A film from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, adapted from the 1958 essay by Leonard E. Read.
This year's Geography Awareness Week's theme was "Declare Your Interdependence!" The GAW poster for 2012 focused on the Geography of a Pencil and this video works together nicely as a supplement to that poster. You may see the economics of capitalism and globalization in a less optimistic light than Leonard Read, but the theme of interconnectedness makes this a great resource.
Globalisation can be defined in many ways but in a very basic description it is seen as 'individuals, groups and nations, becoming ever more interdependent on one another' Giddens (2009; 126). Great overview of the issues related to Globalisation. Could be a discussion article for students
The waste created from discarded electronics is a significant environmental issue these days. This graphic, made for GOOD, was created to inform the world where our e-waste is originating and the whereabouts of its final resting place.
Although the U.S. only comprises 5% of the the world’s population, we consume 20% of the world’s energy. Does this make you, as an American citizen, 20 times worse than the average Indian, 4 times worse than the average Brazilian and twice as bad as the average German? Or does it mean you live, work and play that much harder? Take a look and see what you see...
This infographic explores the two sides of the ever growing debate on global warming and who is causing it. This infographic provides information for the argument most scientists give and the argument made by skeptics to determine what is more valid and the effects that could happen if we don't do anything about global warming.
Scientific American has put together an interactive feature where you can watch resources disappear before your very eyes. The dates for when things will "run out" are a little fuzzy -- they've got animals pretty much running out five minutes from now, even though they're endangered but not extinct. But there are informative videos, and it's interesting to see how resources will dwindle over time.
Why is there scientific consensus regarding climate change but there are still data-driven arguments against it? This is a simple, but effective way to show how temporal or spatial scale impacts the phenomenon that you are observing.
This image from Skeptical Science is a great illustration of how data can be manipulated to serve your purpose. It shows how skeptics point to small declines in temperature by comparing warm years with cold ones seven to 10 years later -- but if you trace the trend over 40 years, you see an obvious warming pattern. Temperatures may cycle over the decades, but each cycle gets a little warmer...
An in-depth, multimedia look at climate change, its global impact, and efforts to combat it.
This guide on climate change from the Council on Foreign Relations (independent think tank) covers many of the geopolitical, economic and environmental issues that confront the Earth as global temperatures rise. Rather than produce a full length feature film, they have organized the this as an interactive video, allowing the user to get short (a couple of minutes) answer to specific questions about the science, foreign policy or economic ramifications of adapting to climate change.
TED Talks Western countries throw out nearly half of their food, not because it’s inedible -- but because it doesn’t look appealing. Tristram Stuart delves into the shocking data of wasted food, calling for a more responsible use of global resources.
No one should be surprised that more developed societies are more wasteful societies. It is not just personal wasting of food at the house and restaurants that are the problem. Perfectly edible food is thrown out due to size (smaller than standards but perfectly normal), cosmetics (Bananas that are shaped 'funny') and costumer preference (discarded bread crust). This is an intriguing perpective on our consumptive culture, but it also is helpful in framing issues such as sustainability and human and environmental interactions in a technologically advanced societies that are often removed form the land where the food they eat originates.
Tags: food, agriculture, consumption, sustainability, TED, video, unit 5 agriculture.
If you have ever seen an advertisement for an Apple product you know that they like selling how green their products are, but how green are they really? Each iPhone produces 45 kilograms of carbon dioxide, 57% of which is released during production. In 2010 the iPhones purchased are responsible for 2,350 million kilograms of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. However, Apple, is attempting to reduce the amount of CO2 evidenced by an 18% reduction in emissions in the iPhone 4.
Apple is not the only one that should be expected to go green. We, the consumer, should be doing our part as well. Currently only about 10% of phones are recycled, of the 47 million iPhones sold in 2010 only 4,700,000 were recycled. Which is minuscule when compared to the 42,300,000 that were trashed. Apple, in fact, offers free recycling of their phones...
The European Platform on Mobility Management (EPOMM) just unveiled a new interactive web tool that makes it easy to compare transportation data between cities internationally.
Now analysts, designers, and planners can conveniently view data on transportation habits in hundreds of cities. Unfortunately, all of this data highlights how far behind American cities are compared to European cities.
EVEN AS we’ve officially reached 7 billion souls on our planet, more than 14% are still chronically malnourished.
And while analysts spend precious time calculating how much more food should be produced to feed the hungry, and thoughtful citizens update their Facebook statuses for an hour to “help eradicate World Hunger,” food prices are slowly increasing and soils are becoming poorer, yielding fewer crops every year.