Vandana Shiva on Mechanistic Science vs Indigenous Knowledge
https://vimeo.com/103764529
-Good example of the neem tree in India
What is indigenous knowledge?
http://www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/basic.htm
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Nature and popular cutlure
"One of the paradoxes of the modern age and popular culture seems to be the more we cluster in cities and suburbs, the greater our impact on open areas; we carry our popular culture with us when we vacation in such regions..."
"Popular culture is less directly tied to the physical environment than are [local] and indigenous cultures, which is not to say that they don't have an enormous impact on the environment... Gone is the intimate assocation between people and land known by our folk ancestors. Gone, too, is our direct vulnerability to many environmental forces, although this security is more apparent than real."
-From the Human Mosaic 12th edition p. 55
When fewer people live near or in open areas like national parks the day-to-day incentive to be stewards of the natural landscape goes down. Parks are sometimes treated as something distant "over there" ex. four hours drive away that we pay to consume/use/visit once in a while, sort of like food, a toy, or entertainment, rather than a living physical space we co-inhabit.
"Popular culture is less directly tied to the physical environment than are [local] and indigenous cultures, which is not to say that they don't have an enormous impact on the environment... Gone is the intimate assocation between people and land known by our folk ancestors. Gone, too, is our direct vulnerability to many environmental forces, although this security is more apparent than real."
-From the Human Mosaic 12th edition p. 55
When fewer people live near or in open areas like national parks the day-to-day incentive to be stewards of the natural landscape goes down. Parks are sometimes treated as something distant "over there" ex. four hours drive away that we pay to consume/use/visit once in a while, sort of like food, a toy, or entertainment, rather than a living physical space we co-inhabit.
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Good explanation of state capitalism in Asia
Ian Bremmer: State Capitalism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fn33n4Csi0
"In state capitalism the state is the referee and one of the teams is stacked with the refs friends and family and they only bother to tell that team what the rules are... and that is a rather different game than the one we're used to playing in the internatinal economy."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fn33n4Csi0
"In state capitalism the state is the referee and one of the teams is stacked with the refs friends and family and they only bother to tell that team what the rules are... and that is a rather different game than the one we're used to playing in the internatinal economy."
Amur River the Russia-China border
The Amur's siren song
http://www.economist.com/node/15108641
Interesting history of dreams, aspirations and conflicts on the Amur River which forms the majority of the Russia-China border
http://www.economist.com/node/15108641
Interesting history of dreams, aspirations and conflicts on the Amur River which forms the majority of the Russia-China border
Good video on Mekong Delta human-environment changes
Mekong Delta - Dzap Productions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnf5kAKywLo
Fast-pace video discusses the effects of upstream activities and climate change on the Mekong Delta and the millions of people who live there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnf5kAKywLo
Fast-pace video discusses the effects of upstream activities and climate change on the Mekong Delta and the millions of people who live there.
Friday, April 24, 2015
Ankgor Wat digital reconstruction
Ankgor Wat is one of the world's great buildings along with the Taj Mahal in India, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, St. Basil's in Moscow, St. Peter's in the Vatican, etc.
It is massive Hindu/Buddhist temple in Cambodia that also appears on the Cambodian flag.
This video shows what the crumbling buliding really might have looked like when it was an active center of the Khmer Kingdom.
Digital reconstruction of Angkor Wat
http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/videos/a-digital-reconstruction-of-angkor-wat/20077
It is massive Hindu/Buddhist temple in Cambodia that also appears on the Cambodian flag.
This video shows what the crumbling buliding really might have looked like when it was an active center of the Khmer Kingdom.
Digital reconstruction of Angkor Wat
http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/videos/a-digital-reconstruction-of-angkor-wat/20077
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Bajau ocean nomads
Bajau ocean nomads of Sabah, Malaysia on the island of Borneo
Bajau - BBC Human Planet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_FUlHngPqQ
Live their lives mostly at sea
Bajau - BBC Human Planet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_FUlHngPqQ
Live their lives mostly at sea
Malaysian tsunami movie
This is the trailer of a movie about the 2004 Tsunami that was showing on TV in Malaysia throughout the holidays and New Year's. It shows how important the tsunami was to Malaysia and other countries. It looks like the full movie is in Vimeo. It's in Malaysian but it's easy to understand what's going on.
Hafalan shalat Delisa - 2011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgg6jOFp9iY
Hafalan shalat Delisa - 2011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgg6jOFp9iY
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Hotspot: South China Sea
The South China Sea region is a critical world trade route with major territorial disputes. We will be hearing more and more about conflicts in this region in the coming decades. Today 1/3 of all world shipping traffic including 50% of the world's oil and gas trade run through the South China Sea. It is the "middleman" between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, South Asia and East Asia the world's largest population clusters.
