November 2008 Archives

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Countdown to Turkey Day: <24 hours.

When most of us think of Thanksgiving, a traditional cornucopia of foods come to mind. Turkey of course, and for the vegetarians, the gelatinous “Tofurkey" alternative; mashed potatoes and stuffing smothered in gravy from the bird’s belly, sweet potatoes, corn, an assortment of vegetables including squash, pumpkin, and zucchini; cranberry sauce, apple pie, etc.

These Thanksgiving staples largely reflect the local fare that would have been available to the pilgrims in Plimoth, Massachusetts, and their Native American friends four centuries ago for an autumn harvest feast--whatever your notions of the contentious history behind the real “First Thanksgiving.”

In fact, according to History.com, many of the foods commonly consumed at modern Thanksgiving celebrations would NOT have been eaten by early settlers in the 1600s. Among the Thanksgiving “impostors” are potatoes and sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie (sweet foods were uncommon, as sugar supplies were limited).

And of course, harvest feasts in other regions of the country would have looked quite different from those in New England, as variations in climate, soil, and precipitation conditions yielded production of distinct crops.

So this Thanksgiving, why not try something new and “make like the pilgrims” by eating local!

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Of course, we all know that Geography Awareness Week is kind of a big deal. But it seems the rest of the world is catching on, too.

We’ve been scouring the media landscape for editorial coverage of Geography Awareness Week, or “counting clips” as they say in the world of public relations, and we’ve unearthed quite an abundance of articles. So far we’ve identified over 100 Geography Awareness Week mentions in blogs and newspapers, podcasts, radio segments, twitter feeds, and other media formats.

Here’s a quick sampling:

Fox 5 DC- Nov. 18^th, Holly Morris
In My Wonderful World’s (MWW) hometown of Washington, D.C., we celebrated Geography Awareness Week by putting students on the map, literally. National Geographic’s giant maps traveled around to D.C. schools, and Holly Morris of the local Fox affiliate got in on the action at Cardozo High School. Check out the entertaining video clips from her visit.

Chicago Tribune--Nov 16^th, Alfred Borcover
Annual Geography Awareness Week quiz special

The Capitol Times – Madison,  WI, Nov. 10
MWW Public Engagement Coordinator (PEC) for Wisconsin Carlo Kumpula wrote a letter to the editor highlighting the importance of geographic education during Geography Awareness Week. Great job Carlo!

San Marcos Daily Record – San Marcos, Texas– Nov. 22
Who won Texas' annual Geography Awareness Week poster contest? Read the article to find out!

Very Spatial Blog --Podcast
In a ten minute interview, MWW Campaign Manager Anne Pollard gave Very Spatial the 411 on Geography Awareness Week and the importance of geographic education.

About.com: Geography – Nov. 13, Matt Rosenberg
First see what Matt had to say about Geography Awareness Week on his website; then see how he answered my oh-so-provocative questions on the MWW blog during our careers focused Q&A.

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On the final "official" day of Geography Awareness Week (because we all know that Geography is meant to be celebrated all year long), we encourage you to GET OUT and experience geography in the field.

I can't think of anyone adhering more truly to the spirit of hands-on experiential learning than the Vogels.

Dad John, 10-year-old twin sons Davy and Daryl, and Mom Nancy Sathre-Vogel are currently traversing the Pan-American Highway from Alaska to Argentina. When the journey is complete, Davy and Daryl will become the Guiness World Record holders as the youngest people ever to make the trip on bicycle. Pretty impressive, eh?

Read below to see how the family is discovering new geographic insights with each pedal. And make sure to visit the Family on Bikes website for more information, including an interactive map of their trek, and other great educational resources developed with the help of non-profit Reach the World.

Geography.  For years I figured, like a lot of other people, that geography consisted of knowing the locations of states and names of state capitals.  If I could memorize those bits of random knowledge, I could consider myself “geographically literate.”

But somehow my eyes became opened over time.  Maybe I began to see there was way more to this wonderful world of ours than a bunch of names.  Perhaps I realized that my Special Ed kids may never be able to memorize a bunch of random facts, but they could gain an overall impression of various areas.  However I came to the realization, I’m glad I did.

Geography is much more than memorization – it’s understanding patterns around the world; it’s seeing similarities and differences between the world’s peoples and places; it’s realizing that our actions in America can and do have far reaching effects.  That’s what I’m hoping my boys will learn – and all the other kids following along with us as well.

I remember one moment when I realized my boys were starting to “get it;” when they suddenly put some of those random facts together and applied them to their lives.  We were cycling on the Colorado Plateau in the fall of 2006 – and it was cold.  As we visited Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon at 7000 feet in altitude, we shivered as we huddled around our tiny camp stove cooking pasta each night.  Our teeth chattered until we mummified ourselves in our down sleeping bags each evening.  It was cold – and we were getting tired of it.

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Danny Edelson is Vice-President of Education for National Geographic.

November 5, 2008

Dear Senator Obama,

Like so many Americans, I am filled with hope this morning. One of the many reasons is your belief in the importance of taking the interconnectedness of Americans--to each other, to the other peoples of the world, and to the environment--into account when you make decisions.

So many of the challenges we face in today's world are the result of our failure to recognize this interconnectedness when we make decisions as individuals or as a nation. The growth of Anti-American sentiment abroad in recent decades, this year's global food shortages, human-induced global warming, and the international credit crunch of the last quarter are all examples of how our interconnectedness magnifies the impact of decisions that individuals, businesses, and governments make.

From what you have said on the campaign trail, I am confident that your administration will set a new standard for taking this interconnectedness into account in decision-making. But I hope that you will not stop there. I hope that you will make sure that learning about this interconnectedness and how to account for it in decision-making will be part of the education that every student in America receives.

The U.S. has done a dismal job of educating our young people about the world and the complex interdependencies that link us to each other and to the natural resources and ecosystems that sustain us.

Why has this happened? Because the U.S. has abandoned geographic education in favor of other priorities. Of course, for most of us, the phrase "geographic education" evokes an image of map-coloring and memorization of country locations, an image that has nothing to do with understanding interconnectedness.

The reality is that the image of geographic education we formed in our school days could not be farther from the reality of modern geography. The essence of modern geography is, in fact, interconnectedness.

Modern geography is the study of systems on Earth and how they interact. These include social systems like countries and markets, cultural systems like religions and languages, ecological systems like food webs and habitats, and physical systems like oceans and the atmosphere. Other disciplines study these systems as well, but what makes geography uniquely important is that it focuses on how these systems connect places to each other, so that geographic education teaches us how causes in one place lead to effects in others.

Modern geography teaches us how each individual's decisions about energy use could contribute to a chain of causality that, through the intermediate effect of climate change, could lead to a precipitous rise in sea-levels and the loss of hundreds of millions of homes around the world over the course of a century.

Geography also teaches us how the decision to convert agricultural land in Illinois to the production of ethanol could contribute to food shortages in Africa and Southeast Asia within a year. Maybe most important, it teaches us how differences in the placement of public transport, grocery stores, and banks can make the difference between a residential area of alienated and isolated residents and a community with a sense of shared responsibility.

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One thing you can do with a degree in Geography is, well, teach geography to others. Matt Rosenberg is not your traditional classroom instructor; rather, he practices his pedagogy primarily via the World Wide Web. Matt has been disseminating geographic knowledge as About.com’s Geography Guide for the past ten years and has been a friend of the My Wonderful World Campaign since launch. Matt has written two books, has been featured on NPR and PBS, and has won several awards. He holds a Master’s Degree in Geography from California State University, Northridge, is currently attending rabbinical school, and recently became a new father. We were thrilled that he was able to take time out of his busy schedule to answer a few of our burning questions.

