GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

The source of migrants today has changed the cultural composition of the United States from what is was 100 years ago.  Cultures are not static and migration is one of the key drivers of change. These maps produced by the Pew Research Center. Despite what media reports would have you believe, immigration into the United States is not on the rise, but maps such as these can be construed to imagine that there is a flow of immigrant coming from south of the border.  The reality is that migration from Mexico to the United States has steadily dropped since 1999.  

Tags: migration, historical, USA, mapping, census, ethnicity.

Occasionally these lists that say something like “40 maps that…” end up being an odd assortment of trivia that is interesting but not very instructive.  Not so with this list that has carefully curated these maps and graphs in a sequential order that will enrich students’ understanding of food production and consumption in the United States.

Tags: agriculture, food production, food distribution, locavore, agribusiness, USA. 

I’m sure a few of you have already seen this viral video and it should be intriguing to geographers for a variety of reasons (and not just because we love hexagons). Solar Roadways is a project in its infancy, but they have broad ambitions that would be revolutionary.  Roads that would produce energy?  The idea would have staggering results, but there are some practical reasons why this hasn’t already been implemented.  A geographic perspective is critical as we plan for the future.   

Questions to Ponder: How would the full implementation of this idea restructure the cultural landscape, urban environments and our cultural ecology?  What would some advantages be?  This video is a promotional video that emphasizes the positive; what drawbacks, limitations and obstacles are there to solar roadways in the future?  

Tags: transportation, technology, energy,  sustainability, planning, video.

I’ve had a wonderful week in Cincinnati at the APHG reading.  Teachers love to share ideas and resources when we gather together and we’ve compiled 4 pages of links, books, websites and other resources that APHG readers have suggested for classroom use.  Here is a 4-page compilation of APHG reader-suggested resources. Additionally, here is the final newsletter (earlier editions of the newsletter archived here).   I’ll miss the friendliness and professional expertise of this fantastic network of geography educators.  See you next year!

This set of 12 graphics all show a particular facet on the topic of global poverty.  I’ve shared some of this before, but the compilation is definitely helpful.  In the graphic above, the connection between low female literacy rates and poverty is demonstrated quite powerfully.    

Tags: poverty, development, economic, visualization.

Extreme poverty is defined by the World Bank living on under $1.25 per day.  The geography of of extreme poverty highly uneven–two thirds of the extremely poor live in just 5 countries (India, China, Nigeria, Bangladesh and DR Congo).  This photogallery seeks to to show the daily life and realities of those living in extreme poverty.  This article from the Guardian argues that development should measured in human rights gains more than economic advancements. 

Tags: poverty, images, development, economic, perspective.

One of the great results of the decennial census is that geographers, demographers, sociologists, urbanists and countless others, can track the same population or spatial pattern and note historical changes over a 10 year span.  This series of maps and charts highlights some of the major changes.  You shouldn’t be surprised that Atlanta is the United States’ most sprawling major city and that San Francisco is the most compact, but this article dives beneath surface in a way that is still very accessible.   

Tags:  urban, unit 7 cities, housing, sprawl, neighborhood,  planning, density, planning. 

To quote coastal geologist Robert Oldale, “Many people view coastal erosion as a problem that needs to be addressed and, if possible, prevented.  However, storm and wave erosion along the shore of Cape Cod has been going on for thousands of years and will likely continue for thousands of years more. It is a natural process that allows the Cape to adjust to rising sea level. Erosion is only a peril to property. If we build on the shore, we must accept the fact that sooner or later coastal erosion will take the property away.”

Tags: coastal, remote sensing, mapping, erosion, landscape.