Issue 18
World
Half-Earth Day. Fuck 30x30, we need the full 50%.
Environmental Digital Twins and 30 x 30. Digital Twins are super interesting to me. Lots of use cases. Here are several that can assist us with conserving the planet. I’m personally interested in building a Pleistocene digital twin of the US West so I can virtually go for a visit.
- Digital Twins for Earth Stewardship. https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/blog/open-science-environmental-digital-twin/?adumkts=branding&aduc=email&adum=list&aduSF=newsletter
- Jack Dangermond in Forbes on 30 x 30: https://www.forbes.com/sites/esri/2023/04/18/the-sustainability-imperative-2030/?sh=596d491f6183
- I prefer E.O. Wilson’s 50%. How about 50 x 50? https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200318-the-worlds-largest-nature-reserve
- California’s 30x30 Conservation Opportunities Modeler: https://www.californianature.ca.gov/apps/conservation-opportunities-modeler/explore
- “Precision Conservation” by Dawn Wright: https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/blog/applying-precision-conservation/
Financial Times Life & Art columnist Enuma Okoro has a very nice piece on “The maps that guide us through our lives”. Let me know if this link is behind a paywall.
- https://www.ft.com/content/5fb24567-a381-40b0-b8ad-bc841f61eb4f
- Included maps/art:
- Malala Andrialavidrazana’s “Figures 1852, River Systems of the World”: https://africarty.com/artworks/malala-andrialavidrazana-figures-1852-river-systems-of-the-world/
- She references the map on the wall in: https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/vermeer/
- M.C. Escher’s Mobius Strip II, 1963: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.61286.html
Peru
Ag Geography. 10 years ago, no blueberries were grown in Peru. “A decade later, Peru is the world’s third largest producer, behind only China and the US, and the top exporter with more than $1.36bn (£1.09bn) worth of blueberries sold overseas last year.”
- https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65190673
- I’m competing with them with our garden blueberries.
Russia
By now you know about my long term interest in global human diffusion. Ancient DNA has helped clarify the timelines and routes of diffusion. Now, there’s a jaw-dropping article on extracting Ancient human DNA from a Paleolithic Pendant from Denisova Cave, Russia. Age estimate is 19-25K years. It is from either the maker or the wearer of the pendant. Wow.
- <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06035-2
US
From Jim: (Thanks Jim)
US leads the world in weather catastrophes. Here’s why:
Here is a link to story on the US Geography of Gun Violence and eleven cultural regions of the US:
The above article references “American Nations”. Interesting book if you haven’t read it.
- https://nationhoodlab.org/a-balkanized-federation/
- The Nationhood Lab is pretty interesting in itself. https://nationhoodlab.org/
- How the myth of the American Frontier got its start: https://nationhoodlab.org/how-americas-frontier-myth-got-its-start-and-quickly-lost-the-faith-of-its-own-author/
- 2022 midterms analysis: https://nationhoodlab.org/the-2022-midterms-and-the-american-nations-regional-differences-trump-rural-urban-divide-most-everywhere-with-a-couple-of-important-exceptions/
- Covid-19 Vaccinations: https://www.nationhoodlab.org/the-american-nations-and-the-geography-of-covid-19-vaccinations/
United States, Northwest
As we all know, maps can be very controversial. Here’s an interesting local controversy over an Oregon Fire Risk Map. From my perspective it is good public education but needed much more context to serve this purpose. The “insurance” controversy is blown way out of proportion. The insurance industry has much more sophisticated risk models and almost certainly has no interest in this map. But it’s now illegal for them to use it anyway.
- https://www.bendsource.com/news/fired-up-19056991
- The map was pulled and is no longer available until it is updated. https://tools.oregonexplorer.info/OE_HtmlViewer/index.html?viewer=wildfire