GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

In this image-filled talk, Yann Arthus-Bertrand displays his three most recent projects on humanity and our habitat — stunning aerial photographs in his series “The Earth From Above,” personal interviews from around the globe featured in his web project “6 billion Others,” and his soon-to-be-released movie, “Home,” which documents human impact on the environment through breathtaking video.

Source: www.ted.com

I’ve linked galleries of the artistic, aerial photography of Yann Arthus-Bertrand several times before.  In this Ted Talk, you can hear what motivates his artistic vision and the global perspectives that he wants to bring to the fore.  You can also watch the 90-minute video ‘Home’ that he discusses in the talk here.    

Tags: images, art, worldwide, TED, environment, video.

“The Pew survey sorts people into major groupings–Christians; other religions, including Jewish and Muslim; and ‘unaffiliated,’ which includes atheist, agnostic and ‘nothing in particular.’  Roll your cursor over the map to see how faiths and traditions break down by state.”

Source: usatoday30.usatoday.com

This is a particularly useful interactive map with a lot of teaching applications.  It is a nice visual aid to process the religious data in the United States.  

Questions to Ponder: What patterns do you notice?  Are there religious regions that could be drawn based on this data?   What geographic factors have created the differences in the religious geographies of the United States?

Tags: culture, religion, Christianity, USA. regions, diffusion, mapping.

“Amsterdam City Dashboard presents the city of Amsterdam through the lens of data, including demographic statistics, traffic reports, noise readings or political messages.

The small collection of information graphics are divided in distinct domains, such as transport, environment, statistics, economy, social, cultural and security. All data is shown in near real-time, based on blocks of 24 hours. Larger dots and darker colors symbolize higher values, whereas an interactive map provides a geographic reference.”

Tags: Netherlands, urban, statistics, urban ecology, transportation, planning.

Source: infosthetics.com

Pharmaceutical companies would need to compensate indigenous people for using their knowhow in creating new medicines

Source: www.theguardian.com

I’d never hear the term biopiracy before this month, but this idea is this: companies from wealthy countries commercially develop the genetic resources of developing countries with local assistance but don’t fairly compensate the local population.  I never had the vocabulary to describe such a thing, but that is biopiracy in a nutshell and the EU is working to end that.  It doesn’t only impact the pharmaceutical companies but heavily impact the agricultural industries as well.  Anyone in the developed world eating quinoa and kale 20 years ago?  Being marketed as ‘superfoods’ has changed the global production systems but also impacted local indigenous food supplies (some are referring to this as food gentrification). 

Tags: food production, technology, industry, food, agriculture, agribusiness, globalization, folk cultures, indigenous.

“What’s the worst Hurricane anyone in your town remembers?””

Source: xkcd.com

Click here to see a higher resolution version of this map (don’t dismiss it as just a cartoon!).  

Maps and charts updated weekly show the latest extent of the drought in the United States.

Source: www.nytimes.com

I’ve shared numerous links here about the drought situation in California over the past few months, but the situation extends far beyond California as these animated maps and charts demonstrate. Some of the best public data on drought can be found at the National Drought Mitigation Center. 

Tags: water, agriculture, environment, resources, environment depend, physical, weather and climate, consumption, California.

“Temperatures across the Northeast have been unusually cool, and they have been unusually hot across the northwest.  A strange jet stream is behind the flip-flop between summer conditions in the two northern corners of the country. The polar jet stream is the prevailing band of wind that blows west to east across the upper half of the U.S. in summer. (There is a subtropical jet, also, that typically crosses northern Mexico).  We often see the jet stream depicted on TV weather reports—that big, wavy line across the U.S. and Canada that bends south then north then south again. Low-pressure weather systems, sometimes called cold fronts, ride along the jet stream, bringing us much of our daily weather. But this summer the polar  jet steam seems to be somewhat flattened out, and it’s been in that position more than usual.”

Tags: physical, weather and climate, seasonal.

Source: blogs.scientificamerican.com

“Nothing unites different nations quite like mutual enemies. But the ‘Auld Alliance’ between Scotland and France – both historic rivals of England – doesn’t mean that the French government favours Scottish independence. Far from it.”

Source: www.bbc.com

Historically, France has supported greater autonomy or independence as a way to limit English political power and influence.  However in the era of the E.U. and greater regional integration, modern geopolitics makes this old alliance untenable as some in Scotland are seeking independence from the United Kingdom.  

Tags: devolution, historical, supranationalism, political, states, sovereignty, autonomy, Europe, unit 4 political, geopolitics.