How did you first become interested in geography? Did you take any geography classes as part of your k-12 education?

I actually never took a geography class in primary or secondary school.  I don’t even remember being tested on state capitals!  My first geography class was a lower division introduction to urban and economic geography course at UC Davis.  With that class, I fell in love with geography and declared my major shortly thereafter.

What are your favorite geographic topics to study and/or write about?

I love to write about urban, economic, and political geography.  When I look at the content I’ve written over the years, there’s a definite bent toward those topics. I also like to create lists of the biggest, tallest, most populous, etc.

Your bio says that you’ve worked previously as a GIS technician for local government, newspaper columnist, and disaster manager for the Red Cross. Can you tell us a little bit about how you used geography in each of those careers?

Well, my work as a newspaper columnist took place for the town paper while I was in high school so it was before I was a geographer.  The other careers were all intimately tied to geography.  I think that my skills as a geographer really had a positive impact on my work as a disaster manager for the Red Cross.  I would work with demographics, hazard maps, and disaster plans on a daily basis and my geographical skills helped me understand the relationship between human action and the physical environment.  Obviously, working in the GIS division for my local government was intrinsically tied to my skills as a geographer.

How did you get to your current position as Geography Guide at About.com? What do you like best about your job?

I had just finished my undergraduate degree in geography at UC Davis and was working in the university library.  Part of my job was the library website and so I was receiving various email newsletters about newfangled things on the Internet.  I received word that About.com was looking for Guides to run websites about various topics.  I found that they were looking for a Geography Guide (the title is unusual but it is somewhat of a cross between an editor-in-chief, writer, webmaster, librarian, and general go-to person for the topic).  I applied and created a mock site while competing against other unknown candidates and I was selected.  My site was one of the first to go live when About.com rolled out publicly in April of 1997. 

I love to share my love of geography with people around the world.  I love it when I inspire students to take classes, declare geography as a major, or even continue on into graduate school in the discipline.  It’s a wonderful feeling to have that sort of impact outside of academia.  Researching and writing about geography topics is a lot of fun, too.

What do you hope to achieve with your website?

Through my website, I hope to teach a passion for geography to as many people as possible. 

What is the most frequently asked question you get about geography on your website?

I am most frequently asked who I don’t list Scotland as an independent country on my list of countries of the world. So, maybe it’s more of a complaint than a question but people from Wales and Northern Ireland don’t seem to write quite as often as the Scots. 

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Toni Schneider is a former Peace Corps Volunteer who was stationed in Bulgaria from 2005- 2007. National Geographic has had the pleasure of her company in our education department since then, and we’re honored to highlight her experiences on the blog.  We couldn’t think of a better way to end Geography Awareness Week than by noting one very important application of geographic knowledge and skills: volunteerism and global activism.

When people hear that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer, it elicits one of two responses: “I always wanted to join the Peace Corps!” or “The Peace Corps? Is that a real job?”  In honor of Geography Awareness Week, My Wonderful World asked me to write about my Peace Corps experience through the lens of careers in geography. Check out the Google Earth tour “Geography on the Job” to get a glimpse of my work with the Roma community in Bulgaria. 

Ever wonder what a volunteer does all day long?  See my “Day in the Life” section at the end of this post.

What inspired me to join

Every Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) is asked, “Would you do it again?” For me, I’ve already shouted “yes!” before the question has been finished.  Serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer completely changed my perspective on the world, without changing the person that I am.  Anyone searching for an extraordinary way to truly experience a culture (eating chocolate gelato in front of the Trevi fountain does not count!), learn a little language and a lot about humility should seriously consider joining the Peace Corps.  As a community member, a Peace Corps Volunteer walks through an ever-revolving door, changing their role more frequently than their wardrobe – becoming everything from inquisitive stranger, to technology whiz, and hopefully, to community member and beloved friend.  The transition from one role to another is filled with fear, confusion and tears, but equally, respect, joy and clarity.

People are familiar with the sentiment that inspired John F. Kennedy to create the Peace Corps, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”   What they don’t know is that he also said, “The logic of the Peace Corps is that someday we are going to bring it home to America."This more than anything continues to inspire me personally, as well as influence my career path.  

I spent my entire childhood growing up on the Rosebud Reservation in southern South Dakota, a place not so dissimilar to my Peace Corps work in the Roma ghettos in Bulgaria. Faced with not only soaring unemployment, but also below-average life expectancies, lack of opportunities, and inadequate education, most youth on the reservation and the Roma ghetto have little hope to succeed in either career or education.  Those with hope often do not have the means, and those with the means have hardened to things like hope, and would prefer to leave their home communities and never return.  I treated Peace Corps as an opportunity to be trained to work in impoverished communities, and the experience has given me many ideas about the types of programming and development methods that I hope I can one day help to apply to my home community.  I would like to see a youth movement that functions like a civic council – researching problems, hearing concerns, and finding solutions that fit the community.  This kind of program not only empowers youth to become leaders, it also gives them a sense of ownership over improvements to their city. I feel very fortunate to have had the life experiences that I’ve had, and feel it’s very important to give back to my community.  Ultimately, I would like to return home to the Rosebud to become the change agent Peace Corps trained me to be.

Day in the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer
Bulgaria, 2007

9:25 am
I arrive just in time for the weekly staff meeting at the Pernik Municipal Palace of Culture where I help create arts education projects.  Before the meeting even begins, I’m scolded by coworkers for coming to work with wet hair, do I really want to catch a cold and die? (How was I supposed to know that my neighbor turned off the electricity to fix something in his apartment? So much for my hair dryer!)

10:30am
All of the typing games I played in middle school have paid off, and my coworkers believe I’m a computer genius.  Today I’m teaching our Public Relations person how to use PowerPoint for a meeting with the Minister of Education and Culture.  This presentation should give us the edge to receive the funding we need for an upcoming multimedia arts education project.  Since my organization is not-for-profit, we have no revenue of our own to support any programs or ideas that we create.  To help fund our ideas, we often write grants in either English or Bulgarian, depending on the source of the funding.

11:05am
During a mid-day coffee break, I review daily newspaper headlines with my coworkers Ivan and Sasho.  Their favorite topic: Do I really think America will elect a woman or a minority as President?

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Hopefully by Friday of Geography Awareness Week, you’ve realized the value of geography.  It’s current, it’s everywhere, and it underlies most of what you do - even if it doesn’t have the word ‘geography’ in it!  

The last themed-day of our Geography Awareness Week celebration is “Careers.”  We want to draw your attention to geography as a set of skills, as an academic discipline, and as a way to expand your future career options and strengthen your current career competencies through understanding global connections.  Most importantly, we want to remind you that geographers are all around you (we’re sneaky), and that geography is quickly becoming one of the hottest topics in a globally interdependent world.

 The American Association of Geographers (AAG) has a list of their members working in different capacities around the country –and not just as geography professors.  Follow this link, and see the different companies that notable AAG members work for. You can also check out this list of jobs that use geography, or use AAG’s Career Guide to help plan your next step in the professional world. 