China contends that all of the South China Sea belongs to it based on an original "nine dash line" (same as red line below) on a map first published in 1947. But it not made any formal claims. China has sent its navy to patrol isalnds several times but now recently has begun building new islands. They do this using dredging vessels which dig up sediment from the sea and then hose it on top of existing coral reefs to make islands. The goal is to claim the areas of sea that surround the islands. (see image below)
In the United Nations Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) a country typically gets 200 miles of sea off its coast, even if just the coast of a tiny island. This region 200-mile region is called its EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone, blue lines below) but China is claiming much more than that (red line) including a large chunk of the EEZs of Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia. In the news there are frequent protests, conflicts and developments including just today a story about China building a runway in contested area.
China building runway in disputed South China Sea island
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32331964
In addition to shipping routes, the South China Sea is believed to hold huge seafloor oil and natural gas deposits. China is scouring the globe for resources to fuel its enormous population and claiming just a dozen tiny specks of land in the sea could open up huge oil and gas resources.
As it stands the South China Sea will continue to be a major hotspot of conflict for decades in this highly fragemented part of the world.
Chinese dredging vessel hosing sediment to make a new island
China contends that all of the South China Sea belongs to it based on an original "nine dash line" (same as red line below) on a map first published in 1947. But it not made any formal claims. China has sent its navy to patrol isalnds several times but now recently has begun building new islands. They do this using dredging vessels which dig up sediment from the sea and then hose it on top of existing coral reefs to make islands. The goal is to claim the areas of sea that surround the islands. (see image below)
In the United Nations Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) a country typically gets 200 miles of sea off its coast, even if just the coast of a tiny island. This region 200-mile region is called its EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone, blue lines below) but China is claiming much more than that (red line) including a large chunk of the EEZs of Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia. In the news there are frequent protests, conflicts and developments including just today a story about China building a runway in contested area.
China building runway in disputed South China Sea island
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32331964
In addition to shipping routes, the South China Sea is believed to hold huge seafloor oil and natural gas deposits. China is scouring the globe for resources to fuel its enormous population and claiming just a dozen tiny specks of land in the sea could open up huge oil and gas resources.
As it stands the South China Sea will continue to be a major hotspot of conflict for decades in this highly fragemented part of the world.
Chinese dredging vessel hosing sediment to make a new island
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Good brief overview of Geography of Latin America
Good brief overview of Geography of Latin America
Geography Resources and Environment of Latin America
http://www.utdallas.edu/~pujana/latin/PDFS/Lecture%202-%20Cultural%20Geography%20of%20Latin%20America.pdf
All pdfs
Geography Resources and Environment of Latin America
http://www.utdallas.edu/~pujana/latin/PDFS/Lecture%202-%20Cultural%20Geography%20of%20Latin%20America.pdf
All pdfs
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Why countries are rich and poor
Why countries are rich and poor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-4V3HR696k
Don't know if it completely answers the question but definitely mentions many important factors. It mentions culture as as top reason then says the reasons are not related to the actual people in the countries... isn't that what culture is?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-4V3HR696k
Don't know if it completely answers the question but definitely mentions many important factors. It mentions culture as as top reason then says the reasons are not related to the actual people in the countries... isn't that what culture is?
Friday, April 3, 2015
Russian population decline
Demographers warn of looming population crisis for Russia - VOA News
The expert says Russia's death rates are similar to those of countries at war because of high rates of "accidents, traumas, murders, suicides" and everything not connected to disease.
Add to this more abortions than live births plus high disease rates.
Russia is a tough place to live.
The expert says Russia's death rates are similar to those of countries at war because of high rates of "accidents, traumas, murders, suicides" and everything not connected to disease.
Add to this more abortions than live births plus high disease rates.
Russia is a tough place to live.
Population growth amid stark inequality in Paraguay
Boom times in Paraguay leave many behind
by Simon Romero
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/world/americas/boom-times-in-paraguay-leave-many-behind.html
by Simon Romero
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/world/americas/boom-times-in-paraguay-leave-many-behind.html
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Map of every player's hometown in the Final Four
Map of every player's hometown in the Final Four
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/04/this_map_showing_the_hometown.html
Textbook example of the spectrum from clustered to dispersed.
Kentucky and Duke are huge national programs so their players are more dispersed throughout the country.
Michigan State and Wisconsin are more regional schools and their guys are clustered around the Great Lakes area.
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/04/this_map_showing_the_hometown.html
Textbook example of the spectrum from clustered to dispersed.
Kentucky and Duke are huge national programs so their players are more dispersed throughout the country.
Michigan State and Wisconsin are more regional schools and their guys are clustered around the Great Lakes area.
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