Archive for April, 2012
Sustainable Cities Field Trip
Dr. Thomas Sigler took his Sustainable Cities class on a field trip to Minneapolis last week. Two educated and informative speakers — Paul Burns from the Metropolitan Council and Ben Penner from Open Arms — met with the class to explain the mechanics of transit-oriented development and urban farming, respectively.
Bears and Humans in Vancouver’s Suburbs
This sign on a city street in North Vancouver, British Columbia is evidence of the coexistence of humans and bears in the suburbs of Vancouver. Vancouver has set an ambitious goal of being the greenest city in the world by 2020. One of its main strategies is a strict urban containment boundary with large areas […]
Field trip to a former lake
Students in GEG105 Physical Geography: Earth System Science took a field trip west of campus this week to study human impact on the natural environment in Nicollet County, MN. At one time Nicollet County and surrounding areas were covered in lakes and wetlands–some seasonal and some permanent. At the turn of the 20th century, farmers […]
Real-time wind map of USA
Here’s a gorgeous and informative real-time animation of surface winds across the USA: http://hint.fm/wind/.
Remote sensing of sea ice off Antarctica
This is a guest blog by Geology major Andi Eglinton as part of the course GEG345 Remote Sensing of Environment. The Australian Antarctic Program is using remote sensing to look at near-coastal Antarctic sea ice and its impacts on ice shelves and ecosystems. They are using RADARSAT satellite ScanSAR images as well as MODIS images […]
Remote Sensing Field Trip to EROS Center
On Thursday, GEG345 Remote Sensing of Environment students made a pilgrimage to the “mecca” of earth-observation remote sensing: the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center near Sioux Falls, South Dakota. From the EROS brochure, the Center is “the largest civilian archive of remotely sensed land data in the world. The archive represents a […]
Are Electric Cars Good for the Climate? Depends on Where You Live
A recent study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that the benefit of driving an electric car such as the Nissan Leaf depends on where you live. The numerical reduction in greenhouse gases depends on how the local electric utility generates its power. If it relies on hydropower, as on the West Coast, then […]
Review of “Triumph of the City”
Are cities “engines of human innovation” and are “vast increases in standards of living in the past century. . . attributable primarily to the advent of urban living on a large scale”? Geography Professor Dr. Thomas Sigler reviews Edward Glaeser’s 2011 book Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Healthier, and […]
J-Term 2013: new Miami course
The Haitian Diaspora: Surviving and Thriving in Miami Are you interested in Haiti but not ready to make a trip abroad? Join us as we spend January 2013 living and studying in Miami’s own Little Haiti. Discover a Miami you never knew! Course Description: Come study and experience Miami as a microcosm of immigrant relationships. […]
2013 J-Term Study Away Fair TODAY
April 11, 4-6 pm, Heritage Banquet Room, Campus Center The Center for International and Cultural Education is hosting a study away fair with both international and domestic courses for January 2013. Come check out the different courses Gustavus has to offer. Gustavus instructors will be present to answer any questions you have on their course. […]