Not a ‘professional’ yet?  Check out the AP Human Geography class for high school students, or locate universities or colleges in the United States and abroad that offer degrees in Geography.  You can see what the buzz is about in the cartographic, or “map-making” world, and learn why GIS consistently tops headlines.

Next, have some fun by taking the last of our geo-tours.  The “Geography on the Job” geo-tour flies you around the planet to meet different professionals, revealing how they use geography in fields you might not expect.  Finally, read interviews from young activists in international careers with the Asia Society.

Keep checking back today for our guest bloggers! First, Toni Schneider from the National Geographic Society will tell us about her experience in the Peace Corps. Then, acclaimed About.com Geography Guide Matt Rosenberg will share musings on everything from his hopes for the discipline of geography, to the most frequently asked questions on his website. And finally, we’ll conclude the week with a “letter to Obama” from our own Danny Edelson, Vice President of Education for National Geographic.

Don’t forget that Geography Awareness Week continues through Saturday. So get outside this weekend and celebrate! I for one will be hiking and paying a visit to the newly reopened Smithsonian  Museum of American History here in Washington, D.C.—that is before they start charging admission for the historically free national treasure. But I guess that’s what happens in the midst of a global economic downturn: It’s geography, people!   

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Finally, a selection of Community Action Plans from National Geographic’s Danielle Williams and the rest of the HSBC/Earthwatch Climate Change Team, as promised. Read more about Danielle’s work with the “Sustainable Forest Management in a Changing Climate” project here, here, and here.

Danielle W.'s Community Action Plan:

My husband and I moved to our condominium community in February of 2008. It’s located in Falls Church, right across the street from a Metrorail station, so it’s aptly placed to potentially be a model of sustainable behavior and investment to the rest of our community. I have had several months to observe the behaviors of my neighbors and I believe I can make a difference in creating better awareness of the benefits of recycling, amongst other more sustainable actions. So my plan is that by early 2009, I will become more involved in communicating with the condo board to help “green” my condo community and create better awareness of how our actions as a community contribute to climate change, thus how our actions can also help mitigate its effects.

I will first speak with a member of the condo board separately to determine what measures have been taken or proposed in the past to increase our energy efficiency as a community, reduce runoff, consider space for bike racks (we live within walking distance of a walk/bike trail) and community compost bins, install rain barrels, develop a more robust recycling plan and consider a long-term transition to solar power, amongst other things. I want to create a year-long, step-by-step plan that brings one action item to the table for consideration at each monthly condo board meeting – with realistic and achievable results. I will argue that developing and implementing additional, more sustainable projects into our community management plan is a solid investment for the future.

As part of my efforts, I would like to present a modified version of the PowerPoint presentations we were given at the HSBC/Earthwatch Climate Partnership so that the board gains insight, like I did, as to how important – and fun – taking action on climate change really is. I will propose that the board support me in organizing a weekend recycling day/event for the community, with hands-on activities for kids and their families and attended by recycling representatives from Falls Church to help provide information about recycling and other related programs in our area.

By December of 2009, my goal is to increase our community’s rate of recycling by 50%. In addition, I hope that another half of my list of community action items (i.e. rain barrels, compost bins, bike racks, etc.) are at least under consideration and continuing to be discussed by the board.

Danielle W. works in the Research, Conservation & Exploration Division of The National Geographic Society and serves on the Employee Practices subcommittee of their Green Initiative.

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M. Ford Cochran directs Education Technology and Mission Programs online for National Geographic. He formerly taught Earth and environmental science at the University of Kentucky,  and has also written for National Geographic magazine. A geologist by training, Ford regularly dons his scientist hat leading trips for the National Geographic Expeditions travel program. He recently journeyed to Iceland with a group of lucky high-school students.

We are ecstatic to finally play host to Ford (who serves as manager of National Geographic’s Bioblitz Blog in another one of his many capacities) here on the My Wonderful World Blog during Geography Awareness Week!

Of Hotspots and Meltdowns: Iceland’s Latest Saga

Consider the irony: Iceland —perched just below the Arctic Circle, partially shrouded in glaciers, and with a name from the Old Norse for (that’s right) “Ice Land”—owes so much to fire.

Without the magmatic inferno of an Atlantic seafloor thinned and torn asunder, combined with a column of extra-hot and buoyant rock rising beneath the island, Iceland might lie at the bottom of the ocean with the rest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Without fire, in short, there would be no Iceland.  Humans have shaped Iceland's  environment since the first Vikings arrived and began depleting its forests to create pastureland and charcoal.

The environment has shaped the lives of Iceland's inhabitants, too. Volcanic eruptions routinely wreak regional havoc. One that began in 1783, the Laki fissure eruption, killed most of the island’s livestock, produced widespread famine, and nearly induced those who survived to abandon Iceland for the European mainland. Laki released more lava than any other known eruption in the last millennium. Eruptions beneath ice (such as the 1996 Gjálp eruption beneath the Vatnajökull icecap, which blankets much of eastern Iceland and is the planet’s third-largest glacier) produce stupendous floods.

Today, Iceland's volcanic fire pays dividends to its citizens in the form of cheap geothermal power. Electricity, hot water, and heat are nearly free, and practically every small town has its own heated public swimming pool, open through even the darkest and coldest winter months.

Iceland earned unwelcome attention last month for the financial meltdown of its largest banks. But across the landscape, a more protracted and relentless meltdown is underway, as Iceland's largest glaciers thin and retreat at astonishing rates. If the trend continues, by next century the glaciers could be all but gone, transforming Iceland into an iceless land.

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Today we welcome Olzem Esckiocak from the UN Foundation, one of our My Wonderful World Coalition member organizations. Ozlem shares details of the People Speak, “a campaign to engage young people on the global issues that will shape their future,”and the Youth Climate Pledge. The Youth Climate Pledge is a People Speak outreach initiative designed to empower young people in the battle against global climate change.  

Join together by signing the Youth Climate Pledge
By Ozlem Esckiocak, UN Foundation

I have always been fascinated by the differences as well as the similarities between all people living under the same sky.  When we work together and take action for the global issues we care about, we reinforce that fact that we live in one world and that we are all affected by our environment. 

The United Nations Foundation believes strongly in connecting young people from all around the world and encouraging them to address the global problems we are facing together.  For the last two years we have been focusing on the issue of young people getting active on climate change.  We know that this is an issue that everyone – no matter if you live in Brooklyn, NY or  Durban, South Africa – has a stake in. We have seen through the Global Debates, our program that engages high school students from more than 80 countries in discussion about global issues, that these problems need to be addressed hand in hand with global citizens. Geography Awareness Week is a fantastic opportunity to reinforce our ability to work together, starting at a young age, to combat global challenges through awareness, advocacy, and action.

This is just one of the reasons why we want (you)th to take advantage of the UN Foundation’s Youth Climate Pledge.  This petition, developed by youth activists from all over the world, is a single way to share a unified voice and put the power in students’ hands to encourage their families, schools, communities and governments to change their behaviors and become part of the solution!

It is certain that youth all over the world have an invaluable role in building dialogue and action based on understanding.  Starting with something simple like a unified pledge gives us a base from which to build all our bigger efforts. Even if we cannot communicate in person, we can communicate by voicing our support together. 

Sign the Youth Climate Pledge today and work to maintain a sustainable environment together with people who share the same world!

We are delighted to provide this opportunity for young people to take action on behalf of global hotspots. Many thanks to Ozlem and our friends at the UN Foundation!

