Issue 36

All issues can be found at: https://geocraic.com/

World

Happy New Year! One more journey around the sun ends, another begins.

COP28

More on Cop28

• Al Gore on CNN, from The Hill:

  “Gore added these goals can be achieved if the “greed and political power of big fossil fuel polluters” can be overcome.”

• Big meat and dairy lobbyists turn out in record numbers at Cop28: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/09/big-meat-dairy-lobbyists-turn-out-record-numbers-cop28

  So how’s that going for us? Greed and political power of other green-house gas polluters combined with fossil fuel polluters? Means no political will from the beggar class of politicians. UN COPS need serious reform.

• Gore’s CNN clip: https://www.cnn.com/videos/weather/2023/12/24/al-gore-climate-jake-tapper-sot-sotu-vpx.cnn

Economic Geography

Global Equities markets

• The US dominates global equities: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-109-trillion-global-stock-market-in-one-chart/

  Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?

• The US also has enormous debt. The most? Hard to tell with this map. Global debt: https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/GG_DEBT_GDP@GDD/SWE
• Central Govt. Debt as a percent of GDP: https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/CG_DEBT_GDP@GDD/SWE

World-wide Cost of Living

• https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/worldwide-cost-of-living-2023/?utm_source=economist&utm_medium=daily_chart&utm_campaign=wcol-23&

Public Domain Spatial Data A good source for data if you’re looking. Comes out of a book called “The GIS Guide to Public Domain Spatial Data”.

• https://spatialreserves.wordpress.com/
• Story map of the books excersizes: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapTour/index.html?appid=871a66e188a04e64b3c8c009026758a6&webmap=d16c0ef9a2144f778ff5554a6df3f6b7 Geography of Money Laundering Really excellent article by ProPublica.
• https://www.propublica.org/article/china-cartels-xizhi-li-money-laundering

South America

Amazon

• The Amazon drought continues: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67751685

Mexico

(from Eric, thanks Eric!) In This Mexican Neighborhood, Locals Say ¡Viva el Beetle!

• In Cuautepec in Mexico’s capital: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/26/world/americas/mexico-beetle-vocholandia.html

US

Mapping Police Violence. All that outrage was for nothing? We still haven’t made real changes. We still need to.

• https://mappingpoliceviolence.us/

US West

Astoria Several of you recommended this book to me and I’ve just finished it. Really excellent recommendation so thanks very much.

• Great book: Astoria

Biogeography

December 2023 was the 50th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act

• Seattle Times article with a focus on threatened PNW animals: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/endangered-species-acts-50th-anniversary-what-6-nw-animals-can-tell-us/
• https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0275322
• HCN: Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2023/12/endangered-species-act-fifty-years/
  • The epic history of the Endangered Species Act: https://www.hcn.org/issues/55.12/endangered-species-the-epic-history-of-the-endangered-species-act
  • The Endangered Species Act’s complicated legacy in Indian Country: https://www.hcn.org/issues/55.12/endangered-species-the-endangered-species-acts-complicated-legacy-in-indian-country
  • The Endangered Species Act by the numbers: https://www.hcn.org/issues/55.12/endangered-species-the-endangered-species-act-by-the-numbers/