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GeoCapabilities StoryMap Illustrates the ‘Power’ of Geographical Knowledge

Since 2012 the AAG has been participating in an international effort, known as GeoCapabilities, to support new approaches in geography teacher education.

As previously reported earlier this year, the GeoCapabilities project launched a new website (www.geocapabilities.org) that includes four training modules. Collectively, the modules are designed to promote a “curriculum of engagement” based on an appreciation of the significance of geographical knowledge in the education of young people.

Although there are many ways to express this significance, the project emphasizes the concept of capability and how powerful disciplinary knowledge (PDK) develops capability by enabling people to think in specialized ways. This leads to better knowledge, stronger arguments, and more sound judgments about information and facts.

To illustrate principles of PDK in action, a StoryMap has been created that features a collection of vignettes written by members of the GeoCapabilities project team. A “vignette” is a teacher-training resource that consists of two parts: 1) a short description of a geography lesson, and 2) a brief discussion of the PDK taught in the lesson.

One vignette, written by geography teacher Duncan Hawley, presents a geography lesson in which students are asked to think about responsibility for climate change in the context of a graph ranking countries based on their internal CO2 emissions from energy consumption. The vignette goes on to explain that while at first glance it appears counties with high CO2 emissions (such as China) are most responsible for the pollution driving climate change, the “bald facts” don’t always tell the full story. This interpretation, based strictly on the data depicted on the graph, belies an underlying geography of global interconnectedness, trade relationships, and globalization. This PDK gets us much closer to a fuller understanding of the reasons for international patterns of greenhouse gas emissions. The significance of this knowledge is further evident in how it influences the choices we make as consumers, who we vote for as citizens (and how we decide), what form of economy and society we might envision as an alternative to the present; in other words, our capabilities as humans.

This climate vignette is just one of many available examples of how PDK, as taught by geography educators, develops capability. In the coming months the GeoCapabilities StoryMap will continue to grow with new PDK vignettes, including contributions stemming from recent workshops held in Japan and China. Over time the goal of the StoryMap is to provide an internationally-diverse library of resources that demonstrate the “power” of geographical knowledge. Readers interested in learning more, or potentially contributing vignettes of their own, are invited to contact the GeoCapabilities project using this form.

Professor Takashi Shimura (Joetsu University of Education) and the AAG’s Michael Solem prepare to teach a GeoCapabilities workshop with Japanese teacher educators and teachers.
 
Pre-service teachers at Beijing Normal University working on new PDK vignettes for the GeoCapabilities StoryMap.

Please visit www.geocapabilities.org to learn more about the project and to try out the training modules.

 

 

 

 

curriculum, GeoCapabilities, Michael Solem, powerful disciplinary knowledge, StoryMap, Takashi Shimura, teacher education
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AAG to Collaborate on an International Geography Assessment

The AAG is participating in an international effort to design and develop a geography assessment based on the successful model used by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) for the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Major collaborating organizations include the International Geographical Union Commission on Geographical Education (IGU-CGE) and the IEA/TIMSS. The initial funding for this project is being provided by the Geography Education National Implementation Project and the U.S. National Center for Research in Geography Education.

The IEA is an independent, nonprofit, international cooperative of national research institutions and governmental research agencies. The IEA conducts research studies of cross-national achievement, including the TIMSS. Since 1995, TIMSS has monitored trends in mathematics and science achievement every four years, at the fourth and eighth grades, in over 60 countries. There is potential for a geography assessment to become a part of the international survey because the subject is taught in nearly all countries. The discipline has a core of knowledge, skills, and principles that represent what students should know and be able to do with geography.

The process of creating the international geography assessment began with a research symposium in Basel, Switzerland on September 23-25, 2016. This meeting produced a plan for a five-year program of integrated research and education activities that will include the development of an assessment framework; international comparative analysis of 8th-grade geography assessments and instructional materials; identification of geographic concepts and content threads common to 8th-grade geography classrooms in different countries; and extensive validation studies with internationally-diverse groups of teachers (both pre-service and in-service).

A goal of the project is to produce a geography assessment that meets the standards of the TIMSS model, which has gained international recognition. An assessment of that standard will advance knowledge in the areas of geography education and assessment in two important ways. First, the project will produce, for the first time, a valid and internationally accepted assessment of young people’s geographic knowledge, skills, and abilities. This international collaborative process will demonstrate how assessments of geographic learning can be conducted internationally in diverse educational settings with considerable variation in school geography curricula.

A second major contribution of the project will stem from the data that become available from the international geography assessment following its administration in participating countries. Such data will enable research studies that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to pursue. For example, the geography assessment data could be mined to explore how international variation in school geography requirements, teacher education, and curricular content relate to students’ geographic knowledge, skills, and abilities. Future analyses of data generated by an international geography assessment will be shared broadly with national academies and ministries of education. It will provide public agencies and policymakers with a valuable source of information on student achievement in geography and its contributions to 21st century issues, such as sustainability, energy, and food security.

