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There are countless smuggler tunnels under the US-Mexican border. The tunnels are primarily located between Arizona and the Pacific Coast. The reason for this is because the western section of the US-Mexican border has many more towns and cities which lie up next to each other. To the east, New Mexico to the Gulf of Mexico, there are some border meeting points like Brownsville-Matamoros and El Paso-Ciudad Juarez, but these junctions are few and far between with desert separating towns by miles. What is also a greater hinder though is physical obstacles like the Rio Grande.
These tunnels are mostly used for drug smuggling but some are also used for human trafficking. This makes them a law enforcement concern. Geotechnology is playing a part in curbing use of these tunnels. Popular Mechanics has a feature on how the types of geotechnology being used. Everything from "standard" ground penetrating radar to measuring oh so slight changes in Earth's magnetic field can be utilized. The neatest one involves cosmic rays- it is so easy a 12 year old did it! |
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Mexico's Multiculturalism Meets Bigotry |
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Mexico passed the "use and customs" law earlier this decade. The law allowed for limited self-governance of the various Indian groups mostly located in the southern part of the country. The law was praised as protecting native cultures.
The law, like many other multicultural efforts, has allowed reactionary values to trump the liberal values which allowed the reactionaries the chance to come back. Mexican Indian women have lost the right to vote and hold office in certain parts of the country.
May liberal values such as freedom win out against backwards cultures. However, cases like this are found throughout the world from the international level like Europe turning a blind eye to the oppression of Muslim women in the ghettos to small incidents like the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's policy of banning women from certain parts of the campus because of its openess to the mentally ill homeless. |
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Geography, Citizenship and Food |
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The world renowned British Library has recently produced a new interactive website for KS3 and KS4 learners, centered around 'the revolutionary changes that have taken place in the consumption and production of food over the last century'. It uses oral history recordings from the British Library Sound Archive to explore a range of subjects including:
identity and ritual;
food and community;
cultural identity;
the experience of the consumer (both past and present), the changing face of the food industry in relation to subjects such as farming, technology, food miles, globalisation etc.
The expectation is that students will be exposed to a range of historical, geographical and cultural questions raised by the subject matter.
How you use it in the classroom is up to you, but the authors have been wise enough to provide teacher's notes, good background information, pretty much stand alone activities through the interactive web pages, and even free learning workshops. It's good to see that the Library has recognised the huge areas of overlap between Geography,History and Citizenship and developed a product that is equally at home in all three curriculum areas.
Although essentially a British institution, and centered around British history, culture and geography, the site should be worth using in other countries too, even if only to provide inspiration for locally orientated lessons and resources of a similar nature.
Here at the Geography Site I keep telling people about the importance of cross curricular links and I am keen to see materials that bridge the gaps. Take a look at Food Stories , then feel free to browse our own collection of cross curricular Geography links and lesson ideas on the Citizenship page of the Geography Site. |
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Working with other subject areas tends to be a low priority for many teachers who feel that they are quite busy enough with their own topic and curriculum targets. Often this is a great shame as it leaves each subject in a discrete box and fails to show pupils how their different lessons interlock and compliment each other.
In fact, setting up and running a project, or themed set of lessons, isn't that difficult and far from being more effort for every teacher, it can be a real bonus with shared preparation, more enthusiastic pupils and a coherent set of outcomes where everyone benefits.
In the hope of convincing a few wavering teachers, or re-inspiring the tired and overworked, we've added a new page to the Citizenship section of the Geography Site, entitled Making Cross-curricular Links. It looks at some of the benefits of cross curricular activities and offers a simple example of a successful project based on rationing during World War II.
Take a look, and perhaps you too may be inspired to undertake a little cross curricular teaching. |
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Glaciers and Global Warming |
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I've been glacier hunting again. Whilst in France last month, I spent some time in the Alpine mountains exploring the Chamonix Valley. The area is well known as a summer and winter tourist honeypot, attracting ski and snow board enthusiasts all winter and walkers / campers all summer. For me, the excitement comes from the mountains and the glaciers and being able to get in touch with real geography What surprised me most was discovering how much the glaciers have retreated in the fifteen years since I was last there. Locations where I remembered ice were now bare rock, and where I previously walked on glaciers there were now moraine fields left by retreating glaciers. The glaciers certainly aren't gone, but the amount of retreat was startling
We read about global warming and, in some way, the warming up of the planet seems to be in the news every week, ( for example the melting of Siberian permafrost ) but we rarely get to actually see the consequences for ourselves. Seeing the barren rock around the snout and edges of the glaciers really brought it home to me; global warming, whatever the causes, is here and it is having a profound effect. |
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