This is a recent article that I was asked to read for class. It raises interesting questions about the environment and how humans are interacting and changing it. As I read this I noticed two things, Germany and India are doing some amazing things to make their respective places green and sustainable. Germany on the one hand it tackling consumer/consumption issues specifically energy/solar energy. They are combining the forces of science, market demand and controls, business, and regulation to create an arena that fosters alternative energies rather than stifles them. India on the other hand it taking a more Ghandian approach and returning to traditional methods of agriculture, water management, and information sharing.
The common thread of geography in this article is both a physical and cultural connection. Trying to change how humans interact with the environment takes the understanding of the various subfields in science along with the ability to understand how human culture works and then how it can change = Geography.
If you haven't read the article flip through it and see what you will find to inspire you.
2 comments:
Nicely put sister! Reading on India's move back to the roots, to the ways that work was inspiring. Says something about the US aid agencies going in to places and showing them how to "do" things in a western way, goes to show that we don't know everything
Yeah, but there's also something else: India's population is still growing at a rate that will make it the world's largest country, in population, in another decade or two, and there's not much ongoing effort to address that. Finding more resources for ever-more people is a Faustian bargain. Germany, on the other hand, is indeed doing some astonishing (and elegant) things -- but also has one of the populations of Europe that is actively DROPPING (at least in terms of natural increase among Germans) ... where the population is going up, it's because of the migration into the country, esp. from Poland and countries of the former Eastern Europe. Doesn't THAT paint another contrast ...
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