Members of the international geography assessment committee include Theresa Bourke (Queensland University of Technology, Australia), Chew Hung Chang (National Institute of Education, Singapore), Eugenio Gonzalez (IEA), Dirk Hastedt (IEA), Rod Lane (Macquarie University, Australia), Miroslav Marada (Charles University, Czechia), Jon Moore (Educational Testing Service), Joop van der Schee (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands), Michael Solem (AAG), Joseph Stoltman (Western Michigan University), Kathrin Viehrig (University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Northwest Switzerland), and Okkyong Yoon (Cheongju National University of Education, South Korea).

Please direct questions to Joseph Stoltman (stoltman [at] wmich [dot] edu) and Michael Solem (msolem [at] aag [dot] org).

 

 

 

 

International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, international geography assessment, model
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NSF to Host Webinar on Smart & Connected Communities Solicitation

The National Science Foundation would like to make the geography and spatial science communities aware of the Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC) solicitation (NSF 16-610).  The competition expects a significant social and behavioral component to be contained in the proposals and will likely be of interest to many geographers.

There will be a webinar about this new S&CC solicitation on October 20, 2016 from 2:30 to 3:30 pm eastern time.  The direct link to the event page for the S&CC webinar is as follows:  https://www.nsf.gov/events/event_summ.jsp?cntn_id=190025&org=CISE.  It is currently on the CISE homepage under Popular links, Webcasts/Webinars.

Some key components of the solicitation:

Due Dates

  • Preliminary Proposal Due Date(s) (required) (due by 5 p.m. submitter’s local time): November 30, 2016
  • Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. submitter’s local time): February 16, 2017

Proposal Categories

This S&CC solicitation will support research projects in four categories:

  • S&CC Integrative Research Grants (IRGs) Track 1. Awards in this category will support the conduct of fundamental, multidisciplinary, integrative research and the building of research capacity. Track 1 awards will provide three to five years of support for projects at a level not to exceed $5,000,000 for the total budget.
  • S&CC Integrative Research Grants Track 2. Awards in this category will support the conduct of fundamental, multidisciplinary, integrative research and the building of research capacity. Track 2 awards will provide three or four years of support for projects at a level not to exceed $1,000,000 for the total budget. It is anticipated that Track 1 and 2 proposals will be distinguished by the sizes of the teams, as well as, the scope and duration of the proposed activities.
  • S&CC Research Coordination Networks (RCNs). Awards in this category support the establishment of a network of multidisciplinary researchers and others who will collectively and significantly advance S&CC research through active exchange of ideas, development of fundamental research directions, and other approaches. Each of these awards will provide four or five years of support for projects at a level not to exceed $500,000 for the total budget.
  • S&CC Planning Grants. Awards in this category will provide one year of support to stimulate research capacity through multidisciplinary team-building and the development of high-impact, fundamental research concepts. Each of these awards will be at a level not to exceed $100,000 for the total budget.

Limit on Number of Proposals per PI or Co-PI: 4

The limit on number of proposals per PI, Co-PI, or other Senior Personnel is defined by award category as follows:

  • Integrative Research Grants Track 1 or Track 2: 1;
  • Research Coordination Networks: 2; and
  • Planning Grants: 1.

An individual may appear as a PI, Co-PI, or other Senior Personnel on only one proposal submitted to either S&CC IRG Track 1 or Track 2 (not both), only two proposals submitted to the S&CC RCN category, and only one proposal submitted to S&CC Planning Grant category. This limitation includes proposals submitted by a lead organization and any sub-awards included as part of a collaborative proposal involving multiple institutions.

Preliminary proposals are required only for S&CC Integrative Research Grants (IRG) Tracks 1 and 2 and must be submitted in accordance with the instructions below. The NSF decision made on the preliminary proposal is advisory only and may include feedback on proposed activities, including anticipated budgets. Submission of a Preliminary Proposal is required in order to be eligible to submit a Full S&CC IRG Proposal.

Please refer to the solicitation for further details.  For questions about the solicitation please contact Sunil Narumalani, a program director in the Geography & Spatial Sciences Program and also a managing program director for this new opportunity, snarumal [at] nsf [dot] gov.

nsf, Smart and Connected Communities
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New Books for Geographers

New Books: October 2016

Every month the AAG compiles a list of newly-published books in geography and related areas. Some are selected for review in the AAG Review of Books.

Publishers are welcome to send new volumes to the Editor-in-Chief (Kent Mathewson, Editor-in-Chief, AAG Review of Books, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803).

Anyone interested in reviewing these or other titles should also contact the Editor-in-Chief.

