China announces it will relax its one-child policy and abolish labor camps, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports.
See on www.cnn.com
“Our mission is to provide easy-to-use, yet methodologically sound tools for understanding well being and opportunity in America and to simulate fact-based dialogue about issues we all care about: health, education and income. “
Seth Dixon‘s insight:
Usually we think about levels of development at the national scale and compare 1 country to another. However, there is great unevenness in development markers within a country and this mapping tool helps us visualize those uneven patterns.
See on www.measureofamerica.org
Voters in five Colorado counties said on Tuesday they want to form their own state. But the breakaway regions face almost impossible constitutional and political obstacles. The North Colorado movement supporters claim that their counties have little in common with more urbanized parts of the state, and they are unhappy with state-wide laws about gun control and energy standards.
Seth Dixon‘s insight:
There are other secessionist movements, and other ways the states might have formed, but these are all very unlikely. There’s that little document called the Constitution that makes these movements impractical.
See on blog.constitutioncenter.org
Launched in 1987 by presidential proclamation, Geography Awareness Week is an annual opportunity for families and schools to engage in fun, educational experiences that draw attention to geo-literacy and the importance of geographic understanding.
Seth Dixon‘s insight:
Geography Awareness Week is right around the corner (Nov. 18-22)! The Theme is GEOGRAPHY AND THE NEW AGE OF EXPLORATION. Here are some resources that we are using in Rhode Island. What is your local Geographic Alliance doing? If you don’t know, now is a great time to join.
Seth Dixon‘s insight:
Typhoon Haiyan was enormous and hit a 400-mile swath on the Philippines. The Philippines is a single country, but it is composed of over 7,000 islands; hundreds of islands are in need of relief aid, if not more. The islands are in an archipelago which naturally fragments the land mass and isolates the residents making transportation, utilities and communications logistically difficult even in the best of times. If the first few days after the typhoon, supply chains were cut off and many desperate people looted the sparse food resources available. The necessities to sustain life—food, water, shelter, medication and basic sanitation—are the all major concerns in the aftermath of the typhoon.
While the police are saying that order is being restored, the effects of flooding pollute water resources and increase the spread of infectious diseases because of the poor sanitation. The Philippines is gripping for an impending medical crisis from the spread of diseases in addition to the medical trauma that people suffered during the actual typhoon. Richard Brennen of the World Health Organization (WHO) believes that these geographic difficulties make the relief efforts in the Philippines more difficult than the 2010 relief efforts to help Haiti after the massive earthquake.
Tags: water, disasters, Philippines, medical, development, diffusion.
See on www.npr.org
The partition of 1947, which led to the creation of India and Pakistan, was one of the most volatile events of the twentieth century. Partition coincided with the end of British colonial rule over the subcontinent, and Indian independence was overshadowed by violence, mass displacement, and uncertainty.
The scholars in this video were interviewed for the Choices Program curriculum, “Indian Independence and the Question of Partition”. For more information, visit the Choices Program.
See on vimeo.com
View interactive before and after images showing the devastation Typhoon Haiyan has caused in Tacloban City, Philippines.
Seth Dixon‘s insight:
While the casualty counts may have been lowered, that does not lessen the devastation.
See on www.abc.net.au
Volunteers across the world are building the digital infrastructure for the organization’s Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts
Seth Dixon‘s insight:
Crowd-sourced mapping is increasingly an important resource during an emergency. Poorer places are often not as well mapped out by the commercial cartographic organizations and these are oftentimes the places that are hardest hit by natural disasters. Relief agencies depend on mapping platforms to handle the logistics of administering aid and assessing the extent of the damage. Can you join in and help?
Tags: disasters, mapping, Philippines.
See on www.theatlantic.com
“A year after Superstorm Sandy stranded many New Yorkers without power for days, a federal judge has ruled that New York City’s emergency plans violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. Those shortcomings, the judge found, leave almost 900,000 residents in danger, and many say the ruling could have implications for local governments across the country.”
Seth Dixon‘s insight:
I have many more questions than answers after listening to this podcast. Presumably, most governmental agencies during emergencies are seeking to assist the greatest number of people with limited time and resources; would this court ruling change that mandate? How will this impact urban planning in the future? Just how much can plans in times of emergency account for assisting the disabled? Do you think the City of New York was negligent?
Tags: disasters, NYC, transportation, urban, planning, podcast.
See on www.npr.org
GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION 