Archive for 2013
Wasted Opportunity: Inefficiency and Waste in our Food Systems
Jonathan Foley, Director of the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, has a recent essay on meeting food needs in a world of growing human population. It is titled “Wasted Opportunity.” Here’s an excerpt (bold font added): “It never fails. Whenever we talk about meeting the world’s growing demands for food, energy and water, [...]
An Islamic Google Earth?
The U.K. Guardian newspaper recently reported that Iran’s minister for communication and technology announced that their country will release an Islamic version of Google Earth by August 2013. Iran has long maintained that Google Earth is a tool of western spy agencies. The concept of an Islamic Google Earth contrasts with the common view of [...]
Ice Out on Northern Minnesota Lakes
The ice went out in early May on many northern Minnesota lakes. For some lakes it was the latest ice-out date on record. NASA’s Earth Observatory captured fantastic images of the change between May 12 and May 16 with their MODIS satellite instrument. Read more here
Timelapse: Land transformation videos
These land change time-lapse series from Time Magazine and GoogleEarth are making the internet rounds. It’s fun to see land use and land cover change be so popular! Remote sensors: can you find the Landsat ETM+ SLC-off years?
Hate speech map based on Twitter feeds
Geography students at Humboldt State University in California created this map of hate speech in the U.S. based on Twitter feeds: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/13/twitter-hate-speech_n_3265916.html.
Fair Trade: On Our Interconnected World
Our world today is more interconnected than ever. One major expression of our interconnectedness is the global economy: the goods and services we purchase are often produced in far-off places, and the inevitable waste that is a byproduct of our current economy also has global impacts (see here for one example). The deaths of over [...]
A record wet start to Minnesota’s spring
from WeatherTalk, by Mark Seeley, Univ. of Minnesota, Dept of Soil, Water, and Climate: “The south-central and southeastern climate divisions of Minnesota are off to a record start in 2013 in terms of precipitation. For south-central Minnesota observers the average total precipitation received through the first 4 months of the year (Jan-Apr) is 11.17 inches, [...]
Geography Majors Present Research
Fourteen geography majors participated in this year’s Celebration of Creative Inquiry at Gustavus. Here is a sample of some of their studies.
Geography students to present research
Thirteen Geography majors at will take part in this year’s Celebration of Creative Inquiry. Come check out their research and show your support! What: Celebration of Creative Inquiry When: 5-7pm on Friday, May 3 Where: Gustavus Campus Center Research posters by: Brian Zabel: Spatial Analysis of Viable Locations for Future Construction of Cabela’s Retail Stores [...]
AAG: Should our name be changed?
Should the Association of American Geographers (AAG), the primary society for academic geography, change its name to reflect that it has grown to be an international organization? AAG President Eric Sheppard argues yes here.