October 2016

Contextualizing Disaster by Gregory V. Button and Mark Schuller (eds.) (Berghahn Books 2016)

Crossing Boundaries For Collaboration: Conservation and Development Projects in the Amazon by Stephen G. Perz (Lexington Books 2016)

A Cultural History of Underdevelopment Latin America in the U.S. Imagination by John Patrick Leary (University of Virginia Press 2016)

Cultural Studies 50 Years On: History, Practice and Politics by Kieran Connell and Mathew Hilton (eds.) (Rowman and Littlefield 2016)

Duress: Imperial Durabilities in Our Times by Ann Laura Stoler (Duke University Press 2016)

The Ethics and Politics of Immigration: Core Issues and Emerging Trends by Alex Sager (ed.) (Rowman and Littlefield 2016)

Feeding Gotham: The Political Economy and Geography of Food in New York, 1790-1860 by Gergely Baics (Princeton University Press 2016)

Finding Oil: The Nature of Petroleum Geology, 1859-1920 by Brian Freshener (University of Nebraska Press 2011)

Flourishing Within Limits to Growth: Following nature’s way by Sven Erik Jørgensen, Brian D. Fath, Søren Nors Nielsen, Federico M. Pulselli, Daniel A. Fiscus and Simone Bastianoni (Routledge 2015)

Franz Boas among the Inuit of Baffin Island, 1883-1884 by Ludger Muller-Wille [ed.] William Barr [translator] (University of Toronto Press 2016)

Getting to Know Web GIS, 2nd Edition by Pinde Fu (ESRI Press 2016)

GIS Technology Applications in Environmental and Earth Sciences by Bai Tian (CRC Press 2017)

Global Cinematic Cities: New Landscapes of Film and Media by Johan Andersson and Lawrence Webb (eds.) (Columbia University Press 2016)

Humboldt and Jefferson: A Transatlantic Friendship of the Enlightenment by Sandra Rebok (University of Virginia Press 2014)

In the Name of the Great Work: Stalin’s Plan for the Transformation of Nature and Its Impact in Eastern Europe by Doubravka Olšáková (ed.) (Berghahn Books 2016)

The Kayapó’s Fight for Just Livelihoods by Laura Zanotti (University of Arizona Press 2016)

Landscapes of Accumulation: Real Estate and the Neoliberal Imagination in Contemporary India by Llerena Guiu Searle (University of Chicago Press 2016)

Landscapes of the Secular: Law, Religion, and American Sacred Space by Nicolas Howe (University of Chicago Press 2016)

Life as a Hunt: Thresholds of Identities and Illusions on an African Landscape by Stuart A. Marks (Bergahn Books 2016)

The Making of Grand Paris: Metropolitan Urbanism in the Twenty-First Century by Theresa Enright (MIT Press 2016)

Moroccan Dreams: Oriental Myth, Colonial Legacy by Claudio Minca and Lauren Wagner (I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd 2016)

Neoliberalizing Spaces in the Philippines: Suburbanization, Transnational Migration, and Dispossession by Arnisson Andre Ortega (Lexington Books 2016)

Once Within Borders: Territories of Power, Wealth, and Belonging since 1500 by Charles S. Maier (Harvard University Press 2016)

Place Names of Wisconsin by Edward Callary (University of Wisconsin Press 2016)

Population Health Intervention Research by Daniel W. Harrington, Sara McLafferty, and Susan J. Elliott (eds.) (Routledge 2017)

The Practice of Freedom: Anarchism, Geography, and the Spirit of Revolt by Richard J. White, Simon Springer, and Marcelo Lopes de Souza (eds.) (Rowman and Littlefield 2016)

Race, Ethnicity, and Place in a Changing America by John W. Frazier, Eugene L. Tettey-Fio, and Norah F. Henry (eds.) (Sony Press 2016)

Radical Territories in the Brazilian Amazon Reclaiming the Atmospheric Commons: The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and a New Model of Emissions Trading by Leigh Raymond (MIT Press 2016)

The Rise of Detroit as America’s Postindustrial Frontier by Rebecca J. Kinney (University of Minnesota Press 2016)

Settlements at the Edge: Remote Human Settlements in Developed Nations by Andrew Taylor, Dean B. Carson, Prescott C. Ensign, Lee Huskey, Rasmus Ole Rasmussen, Gertrude Saxinger (Edward Elgar Publishing  2016)

Towards a Cultural Politics of Climate Change: Devices, Desires, Dissent by Harriet Bulkeley, Matthew Paterson & Johannes Stripple (Cambridge University Press 2016)

Urban Squares as Places, Links and Displays: Successes and Failures by Jon Lang and Nancy Marshall (Routledge 2017)

Waves of Knowing: A Seascape Epistemology by Karin Amimoto Ingersoll (Duke University Press 2016)

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Awardees

Roger Downs To Receive the 2017 AAG Presidential Achievement Award

Roger M. Downs, professor of geography at Pennsylvania State University, will receive the 2017 AAG Presidential Achievement Award, which honors individuals for their long-term, major contributions to the discipline. Past President Sarah Witham Bednarz will confer the award during the close of her Past President’s Address at the AAG annual meeting in Boston. She remarked, “Downs is a scholar, excellent administrator, and guiding light for geographers interested in teaching and learning.”

He is recognized for his groundbreaking research in the development of spatial cognition in children, spatial thinking with and through geospatial technologies, and the nature and development of expertise in geography. He has worked closely with colleagues in psychology and other behavioral sciences to explore the intersections of geography and the cognitive sciences producing leading-edge work on cognitive mapping and spatial behavior.

Downs’ greatest contribution to the discipline, however, has been through his leadership and deft administrative skills which facilitated a renaissance in geography education. He was a member of the Planning Committee for the 1994 National Assessment Governing Board’s Geography Consensus and has been a driving force in the development of the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) assessment in Geography since then. He was writing coordinator of the team that developed the National Geography Standards: Geography for Life (1994) and chaired the group that revised the Standards in 2012. From 2001 to 2005 he led the National Academy of Science/National Research Council Committee on Support for Thinking Spatially producing the seminal document, Learning to Think Spatially which linked geographic information science and spatial thinking. From 1993 to 2012 as chair of the Geography Education National Implementation Project (GENIP) Downs played an influential role in every aspect of efforts to enhance the quality and quantity of geography education in the United States. As chair of The Geographical Sciences Committee of the National Research Council, he promoted geography education as vitally important to the health of the discipline at large.

He served as head of the Department of Geography at Penn State from 1994 to 2007. Previously he taught at Johns Hopkins University and held a key sabbatical position at the National Geographic Society as Geographer-in-Residence 1995-1996. He holds a B.A. (First Class Honors) and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Bristol, UK. He received the Distinguished Geography Educator Award from the National Geographic Society in 1996 and the Gilbert M. Grosvenor Award from AAG in 1997.

AAG Presidential Achievement Award, cognitive science, psychology, Roger Downs, Sarah Witham Bednarz, spatial cognition
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AAG Honors its First Archivist, the Library of Congress’ Ralph Ehrenberg

AAG Executive Director Doug Richardson and Chief of the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Ralph Ehrenberg

The AAG honored Ralph Ehrenberg, Chief of the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, during his retirement from the Library of Congress on October 13, 2016. The AAG’s Executive Director Doug Richardson presented him with a certificate of appreciation for his many years of service to the Association as the first AAG Archivist and in his distinguished role at the Library of Congress.

The special citation recognized his outstanding contributions to Geography through his scholarship and research, his service as the first Archivist of the AAG, his leadership as
Chief of the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress, and for his role in curating and making the AAG Archives accessible to scholars and students around the world.

Archivist, Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress, Ralph Ehrenberg
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David Lowenthal Receives the British Academy Medal

David Lowenthal was awarded the 2016 British Academy medal for The Past Is a Foreign Country—Revisited (Cambridge University Press, 2015). The medal honors “a landmark academic achievement which has transformed understanding in the humanities and social sciences” in a book that explores “the manifold ways in which history engages, illuminates and deceives us in the here and now.”

David Lowenthal engages a panel during “Author Meets Critic: The Past is a Foreign Country—Revisited,” a special session at the 2016 AAG annual meeting in San Francisco.

Lowenthal, emeritus professor of geography and honorary research fellow at University College London, was invited to the 2016 AAG Annual Meeting in San Francisco for a special “Author Meets Critics” session. There he talked about The Past is a Foreign Country—Revisited before panelists Diana K. Davis (UC Davis), Marie D. Price (George Washington University), and Dydia Delyser (CSU Fullerton), gave their understandings and opinions on the book.

The British Academy medal is greatly deserved for his work. Thirty years ago he wrote The Past Is a Foreign Country, which became a classic text. The Revisited text explores anew how we celebrate, expunge, contest and manipulate the past. He reveals the past as an almost entirely new realm, so transformed over three decades as to demand an equally new book.

British Academy medal, David Lowenthal, humanities, The Past Is a Foreign Country-Revisited
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Annual Meeting

‘Locating Geography Education’ — Sarah Bednarz’s Past President’s Address

AAG Past President Sarah Witham Bednarz will explore the evolving role, nature, and relevance of geography education as viewed by former presidents of the AAG from 1910 to the present. AAG presidential addresses have, at times, commented directly on education issues; at other times the topic has been avoided, if not ignored. What changes have occurred over time in how geography education is perceived and valued? What persistent educational concerns has the discipline wrestled with? How has the discipline, represented by its leaders, addressed broader social, cultural, and political factors that affect the production of new geographic knowledge and the reproduction of geographers?

At the close of the plenary, Bednarz will present Roger M. Downs, professor of geography at Pennsylvania State University, with the 2017 AAG Presidential Achievement Award, for his long-term, major contributions to the discipline.

The session will take place 11:50 a.m. to 1:10 p.m. on Friday, April 7, 2017. More details will follow as they become available.

AAG 2017, AAG presidents, education, Locating Geography Education, Past President’s Address, Sarah Witham Bednarz
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Newsletters

Newsletter – October 2016

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

The Long, Hot Summer

By Glen M. MacDonald
Glen M. MacDonald
MacDonald

It has been a long, hot summer. In July, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released its analysis of global temperatures for the first six months of 2016. Each of these months has set a record for global temperatures. Taken together, this marks the warmest six-month period since the record began in 1880. The temperatures for the first half of 2016 were about 1.3 degrees Celsius warmer than the late 19th century average. This is not a trivial amount.

Two weeks ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its analysis of August 2016 temperatures and found that it marks the 16th straight month of record-breaking temperatures for the globe. California, where I am writing this, is really feeling the heat. High evapotranspiration rates have locked the state in a condition of severe to exceptional drought according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Continue Reading.

Recent columns from the President

FEATURE

Noam Chomsky to Receive AAG Atlas Award in Boston‎

Noam ChomskyThe AAG has selected Noam Chomsky as the recipient of its 2017 AAG Atlas Award, the association’s highest honor. The AAG Atlas Award is designed to recognize and celebrate outstanding, internationally-recognized leaders who advance world understanding in exceptional ways.

Chomsky’s wide-ranging intellect and impassioned work have long inspired geographers. And his highly-regarded contributions on contemporary topics concerning globalization and the intersections between geography, economics and politics are of great interest to AAG members.

Noam Chomsky will engage in a conversational interview with AAG Executive Director Doug Richardson, as he has several times previously, at this year’s AAG Annual Meeting in Boston. This special interview with Chomsky will also serve as the keynote session to kick off Mainstreaming Human Rights in Geography and the AAG, one of three main Themes of the 2017 AAG Annual Meeting.

Continue Reading.

 
ANNUAL MEETING

Geographies of Bread and Water in the 21st Century

The Contributions in the Geographies of Bread and Water in the 21st Century Theme will address the complex demands and challenges of food and water provision over the 21st century. Of particular interest are the roles of physical, social, cultural and technological geographical research, education and public communication in formulating and implementing monitoring, adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Glen MacDonald’s Presidential Opening Plenary: Bread and Water in the 21st Century on Wednesday, April 5, 2017, will also serve as the keynote session for this featured theme.

Papers and sessions from all disciplines, subfields, and perspectives are welcome to submit to this theme. The submission deadline is October 27, 2016.

Learn More.

Uncertainty and Context in Geography and GIScience: Advances in Theory, Methods, and Practice

Uncertainty This theme within the 2017 AAG Annual Meeting will explore research frontiers and advances in theory, method, and research practice that address the challenges of uncertainty and context in geography and GIScience.

Papers and sessions from all disciplines, subfields and perspectives (e.g., geography, public health, sociology, transportation, urban studies, etc.) are welcome.

Learn More.

Mainstreaming Human Rights in Geography and the AAG‎

This special theme within the 2017 AAG Annual Meeting will explore intersections of Human Rights and Geography, and will build on the AAG’s initiatives to mainstream human rights in geography and the AAG. An Interview with Noam Chomsky by Doug Richardson will keynote this theme at the 2017 Boston Annual Meeting.

Papers and sessions from all disciplines, subfields, and perspectives are welcome to submit to this theme. The submission deadline is October 27, 2016.

Learn More.

Additional Annual Meeting Updates

Witch Way to Salem?

Salem Witch Museum
Salem Witch Museum

Just a 30-minute train ride north of Boston is Salem, Massachusetts, one of America’s oldest and curious cities. Located on the North Shore of Massachusetts, Salem was one of the most significant colonial and early American seaports as well as having a rich New England history with glory and intrigue. Salem is a small, compact and walkable historic city with just over 40,000 residents and hundreds of colonial-era buildings along with more than 60 restaurants, cafes and coffee shops. Over a million tourists visit annually with Halloween, October 31, being the peak where upwards of 70,000 people come to celebrate.

Much of the city’s cultural identity is defined by the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, 63 years after the founding of the city. Salem is widely known as “Witch City” with the High School’s nick name being “the Witches,” police cars have witch logos, one of the elementary schools is Witchcraft Heights Elementary School and it is hard to walk a single block without seeing witch T-shirts and other occult paraphernalia. The city even has a Harry Potter shop, and in 2015 a local witch successfully sued a local warlock! The culture of witchcraft in Salem as a symbol of Salem is a conscious product promoted by the city and its businesses to drive tourism and was mostly created in the second half of the 20th century.

Continue Reading.

ASSOCIATION NEWS

Help Make an AP GIS&T Course a Reality

The AAG has proposed a new Advanced Placement course in Geographic Information Science and Technology (AP GIS&T) designed to introduce high school students to the fundamentals of geographic information science and applications of geospatial technologies for spatial analysis and problem solving.

For AP GIS&T to become a reality, the AAG needs 250 U.S. high schools to attest to their interest and capacity to offer the course. Similarly, 100 colleges and universities need to declare their willingness to offer credit to students who demonstrate a proficiency on the AP GIS&T exam.

Learn More.

AAG Launches New Undergraduate Student Affinity Group

AAG Undergraduate Student Affinity Group flierThe American Association of Geographers will launch a new affinity group specifically for undergraduate students. The Undergraduate Student Affinity Group (USAG) will be an international community of students studying geography, offering opportunities to network and socialize, get advice on graduate study and careers, and take part in academic events.

Undergraduate students can join the AAG for just $38 and receive full membership benefits including access to scholarly journals and publications, exclusive access to the Jobs in Geography listings, participation in the knowledge environments, and reduced rates for Annual Meeting and other event registration. They can join USAG for an additional $1.

Learn More.

New Council Award Recognizing Outstanding Graduate Student Papers at Regional Meeting

Becoming more involved in the AAG facilitates strengthening professional networks, volunteering, taking part in scholarly activities, advancing academic studies, etc. Graduate students can register to attend their fall regional division meeting and submit their paper at that time to be eligible to win the Council Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper at a Regional Meeting.

Each awardee will receive $1,000 in funding for use towards the awardee’s registration and travel costs to the AAG Annual Meeting.

Learn More.

RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES

Annual Meeting Support‎

AAG has a variety of opportunities for students, un-/underemployed geographers, and scholars outside the discipline to attend and participate in the Annual Meeting.

Some funding opportunities:

Learn More.

Department of Education Seeks Nominations for National Assessment Governing Board

The Department of Education seeks candidates for four open seats on its National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB). The Board sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a nationally representative measure of U.S. students’ knowledge and abilities in core academic subjects. NAEP is broadly recognized as the gold standard in testing. NAGB is composed of 26 members consisting of “governors, state legislators, chief state school officers, a local school superintendent, local and state school board members, principals, classroom teachers, curriculum and testing experts, a business representative, a representative of nonpublic schools, and members of the general public, including parents.”

Specifically, NAGB seeks to fill the following positions: elementary school principal, general public representative (2 positions), and a testing and measurement expert. Nominations are due October 28, 2016.

Courtesy of COSSA Washington Update 

Learn more.  

AGS Council Fellowship Call for Applications

The American Geographical Society (AGS) is now accepting applications for the AGS Council Fellowship. The fellowship is open to all student members of the American Geographical Society, both Masters and Doctoral students. Each fellowship is worth $1,500 and four will be awarded in the spring.

Upon completion of the research, fellowship recipients are strongly encouraged to submit an article based upon their research to one of the AGS publications, such as the Geographical Review. The deadline is November 1.

Learn More.

PUBLICATIONS

Pre-order ‘The International Encyclopedia of Geography’

he International EncyclopediaThe AAG and an international team of distinguished editors and authors are in the final stages of preparing a new major reference work for Geography: The International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment, and Technology.

This 15-volume work, published by Wiley both in hard copy and online, will be an invaluable resource for libraries, geographers, GIScientists, students and academic departments around the globe. Updated annually, this Encyclopedia will be the authoritative reference work in the field of geography for decades to come.

November 2016 Issue of ‘The Professional Geographer’ Now Available

pg coverThe AAG is pleased to announce that Volume 68, Issue 4 (November 2016) of The Professional Geographer is now available.

The focus of The Professional Geographer is on short articles in academic or applied geography, emphasizing empirical studies and methodologies. These features may range in content and approach from rigorously analytic to broadly philosophical or prescriptive. The journal provides a forum for new ideas and alternative viewpoints.

Each issue, the Editor chooses one article to make freely available. In this issue you can read Change in the World City Network, 2000-2012 by Ben Derudder and Peter Taylor for free for the next 3 months.

Learn More.

AAG Releases New Edition of Guide to Geography Programs

The AAG Guide to Geography Programs in the Americas, or The Guide, includes detailed information on undergraduate and graduate geography programs in the United States, Canada, and Latin America, including degree requirements, curricula, faculty qualifications, program specialties, financial assistance, and degrees completed.

The 2015-2016 edition of The Guide is now available as a free PDF document. The AAG has also published an interactive, companion map where users can search for programs by location, degree type, field of interest, and regional focus.

Learn More.

‘AAG Review of Books’ Launches Database to Commemorate New Milestone‎

The AAG Review of BooksSince launching in 2013, The AAG Review of Books has published more than 250 book reviews, marking a new milestone for the journal. To celebrate this landmark, and to enable easier exploration of the vast collection of reviews, the AAG has launched a new searchable database.

Readers can now search the full list of all books reviewed in the journal by title, author, reviewer, theme and other categories. They can then follow a direct link to the review. More reviews will be added to the database as each new issue of the journal is published.

Learn More.

New Books in Geography – September 2016

The AAG Review of Books office has released the list of the books received during the month of September.

Learn More.

Environmental Sciences Section Editor Sought for ‘Annals of the AAG’‎

The AAG seeks applications and nominations for the Environmental Sciences section editor for the Annals of the American Association of Geographers. The new section editor will be appointed for a four-year editorial term that will commence on January 1, 2017.

The appointment will be made by fall 2016. A letter of application that addresses both qualifications and a vision for the Environmental Sciences section should be accompanied by a complete curriculum vitae. Nominations and applications should be submitted by Friday, October 7, 2016.

Learn More.

OF NOTE

Wanted: APCG Yearbook Editor‎

The Association of Pacific Coast Geographers (APCG) is soliciting applications for the next Editor of the Yearbook, the scholarly journal of the APCG. This annual journal, first printed in 1935 and now in Volume 78, includes full-length peer-reviewed articles and abstracts of papers from their annual meeting. Published by the University of Hawai’i Press for the APCG, the Yearbook is now part of Project MUSE, a widely used scholarly database that provides full-text coverage for 167 journals.

The five-year term will begin immediately, and includes funding to hire a student assistant, graphics editing, and copy production.

The APCG is the Pacific Coast Regional Division of the Association of American Geographers, serving eight western states, British Columbia, and Yukon. Prospective editors should send a brief statement of interest to APCG President, Stephen Cunha (sc10 [at] humboldt [dot] edu).

IN MEMORIAM

Ary J. Lamme III

Ary J. Lamme IIIAry J. Lamme III, a cultural and historical geographer who was Emeritus Professor at the University of Florida, passed away in September 2016 at the age of 76. Lamme was a long-time member of the American Association of Geographers and recognized for 50 years of continuous membership in 2014. He will be remembered fondly by many former colleagues. Lamme leaves behind his wife, Sandra, and two adult children, Laurel and Ary Johannes IV.

Learn More.

 

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President's Column

The Long, Hot Summer

It has been a long, hot summer. In July, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released its analysis of global temperatures for the first six months of 2016. Each of these months has set a record for global temperatures. Taken together, this marks the warmest six-month period since the record began in 1880. The temperatures for the first half of 2016 were about 1.3o C warmer than the late 19th century average. This is not a trivial amount. Two weeks ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its analysis of August 2016 temperatures and found that it marks the 16th straight month of record-breaking temperatures for the globe. California, where I am writing this, is really feeling the heat. High evapotranspiration rates have locked the state in a condition of severe to exceptional drought according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Global surface temperature anomalies for January – June 2016. Higher than normal temperatures in red and lower then normal temperatures in blue. Courtesy of NASA/GISS

My own research focuses upon long-term climatic change. For me, anomalously warm years are to be expected as a consequence of natural variability. In the case of 2016, a strong El Niño was certainly a contributing factor to the global warmth. However, the record-breaking start of 2016 comes on the heels of a similarly record-breaking 2015 and a 21st century which has experienced 14 of the 15 warmest January-June periods on record. Looking at annual temperatures, we find that nine of the 10 warmest years on record occurred in the 21st century.  What is going on? Data from Scripps – UC San Diego shows that concentrations of atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, reached 402.24 ppm this August. This beats the August 2015 record of 399.0. This equals an additional 6.9 Gt of carbon in the atmosphere compared to last year. Values have remained above 400 ppm throughout 2016. The August 2016 concentrations continue the long-term and seeming inexorable upward trend in greenhouse gases. Politicians may debate the degree of threat posed by climate change, but it is impossible to dismiss the accumulated observations that are evidence of the large amounts of greenhouse gases we are adding to the atmosphere and the record-breaking warming we are currently experiencing. It is, in my opinion, irresponsible to ignore numerous climate-modeling experiments that indicate that a significant portion of the warming is due to anthropogenic increases in greenhouse gases and that given current emissions trends, greater warming and associated climatic changes will occur over this century. Based upon a recently published study in Environmental Research Letters of a number of surveys and literature meta-analyses, it seems that well over 90 percent of climate scientists agree with this position. There remain uncertainties in model projections of future climate, but it is notable that even well-known ‘skeptic’ Patrick Michaels wrote in a Cato Institute Working Paper in December of last year “future global warming will occur,” although he argues for a rate of warming within the lower end of projections by groups such as the Intergovernmental Panel and Climate Change.

Global mean surface temperature for the six-month period January-June from 1880-2016. The numbers are the differences from the average temperature of 1880-1899. Courtesy of NASA/GISS

Geography and geographers have played and will continue to play a large role in tackling the scientific, environmental and societal challenges posed by global climate change. Although often portrayed as aspatial trend-lines on graphs, the climatic changes being experienced today and anticipated in the future have complex and important geographies. For example, a NASA map of 2016 temperature anomalies shows greatly enhanced warming across the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The enhanced warming of the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere is consistent with climate model projections of greenhouse gas effects. Some of the more local features are not as predictable and the response of the ice sheets and ice shelves of Antarctica remains particularly problematic. At more regional scales we see features such as cooling over much of the Antarctic, but pronounced warming over the Antarctic Peninsula and Larsen Ice Shelf. A 2013 study entitled “Ice-sheet mass balance and climate change” and published in Nature by University of Sheffield geographer Edward Hanna illustrates the uncertainties in measuring, much less anticipating, the reaction of Antarctic ice to climate change. When we look at global temperature or CO2 concentrations as lines on a graph, we miss the critical geographies of climate change.

I have worked in the Arctic for many years and offer it as an example. The NASA report cited above also provides a satellite image showing one of the most prominent vegetation changes related to increasing temperatures and CO2 — the increased greening of the North American Arctic. This increase in Arctic vegetation growth has taken place as temperatures and CO2 have risen from the late 1980s through the present century. In addition, NASA reported that five of the first six months of 2016 set records for low sea-ice cover in the Arctic. Summer sea ice has now declined to the point that this August the cruise ship, Crystal Serenity, embarked on the first excursion through Canada’s Northwest Passage by a large liner. The icy waters and barren islands that claimed Sir John Franklin and all hands on the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror in the cold years of 1845-1850 have become a destination for ships holding hundreds of tourists in the hot 21st century.

