Edison High - AP Human Geography

This image is an excellent visualization to use when teaching about density, public transportation and urban planning. 

Questions to Ponder: How is this a persuasive image?  Do you argee with the argument that the planning office is making? Are there something important factors that this image ignores?

Tags: transportation, urban, planning, density, sustainability, unit 7 cities.

If you define a "car" as "a separate enclosed vehicle for every passenger or party", then the geometric fact about all cars, self-driving or not, miniaturized or not, is that they take vastly more space per passenger than effective public transit.  This will not be a problem in low-density suburbs, but cities, by definition, are places with relatively little space per person.  Self-driving cars will certainly improve the efficiency with which cars use space, so they will shift the calculus somewhat.  But the bottom line will still be that if you want two crash-safe metal walls between every two strangers going down the same street, you will need a lot more space than if those two people can sit next to each other on civilized public transit.

You will also need vastly more metal and equipment, which means that the self-driving-car-replaces-transit fantasy involves massive industrial production with severe consequences for energy security and greenhouse-gas emissions. 

As for the idea that somehow these cars will replace buses but not rail, this may be true around the margins.

This very sobering. I know it will surprise (and maybe disturb?) many of the kids I teach. 

Coal, steel, gold, iron, copper, aluminum and oil are all incredibly important commodities.  Agricultural products such as rice, cotton, corn, wheat and coffee all travel far beyond their area of origin.   Where do these resources come from?  How are they produced?  This gallery of 77 pictures is a fantastic tour of the resources that are key cogs in the global economy.  

intensive or extensive agriculture? Why?

These Timelapse pictures tell the pretty and not-so-pretty story of a finite planet and how its residents are treating it — razing even as we build, destroying even as we preserve.

Visit the article link to see an exclusive timelapse of climate change, deforestation and urban sprawl unfolding as Earth evolves over 30 years...

Very useful visual tool for exploring patterns of change

Exciting!!

Ironically, some land use patterns become more visible as the sun goes down.  There are some sharp borders in this image of Toronto that was taken by the Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield and it is a wonderful teaching image. 

Questions to ponder: Why is there such sharp divisions between the illuminated and obscure portions of the image?  What does this sharp division say about the land use patterns?  Would we see this pattern in the United States?  Why or why not?  What urban model(s) can help explain the spatial layout of Toronto? 

Tags: urban, planning, remote sensing, geospatial, Canada, models, unit 7 cities.

The other city that never sleeps

The highway system (and the widespread usage of air conditioning) in the later half of the 20th century dramatically changed the population settlement patterns of the United States and reshaping our cities.

Tags: transportation, urban, planning, density, unit 7 cities.

This short video is an excellent summary of some of the societal consequences of China's one-child policy in a culture that prefers male offspring.  

Tags: gender, China, population.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

"women hold up half the skye" I like that haha. Anyways, the gender imbalance in china is rediculas. Hopefully be trying to forsce the women are equal thought this will in a generation or so fix itself. This way, there will also be less abortions per family.

Tags: food, agriculture, Africa, Malawi, unit 5 agriculture.

This is a really cool summary look at the Human Development Index.

some emerging markets, Japan

Des cartes pour comprendre le monde

While I can't vouch for all of these books (I read more children's literature than Young Adult), I absolutely love the idea of this project.  This is a great way to make geography a cross curricular activity, especially for an English class or just for fun.  Scroll down on the right side of this image to see all the books/states on the list.  The geographic content of some of these books are minimal, but that's not the worst thing that can happen if more students are reading.  What books are at the top of your reading list?