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GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

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The World’s Newest (Official) Ocean

“The Southern Ocean extends from the coast of Antarctica north to 60 degrees south latitude. The Southern Ocean is now the fourth largest of the world’s five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean, but larger than the Arctic Ocean). The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) has  declared, named, and demarcated the Southern Ocean as a fifth, separate ocean.”

Source: geography.about.com

Typically we define oceans and seas based on their borders with land as their most important characteristics.  Also, we rarely look at the bottom of the globe as the center of our global perspective.  Those are a few of the reasons why American students usually have never heard of the Southern Ocean, but Australian students see it as one of the world’s main oceans.  

 

Tags: Oceania, Antarctica, water, environment, physical.

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China sends first freight train to London

Time for a long trip along the new silk road.

 

The train is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vision for ‘One Belt, One Road’ — dubbed by some as the new silk road. It’s China’s infrastructure initiative, which Xi hopes will improve China’s economic ties with Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

 

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

Source: www.cnn.com

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Israeli settlements, explained

“Both sides claim the West Bank as legitimately belonging to them. Over time, and especially as Israeli politics has shifted rightward, the settler movement has become an institutionalized part of Israeli society. Support comes in the form of building permits, public investment, and even incentives for Israelis to move into the West Bank. While peace talks remain frozen, the settlements continue to grow, making any possibility of a Palestinian state in the West Bank faint.”

Source: www.youtube.com

These settlements are considered by most of the international community to be illegal, but since the U.S. has always vetoed sanctions in the UN security council, Israel had never been formally reprimanded.  Just last week, a UN resolution that passed 14-0 (with only the U.S. abstaining) says that Israel’s settlements on Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have “no legal validity” and demands a halt to “all Israeli settlement activities,” saying this “is essential for salvaging the two-state solution.” 

Questions to Ponder: What is the two-state solution?  Who favors this plan?  What are some reasons why the two-state solution is so difficult to achieve?

Tags: Israel, Palestine, conflict, borders, territoriality, political, Middle East.

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Video: Step Into a Refugee Camp

The Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan is one of the largest Syrian camps in the world. In the fall, we visited the camp live with our audience. Here’s what we heard from the refugees and from you.

Source: www.nytimes.com

If you want to humanize the massive refugee crisis, and have lives and stories to connect to statistics, this 11 minute video shows what life is like in a refugee camp, and goes into the hopes, dreams, and life stories of the refugees. 

 

Tags: MiddleEast, Jordan, Syria, political, refugees.

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Introductory Field Guide to Decoding Cemetery Symbols

Full of ornate stonework, cemeteries are beautiful places both to mourn the deceased and celebrate the lives of those who have passed. Yet there is more to these places than carvings of skulls, crosses and crossbones. A snapped rose branch, for instance, indicates a life ended too soon. Wheat, meanwhile, signifies a life fully lived, then taken by

Source: 99percentinvisible.org

Cemeteries are great places for students to analyze the cultural landscape, learn about the heritage of the local ethnic and religious groups, and think about spatial relationships in on a smaller scale.  This is a great guide to some of the intentional symbolism embedded in cemeteries–field work for students can start in the local cemetery. 

  

Tags: cemetery, landscape, place.

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Funeral Customs Around the World

“A funeral is a ceremony marking an individual’s death. Funeral customs vary widely between culture, religion, and geographic area. These customs are based on the beliefs and traditions of our ancestors. Although there are a multitude of different rituals, there are also some that are practiced worldwide. These include burials, cremations, and spirit offerings.”

Source: rigea.maps.arcgis.com

This story map was created by one of my students, exploring some of the unusual funerary customs around the world. 

 

Tag: cemetery, culture, StoryMap, worldwide.

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Easiest Languages to Learn

“Learning another language is a good thing, but with only a small percentage of Americans, it seems most of us can never dream of achieving this common goal.”

Source: www.youtube.com

This video’s humor isn’t always classroom appropriate, but it conveys several important ideas about languages.  First, languages that are part of the same language family are easier to learn (leading to more cultural diffusion among speakers).  Second, not all languages are equally important on a global scale even if they are similar (some languages are ‘docked’ on this list). This list is specifically for English speakers: 

  1. Dutch
  2. Frisian
  3. Afrikaans
  4. Esperanto
  5. Norwegian
  6. Swedish
  7. Italian
  8. French
  9. Portuguese
  10. Spanish

 

Tags: language, culture, diffusion.

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Amid ISIS and Syria, Let’s Not Forget The Quest for Peace In Israel/Palestine

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has rarely been so far from finding a resolution. Since the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas during the summer of 2014, the desire to seek peace has been diminishing, and instead growing tensions have prevailed, punctuated by stabbings and car-ramming attacks by the Palestinians, and violent acts including arson by the settlers. Yet, the climate has rarely been so favorable to a resolution of the conflict. The chaos that is sweeping the Middle East has been a game-changer in relation to Israel and the Arab countries.

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Many Palestinians and Israeli are fearful of a possible breakout of ISIS out of Syria and into Gaza and the West Bank. According to the authors of the op-ed, Europe needs to come together and provide leadership and a plan to enforce so that these issues do not reoccur. The last 17 years have been filled with failed attempts but breaking this cycle of violence is not impossible. 

 

Tags: op-ed, Israel, Palestine, conflict, political, Middle East.

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The Staggering Wealth Of Mexico City

Walk on the streets and you´ll be exposed to its informal economy: people who do what they can to eke out a living including washing windshields, selling food, or even singing, dancing, and performing acrobatics for a tip.

What Americans may not know is that Mexico City is home to the wealthiest people, the poshest neighborhoods, the most exclusive shops, entertainment venues, and cultural centers on the planet.

Source: xpatnation.com

Mexico City has been the economic center of Mexico for a long time and is a true primate city. “Wealth accumulation in Mexico City has historically been concentrated in the hands of a few. In colonial times, the elite was mostly composed of Spanish-born immigrants who held high-ranking offices or worked as business owners or export-oriented merchants. Later, the wealthy were those who owned large estates known as haciendas…It is estimated that around 40 percent of Mexico’s income is owned by just 10 percent of its population, while 52.3 percent of Mexican citizens live in poverty.”

 

Tags: urban, megacities, economic, labor, Mexico.

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