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1/5 of humanity

“The world divided into 5 regions, each with the population of China.”

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

This map from Amazing Maps (a great follow on Twitter) is a clever way to divide the world into 5 equal population regions. In many world regional courses, discussion of Asia might be 1/4 of the course content, while the “NATO and the Americas region” might be about half of the class. Also, think about “the World News” that you see on TV: how much coverage do each of these 5 regions receive? Why is our news coverage unevenly distributed?

This map would go together nicely with this one to show the demographic important of South and East Asia.

Tags: media, population.

See on twitter.com

August 19, 2013 0

The End of the Solid South

The region’s emerging majority is progressive. Its capitols are more conservative than ever. Something’s got to give.

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

Political affiliation differs tremendously from region to region. This article is a great reminder that there is plenty of intraregional diversity in the South as well. Imagining that all of the South will vote in one particular way is now an antiquated way of thinking about Southern politics.

Tags: political, the South, regions.

See on prospect.org

August 18, 2013 0

The World’s 25 Busiest Airports

More than 1.4 billion airline passengers departed, landed, or connected through these massive facilities in 2012. Viewing them from above gives a sense of their gargantuan scale and global significance.

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

This ESRI storymap of the 25 busiest airports compliments nicely the storymap of the 50 busiest ports around the world. The busiest ports interactive clearly shows how East Asian manufacturing is impacting global economics (almost 90% of everything we buy arrives via ship). European and North American ports are few and far between on the busiest ports list but much more prominent on the busiest airport list.

Questions to Ponder: How do places of economic flows reshape the global economics? What do the rankings on these two lists suggest about regions of the world? What would strengthen in a particular mode of transportation indicate?

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

See on storymaps.esri.com

August 17, 2013 0

Rap, Drugs, And Hijabs: 13 Things You Should Know About Young Iran

The future of Iran will be determined by the first post-Revolution generation. Here’s what they’re like.

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

Iran’s “Baby Boomer” generation was born in the wake of the 1979 Islamic Revolution took power in the country. This young generation now is reaching the prime of their lives and has a great deal of power to control the destiny of their country.

See on www.buzzfeed.com

Eyewitness video of 2011 Tsunami

“This video captures some amazing footage of the 2011 tsunami in Japan.”

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

This is an absolutely gripping video, that is equally amazing and horrifying. Much like a tsunami, the video starts out slow with only alarm bells, but at around the 2:20 minute mark the first sign of the small wave makes its way up the river, with onlookers unsure of the magnitude of the impending damage. The riverbanks are breached at 7:43. By 14 minutes, the debris and wreckage is massive, and the quantity of water flooding in is still growing. The last 6 minutes shows the waters receding, but the impact of the tsunami still spreads as fires spread through town. See below for a full documentary on the tsunami, or click here. I surely hope that no one reading ever gets a closer look at what a tsunami looks like in person.

Tags:Japan, East Asia,disasters, geomorphology, erosion.

August 16, 2013 0

Wedding, Gangnam Style: S. Korea attracts affluent Chinese

South Korea’s tourism ministry estimates that more than 2.5 million Chinese visitors spent an average of $2,150 per person in 2012, more than any other nationality. That’s helping companies such as iWedding, which is the largest of the South Korean wedding planners hosting Chinese tourists, to flourish.

Chinese look up to South Korea for its sophisticated urban culture, style and beauty,” said Song Sung-uk, professor of South Korean pop culture studies at the Catholic University of Korea in Seoul. “Rather than visiting traditional palaces or shopping for antiques, they would rather go to Gangnam to experience state-of-the-art shopping malls.”

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

See on www.usatoday.com

August 15, 2013 0

Germany Fights Population Drop

As German towns work to hide the emptiness, demographers say a similar fate awaits other European countries, with frightening implications for the economy.

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

I’ve be recently writing about declining populations on my Geography Education page; in the past I saw this as a demographic issue with primarily economic roots. The more and more I read about this I see it as having profound cultural implications. Countries such as Germany have shrinking fertility rates, but to continue to strengthen their economy and create jobs they have guest worker programs. As the country becomes more multicultural, Germany has faced cultural difficulties as ethnic Germans and immigrants (and their descendents) rethink what it means to be German.

See on www.nytimes.com

August 15, 2013 0

Rethinking Agriculture

“Growing Power is a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities.”

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

There has been a revitalization in urban gardening as many city dwellers feel disconnected from their food systems; urban gardening is a way for people to actively control what they are ingesting into their systems many fear some of the modern agricultural methods. Based in Milwaukee, WI, Growing Power has created an interesting combination of vegetable gardening and aquaponics for the urban environment.

Tags: food, agriculture, unit 5 agriculture.

See on www.youtube.com

August 15, 2013 0

This Pulsing Earth

Spring comes, then summer, fall and winter and if you are off the planet with a camera looking down at Earth, the seasons seem like breaths. Speed up the imagery, and the planet seems to pulse, like a living thing.

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

I’m sorry that this site cannot display the animated GIF version, but just follow the link to see how the seasonal rthymns of the climate and biomass pulsate (at a much slower rate than our bodies, but still a system with it’s ebbs and flows).

Tags: physical, remote sensing, geospatial, biogeography, weather and climate, Arctic.

See on www.npr.org

August 15, 2013 0