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Sometimes the news can be good news! The historic April 1st election in Burma that saw Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy win 43/45 parliamentary seats is being hailed as the first free and fair elections for 50 years! This is a current perspective on the many changes transforming Myanmar back into Burma. For more by John Boyer, see: http://www.plaidavenger.com/ ;
Via Seth Dixon
A former gang member from Long Beach, California, teaches break dancing to at-risk youth in Cambodia. This video is a great example of cross-cultural interactions in the era of globalization. Urban youth culture of the United States is spread to Cambodia through a former refugee (with a personally complex political geography). What geographic themes are evident in this video? How is geography being reshaped and by what forces?
Via Seth Dixon
The insect is so large — as big as a human hand — it's been dubbed a "tree lobster." It was thought to be extinct, but some enterprising entomologists scoured a barren hunk of rock in the middle of the ocean and found surviving Lord Howe Island... Island Biogeography is endlessly fascinating and provides some of the most striking species we have on Earth. The physical habitat is fragmented and the genetic diversity is limited. Within this context, species evolve to fill ecological niches within their particular locale. This NPR article demonstrates the story of but one of these incredible species that never could have evolved on the continents. In modern society, more extinctions are happening on islands than anywhere else as 'specialist' species are in greater competition with 'generalists.'
Via Seth Dixon
Divers on Australia's Great Barrier Reef recently snapped rare pictures of a wobbegong, or carpet shark, swallowing a bamboo shark whole. The diversity of life on this planet and the ecosystems which such creatures live in is something that continually leaves me in awe at the wonders of the natural world.
Via Seth Dixon
We can learn a lot from examining the way China's diet has changed in the last 20 years -- as well as its required efficiencies and the agriculture that supports it. The United States still consumes more meat per capita than China, but as China's economy has grown (along with it's income and standard of living), the consumer habits have changed as well. What will the impacts of the rise in Chinese meat consumption mean? How do they get all this meat? http://www.scoop.it/t/geography-education/p/1661841673/this-little-piggy-is-going-to-china
Via Seth Dixon
January and February are sweet times for most Chinese — they enjoy family reunions during the spring festival, which this year fell on January 23, and they celebrate Valentine’s Day, which is well-liked in China. Gender roles in cultural norms change from country to country. What also needs to be understood is how the demographic situation of a given country influences these patterns.
Via Seth Dixon
In Nepal, government owned forests are being felled at record speed, while community managed ones are thriving. This is a great link for discussing governance and the environmental interactions and community.
Via Seth Dixon
Documented by an aid worker, millions of spiders took to the trees to spin their webs after heavy floods inundated Pakistan in 2010. Besides being an aesthetic wonder, this image is a great way to start a discussion about so many distinct issues. The floods of 2010 devastated the human population, killing over 2,000. These same floods also altered the ecosystem as spiders have needed to adapt to their new inundated landscape as well. For the human population, this has had the shocking benefit of lowering the incidents of malaria since the spiders have more effectively limited the mosquito population. Interconnections...geographic information are a spider web of interconnections between nature and humanity.
Via Seth Dixon
The results of India's once-in-a-decade census reveal a country of 1.2 billion people where millions have access to the latest technology, but millions more lack sanitation and drinking water. More Indians are entering the middle class as personal wealth is transforming South Asia's economy in the private sector. Yet the government's ability to provide public services to match that growth still lags behind. Why would it be that it is easier to get a cell phone than a toilet in India? What will that mean for development?
Via Seth Dixon
You may be focussing on chocolate over the weekend - but where does it come from? A global trade analysed. In chocolate (this is what maps are made for! What is the geography of chocolate like? There is a dark side (no pun intended) to the production of cocoa in many places such as West Africa.
Via Seth Dixon
Justine Ojambo, co-founder of the SLF-funded project PEFO in Uganda, talks about losing his mother to AIDS and PEFO's work to support children orphaned by AI... THis is a great video on AIDS/HIV in Africa. So many show Africans as passive victims of global and environmental forces beyond their control, this one is of empowered and inspiring people seeking to change the world. For more inspiration AIDS/HIVS videos from Africa, see: http://stephenlewisfoundation.org/news-resources/multimedia/video-clips
Via Seth Dixon
This is a beautiful photoessay of the Hajj, with excellent captions that shows many of the cultural customs that are associated with the massive pilgrimage. The tremendous influx of tourists/pilgrims into the Mecca area, there is a huge economic industry that supports and depends on the tourists. For a BBC article about the market impacts of the Hajj, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11777483
Via Seth Dixon
King Abdullah announced on Sunday that Saudi women will be allowed to vote and run for office in municipal elections beginning in 2015. Driving a car as simple as it may sound, is a method of enhancing mobility and that means freedom of spatial expression. This decision to allow women to vote has only demonstrated the cultural constraints of gender roles and how much more progress is needed.
