, oversea cables, airline routes and shipping lanes.  It also expands the areas according to population size.  For more on the production of this map, see the Globaia website.

Spotted on Living Geography.  Via www.viewsoftheworld.net