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For today’s focus on global hotspots we present perspectives from four guestbloggers talking about global climate change, undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges facing our generation. Of course, while global warming is HOT, it’s not quite a SPOT, or even a series of spots. And in fact, certain “spots” maybe even get colder or drier as a result of global warming, not hotter and wetter! Though global warming manifests itself most overtly in the North and South Polar Regions and places like Iceland, it impacts all the Earth’s ecosystems. Clearly, it’s a tricky issue to understand, which is why we’re so lucky to have four guestbloggers helping us out today!

Later on, National Geographic’s Ford Cochran will describe the tea kettle-like conditions brewing in Iceland. Then, the UN Foundation’s Ozlem Esckiocak will encourage you to take action by signing the Youth Climate Pledge. Finally, you’ll hear once more from National Geographic’s Danielle Williams, who presents Community Action Plans developed by team members with the Earthwatch/HSBC Climate Change Partnership. But first we’ll hear from Joanna Cyprys, Production Manager with the Global Nomads Group. Joanna is part of a team studying impacts of climate change on the Antarctic Continent, and sharing their discoveries with students across the globe via blog and teleconferencing. Read on to hear more about Joanna’s research, daily achievements and struggles, and her first penguin sighting!

 
Why am I Here?

So why am I here on the coldest and driest place on earth?  Well, Global Nomads Group (GNG) (www.gng.org), which seeks to bring the world to the classroom through interactive dialogue via videoconferences, along with other educators and scientists, are all part of an expedition to study climate change through analyzing rock sediments. The entire science team in Antarctica is committed to not only discovering more about climate change, but also educating youth about the importance and relevance of this work. Today, the climate is changing faster than any time of the last 65 million years. Warmer ocean temperatures are feeding more powerful hurricanes, while mega heat waves and droughts are occurring in record numbers.

In partnership with The Offshore New Harbor Project (which is part of the Antarctic Geological Drilling Program), GNG is hosting a series of Virtual Classrooms from Antarctica from October through December to study evidence in Antarctica from the last time carbon dioxide levels were this high — 34 million years ago! By examining our world's past, we hope to get a glimpse of our future; as global warming has become an inevitable reality.

Life at Camp
Well, I’ve had quite an eventful first 5 days on ice. It all started with my helicopter ride which I some how made it through without losing my cookies…just barely though. Shakira [Brown-Petit, a teacher from Harlem], and I have never been on a helicopter, so our pilot, Murphy, decided to take on a joy ride. We started off cruising out around the back of Ross Island and over Scott Base, which is run by the New Zealanders. Then he thought it would be fun to fly us up in the clouds and rotate the chopper from side to side as we weaved our way through a mass of whiteness. We dropped back down below the clouds and flew over a bunch of icebergs, pressure ridges and few other field camps. To top it off he landed us on an iceberg before dropping us off at camp.

After the ride of my life I arrived at camp! What a site it was. Everyone was outside taking pictures and helping us with our bags. It was a pretty sweet homecoming especially since everything was all set up since we arrived a few days after everyone else.

The first night I did not sleep at all. I was pretty cozy in my Arctic Storm sleeping bag but just could not relax enough to sleep. At 6 AM Steve, our P.I. (Principle Investigator), blew a conch to wake us up, yes I said that right “a conch.”

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As Geography Awareness Week 2008 passes the mid-week hump, our goal is to round out the week with some of geography’s most practical and relevant info.

Today we focus on global hotspots – places around the world where change puts pressure on local communities (human, natural, or both), and often leads to conflict. Each global hotspot has its own set of economic, social and political factors, making an issue like deforestation in Brazil different than deforestation in the Congo. While environmental concerns, human rights issues, and political strife are global crises, the individual stories behind each headlining problem are specific to place.

The inherent tension and challenging implications of global hotspots causes these phenomena to garner significant attention from academia and in the media. This is why we dedicate a whole day to global hotspots during Geography Awareness Week.

Make sure you check out our Google Earth tour of global hotspots, featuring issues like coral bleaching in the Caribbean and the race to claim the North Pole.  You can then check out an interactive map of biodiversity hotspots and visit the World Wildlife Fund to learn more about environmental issues.   Read about what’s being done to solve these issues through the World Wildlife Fund’s list of 19 priority projects, and sign the UN Foundation’s Youth Climate Pledge to prevent environmental hotspots from threatening future generations.

In addition to environmental issues, there many cultures that can be considered “endangered” due to the pressures caused by rapid globalization.  Check out Living Tongues to read about language extinction, and then take a look at the language hotspots around the world.  See what non-profits like the Asia Society are doing to foster cultural communication and prevent the development of cultural hotspots into the future.

Keep checking back today for more info on global hotspots!

Image courtesy CoralReefInfo.com

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Adam J. Schwartz is My Wonderful World's public engagement coordinator for New York City. He teaches Geographic Information Systems and Global History at the Academy of Urban Planning in Brooklyn, New York, and is an historical tour guide for the Center for the Urban Environment.

We live in an age of maps. According to author and cartographer Dennis Wood, over 99.9% of all maps ever created were created during the last 100 years. They surround us in our daily activities: in newspapers, on weather reports, and throughout our day. With tools like Google Maps and the National Geographic Map Machine  they are available at the merest click. We are all map consumers, including our students. 

Having a map at your fingertips is an everyday luxury, but the fact is that someone has got to make all those maps. That someone could be your students, or even you! Making your own maps is a great option for teachers who want to create their own materials. And for students it can be a hook for getting involved in geography and geographic careers. Many of our students are already interested in technology. So by showing them how they can apply that to making a map, you open up a whole new potential career, in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

So what's GIS? GIS technology is the nuts and bolts behind almost every map we use, and is vital for many of the services we use everyday, both public (power and water systems) and private .GIS is, at its simplest level, software that combines location and information in a simple visual format.  And during the last few years, it's become easier to access than ever before. 

More importantly, Geospatial Technology, of which GIS is a subset, is one of the fastest growing sectors of the technology industry. If a student chooses GIS, the chances are great that there will be a job waiting for them after college, or even before. 

A tool for teachers and students

Vocational education is not what brings most teachers to GIS. And it doesn't take any special training for you to get started using it in your classroom.  I'm certainly no mastermind at GIS, I'm just a teacher who loves maps, and making them! That's what led me to take a short teacher training course with Carol Gersmehl of New  York's Regents Center for Geographic Learning. Beyond that, most of what I've learned is from the same tutorials my students use. At the Academy of Urban  Planning, I'm lucky to co-teach with an experienced geographer, Josh Lapidus, but most of what I have learned is on the job.

The most important lesson I've taken out of making maps is that while it may be the "long way round"--as compared to using published maps--you can get much more out of the journey.

As a teacher, GIS mapping can be the simplest way to get just the right map. Yes, you can Google for hours for just the right map for that special activity. Or, with a little practice, you can make it yourself.  And whether you give your lessons with an overhead, a projector, or a SMARTboard, the multiple layers of a GIS map enable you to better explain any spatial phenomenon.

For our students, we all want to make our activities more engaging. And most educators would agree that students remember more of what they do than what they read, see, or hear. And they are more interested, too.

Consequently, a student making his or her own map can build new levels of understanding as they see how borders change, and how topography, climate, and demographics interact to explain historic or scientific processes. It's a constructivist approach to geography, with the students doing the constructing. 

