Archive for 2013
Study of Gustavus Geography and Film J-Term Course Published
Many of you will remember Dr. Thomas Sigler who was a Visiting Professor of Geography at Gustavus (2011-12) and is now in the School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management at the University of Queensland in Australia. The 2012 Gustavus January Term course he taught, The City as Image, the City as Subject, is the subject […]
Mining the Moon
Last month a Nevada-based company filed a request with the U.S. government to gain rights to eventually mine the moon. The moon could be source of platinum, titanium, and other rare earth materials. Read more at this National Geographic Daily News article.
Student Debt: Where in the U.S. is it Highest and Lowest?
A recent report by the Institute for College Access and Success provides information on student debt, including data on student debt by state and region. Nationwide, both the amount of student debt and the percentage of students graduating with debt are increasing. In 2013, 71 percent of graduates had debt and the average debt was […]
How to compost with redworms
When I lived in a small apartment in southern California, I composted my kitchen scraps in a box of red worms. It really works! Check out the informative redworm composting program offered at the Gustavus Arb this Saturday: Composting with Redworms Saturday, December 7th, 10am Linnaeus Arboretum, Gustavus Adolphus College Got worms? Did you know […]
Why do the tropics have the highest biodiversity?
A long-standing problem in biogeography is to explain the gradient of biodiversity that decreases as latitude increases. Why do the tropics have the world’s greatest biodiversity while polar, Arctic, and Antarctic biomes have lower species diversity? A recent study of mammalian and avian biodiversity compared with weather and climate data, summarized here, suggests that “the […]
Gustavus Students and Faculty Join National Solidarity Fast for Climate Action
Gustavus Students and Faculty Join National Solidarity Fast for Climate Action What: Solidarity Fast for Climate Action When: THIS FRIDAY, November 22, sun up to sun down Who: YOU, GAC students and faculty, and students at 65 other campuses across the nation! Yeb Saño, the lead delegate from the Philippines at the UN Climate Change […]
Global map of deforestation, 2000-2012
Geographers working with Google cloud computing experts have released a new interactive map of forest losses and gains between 2000 and 2012.The map is created from Landsat satellite imagery. Humans are the main cause of forest lost, followed by fire, especially in temperate boreal forests. Nearly a third of deforestation occurred in the tropics, with […]
As Climate Warms American West, Iconic Trout In Jeopardy
As readers might recall, I suffer from weather-mania, an affliction inherited from my father. However, I also suffer from trout-mania, an affliction equally inherited from my father that was born on the small streams of Franconia, Minnesota, and matured on the blue-ribbon streams of southwestern Montana. Today, the very trout that have brought me so […]
Coneflower Prairie
Under a sky of brilliant blue, students in GEG105 Physical Geography: Earth System Science braved the cold this morning to walk through the lovely Gustavus Coneflower Prairie, a representation of the grassland biome which once stretched like a vast ocean of grasses from Saint Peter west to the Rocky Mountains. When asked if it was […]
How the Los Angeles Aqueduct began
A recent Los Angeles Post feature article provides a history of the L.A. Aqueduct and its visionary, colorful, water chief William Mulholland, celebrated as a hero in Los Angeles but vilified as a thief in California’s Owens Valley, from where the water is diverted.