Via Seth Dixon
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"Green is an unusual film. It is both a hard hitting portrayal of the causes and consequences of deforestation in Indonesia, and a film which captures the tranquillity and calm of wild nature. It contains no narrative or dialogue and yet helps us understand complex commodity chains. Green needs to be taken seriously. In these pages we present a series of short essays in response to the film."
'Green' is a female orangutan in Indonesia, beset with deforestation and resource exploitation of her habitat. This is a non-profit film follows her; watch at the film’s website or view the trailer: http://www.greenthefilm.com/
Via Seth Dixon
Thailand... Feel free to mute the commentary...this video demonstrates the truly 'back-breaking' work that is a part of paddy rice farming.
Via Seth Dixon
Scientists model where and when the debris from the March 2011 Japanese tsunami will be. The likelihood that the debris (not radioactive) will reach the U.S. west coast is increasingly likely. Look at the great video attached to the article.
Via Seth Dixon
360° panoramic photography by Harbert F. Austin Jr.. Visit us to see more amazing panoramas from Japan and thousands of other places in the world. The interactive panorama is eerily compelling...this is a haunting image.
Via Seth Dixon
This is an incredible video because of the shocking footage of blatant disregard for worker safety. This can lead to an interesting discussion concerning how China has been able to have its economy grow. What other ways has China (or Chinese companies) been "cutting corners?" How does that give them a competitive edge on the global industrial market?
Via Seth Dixon
Globalization has hit...hard and fast.
Via Seth Dixon
A five-part, multimedia series on the coming dystopia that is urbanization. This is a great introduction to the explosion of the slums within megacities. This video as a part of the article is especially useful. Click on the title to read the accompanying article.
Via Seth Dixon
"The name of the country Pakistan has a fascinating history - it is essentially an acronym! Prior to 1947, the country now known as Pakistan was a British colony. In 1947 the United Kingdom granted independence to the region under a new name, Pakistan. The name had been developed by a group of students at Cambridge University who issued a pamphlet in 1933 called Now or Never."
In a country with such great ethnic divisions, a common religion is a powerful nationalizing force. As the capital city of Islamabad's toponym powerfully states (the house or abode of Islam), religion remains an important element of national identity for Pakistanis.
Via Seth Dixon
Global warming does not impact all areas equally, and in the future the less environmentally resilient countries will be at increasingly at risk. Bangladesh, as a flat area prone to flooding, is especially vulnerable to anthropogenic climate change. However, Bangladesh has implemented many changes in the cultural ecology to make sure that they are using the land differently to strengthen their environmental resilience.
Via Seth Dixon
TED Talks HIV is a serious problem in the DR Congo, and aid agencies have flooded the country with free and cheap condoms. But few people are using them. Why? This video highlights why some well-intending NGOs with excellent plans for the developing world don't have the impact they are hoping for. Cultural barriers to diffusion abound and finding a way to make your idea resonate with your target audience takes some preparation. This also addresses some important demographic and health-related issues, so the clip could be used in a variety of places within the curriculum. FYI: this clip briefly shows some steamy condom ads.
Via Seth Dixon
Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement ... Community, agriculture, gender, politics and the environment... it's all here in this inspiring clip.
Via Seth Dixon
Learn more about the ethnic, religious and political powerplays in and around Iraq during a virtual tour of the region led by NBC’s Richard Engel. This is an incredibly well-put together, video/slideshow about the complex geography of within Iraq that has lead to so many difficulties in the post-Saddam Hussein era. The ethnic patterns, religious divisions, spatial arrangements of resources as well as the larger regional context all play roles in creating the a contentious political environment.
Via Seth Dixon
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This shows the division on men and women and how women are looked at…like second class citizens. It is very sad that this still goes on.