And best of all, when they are finished with a GIS map, a student has the pride of printing it! These polished artifacts not only celebrate what's been learned, they look great on a wall, or even better, in a portfolio. This year at my school, the Academy of Urban Planning, many of our students are submitting portfolios for colleges focusing on arts, architecture, and design. And in each of those portfolios is a map they made with me.

We don't expect many of our students to come out of our program as cartographers, but they all come out with a greater mastery of real world computer skills, better literacy skills (from all those tutorials!), and a more insightful understanding of the world around them. I am lucky enough to teach a yearlong dedicated GIS class, but everything we do is taught in connection with Science (Urban Ecology), AP Human Geography, and US History. Along the way, our students also develop skills in technology and geography. 

Here's how it works for us: After starting with Google Maps and Google Earth, my students worked up to AEJEE, a very basic GIS program (more on that below). They are currently following AEJEE tutorials, in preparation for building their own mapping projects. The published tutorials have dealt with settlement patterns in US history and the US Census. We have also written our own tutorials on the 2008 election.

As for projects, we start those in the spring. In past years, we have focused on environmental justice and local history. This spring, we will be combining both themes by making maps for a local environmental group that is working to clean up NYC's dirtiest body of water, Newtown Creek.

Of course, not everyone can dedicate the time we do to mapping with GIS technology. But there's a new place for it in your classroom. It's just a matter of getting started!

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MAPS MAPS MAPS! Geographers love maps!

While much of a geographer's life is spent arguing that geography is more than maps, we have to admit, they're pretty cool.  In their basic essence, maps help us visualize and navigate through space, and like music or numbers, simple maps can be interpreted universally.  This is because the age-old questions of, “where are we?” and “how do we get there” stem from our primal instincts to find food, and have evolved into our need to locate just about everything else.

Today we celebrate maps and their transformation into the advanced geo-technologies we use today.  Not only do we rely on Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to tell us where we are, we also turn to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to tell us the “who, what, and when” behind the “where.” GIS infuses non-spatial information (like demographics, commercial trends, political affiliations, health epidemics) into maps.  This “geo-referencing” of non-spatial information can then be analyzed, thereby generating endless possibilities for the creation of new maps.  It’s quite appropriate that today is GIS Day, an annual celebration of geospatial technologies.  We’ll be paying homage to geospatial technologies today with ESRI, the country’s leader in GIS software, and with a few others listed below!

Check out this great link to brush up on your knowledge of the history of maps, and then read this recent Opinion article in the New York Times about, “What Maps Can Do.”  See how maps can be manipulated and changed by checking out this site that shows the severity of different cultural, economic, and social issues by resizing countries.  You can also see how Google is using GIS technology to track different flu trends by mapping your Google searches for flu symptoms.

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If you've ever had the pleasure of meeting Joseph Kerski, Education Manager for ESRI, at a conference or, better yet, in a hands-on classroom setting, you know that he is as dynamic, passionate, and charming as he is adept at what he does.  We were thrilled when Joseph agreed to take a moment out of his recent trip exploring GIS education in Taiwan to answer some of our questions about geospatial technology and his work with ESRI.

Please tell us a bit about what you do as Education Manager for ESRI.
What do you like best about your job?

As Education Manager, I am part of a team that focuses on expanding the geographic perspective and spatial analysis through the use of GIS technology and methods at all levels of education, both formal and informal. I write GIS-based curriculum for a variety of disciplines and levels, seek and support partnerships with organizations to advance GIS in education, conduct online, face-to-face, and hands-on workshops and courses, provide technical and pedagogical support for educators working with geospatial technology, and conduct research in the effectiveness and implementation of GIS in education.  What I like best about it all is the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of thousands of people annually, around the world.  Another wonderful part of my job is the talented and dedicated people on our ESRI Education Team that I serve with, and the fact that ESRI is so supportive of education.

How did you get to your current position? I notice that you hold a PhD degree--is this in geography? Education? Another related field?

After serving for 4 years as Geographer at the US Census Bureau, 17 years as Geographer at the USGS, and as adjunct instructor at several universities, the fine folks at ESRI convinced me that to join their team would allow me to have a greater potential impact on society, as well as allow for increased opportunity for personal and professional growth.  As I have 3 degrees--all in Geography, I guess you would say I have a one track mind!  Actually, one could say that all geographers have a multi-track mind, right?

What trends have you seen in the use of geospatial technology in the classroom in the last five years? Ten years? What do you think classroom trends will look like into the future?

In the past 20 years, geospatial technologies have been affected by six trends that directly impact the classroom.  First, the software moved from something confined largely to a mini- or mainframe computer to something that could be effectively run on any computer.  Second, the software moved from a prompt requesting user input to a series of graphical user interfaces and wizards that guide the user through processes, and thus GIS software has become much more visual as well as more user-friendly.  Indeed, some GIS work can be done entirely with web-GIS portals on the Internet.  Third, because of the Internet, educators using geotechnologies easily share what they are doing with others, access spatial data sets without the need to transfer them via tapes, disks, and other media, and collaborate with others to learn about the Earth and its people.  Fourth, geospatial technologies have gone mobile--on your PDA, on your cell phone, in your car, and thus is becoming familiar to the general public.  Fifth, the expansion of GIS into more fields more rapidly than workers could be trained brought a focus by the US Department of Labor on geotechnology education and subsequent funding by NSF and others.  Sixth, a community of educators who are passionate about teaching with GIS and teaching about GIS has become a growing international community.  Each of these trends has hastened the use of GIS at all levels of education, both formal and informal.  Because I see GIS as "applied geography," I believe that these trends have increased the breadth and depth of geography being used in everyday decisions.  However, one only needs to look at the deforestation and urban sprawl that continues on a daily basis to realize that we still have a long way to go.  Still, I have great hope for the future.

Can you tell us a little about the educational value to students of creating maps, and how this compares to the practice of interpreting maps?

I believe that the primary value of creating and interpreting maps is to foster the geographic perspective.  Geography is not simply a body of content knowledge, but provides a way of looking at the world.  I would argue that with the explosion of mash-ups, GIS, and other tools that generate as many maps each day as we used to produce in a decade, it is more important to understand how to interpret maps than to create them.  We must encourage students to become critical consumers of all information, including maps, asking questions such as:  Who created this map?  For what purpose was it created?  What content is the map showing, and what content is it leaving out?  What errors are inherent in the map?  What spatial relationship is the map showing?  Nevertheless, creating maps is also valuable, because it helps students understand the value judgments inherent in the process.  Furthermore, now more than ever, we need people who know how to create maps and spatial databases to help us grapple with the complex issues we face in societies around the world.

Should non-geography teachers of subjects like science, history, mathematics, or language arts care about maps?

I will put it bluntly--without the geographic perspective, and the ability to use and apply this perspective using geotechnologies--we are going to have a rough time in the 21^st Century, and so will the Earth on which we depend.  A 'geographic perspective' informs just about every other discipline.  When epidemiologists study the spread of diseases, scientists study climate change, or businesspersons determine where to locate a new retail establishment, they use spatial thinking and analysis. In each case, GIS provides the critical tools and geography provides the critical framework for studying these issues and for solving very real problems on a daily basis. Geography is not simply a 'nice to have' subject for an already crowded educational curriculum. It underpins the critical thinking skills, technology skills, citizenship skills, and life skills that in turn underpin all other disciplines.  Geography is essential for grappling with the essential issues of the twenty-first century. If we continue to ignore geography education, we do so at our own peril.

