Map of the World, in real time with natural disaster information.
“This is a Emergency and Disasters Information and monitoring services. Hosted by National Association of Radio-distress signalling and Infocommunications.
See on hisz.rsoe.hu
Should we look to traditional societies to help us tweak our lives? Wade Davis takes issue with the whole idea
Seth Dixon, Ph.D.‘s insight:
Jared Diamond is famous for his work in writing Guns, Germs and Steel as well as Collapse. His latest work, The World Until Yesterday, he encourages modern readers to examine the traditional societies for insights on how to improve the human condition. In this book review by Wade Davis, he critiques this approach and suggests that we should see indigenous societies as reminders that our modern lifestyle is not the only way.
Tags: book reviews, folk cultures, indigenous.
See on www.guardian.co.uk
Seth Dixon, Ph.D.‘s insight:
These maps were purposefully designed to break all the cartographic conventions and consequently conceal as much as they reveal. When land is colored blue, what happens in the mind of the map viewer? Why is psychology important in how we design maps?
Tags: images, mapping, cartography.
See on imgur.com
Geography contributes to a sense of identity on a personal level and collectively as a nation. So what does it mean when we don’t know where Africa or Europe is on a map?
Seth Dixon, Ph.D.‘s insight:
This article by the chair of the Canadian Council for Geographic Education shows how the decline in student’s geographic knowledge is linked to it’s erosion within the curriculum. In an era of globalization, geographic knowledge and spatial thinking becomes all the more essential.
Tags: geography education, geo-inspiration.
See on www.theglobeandmail.com
Can you use physical and cultural geography clues to match the ground photograph with its correct location? Identify the 10 cities and 10 countries. In so doing, you are thinking spatially and considering language, culture, climate, landforms, land use, transportation methods, etc to determine the correct answers.
Seth Dixon, Ph.D.‘s insight:
This quiz and others like it are great ways to get students utilize all the information available in a photograph and really plumb the depths of their knowledge about places.
See on edcommunity.esri.com
If you are up in space looking down on America west of the Mississippi, one of the brightest patches of light at night is on the Great Plains in North Dakota. It’s not a city, not a town, not a military installation.
Seth Dixon, Ph.D.‘s insight:
This patch of light is baffled me since clusters of light on this image almost always are connected to high levels of urbanization and North Dakota has no major population center of that magnitude. This is the Bakken formation, a new oil and gas field that is producing over 600,000 barrels a day. The lights are oil rigs that are lit up at night, but even more because many gas flares are burning leading locals to call the area “Kuwait on the Prairie.” Oil men from far and wide are flocking to the rural, lightly populated area raising rents sky-high. This has caused a huge localized gender imbalance, changing the demographic and cultural character of the region because of the drastic the economic and environmental shifts in the area (see the national gender balance here). This is a great reminder that the physical and human geographies of a region are fully intermeshed one with another.
Tags: resources, gender, environment, economic, migration.
See on www.npr.org
Britain’s biggest supermarkets defend their practices after a report suggested that up to half of the world’s food is thrown away.
Seth Dixon, Ph.D.‘s insight:
The mechanization of the all stages of food production has lead to some strange practices. The geometry of a food matters for a mechanized processing and also for the aesthetics at the grocery store which leads to slightly misshaped vegetables and fruits are routinely discarded. There is waste throughout the system, from ‘field to fork.’
Tags: food, agriculture, consumption, sustainability, unit 5 agriculture.
See on www.bbc.co.uk
Time lapse video compilation Civilization: Part I – Europe by professional photographer Dominic Boudreault. Shot in England, France, Spain and Italy.
Seth Dixon, Ph.D.‘s insight:
This is a gorgeous video that was very intelligently constructed. The title ‘civilization’ coupled with the images of iconic architecture, makes me think differently and question how we conceptualize the ideas of civilization and society.
Tags: landscape, historical, Europe, time lapse.
See on dominicboudreault.com
Balancing the interests of stakeholders in the Malian polity will be difficult, however some key steps should be taken.
Seth Dixon, Ph.D.‘s insight:
This is a great article for give to students to provide them with the geo-political context to understand the situation in Mali. It also give a great reminder for observers and the involved parties to not lump all Tuareg civilians in the north with the Islamists groups that are in control. “This failure to consistently distinguish between different groups in the North by multiple stakeholders…portends longer term trouble.” For additional reading, see this Geography in the News article on Mali, tailor-made for classroom.
See on www.aljazeera.com
GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION 