June 2010 Archives

Two months after the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico began gushing, the scale of the disaster has only increased.  Sometimes scale can be difficult to visualize from news stories, but these oil spill visualization tools can help!

Parents: Talk with your kids about how the size of the spill compares to geographic areas they might be familiar with (e.g. your county, the size of the national park you visited on vacation last year, etc.)

Teachers: Have students try to identify land areas that might be the same size as the oil spill (e.g. small U.S. states, islands, and European countries), and then crunch the numbers to see how their guesses measure up.

Thanks to recent news coverage, we know that there has been ongoing violence in Kyrgyzstan between the Kyrgyz and the Uzbeks.  But what we may not know is WHY.  Whenever news coverage provides an explanation for the violence, "ethnic tension" is usually cited as the cause.  But what are the roots of the ethnic tension that has continuously lead to violence between these two groups?

First of all, the term "ethnic" conflict may be a misnomer.  There are almost no discernible ethnic differences between the Kyrgyz and the Uzbeks.  Both groups are predominantly Muslim and they speak a similar Turkic language.
 
Issue 1: Economic Disparity

The real conflict seems to stem from this fact:  Kyrgyz were traditionally nomadic while Uzbeks established themselves as farmers.  Since farmers typically stay in one place to tend their fields, they are able to build stable settlements and create surpluses.  Historically, this translates to wide class divisions.  Today, the Uzbeks in the south of Kyrgyzstan own and operate many successful businesses.  These economic differences are certainly a large contributing factor to the ethnic tension and the recent outbreak of violence.


Courtesy New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/world/asia/15kyrgyz.html?scp=6&sq=kyrgyzstan&st=cse

An Uzbek soldier directed Uzbek refugees on Monday in Osh, a southern Kyrgyz city, as they waited to cross into Uzbekistan
 

Rule of thumb: When heading to a technology conference, even things out by doing at least one thing outside and away from the technology that permeates our lives.  In my case, the conference is the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Annual Conference. And the doing something outdoors: a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park, outside of Denver where the conference is taking place.



Well, I exaggerate. I didn't throw all technology in the trash bin and head into the Rockies empty-handed. I did bring my iPhone to take photos with and to use the National Geographic Birding app (we identified robins, gray jays, and stellar jays along with the mammalian marmots and pikas identified with the field guide we got from a park ranger).  

The violence and instability in Kyrgyzstan affects more than just the people of Kyrgyzstan and the surrounding area.  The situation in Kyrgyzstan has international implications, particularly for U.S. and Russian military strategy and humanitarian aid efforts.

Both Kyrgyz and Uzbeks called on Russia to step in as a third party peace-keeper.  The Collective Security Treaty Organization, an alliance made up of regional partners and dominated by Russia, met and adjourned without a commitment from Russia to send troops, but with an implication that if conditions worsened, Russia may act. 
Uzbek refugees lined up around an armored vehicle with Uzbek soldiers in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh.
Courtesy New York Times, Faruk Akkan/CHA, Via Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/06/14/world/0614-Kyrgyzstan-2.html

In 2006, the theme of Geography Awareness Week was the continent of Africa. That November, we featured a series of posts about Africa on the My Wonderful World blog, which was brand new. More than three years later, those posts are still some of the most popular in the history of the blog! This month, as we re-focus our attention on Africa in celebration of the World Cup, we are revisiting these fantastic resources, which include news articles, interactives, and lesson plans, and sharing them with our new members--all 75,000 of you who have joined since 2006!

Post #1:  Africa and Human Origins (Human Geography)
Fossil and genetic evidence suggests that human history began in the valleys of Ethiopia, called the Cradle of Humanity. Here, paleo-anthropologists discovered the famous early hominid skeleton "Lucy." Read more about the origins of humans in Africa.

Post #2: Africa's History (Human Geography)
Throughout history, many civilizations have commingled on the African continent. Have you ever heard of the country of Rhodesia, the ancient trade city of Timbuktu, or the Zulu nation? Read more about Africa's unique and tumultuous history.

Thursday, June 10th, ethnic violence broke out in the southern city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan.  Shortly after, American newspapers and news channels began covering the story.


For many of us, Kyrgyzstan isn't a country we hear about often. We're likely unsure of what language Kyrgyzstanis speak, what type of government they have, how big the country is, where it is located, and even how to pronounce or spell "Kyrgyzstan." 

