A geographer's perspective on famine in the Horn of Africa

Here's an excellent column on famine in the Horn of Africa by geographer Bill Moseley, an expert on development and environmental change in Africa. For students taking Geography 125, this is an eloquent, brief, and readable analysis that illustrates how a political ecology perspective differs from dominant, mainstream perspectives on food, hunger, and agriculture (the issues in Chapter 8 of your textbook).

The Geography of Google Street View

I don't get to take road trips as often as I'd like, so I was excited to see that, thanks to Google Maps Street View, I can travel to a lot of places via "virtual road trip." In some ways the world geography of coverage - i.e., the places that are visible via Google Maps Street View - is rather predictable: I suspect there would be a fairly strong correlation between this map and a world map of countries by GDP (Gross Domestic Product, a commonly used indicator of wealth and economic productivity) per capita. So it's no surprise that the most heavily mapped include North America, Western Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Singapore, and Japan. It's also not too surprising to see that South Africa is the best covered country in Africa.

But there are surprises - on the one hand, not much of Germany, Belgium, Austria, or Portugal have Street View available yet; I'd be curious to know why. (I'm also disappointed that I can't do a virtual road trip through Iceland yet...) And why so little coverage in South America (outside of the major population centers along the Brazilian coast) and almost none in India or China?

On the other hand, there is pretty good coverage in Romania and Czechia... why these two and not other Eastern European countries? I was also pleased to discover that I could use this to visit the Canary Islands and a tiny smidgen of Antarctica.

Upcoming study of food deserts in Milwaukee

Here's an upcoming study on food deserts in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Detroit - hey, how did UW-Madison land this, and not UWM?

Segregation in Milwaukee

Is Milwaukee the most segregated city in the US? One recent study using the dissimilarity index found that it is, according to this Salon article.

But note that the dissimilarity index is not the only measure of segregation, and it has its critics. To learn a little about some of these critics - and to find many more useful links - check out this recent Politifact Wisconsin article.

UWM wetland grant

Here's a good video about a grant to restore a wetlands site along the Kinnickinnic River in Milwaukee - the work of UWM Freshwater Sciences grad students.

Spatial justice: the non-profit

Here's a link to a non-profit organization in Seattle (I think) "whose mission is to assist other non-profits, community groups and NGO’s in utilizing data mapping, GIS, GPS, and spatial analysis to describe, measure and analyze issues of possible spatial inequality and injustice."

For students interested in using GIS to address justice issues (whether for a class project or beyond), this may be a useful site. If you're in Geography 564, you should take a look at the organization's approach to conceptualizing "spatial justice," here in the Toolbox section. I'm pretty sure that this is "early" David Harvey they are quoting here... They also quote geographer David Smith, whose book Geography and Social Justice is essential reading for graduate students interested in the topic.

What does "local" mean?

Recently in Geography 564 we discussed Born and Purcell's "avoiding the local trap", which discusses the recent glorification of "local" food and agriculture as more sustainable, more just, and well, just plain better. This isn't just an academic argument, as this recent news article makes clear. (If the link doesn't work, try googling Jalonick and local - the author's name is Mary Clare Jalonick.

If you're interested in reading more critiques of the "local," here are some other links for you to check out:

- Here's a blog post that also contains the text of a 2010 New York times article.
- And here's a description of a 2008 academic article on buying local.