GeoKnow

Your launch-pad for discovery and learning, providing students and educators a global perspective on the world’s geography and the issues we face.

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Digital Atlas Project

It’s time . . . After a twenty-year run, the web and web authoring have moved on, so it’s time to retire GeoKnow.net. However, all the great resources you have come to expect will now be found at the Digital Atlas Project. Thank you for supporting GeoKnow.net. It has been a labour of love on behalf the Geography community literally around the world. This blog site and the GeoKnow website itself…

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The true size of countries on a world map - more on Mercator

The true size of countries on a world map – more on Mercator

We’ve known for some time now how the Mercator Projection distorts land masses and the sizes of countries further from the Equator. You’ve probably all seen the humorous portrayal on West Wing. I even wrote a post featuring the Google Doodle for Mercator’s birthday. But somehow, I missed this excellent VisualCapitalist post about it, so I’m bringing it to you now.

From VisualCapitalist

But…

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Teaching Development, Appropriately

When you are teaching development this coming school year, please, please, please, use this video:

How Africa can use its traditional knowledge to make progress

It’s a TED Talk given by Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu during TEDGlobal in Arusha, Tanzania in September 2017. Dr. Ezeanya-Esiobu is an evangelist for African indigenous knowledge. Her experiences growing up in the African education system and her…

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Davos 2019 - Weekend Wandering

Davos 2019 – Weekend Wandering

This is another in a series of Weekend Wanderings posts with many links to follow. It centres around the annual meeting of the World Economic Forumin Davos, Switzerland. It used to be (and still is, to a large degree) a meeting of the wealthiest, most powerful people in the world in terms of both economics and politics. They would wine and and dine and discuss the world’s future and how best to…

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An epidemic of food waste – when so many go hungry

An epidemic of food waste – when so many go hungry

A definitive study has been released in Canada that more accurately quantifies the amount of food wasted each year in terms of both avoidable waste and unavoidable waste. In total, almost 58% of Canadian food production is wasted. Of that, 32% is considered avoidable waste which means just shy of $50 billion of ‘usable groceries’ is wasted each year.

More than half of food produced in Canada is…

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This is why we study history...

This is why we study history…

Actually, it’s an even better example of why interdisciplinary studies is so essential – a nexus of history, geography, geology, history and chemistry. Perhaps ‘archeaogeochemistry’.

From the World Economic Forum:

How climate change caused the world’s first empire to collapse

Now, Jared Diamond, author of Collapse, may have something to say about it but, either way, this article and its…

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Plastics, Grocery Stores and Farmers’ Markets - Argggghhh, don’t get me started...

Plastics, Grocery Stores and Farmers’ Markets – Argggghhh, don’t get me started…

The trigger for this blog post was a recent CBC Marketplace episode about how Canadian grocery stores can reduce or eliminate plastics by adopting the methods and means of a UK grocery store:

Canada’s major grocery chains slow to tackle the mounting problem of plastic waste

We really MUST begin eliminating single-use disposable plastics from our daily routines. If there is one product of the…

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More on overtourism...

More on overtourism…

From the World Economic Forum, January 2019:

Venice will now start charging tourists an entrance fee

Also…from August 2017

The growth paradox: can tourism ever be sustainable?

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GDP as an indicator, or not

GDP as an indicator, or not

GDP has had its share of ups and downs recently, both in real terms and as an indicator. If economy was the only thing worth measuring, then a case can be made for GDP, but it’s not.

The World Economic Forum takes a good look at this in their article from November:

GDP is no longer an accurate measure of economic progress. Here’s why

You see, GDP does not account for losses in natural capital,…

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Anak Krakatau eruption and tsunami, Indonesia

Anak Krakatau eruption and tsunami, Indonesia

A fascinating, yet soberingly unfortunate geologic event that deserves some coverage here. BBC has some excellent insights:

Indonesian tsunami: death toll rises from Anak Krakatau rises

as well as The Guardian:

Indonesian authorities raise Anak Krakatau threat level

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Plastic bottle deposit scheme in UK proving hit with shoppers

Plastic bottle deposit scheme in UK proving hit with shoppers

Article from The Guardian

Plastic bottle deposit scheme in UK proving hit with shoppers

We must start somewhere. While it would be better to reduce plastic to zero, the goal is not realistic. Plastic bottles are much lighter than the alternative I grew up with: glass. Less weight means reduced transportation costs. And, since both can be recycled, it’s time now we adopt the means for recycling we…

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The Huron Carol: a look at historical perspective and continuity and change

The Huron Carol: a look at historical perspective and continuity and change

Although this is a more of a geography blog, there is significant spill over between human geography and history (not to mention the changes in the course of history caused by physical geography, but that another story).

The Huron Carol has been a part of my Christmas for decades now, yet it is only recently, when I started teaching middle years history, that I learned of its origins and the…

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Birth tourism – an aspect of tourism we don’t often consider A NY Times article on birth tourism in Canada - where it's legal. A good debatable question, too. Should it be? 'Birth Tourism' is legal in Canada. A lawmaker calls it unscrupulous.

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Overtourism: One Solution

Mass Tourism is plaguing the planet. With a burgeoning world middle class, more and more people want to take advantage of cheaper flights (yes, Canada! 🙂 ) and accommodations to see the vast and varied world around them. Iceland is being over-run, citizens of Barcelona and Venice are fed-up with tourists and the same can be said for countless other places, like the Louvre in Paris with its famous…

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Population densities in Canadian cities compared to other world cities

Population densities in Canadian cities compared to other world cities

Canada desperately needs to raise the density of our urban areas to protect the surrounding farmland and natural areas. We’ve been living in this dreamworld of never-ending land (and resources) and need to really begin planning for restrained growth.

This Fraser Institute study examines Canada’s urban densities and compares them to densities in other cities around the world. Livability starts…

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Comparing population densities across Europe in a more meaningful way Have a look at the work of Alasdair Rae via ’The Conversation’  on teasing apart the nuances of population density to allow more meaningful comparisons:

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Air Pollution and Life Expectancy

Air pollution results in 7,700 premature deaths in Canada each year, report says (and costs Canadians $36 billion annually) (CBC)

Polluted air causes 5.5 million deaths a year new research says (BBC)

Imagine if a war caused between 5.5 million and 6.5 million deaths each and every year. Wouldn’t it become one of the priorities of government, business, industry and social action groups? Of…

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