Without context, stories of violence in Kyrgyzstan on news programs and in newspapers are nothing more than stories, confined to a 2D non-reality.







Courtesy New York Times

 

Check out this World Cup data from Google Insights for Search:

We've done a bit with Google Insights in the past. For those who aren't familiar or need a refresher, Google Insights--a more sophisticated version of Google Trends--enables comparisons of search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames. Here's a quick two minute video overview of the tool.

Most Popular World Cup Countries
According to Google, these countries have logged the most* searches for the term "World Cup" in the past 30 days (*as a percentage of total Google searches from that country):

1. Botswana
2. Bangladesh
3. Nepal
4. Zimbabwe
5. Uganda
6. South Africa
7. Kenya
8. Ghana
9. Trinidad & Tobago
10. Tanzania

It's pretty amazing to me that fully 7 of the top 10 countries are in Africa. Talk about continental football fever! Note that the United States is not on the list. Nor is the United Kingdom, or any other European nation. I guess people with internet access from those countries are searching for a lot of terms other than the World Cup.

 

Fifty-six days after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, with hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil continuing to spill into the Gulf of Mexico, more exploratory, off-shore drilling is still scheduled to commence July 1st in the Arctic. 

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Shell is scheduled to begin drilling in Alaska this July.  The proposed drill sites are in areas noted for extreme storms, strong winds, moving sea ice, and subzero temperatures.  These conditions would make it very difficult--if not impossible--for a successful response in the case of an oil spill. 

It has been more than a month since the April 20th Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to an oil spill that, according to the Guardian, has already dumped 42-100 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.  Since then, the news has been filled with stories about skimming, tubes, domes, Top-Kill, cut and cap plans, and economic and environmental degradation. 


Public beaches were closed Friday in Grand Isle, La., as oil, dead fish, and birds washed ashore.

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2010/05/25/us/jp-SPILL-1.html

The massive impact of this disaster is difficult to wrap our minds around, and yet it is increasingly important that we try to do so.  This disaster is not an abstract story in the news.  It is a tragic misfortune that affects people, economic chains, ecosystems, and the planet.  Most importantly, it is preventable. 

In permit applications to drill in the Gulf, BP said that it was, "prepared to handle an oil spill more than ten times larger than the one now spewing crude," according to reports from Alison Fitzgerald of Bloomberg News.  Bob Deans, spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, categorized BP's actions as, "overpromised and underdelivered.  They told us they had a plan that could deal with the consequences of a worst-case scenario. They don't."

Even though the worst case scenario detailed in BP's disaster plan was far worse than the Deepwater Horizon spill, this spill is a worst case scenario for the local economy and environment.

The Oil Spill and the Economy

Hey everyone!

My name is Michelle Renn and from now through August I'll be interning at National Geographic and contributing to the My Wonderful World blog.  
   
The fact is: I wouldn't be here if I didn't believe that we truly live in a wonderful world.  All throughout my childhood I was fortunate to travel a lot with my family.  We traveled domestically and internationally, often taking road trips across the country in the summers.  We camped along the way, exploring National Parks, big cities, small towns-- and everything in between.  I learned from a young age that travel is about the journey, not just the destination.  In retrospect, I entirely credit my parents with instilling in me a profound desire for exploration.  Once I was exposed to a taste of new places, cultures, languages, and foods, the curiosity was unstoppable.  I began to realize what a very large world we live in, and I became determined to experience as much of it as I could.  
  
 My love for exploration is likely what attracted me to Geography as a major in college.  The breadth and depth of the discipline is miraculous, comprising everything from studies of humans and cultures, mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), environmental issues and systems, and physical attributes of the Earth.  Geography is the exploration of people, cultures, the environment, and the intersections among them--- it is an exploration of the planet we all share.  I couldn't stay away. :)   
 
  

"They say that you can't truly learn a language without immersing yourself in its culture. The same can be said the other way around, you cannot truly experience a culture, without knowing the language."

May 21 was the World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. Taking it Global, the largest online community of youth interested in global issues and creating positive change, is hosting a multilingual blog contest as part of a year-long celebration of multilinguism initiatives. Check out the first posts from two Canadians--one living in-country, and the other in Havana, Cuba--and join in the dialogue!

Let us know when you submit your entries to the multilingual blog contest; we'll run an ongoing feature of the project here on the My Wonderful World blog.

Sarah Jane for My Wonderful World