"What's Your Consumption Factor?"
This article is a mathematician's way of saying we Americans are desperately and harmfully materialistic and lazy. Even though we are attempting to recycle more and consume less, the results are pitiful in comparison to how much we consume. I heard one time that Japan recycles something like 90% of its waste products. They are a country that consumes quite a bit, but they are working to reuse their waste. Granted, their size necessitates more drastic and immediate measures because they have nowhere to put their w
aste, and America's seemingly endless space dupes us into thinking we can consume without restraint. I'm currently reading McPhee's book The Crofter and the Laird, and his relating (better word, Dr. Starrs?) of the lifestyle on Colonsay island tells the ideal, where they reuse and reuse and reuse everything. Here's a quote:
aste, and America's seemingly endless space dupes us into thinking we can consume without restraint. I'm currently reading McPhee's book The Crofter and the Laird, and his relating (better word, Dr. Starrs?) of the lifestyle on Colonsay island tells the ideal, where they reuse and reuse and reuse everything. Here's a quote:"On even a casual walk along the shore, Donald's eyes are always alert for a find of any sort. One day when we made a circuit of Ardskenish together, he came back with a boat hook, a large basket, a scrub brush, a stainless-steel bolt, a Norwegian plastic fishing float the size of a big balloon, and perhaps a dozen grapefruit-size aluminum floats of the type that a fishing boat uses to support a net. At home, the McNeills waste nothing. When their old steel teapot develops a leak, Donald plugs up the hole with a wooden screw. I once picked up the teapot and looked inside. The points of fourteen screws intruded" (32).
We could learn a lesson from their story because few Americans would be willing to stoop to such "poverty," even though the McNeill's would never consider themselves poor. They are happy and content. Somehow, we must redefine wealth and status for ourselves.
"Borges and the Foreseeable Future" and
The three reviews of Livingstone's Putting Science in Its Place and
"Situating the imperial archive: the Royal Empire Society Library"
These five articles opened my eyes to a new dimension in geography because I think I've limited geography to land-based, culture-based study, but these articles 
reveal a more abstract way to study with geography...and they convinced me that it is a valid form of geographic study. I can't say their subject matter is what I would study, but cybergeography, the geography of science and institution geography all work in the way they applied them. These studies are much more abstract and metaphorical, even personifying the entities they are analyzing, but they ultimately link their geographies to real-life places, especially in the case of the Royal Empire Society Library, which links the library-world to innumerable places around the entire globe. The geography of the virtual landscape in "Borges..." is the most abstract, and I prefer to have my feet planted on soil, but I see its geography and how it is connected to the man Borges in Argentina. Gonzalez's critique of Livingstone's book communicates the connection between the abstract world and geography best: "Accounts like this...demonstrate an implicit awareness on the part of the academic community of how science affects place and, in turn, how place affects science" (1683).
reveal a more abstract way to study with geography...and they convinced me that it is a valid form of geographic study. I can't say their subject matter is what I would study, but cybergeography, the geography of science and institution geography all work in the way they applied them. These studies are much more abstract and metaphorical, even personifying the entities they are analyzing, but they ultimately link their geographies to real-life places, especially in the case of the Royal Empire Society Library, which links the library-world to innumerable places around the entire globe. The geography of the virtual landscape in "Borges..." is the most abstract, and I prefer to have my feet planted on soil, but I see its geography and how it is connected to the man Borges in Argentina. Gonzalez's critique of Livingstone's book communicates the connection between the abstract world and geography best: "Accounts like this...demonstrate an implicit awareness on the part of the academic community of how science affects place and, in turn, how place affects science" (1683)."Studies in Utah Vernacular Architecture"
I enjoyed reading about Utah architecture and even chuckled when I read about polygamist houses, but I had a question based 
on the first paragraph that I perhaps would be best answered by a psychologist. It says, "You don't know who you are...until you know where you are...The way we have chosen to live is physically etched on the land and becomes a presence that affects both our everyday behavior and our collective consciousness." Now, here's my question: what if you don't like where you live, if you hate your physical environment? What if living in the desert is detestible compared to living in a lush landscape? What does that do to your psyche? If you don't like where you live, do you not like yourself? How does that affect a culture? Just a thought, for which I don't know I have the answer. Any comments?
on the first paragraph that I perhaps would be best answered by a psychologist. It says, "You don't know who you are...until you know where you are...The way we have chosen to live is physically etched on the land and becomes a presence that affects both our everyday behavior and our collective consciousness." Now, here's my question: what if you don't like where you live, if you hate your physical environment? What if living in the desert is detestible compared to living in a lush landscape? What does that do to your psyche? If you don't like where you live, do you not like yourself? How does that affect a culture? Just a thought, for which I don't know I have the answer. Any comments?.
"Mr. Sauer" and the Writers
Even though Olson's behavior toward Sauer as it was described in the article comes across as obsessive to the point of deserving a restraining order and Sauer's responsive behavior shows he felt the obsessiveness of it, this article reveals how geography can cross the discipline boundaries. It is important for geography to be relevant to others besides other geographers! I think the art of seeing as a geographer can and should easily transfer into the art of communicating what is seen, whether that be journalism, poetry, literature, media or visual art. Perhaps every geographer ought to have the touch of the artist in him/her to best conceptualize our observations. Perhaps too this is why I struggle to enjoy abstract art as much as I enjoy more realistic styles...I want to see art that communicates what the artist sees around him and relate it to what I see around me.
1 comment:
Regarding how social structures influence geography - think Islam and women. If you go to an Islamic city, you'll see find neighborhoods filled with cul-de-sacs. The reason for this is to sequester the women from the main street while providing them space to gather. Furthermore you'll find that windows facing the street are narrow or use stone/stucco screens to impede direct view. If I have time I'll dig up a reference for that feature.
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