The harbor at Cambridge Bay on Victoria Island in Nunavut, Canada. Will Arctic hamlets like this become regular cruise ship ports as warming continues in the 21st century? The liner Crystal Serenity, which has the capacity to carry 1,070 passengers, visited there for the first time on August 29th 2016. Photo courtesy of Glen MacDonald

At the same time, fauna such as polar bears and the culture of the indigenous Inuit people face uncertain futures in the newly warmer Arctic. As pointed out in 2006 by geographer Claire Parkinson, a scientist with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and sea-ice remote sensing expert, in a co-authored study in the journal Arctic, polar bear responses to climate change will potentially lead to changing bear-human interactions. My colleague at UCLA Larry Smith’s recent book “2050” examines the potential climate change impacts on both environment and society in the North, including the implications of increasing ease of marine transport. These are sweeping. Paradoxically, the Arctic is one of the lowest contributors of anthropogenic greenhouse gases on earth. Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations is a global phenomenon, but the production of greenhouse gases is a local to regional phenomenon tied to human population, socioeconomic, industrial and technological conditions. The impacts of climate change are similarly regional and local in nature. Regions of greatest emissions are often not the regions most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Geography is critical to understanding both.

I would suggest three important themes that our Association and its members might consider in research and education efforts as we confront climate change in the 21st century. The first is the need for continued efforts to understand the climatic effects and other environmental impacts of increasing greenhouse gases. There is much work that remains to be done in decreasing the uncertainties that exist, particularly at finer spatial and temporal scales. At a more general level, how precipitation regimes and ocean circulation will respond to increasing greenhouse gases remains particularly problematic. The questions that arise from how plant and animal species and communities will respond are incredibly complex and in many cases understanding remains superficial. There is plenty of work for physical geographers and biogeographers. This is work that engages large numbers of us now and will continue to motivate future generations of researchers and educators.

Second, the impacts of climate change will play out in a multitude of ways on human populations and both the social sciences and humanities traditions in geography must be engaged. Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and socioeconomic adaptation to the impacts of climate change are complex problems. How do we maintain economic vigor, while shifting to a less carbon intense economy? How do we do so without exacerbating geographic patterns of income inequality?  How can we determine the likely local to regional effects of climate change on human health, resources, economic capacity…? How can we lessen those impacts on vulnerable populations – many of which are marginal contributors to the greenhouse gas problem in the first place? In 2010, geographer Robin Mearns of the World Bank co-edited an important compendium, “Social Dimensions of Climate Change: Equity and Vulnerability in a Warming World,” that illustrates the importance and complexity of these issues.

In addition to the points raised above, there are deeper concerns at play here. How do you preserve the cultures of people, like the Inuit, which were formed in environments which are now changing dramatically? How do we preserve cultures and identities of peoples whom live on islands which may be completely lost? Tuvalu in the Pacific being one example. Even if we find answers, mitigation and adaptation require will and in many cases some sacrifice. What then drives cultures to value the environment or to feel responsible enough for other cultures and peoples to undertake altruistic actions? The humanities tradition within geography has a central part to play in tackling climate change mitigation and adaptation. In doing so the humanities can also open doors to deeper understanding of ourselves. Mike Hulme, currently professor of climate and culture in the department of geography at King’s College, has long argued for the critical role of social studies and humanities in climate change work. In 2011, Hulme wrote persuasively on this topic in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change. The article had a simple and effective title “Meet the humanities.” Indeed.

Third, we must remain cognizant that climate change, although of immense importance, is not the only challenging issue facing the environment and society in the 21st century. From land-use intensification and modification of the earth’s surface, to resource extraction, to pollution, to food security, to economic inequality, to health, to conflict, etc., there are a plethora of issues that confront us in the 21st century. Although, the impacts of any of these may be most readily manifested locally and regionally, the forces of globalization overlay all of this. In terms of these challenges and their solutions, what is local is global in many instances. Moving forward, the optimal solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation will be those that also aid in responding to these other challenges. At the very least, our climate change strategies should not exacerbate things like economic inequality.

Meaningfully addressing the issues of climate change is not going to be easy – the winds of change we face will blow strongly and at times unpredictably. On the other hand, nowhere is the opportunity for the broad span of our discipline to work together clearer or more pressing. Climate change is one of the central challenges we face in the 21st century. Geographers have contributed much already and it is our continued responsibility to rise to this challenge. In doing so, however, we will also be rewarded with an endeavor which can serve as a powerful glue to meld the varied elements of our discipline together into a common and crucial purpose.

Join the conversation and share your thoughts on Twitter #PresidentAAG.

— Glen M. MacDonald

DOI: 10.14433/2016.0016

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Glen M.MacDonald
Glen M.MacDonald