Turkish hazelnuts, Malaysian palm oil, Nigerian cocoa, Brazilian sugar, French vanilla…
Some 250,000 tons of Nutella are now sold across 75 countries around the world every year, according to the OECD. Nutella is a perfect example of what globalization has meant for popular foodstuffs: Not only is it sold everywhere, but its ingredients are sourced from all over the place too.
See on www.theatlantic.com
“Landsat has seen a lot in its day. In one spot of desert, where the Rio Grande marks the border between the United States and Mexico, the satellite program captured hundreds of images of fields turning green with the season, new developments expanding from El Paso, Texas, and clouds moving over the neighboring mountains.”
Since I have family on both sides of this line, I’ve always be fascinated by the U.S.-Mexico border as a cultural, political and economic phenomenon. Ciudad Juárez/El Paso are examples of ‘twin cities’ that form along the border and in many ways are one metropolitan area that has been brought together by the interactions available at the border; at the same time this regions is highly divided by spatial governance policies. Click here to download high resolution images El Paso/Ciudad Juárez.
See on www.youtube.com
The unsung hero of the global economy: the shipping container.
NPR’s Planet Money has produced an 8-part series following the commodity chain of the T-Shirt. This series explores cotton production, textile mills, sweatshops, outsourcing and in this podcast, the transportation infrastructure that moves goods globally. This podcast touches on the same topic as one of my favorite TED talks, how containerization enabled globalization.
See on www.npr.org
“This map illustrates the country’s deep division – and why the protests might not be what you think. Ukraine has been wracked by protests for two-plus weeks over President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to reject a deal for closer integration with the European Union. Russian President Vladimir Putin had been pressuring Yanukovych to quit the EU deal and join with a Moscow-led trade union of former Soviet states instead. Will Ukraine’s future be with Russia or with Europe?”
The country of Ukraine is both ethnically and linguistically divided and since the fall of the Soviet Union, the partisan politics have mirrored these divisions. The northwestern portion of the country is primarily ethnic Ukrainian and with the majority speaking Ukrainian. This section of the country that is hoping to strengthen economic and political ties with the EU and face Europe; those that aren’t as bullish on the EU here at least want to explore other options so they aren’t overpowered by Moscow’s shadow. The southeastern portion of Ukraine primarily speaks Russian with sizeable ethnic Russian populations (although many ethnic Ukrainians speak Russian here); not surprisingly, this is the part of the country that would rather join in a economic union with Russia and other former Soviet Republics, or at least not turn their backs on Moscow.
Questions to Ponder: Why are language and ethnicity often tied to political orientation? Why might trading with all economic partners not be as viable an option?
See on www.washingtonpost.com
“For city dwellers, it may seem like the world is packed full with people. But not everywhere is so densely populated; in fact, many places in the world are seemingly void of life.There are over 7 billion people on the planet, a massive number that paints an image of human life sprawling densely over the planet…humans are unevenly distributed across the planet, leaving some areas that are densely populated and others that are largely void of life.”
This is a great interactive map that show the tremendous variability in human settlement patterns around the globe. Why are some places so densely settled when others are so empty? What geographic factors account for these patterns? Is the world overcrowded? What concepts need to be consider besided population density to answer that question?
Tags: density, GIS, ESRI, cartography, mapping.
See on www.smithsonianmag.com
Extreme weather increases salinity of water in coastal areas while excessive demand in Dhaka leaves dwindling supply
In what ways is access to safe drinking water both a physical geography and human geography issue? How do changes in one factor influence the others?
Tags: Bangladesh, water, development.
See on www.theguardian.com
“In India, China and many other parts of the world today, girls are killed, aborted and abandoned simply because they are girls. The United Nations estimates as many as 200 million girls are missing in the world today because of this so-called ‘gendercide’ or femicide.”
Part of me hates to bring up this issue since it is so disturbing, but silence itself is a part of the problem. Just know that I don’t bring this up lightly and I wouldn’t share this with students of all ages. Read more on in the this topic in the accompanying article here. The filmmaker has explained why he was motivated to produce this, but not everyone thinks the message of the full documentary is fair and balanced.
Questions to Ponder (with a heavy heart): what cultural, political and demographic factors create the conditions where a situation like this can occur? What should and can be done?
Tags: gender, development, India, China,
See on www.youtube.com
Facing religious discrimination in the Hindu-dominated job market, many are forced to assume fake identities.
This is not that uncommon in India unfortunately. As the articles states, a government commission was appointed in 2005 to investigate the degree to which Muslims were disadvantaged in social, economic and educational terms. The commission concluded the socio-economic condition of most Muslims was as bad as that of the Dalits, who are at the bottom rung of the Hindu-caste hierarchy, also referred to as the “untouchables.”
See on www.aljazeera.com
Some countries are getting old. Others are staying young — and getting much bigger.
These time-lapse demographic charts help to visualize the impacts of the demographic transition principles on a society. In the GIFs of the United States and Japan for example, you can clearly see the baby boomer generation and the ‘greying’ processes respectively.
Tags: population, demographic transition model, declining population, population, demographics, models.
See on www.npr.org
GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION 