GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

an easy, graphical way to learn the three forms of government power distribution.

Source: www.youtube.com

In the unit on the political organization of space, one of the items listed to understand is the various forms of governance, including unitary, federal, and confederations.

Questions to Ponder: What are the advantages and disadvantages of each system?  How do this impact the human geography and how does the human geography help to shape these governance systems?  What real world examples can you think of for these categories? 

Tags: APHG, political, governance, unit 4 political, video. 

Most of the 1,000 or so Marshall Islands, spread out over 29 narrow coral atolls in the South Pacific, are less than six feet above sea level — and few are more than a mile wide. For the Marshallese, the destructive power of the rising seas is already an inescapable part of daily life. Changing global trade winds have raised sea levels in the South Pacific about a foot over the past 30 years, faster than elsewhere. Scientists are studying whether those changing trade winds have anything to do with climate change.

Source: www.nytimes.com

“On why a Prussian scientific visionary should be studied afresh…In a superb biography, Andrea Wulf makes an inspired case for Alexander von Humboldt to be considered the greatest scientist of the 19th century. Certainly he was the last great polymath in a scientific world which, by the time he died in Berlin in 1859, aged 89, was fast hardening into the narrow specializations that typify science to this day. Yet in the English-speaking world, Humboldt is strangely little-known.”

Source: www.economist.com

Alexander von Humboldt has been described as the last great ancient geographer concerned with understanding an eclectic cosmography as well as the first modern geographer. He is honored far and wide throughout Latin America and Europe, but given that intellectually people are confused as how to categorize him and classify his contributions, today he is under-appreciated.  Geographers need to reclaim his memory and call his extensive, globetrotting work on a wide range of subjects ‘geography.’  Here is another article and TED-ED video on the most influential scientist that you might not have heard of (at least until today).

Tags:  historical, biogeography, unit 1 Geoprinciples, book reviews.

American education is largely limited to lessons about the West.

When I turned 15, my parents sent me alone on a one-month trip to Ecuador, the country where my father was born. This was tradition in our family—for my parents to send their first-generation American kids to the country of their heritage, where we would meet our extended family, immerse ourselves in a different culture, and learn some lessons on gratefulness.

My family’s plan worked. That month in Ecuador did more for my character, education, and sense of identity than any other experience in my early life.

Tags: place, tourism, education, geo-inspiration.

Source: www.theatlantic.com

“Urban planners are noticing a cultural gap between bike advocates and others who bike. Planners see a particular type of cyclist: a working-class person – usually a minority and often a recent immigrant – riding to work on whatever type of bike he can get his hands on. Those cyclists are men and women for whom biking isn’t an environmental cause or a response to an urban trend but a means of transportation that’s cheaper than a car and faster than walking.”

Source: www.governing.com

Those that fight for bike lanes are not representative of all the cyclists.  These invisible cyclists are show that the cycling is an economic strategy for many of the urban poor, just as it can be a social statement for wealthy bike riders.

Tags: mobility, transportation, socioeconomic, class, planning.

Geography of the United States & Canada

Tags: urban, prezi, planning, urbanism, architecture, North America.

Source: prezi.com

Geographers make a distinction between site and situation as they consider the underlying foundation of a place. Few cities represent such a wide chasm between these two aspects as does New Orleans. The situation, or the answer to why does a place exist, was imperative. The Mississippi River was a major artery for the North American continent. As first the Europeans and then the Americans assumed control of the area, a port was essential at the mouth of this river. But the site, the response to where a city is placed, continues to confound. Few environments were or are more inhospitable to human habitation. Poor soil, disease, floods, and hurricanes are constant threats that have plagued the city for over three centuries. But the why trumped the where and hence the paradox of New Orleans persists.

Source: maps.bpl.org

New Orleans is the classic example to use to explain the difference between site and situation…lousy site, incredible situation.  These maps are a nice introduction to the city.  

A walkable map of the world, made from soil and stone by one man

Source: www.atlasobscura.com