GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

Venice is sinking–no news there.  Some of the sinking is natural based on the geomorphological processes on being in a lagoon and some is based on how people have modified the physical landscape.  The GREEN on the map represents restoration efforts to stabilize the city while the RED indicates that human-caused activities have produced sinking.  Additionally in this new study, researchers have used remote sensing data to differentiate between the anthropogenic sinking (human-caused sinking) and the natural sinking in Venice.  This city is a perfect example of the three major types of human and environmental interactions [we 1) depend on the environment, 2) adapt to the environment and 3) modify the environment] and shows the issues associated with these interactions.  Click here for a hi-res image of Venice and to see why I love the city. 

Tags: physical, remote sensing, geospatial, physical, environment, geomorphology, erosion, environment modify.

Gapminder is a tremendous resource that I’ve shared in the past and total fertility rates is an ideal metric to see in this data visualization tool.  As Hans Rosling said in one of his TED talks using Gapminder, religion and total fertility rates are not as connected as previously thought.  In this particular mode, you can see how three predominantly Catholic countries (Philippines, Argentina and Mexico) compare in Total Fertility Rates to three predominantly Muslim countries (Indonesia, Turkey and Iran).  

Questions to Ponder: Historically many have assumed that Catholic and Muslim populations would have higher birth rates; why is this changing?  How important a factor is religion in changing fertility rates?  What are other factors impact a society’s fertility rate?

Tags: population, demographics,  visualization, religion.

Join National Geographic in celebrating the great nature all around us! Go outside and snap a photo of plants and animals you find. Upload photos with #GreatNature. Add #animal to animal photos. View photos from around the world at greatnatureproject.org.

Tags: biogeography, National Geographic. images.

In the United States, soccer is not as prevalant as it is in so many other countries around the world (but it is growing in importance in the United States as well).  This cultural discrepancy accounts for both of the spatial distribution of where athletes playing in Major League Soccer in the United States come from–answer: all over.  Also, American fans of the English Premier League have distinct preferences based on different cultural meanings behind team affiliations.

Tag: sport, spatial.

This 2010 New York Times video shows in a poignant way how the past and the present, the global and the local comibine to create underground cultural practices among the wealthy in Pakistan. 

Tags: Pakistan, popular culture, SouthAsia, globalization, culture, Islam.

This short video on the street foods of German cities is a rich, tangible example to show cultural patterns and processes.  Culture is not static and this New York Times video can be used to teach the various concepts of culture; per the updated APHG outline, the initial concepts of culture are:  

• Culture traits
• Diffusion patterns
• Acculturation, assimilation and multiculturalism
• Culture region, vernacular region, cultural hearth
• Globalization and the effects of technology on culture.

Question to Ponder: How are these 5 major elements of culture seen in this video?

Tags: food, migration, culture, diffusion, globalization, consumption.

Learning about North, South Carolina isn’t easy; and don’t get me started on Due West…throw in a different accent and you’ve got a failure to communicate (and for the record, she is dead on with her geographic descriptions).

Tags: language, the South.

I’ve posted earlier about the end of cheap China; the rising cost of doing business in China coupled with the higher transportation costs to get goods to North American and European markets have made manufacturing in Mexican much more competitive on the global market.  Many investors are turning to Mexico as an emerging land of opportunity and Mexico is now a destination for migrants.  This is still a new pattern:  only 1 percent of the country is foreign-born compared to the 13 percent that you would see in the United States.  Mexican migration to the United States has stabilized; about as many Mexicans have moved to the U.S. (2005-2010) as those that have moved south of the border.

Tags: Mexico, industry, location, place, migration.

Beautiful imagery at one scale tells an unsavory story at another.