GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

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,

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.” 

Tags: labor, industry, economic, poverty, India.

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.

I found this image on social media from a great geography teacher (link to his site–looking for APHG group activities?  Try this).  This picture taken at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Memphis, TN shows an intrguing linguistic combination that I had never imagined before.  This is referred to as cultural syncretism, where two or more cultures or cultural traits combine together to make something new.  Globalization and migration are making more cultural combinations than we’ve ever seen before in this human mosaic we call home.

Many hoping to stop environmental degradation of Canada’s Tar Sands and the Dakotas “Kuwait on the Prairie” have opposed the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.  It’s been decades since crude oil has been shipped by rail in the United States but fracking technologies have opened up areas without oil pipelines to become major producers.  As demonstrated in this NPR podcast, the railroad industry has seized on this vacuum and since 2009 has been supplying the oil industry the means to get their product to the market.   

Tags:  transportation, industry, economic, energy, resources, environment, environment modify, ecology.

This is a floating testament that economies of scale will continue to push the limits.  Today, the largest of the massive cargo ships are simply too big to get through the Panama Canal and have to travel down around the tip of South America.  This is one reason why Nicaragua is planning to construct a canal to rival Panama’s (Maps 101 readers can read more about the geographic implications of Nicaragua’s plans in this article co-authored by myself and Julie Dixon or you can sign up for a free trial subscription to see what Maps 101 has to offer). 

Tags: transportation, Nicaragua, globalization, diffusion, industry, economic.