Geography Education

On the Map author Simon Garfield speaks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about the history of maps, how they can be used as political tools, and how GPS and modern mapping applications are changing the way we see ourselves and our place in the world.

In a country this battered, fractured, dysfunctional – how much can she really hope to achieve?

The issue of female education in Pakistan has exploded after Malala Yousafzai was attacked by the Taliban for publicly advocating for girls to receive more schooling.  This attack has lead several media outlets to take a more serious look at the gendered cultural and economic opportunities (or lack thereof) for girls within Pakistan.  This NPR podcast also speaks of the real options in front of so many girls like Malala and the cultural and political contexts within which they navigate their lives.

Tags: gender, South Asia, podcast, culture, Islam, development, unit 3 culture, education.

The viral hit isn't a fluke. South Korea has been cultivating a global music business for decades.

You may already know that I've been fascinating watching the cultural diffusion of Gangnam Style throughout the world as mentioned previously.  This NPR podcast looks at the economic infrastructure of the South Korean music industry that explains in greater detail how this video went viral.  The distribution of this video is dependent in part on the technological sophistication and economic strategies of South Korea to associate their brands with cultural cachet.  

Tags: popular culture, industry, diffusion, globalization, technology, economic, unit 6 industry.

States in the Deep South traditionally vote Republican in every presidential election. However, a string of "blue" counties curve through Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

Question to ponder: How does the physical geography of a region impact the human geography of a place?  Using this example, does the environment completely determine the cultural outcomes of the region?  To what extent does one impact the other?

Tags: physical, political, environment, unit 4 political.

Bikers are everywhere in Copenhagen. And now the city is building new, high-speed routes into the city that will make it easier to commute, even from the distant suburbs.

The transportation urban planning paradigm in Copenhagen is not exclusively structured around automobiles and the logistics needed for drivers.  Copenhagen has heavily invested in cycling and they are reaping the rewards based on there efforst.  As the Earth-Operators Manual Facebook Page stated, cyclists in Copenhagen daily travel 750,000 miles; enough to go to the moon and back. 

Tags: transportation, planning, urban, unit 7 cities, podcast

Just a few weeks ago, warnings were flying thick and fast that the Olympic Games would reduce London to chaos, jamming the capital's roads and clogging up its aging transport system.

The Olympic Games have had a very uneven impact on the various neighborhoods of London. Many businesses that cater to tourists on the western end of London have not seen the typical crowds for a regular summer, much less a summer that was so highly anticipated.  The majority of the neighborhood renovation projects were carried out on the East End.  So the question: "are the Olympics an economic success for London?" is not one with a simple, straightforward answer.   

"Geographer Reece Jones discusses his recent book Border Walls, examining the history of how and why societies have chosen to literally wall themselves apart.  He gives a brief history of political maps, how international lines reshape landscapes, and how the trend towards increased border wall construction contrasts with the view of a “borderless” world under globalization."

Executives have recently focused attention on Silicon Valley's workplace culture. While companies like Google, Facebook and Yahoo operate by their own set of rules, what happens there may influence how many Americans work.

In an impoverished country, elephant poaching is a quick way to make big money. A pair of poachers explain how they track and kill elephants in one of Africa's top game reserves.

The illegal sale of ivory in places such as Asia drive the elephant poachers to prey on Elephants in protected game reserves and national parks.  The Selous Game Reserve is larger than Switzerland and yet they only have 10 rangers to protect and patrol the wildlife. 

Tags: biogeography, poverty, globalization, Africa, consumption, resources, ecology, podcast.

Ever wonder how charitable the people are who live in your area? It turns out that lower-income people tend to donate a much bigger share of their discretionary incomes than wealthier people, according to a new study.

Questions to ponder: What are some reasons that Providence RI is the 'least charitable' metropolitan area in the United States according to this data?  Why is the state of Utah ranked as the 'most charitable state?'  Why are the bottom 3 states all in the New England region? 

A decade ago, Botswana was facing a national crisis as AIDS appeared on the verge of decimating the country's adult population. Now, the country provides free, life-saving AIDS drugs to almost all of its citizens who need them.

This is a great example, and possibly a template on how to tackle the AIDS/HIV crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Botswana was as hard hit as any country, but they fully invested their economic initiatives into tackling this and actively changed cultural attitudes and behaviors that faciliate transmission.  Not all is 'doom and gloom' when looking at poverty and disease-stricken countries.   

More than half of the world now lives in urban areas. In the U.S., urban dwellers make up 83 percent of the population, and it's growing every day. What does it mean to live in a city today? What are the challenges for cities going forward?

This NPR special series, NPR cities, is an acknowledgement of what we already knew: cities are becoming increasingly important. To understand humanity in the 21st century, we need to understand cities. Included in this marvelous feature are numerous podcasts, infographics and articles about urban themes such as transportation, cultural amenities, economic and neighborhood revitalization.