People have always been fascinated with investigating the Earth. For centuries, maps have stirred imaginations and inspired explorations of the unknown.  Today, geography is more relevant than ever before as issues of climate change, cultural diversity, economic globalization, urban sprawl, biodiversity loss, sustainable agriculture, water quality and quantity, crime, energy, tourism, politics, and natural hazards grow in importance on a global scale and affect our everyday lives. To grapple with these issues requires a populace that has a firm foundation in geography, a populace that not only can see the 'big picture' but one that understands how different patterns and trends are related from a global scale down to the local community.

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Over the last couple weeks you’ve been hearing from Danielle Williams, an employee in National Geographic’s Research, Conservation, and Exploration division, member of the National Geographic Green Initiatives Subcomittee, and fellow with the HSBC/Earthwatch Institute Climate Change Program. During this Tuesday celebration of physical geography and environments, Danielle employs her newfound field-knowledge and skills to break down the science of deforestation and its impacts on climate change for the rest of us "laymen."

Sunday, November 16, 2008  

Sharing My Understanding of the Science Behind this Forest Research Project, and Its Global Importance

With a few rainy fall days of great “citizen science” and a lot of discussions under our bright orange vests (rather than belts), our team completed our fellowship as part of the HSBC/Earthwatch Climate Partnership. There is a great deal to do, now that we have been empowered by our experience. That being said, however, I feel that the last week has allowed me time to really process and simplify the science behind this project in a “big picture” kind of way, and I’d like to share my perspective on it to help others visualize its importance on a global scale. My caveat: I am not a scientist, but only hope to somewhat accurately describe this piece of the much bigger climate change puzzle.

Our team of ten local citizens was one of many more to come who are participating in a long-term forest research project headed by Dr. Geoffrey Parker that began with a question: “How does forest management influence stem (woody plants) and carbon dynamics in forests of different developmental stages?” That’s a standard scientific research question for you, so let me put it in another way: “Why are forests important to the service of our planet, when it comes to the delicate balance of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in our atmosphere that affect our long-term climate?”

Dr. Parker told us that in most of the eastern United States, the “original” forests have been cut down at least once, if not twice over the last couple hundred years. You can imagine that just in the Chesapeake Bay region alone there are thousands of acres of fractured and mature (120+ years old) forests next to newer, intermediate age plots, next to more recently logged plots, etc. In terms of what this project is studying, that means we are taking a look at a variety of species of trees over several plots of forested land that fall within these different categories of age and management.

As part of our fieldwork, our team was helping to set the baseline data for the long term project by taking measurements of each tree’s diameter (at 1.3m from the trunk), canopy class (relative height compared to the rest of the canopy around the tree) and damage class (missing major branches, standing dead, etc.). Added to this, it’s also important to separate the leaf litter (bags of leaves, twigs and whatever else was collected within a subplot) by its species type and weigh it to most accurately measure each plot’s biomass – with lots of math equations processed by the scientists, of course!

Read a more detailed description of the science behind deforestation and its impacts on climate change at Danielle’s Earthwatch Blog.

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Today we welcome Dr. Enric Sala, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer,* whose research in marine ecology has shed new light on coral reefs systems.  Before coming to National Geographic, Dr. Sala was a researcher at Spain's National Council for Scientific Research and a professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.  When he left academia to concentrate on his research, Dr. Sala employed a rare, optimistic methodology: He did not study environmental degradation like most scientists, but concentrated on what pristine ecosystems could teach us.  This optimism led him to study the coral reefs around the Line Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands host different numbers of human inhabitants, and show how population change directly impacts the surrounding reefs.  His research was  ground-breaking in its findings and holistic in its approach.

Dr. Sala is now working with National Geographic to create a platform for different non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and conservation organizations to discuss environmental innovations, while continuing his research. Many thanks to Enric Sala for helping us celebrate environments during Geography Awareness Week!

*In the days since publishing this post we learned that Enric has newly been named a National Geographic Fellow. Congratulations, Enric!

1) What inspired you to become a marine ecologist?

I was lucky that two things happened to me when I was a kid in Spain. First, Jacques Cousteau's movies were at their prime and shown on TV; I watched all of them and dreamt about being a diver in the Calypso and explore the oceans. Second, I lived near the coast and was able to swim and snorkel during most of my childhood, which gave me a sense of appreciation and love for marine life first hand, in a way that no book or TV program can.

2) Why is it important to study our oceans?

The oceans are essential to human life and well-being. They produce more than half of the oxygen that we breathe, regulate the climate, and provide us with food. We need to understand how to not damage the machine that supports us!

3)  Please tell us a little about your scientific findings, specifically from your study in the Line Islands of the Pacific Ocean.

In 2005 and 2007 we conducted an expedition to Kingman Reef, in the Line Islands, Central Pacific. Kingman is a pristine coral reef, a time machine that transported us back hundreds of years ago. What we found surprised us, because we did not know that on a pristine, healthy coral atoll, top predators account for 85% of the fish biomass. This is similar to the Serengeti with five lions per wildebeest! It is the landscape of fear, where predators roam free and the prey are hiding. We also found that an intact food web is more resilient to the short term effects of global warming; that is, on a healthy reef, corals may bleach because of a warming event, but they can recover relatively quickly.

4) Please describe your theory of doing research.  Why do you study the entire ecosystem, from algae to sharks, as opposed to one particular component like other scientists?

Ecosystems are composed of many thousands of species interacting together. We cannot understand how these ecosystems work without looking at as many of their components as possible. Imagine trying to understand how Picasso painting by looking at just one color at a time... Science needs both specialists and generalists, but fortunately, there is an increasing number of scientists studying ecosystems.

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The natural world astonishes and inspires us. It’s the subject of poetry, the cause of war, and is likely captured and framed on at least one wall in your home.  

Because nature is so important to all of us, today’s Geography Awareness Week theme is “Physical Geography and the Environment,” and we’re taking time to highlight the awesome forces of nature.  Physical geography is the study of how the Earth’s natural features (climate, soils, biodiversity, etc.) change over space and time.  However, these natural processes aren’t purely natural, as humans are often the key instigators of change.  Thus, the second part of physical geography looks at how humans redefine space and time through technology, and the environmental impacts (and often degradation) that result.

To help you learn more about this fascinating and pertinent topic of study, My Wonderful World’s offering some great online resources. 

Begin by searching National Geographic’s Earth Science page where you’ll find links to the latest earth science topics (and some stellar photos, too).  See satellite images of environmental change on land through USGS’s Earthshots (but make sure to monitor changes on the remaining 70% of the Earth’s surface with NOAA’s Integrated Ocean Observing System)!  Next, make physical geography and oceanography fun by piloting your own ROV underwater with the JASON Project’s Resilient Planet Game, and after you’ve finished playing, brush up on current events.  Learn how different countries are harnessing the Earth’s natural energy by checking out who has recently installed wind farms or who consumes the most coal.  This information will most certainly come in handy when the energy debate arrives in full-force next year with a new administration!

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As they describe themselves on their website, soultravelers3 is a family of two parents and 6-year-old daughter from Santa Cruz, California, who embarked on "an epic odyssey: open-ended, years long slow trip around the world as a family adventure, unschool, spiritual journey and lifestyle" beginning in September, 2006. Frequent commenters on the My Wonderful World blog, I asked soultravelers3 to share details about ways travel contributes to the family's geographic learning. Their response follows.

