Did the Arctic region break a heat record?
The Siberian Times is reporting a record heatwave for towns such as Norilsk that are both North of the Artic Circle and built on permafrost. In what some would have you believe is an unrelated news item, the North Pole is experiencing the formation of large meltwater ponds.
Tags: physical, weather and climate, Arctic, climate change.
See on www.huffingtonpost.com
UNHCR has been attempting to count the world’s refugees since it was created. If you want to find out which years resulted in the worst displacement, which were the biggest countries of origin and which were the biggest countries of asylum, use the interactive map.
This interactive on refugees is especially timely, given that the Syrian civil war has created refugee situations in many of the neighboring countries. One of my favorite elements of the Guardian’s interactive is that they provide the raw data, so students can create their own maps with the same high quality data. Equally important, this interactive shows the regional power bases of all the various factions of the Syrian rebellion that is seeking to overthrow the Assad regime. The political conflict has huge demographic implications.
Tags: refugees, Syria, migration, conflict, political, MiddleEast, war.
Despite the gains, more Africans still die from Malaria even as the spotlight remains firmly fixed on HIV/AIDS.
This is just the map portion of a very detailed infographic on the medical geographic situation in Africa. Click here to see the full infographic.
Tags: Africa, medical, development, infographic, diffusion.
See on www.aljazeera.com
How can cartography swing and election? Simple.
This video is part of a fabulous TED-ED lesson about redistricting. The redistricting process is far from neutral; we should remember that gerrymandering is has happened on all ends of the political spectum. Which map to you think is the best way to divide the districts? What is the fairest way to divide them?
Tags: gerrymandering, political, mapping, census.
See on www.youtube.com
BBC Country Profiles: instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions.
The CIA World Factbook is a great encyclopedic source of information about all the countries in the world and a great place for students to find information for the classic country report project. But have you ever wished that the World Factbook would be linked to the current events and media sources for the country of your choice? That is exactly what the BBC news has created with their Country Profiles page, an expansion on their regional tabs (such as Africa and Asia). This is a link worth bookmarking, and one I’ll including in tag with a compilation of the best resources that I’ve put on this site (IMHO-If you have nominees that aren’t on the list, let me know).
See on news.bbc.co.uk
“nat geo programme about the coke factory and the manufacturing process of coke…”
Where is Coca Cola produced? Some products are bulk losing some are bulk gaining in the manufacturing process. Coca Cola and their containers represent bulk gaining products. Although not the focus of this video, what is the geography behind where these factories are located? How would this geographic pattern change if this were are bulk losing industry? What are examples of bulk gaining and bulk losing industries? Why are glass bottles not manufactured in the United States?
“Americans ate 475 million pounds of tilapia last year, making this once obscure African native the most popular farmed fish in the United States.”
Industrial farming, human-introduced species, GMOs, outsourcing and environmental impacts are but some of the relevant themes from this video. How are global taste buds reshaping the geographic landscape?
Tags: GMOs, industry, food, agriculture, agribusiness,
See on video.nytimes.com
“Aaron Carapella, a Cherokee Indian, has taken it upon himself to create a map that shows the Tribal nations of the U.S. prior to European contact. The map is of the contiguous United States and displays the original native tribal names of roughly 595 tribes.”
The same area can be mapped in so many ways to tell such distinct stories. This article is a great example of mapping being used to tell your own story.
See on www.tulalipnews.com
“Can you recognize it by its Starbucks locations? Let’s find out. This quiz shows all of the Starbucks locations within the city boundaries of 20 domestic or foreign cities, and for each you must name the city depicted from four choices.”
This is my favorite place-based guessing game since GeoGuessr (displays 5 locations in GoogleMaps “StreetView” and you have to guess where the images are located). This isn’t about knowing Starbucks locations, but urban economic patterns and real estate analysis (just as this article showing the locational logic where McDonald’s and Burger King will place stores also relies of understanding urban economic patterns). In this Starbucks game you have to recognized the shape of the city, major street patterns and the economic patterns just to name a few. This is one way to make the urban model more relevant.
See on www.slate.com
GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION 