Geography Blog
Page 5
Haiti 3 years after the quake
This month marks the third-year anniversary of the January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake. Ben and Alexi, two Americans living in Haiti since 2008, have a great blogpost highlighting the progress (and lack thereof) since the 2010 earthquake. They include links showing how U.S. government money was spent and a runner’s tour of post-earthquake Port-au-Prince.
Divest Gustavus looks at college investments that contribute to global warming
Widely-read author, speaker, and environmental activist Bill McKibben tweets today “Divestment comes to Minnesota–real thanks to students at Gustavus!” A group of Gustavus students is taking up McKibben’s challenge (see 350.org) for college campuses to divest from companies dealing in fossil fuels. For more information, see this January 18, 2013 article in the Gustavian Weekly.
Whose ecosystem is it anyway?
Here’s a nice essay on the concept of ecosystem services and some of the problems it presents by Joy Merwin Monteiro, a PhD student at the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. The essay is published in Dimensions, the magazine of the International Human Dimensions Programme on [...]
The Geographic Center of Hipness
Geography major Jory Birkeland did a class project exploring the geographic center of hipness for the Twin Cities. The theoretical basis for his work is found in the writings of economic geographer/urban planner Richard Florida who argues that the future of cities lies in attracting creative workers. Creative class workers are the core of the [...]
Congress’ voting record on gun rights
After the Newtown, Connecticut, school shootings last week, the national debate on gun rights and gun control is raised once again. The New York Times has a map of the United States showing how the National Rifle Association (NRA) rates members of Congress based on their voting record on issues of gun control. Maps are [...]
Geography Association Announces Awards
One way for students to get a better understanding of the discipline of geography in America is to see who wins the Association of American Geographers (AAG) Honors each year. The recipients for 2012 have just been announced. Granted, there are many people who qualify for the awards and the selection process always involves some [...]
Escalating war in Congo
Violence has been escalating in the eastern areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), in central Africa. Foreign Policy writes that Goma, “one of Congo’s biggest eastern cities fell to a powerful rebel force on Tuesday, Nov. 20, in a war that may redefine the region but has produced little political action [...]
Students Visit Local Frac Sand Mine
Human geography students donned safety goggles and hardhats to visit the Unimin mining operation in Kasota. The trip offered students a chance to witness mining in action and see the interplay of global forces, local geomorphology, and textbook economic geography locational considerations. Unimin is a Belgium-based company with mines on all seven continents. Their Kasota, [...]
Using GIS to study history
This month’s Smithsonian magazine features Dr. Anne Kelly Knowles, a geographer at Middlebury College who uses GIS to study historical events. She is a winner of the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award. Knowles became interested in geography later in life while working as an editor with a University of Chicago geography professor: “I was blown away. [...]
Hudson Bay Bound
Natalie Warren, co-founder of Wild River Academy, will speak about her travels from Minneapolis to the Hudson Bay by canoe. Her talk, Hudson Bay Bound: Reflections on a Canoe Trip to Hudson Bay, will take place on Tuesday, December 4, at 7 pm in Olin 103.