As we enter our third year of our open ended world tour, I can say that our travel experiences have had an astonishing contribution to our family’s geographic learning! Our main motivation behind this world tour was to educate our child in the best way possible as a global citizen of the 21st century, and the benefits from our travel have just been stunning and way beyond our very high expectations.

We have the luxury to travel very slowly which allows us to immerse deeply into the places and cultures where we stay. This will be our third year wintering in a tiny 15th century white village in Andalusia, Spain, where my daughter studies at the local school in her second language and where she takes flamenco lessons from one of the local masters. We love experiencing the many festivals, the food, the customs and traditions. It has a rich history during both the 800 years in which Jews, Christians and Muslims lived together in peace and also during the horrific reconquest. We live in a farming community so we watch them grow food, listen to the goats and roosters and listen to the beautiful Andalusian horses and donkeys clomp by on the cobble streets. We have grown very fond of our village and its warm people. It will always hold a special place in our hearts. 

We travel for 7 months following the weather and have used every mode of transportation from camels to trolley cars, although our main transportation is a small RV which we park for long periods and walk or use mass transit. We have been to 4 continents, 28 countries and traveled over 60,000 miles, mostly by land or water. Seeing so much of this wonderful earth we live on, how can we not be thoroughly affected? We are constantly learning and we always seem to meet fantastic people who are willing to share their world with us.

A good example of a profound geographical learning for us was our journey into Africa to visit Morocco and the Sahara desert.  We met an open-hearted city girl from Brazil who spoke 6 languages. She came to the Sahara and ended up marrying a Berber Nomad whose family had lived in this mystical place for generations. Our 6-year-old daughter rode in on a camel to those bright orange Merzouga dunes of the Sahara to give a violin concert to 60 Berber kids who lived there, without running water, and who had never seen a violin. They were clapping and singing French songs to her arrival and she was carrying a Santa Claus-sized sack full of healthy snacks we brought to share afterwards. They shared no language in common, but all of them shared the language of music, joyfulness and goodwill.

Watch a video of Mozart playing her violin for Berber children in Morroco.

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To help with our celebration of human cultures, Shawn Parell, communications associate with the UN Foundation's Sustainable Development group, explains why World Heritage sites (selected for both cultural and natural values) are so important to both protect and explore--virtually or in person!

To help celebrate this year’s Geography Awareness Week, test your geography knowledge using the Friends of World Heritage TravelPod “How Well Do You Know Your World” game, featured on My Wonderful World’s Geography Awareness Week website. The game is a fun, informative (and addictive!) way to test your knowledge and brush up on those lesser-known World Heritage sites.

Whether you have kids of your own, or, are just a big kid yourself, promoting geography education is a great way to learn about World Heritage sites, which span the globe and include some of the most unique and important cultural and natural places on earth. There are 878 World Heritage sites in 145 countries around the world.

World Heritage sites belong to all of us. Through Friends of World Heritage, you can help protect these natural and cultural wonders of the world, explore the majesty of these places recognized for their outstanding value to humanity, and experience for yourself the marvels of World Heritage. Learning more about these sites enables people young and old to appreciate how landscapes are created, the diverse cultures of people living around the globe, and how our actions can impact our environment and fellow global citizens.

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Sunday marked the start of Geography Awareness Week 2008! Congrats to all of you hardcore geo-lovers who got outside and did some geocaching, or simply made time to appreciate the world around you. Today Geography Awareness Week gets down to business (which in geography, is also fun), as it beings the first of five “themed days.” We’re excited to kick off the week by looking at Human Geography and Cultures.

Human geography examines people and their actions across the globe. It looks at how culture, history, language, conflict, political processes, and natural resource use interact to create a complex and overarching narrative of place. Geographers understand the world as a series of conversations at different spatial scales. While the people of one place manipulate their surroundings or interact with the world abroad, they are equally influenced by those forces.

Lucky for you, technology can help you understand these global relationships from your desk chair via My Wonderful World’s brand new Geography Awareness Week website.

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Geography Awareness Week started not with a bang, but with a graceful launch. Twenty-two years ago, two schools - one in Los Angeles and one in Washington D.C.– released balloons with small notes attached. The directions on the notes were simple- if you discover the downed-balloon, send a short memo to the National Geographic Society with the town and state where it was found. As the two schools let go of the balloons simultaneously, students and teachers on opposite coasts watched the beginnings of Geography Awareness Week soar into the atmosphere.

The launch was the culmination of a year-long partnership between the two schools. Throughout the previous year, students sent letters to a partner on the opposite coast and learned about their life and home. This exchange was fostered by the National Geographic Society (NGS), and was aimed at teaching geography and increasing awareness of different places at a young age. The partnership was so successful and engaging for students and teachers that the National Geographic Society began to lobby Congress, demanding an entire week dedicated to geographic learning for the whole country.

The Society’s efforts were realized on January 06, 1987 when President Ronald Regan signed a Joint Resolution to promote geography education during the third week of every November. While a significant step in the fight for geographic awareness (a battle that NGS had been fighting since 1888), the resolution did not give guidelines for implementation. If the goal was geographic literacy in the United States, how could an unobserved piece of paper do the trick?

The National Geographic Society realized that without a formalized approach to geography education, the resolution would be signed in vein. In 1989, NGS helped form state geographic alliances around the nation, creating seven new state alliances each year. These state alliances helped to implement the teaching of geography in schools, and aided NGS in their distribution of geographic education materials. With the creation of Geography Action!, a program that helps educators promote geographic fluency in their classroom, and My Wonderful World, a campaign that extends the reach of geographic awareness far and wide, Geography Awareness Week could finally become the culminating, all-encompassing geographic celebration that it is today.

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What else do you have to celebrate?
The third week in November is typically reserved for digging up old Thanksgiving recipes and preparing your home for the invasion of hungry family members. Otherwise, this week is a bust without the celebration of geography. You could celebrate Button Day on Sunday, Danny Devito's birthday on Monday the 17^th, or pay homage to the delicious pop tart that was invented 43 years ago on Wednesday (which would ruin your Thanksgiving Day appetite!). Clearly, Geography Awareness Week is your best choice.

Geography is cheap!
Don't have ten dollars to spend on the new Bond movie this week? Celebrating geography is fun, cheap and easy. Join the millions of schools and communities across the nation that are making geography a priority. Check out different cultures, global hotspots, and the exciting careers with our KMZ Google Earth Tours. These tours have you flying to dozens of different countries in 20 minutes or less--it's free, fun, and something that even the best Bond couldn't accomplish.

You have an excuse to take a vacation.
Depending on your negotiation skills, you could convince your boss or teacher that you simply must take vacation during Geography Awareness Week. To fully understand the connection between people and places, you have to immerse yourself in the culture. This year, Geography Action's educational theme for schools during Geography Awareness Week is, "The Americas" which just happens to include all of the Caribbean islands and glorious coast lines of the western hemisphere. And since the Week is a federal proclamation, it would be of the utmost patriotism to celebrate properly.

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Last Tuesday, we introduced you to Danielle Williams, a member of National Geographic’s Green Initiatives Subcommittee and fellow with HSBC and Earthwatch Institute’s Climate Change program. She’s been out in the field (well, forest) in Edgewater, Maryland, as part of the “Sustainable Forest Management in a Changing Climate” project. When we last heard from Danielle, she was planning to embark on her trip. See what she’s been up to since then!

