Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, the Rise of China, and Global TerrorismOxford University Press, USA, 2005 - 308 pages Over the next half century, the human population, divided by culture and economics and armed with weapons of mass destruction, will expand to nearly 9 billion people. Abrupt climate change may throw the global system into chaos; China will emerge as a superpower; and Islamic terrorism and insurgency will threaten vital American interests. How can we understand these and other global challenges? Harm de Blij has a simple answer: by improving our understanding of the world's geography.De Blij demonstrates how geography's perspectives yield unique and penetrating insights into the interconnections that mark our shrinking world. Centuries ago a surge of climate change halted China's maritime plans; more recently, environmental calamity altered the course of geopolitical events in East Asia; today, terrorists look for failed and malfunctioning states to base their operations--and some of these are in our own hemisphere.Preparing for climate change, averting a cold war with China, defeating terrorism: all of this requires geographic knowledge. In Why Geography Matters, de Blij makes an urgent call to restore geography to America's educational curriculum. He shows how and why the U.S. has become the world's most geographically illiterate society of consequence--and demonstrates that this geographic illiteracy is a direct risk to America's national security.In this personal and engaging book, de Blij provides a geographer's perspective on the challenges of this new century. As he states, "We are crossing the threshold to a century that will witness massive environmental change, major population shifts, persistent civilizational conflicts [and] while geographic knowledge by itself cannot solve these problems, they will not be effectively approached without it." |
Contents
1 Why Geography Matters | 3 |
2 Reading Maps and Facing Threats | 23 |
3 Earths Changeable Environments | 52 |
4 Climate and Civilization | 74 |
5 A Future Geography of Human Population | 91 |
6 The Mesh of Civilizations | 108 |
Chinas Geopolitical Gauntlet | 125 |
8 Terrorisms Widening Circle | 150 |
9 From Terrorism to Insurgency | 174 |
10 European Superpower? | 197 |
Trouble on the Eastern Front | 231 |
12 Hope for Africa? | 255 |
Epilogue | 275 |
283 | |
287 | |
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Why Geography Matters:Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, the ... Harm de Blij No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
Afghanistan al-Qaeda American areas Asia ATLANTIC attacks Beijing Belarus border boundary British campaign capital cartographers century Chechnya China Chinese cities cold colonial communist conflict continued countries country's cultural decades decline democracy early Earth East of Greenwich eastern economic empire environmental environments ethnic Eurasia Europe Europe's European Union geographic Germany glaciations glaciers global historic Holocene human immigration impact India interglacial Iran Iraq Islamic Front islands issue Japan Kaliningrad Kilometers Korea land leaders Liberia Little Ice Age live Longitude East major miles military million minority Moscow mosques Muslim neighbors Nigeria North North Korea nuclear OCEAN organization Pacific Peninsula percent planet Pleistocene political population President provinces realm regime regional Republic Russia Saudi Arabia Shi'ites South Southeast Soviet Union Spain spatial Subsaharan Africa Sunni superpower Taiwan territory terrorism terrorist tion Tropic Ukraine United urban warming West Western Wisconsinan Glaciation