Below are excerpts from Danielle’s Earthwatch blog on Monday, November 3, and Wednesday, November 5. To read the full text, as well as additional entries from Danielle’s team members, visit the Earthwatch blog.

First, we got to know the scientists that we'll be working with this week, including Dr. Geoffrey ('Jess') Parker, head scientist in the Forest Ecology lab at SERC, and other field staff.

Then, we learned about the local environment. Specifically, we learned about the history of logging and forest management in the immediate area, as well as the ways in which carbon is stored and released as part of the natural cycle of forest ecosystems.

Next, we familiarized ourselves with the tree species common to this area, including tulip poplar, white oak and hickory, and we learned how to individually measure the "DBH" (diameter breast height) of a tree. We also analyzed the difference between what is thought to be the only small patch of old growth temperate forest in the area, as compared to the more recently logged areas that are in recovery mode.

Our evening session was further proof that the initial excitement and synergy amongst our team members was real! We did some brainstorming and came up with a provisional list of recommendations.

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On my way to work this morning I was walking merrily to the beat of some glorious eighties tunes, per my typical Tuesday, when suddenly I came upon a giant Geography Awareness Week banner hanging from the National Geographic building!

While it might be obvious to all those passing by the corner of 17^th and M streets in Washington D.C., for the rest of you out there: Be sure to mark your calendars for Geography Awareness Week,  November 16^th -22^nd.

This year, My Wonderful World is celebrating online and “in the field” across the nation.  We’ve launched a new website with daily activities highlighting five essential themes of geography:  human geography/cultures, physical geography/environments, geotechnologies, global hotspots, and careers.

Students, teachers, parents, and the everyday geo-lover can take interactive tours of polar regions, coral reefs, and growing world cities with Google Earth, play fun games, hear stories from young people living and working abroad, and even lend their voices to a global climate pledge. Make sure to keep up to date with the latest action here on the blog as well. We’ll be posting several times each day of the week, featuring guest bloggers from the UN Foundation and ESRI (to name a few), and highlighting comments and photos from our Facebook group (join now if you’re not yet a member).

Get excited and keep coming back for more Geography Awareness Week updates!
--Your Friends of the My Wonderful World Staff

My Wonderful World Home About My Wonderful World Sign Up for Updates

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As America rounds out a pivotal week in its politics and its history, we simply couldn’t write about anything other than the 2008 election! As we take a look back at the campaign trail, we’ll try one last time to argue that geography is at the heart of politics by highlighting five facets of the 2008 race for the presidency and their geographical ties.

Presidential Speeches: What the candidates said was just as important as where they say it. This map shows the most commonly used words by McCain and Obama in their speeches nationwide. “Energy” and “oil” were two of the most commonly-used words for both candidates in California, while speeches in the Northeast showed a partisan split in topics. “Israel” and “health insurance” were key words for Obama, while McCain’s most common phrases in the same area were “American business” and “small taxes.” It might be obvious that candidates cater to the crowd they’re speaking to, but it’s interesting to see a visual representation of how geography plays a role on the campaign trail.

The Vice-Presidential Picks: What does place say about personality? Apparently a lot. Arguably a crucial part of the 2008 election was the VP pick for both candidates. With the strengths and weaknesses of both picks examined tirelessly (and yes, sometimes unevenly) by the media, we are reminded that geographic connections are a major consideration for any Presidential candidate picking a running mate. Obama’s pick of Joe Biden gave the Democrats a substantial lead in the swing state of Pennsylvania come election time. Both picks reassured voters of either party that their leader would look out for the middle class because of his or her humble upbringing in middle class towns or remote areas. Track the geographic trajectories of each the four candidates, and explore other intriguing election-related maps, with Google Maps’ “2008 Elections Gallery.”

Global Economic Collapse and the Main Street  vs. Wall Street Debate: Sick of that phrase yet? I’m sure you are. The Main Street versus Wall Street debate came up in the presidential and vice presidential debates ad nauseam, and showed the importance of each candidate’s knowledge of the strife of the middle class, again by relating their personal experiences to place.

The Great Schlep: So, this might not have been one of the most “pivotal” moments in election history, but it’s a fun one none-the-less. “The Great Schlep” (TGS as some affectionately refer to it) was a movement by the Jewish Council for Education and Research that encouraged Jewish youth to make the “schlep” to Florida to educate their Jewish grandparents about Barack Obama. With downloadable talking points and travel suggestions, the TGS website and movement helped to raise Jewish support for Obama in Florida from 60% in August when the movement began, to over an overwhelming 78% of the Jewish population who voted for Obama in the election. Now that’s connecting across a country.

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The votes are in, and Barack Obama has been named President-elect of the United States.

As the first African-American elected to the presidency, in the midst of wars abroad in Iraq and Afghanistan and a global economic crisis, this is no doubt an historic event for our country--and the world.

You know how you reacted; now find out how others around the globe are responding to the news.

Image: Barack Obama tours his ancestral homeland in Kenya, with his grandmother, Sarah Obama, in August 2006.

1. The Huffington Post features excerpts from stories in England, Israel, Australia, and Kenya. Obama's father, also Barak Hussein Obama, hailed from Nyangoma-Kogelo, Kenya. Did you know that there is a high school and a beer named after this town’s favorite son-of-son? The honors were bestowed on Barak Jr. even before he ran for president!

Another featured excerpt from The Australian highlights the significance of Obama’s victory for the international community:

“The American people chose Obama yet most of the world also wanted Obama - that invests his Presidency with a potential authority unknown in history and an opportunity to touch not just Americans but people around the world.”

2. CNN News includes an even wider selection, geographically speaking, of media coverage from journalists in Asia, Russia, and throughout the Arab world.

3.Finally, you can always count on the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) to provide balanced perspective on all sides of an issue. See how readers from all corners of the globe responded to the question “How will an Obama presidency affect your life?”

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This morning I armed myself with reading material and bundled up in long underwear, sweatshirt, and mittens for my first voting experience in the District of Columbia, fearing that higher-than-average voter turnout could mean long lines in the chilly fall air. Luckily, my trip to the polls turned out to quick, painless, and entirely indoors. But after months of anticipation I was prepared to exercise my civic duty—whatever the circumstances.

Now that the historic night is finally here, we hope you’ll follow along with an eye toward geography as the state-by-state electoral map turns shades of red and blue. First, keep a close watch on the battleground states. You may even want to try a hand at CNN’s electoral calculator to see if you can beat the experts at predicting which way the states will swing!

With so much emphasis on the presidential race, it’s easy to forget the many other contests and issues at stake; like those ballot questions on the docket in 33 of 50 states.

Will gay marriage be overturned in California? Will Massachusetts ban dog racing?

Learn more the ballot measures with these resources from CBS News, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and CNN News. CNN also features a ballot measure scoreboard with town by town results and maps, a comprehensive guide to the issues and a “Track Your Race” tool to help stay on top of the issues and contests most important to you.

Of course, not everyone’s voting experience will go quite as smoothly as my own. Experiences with past problems (who could forget the 2000 election snafu?) and this year’s high voter turnout are adding to the concerns of many. Check out this map of complaints that have already been filed. Of course, you savvy geographers will want to carefully compare this with the map of battleground states. Fingers crossed that any excitement tomorrow will follow from the final results, and not from closer analysis of these dynamics!

Finally, our friend Danielle Williams, employee with the National Geographic Research, Conservation, and Exploration group, is “feeling the excitement” this week from a somewhat less conventional setting. Read about her experience below!