Why We Need Geographic Education Now More Than Ever | Sean Cheng | TEDxPortsmouth

00:11:25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apGUUreT074

摘要

TLDRIn this talk, the speaker highlights the critical importance of geographic knowledge in understanding global issues such as conflicts, economic impacts, health crises, and climate change. The speaker argues that a lack of geographical understanding can lead to poor decision-making and emphasizes the need for geographic education. Specific examples, such as the strategic significance of Ukraine and the long-standing conflict in Afghanistan, illustrate how geographical insights can influence political and military decisions. The talk also discusses how geography informs responses to pandemics like COVID-19 by identifying hotspots and considering sociopolitical factors. Furthermore, geographic knowledge is shown to inspire action against climate change by illustrating the impacts on lesser-known areas of the world. Ultimately, the speaker advocates for courses that teach students to connect global events, fostering a more informed and culturally sensitive society.

心得

  • 🌍 Geographical understanding is vital for informed global citizenship.
  • 📍 Knowing a country's location aids in grasping its geopolitical importance.
  • 📈 The spread of COVID-19 shows the value of geographic insights for health.
  • 🗺️ Afghanistan's geography reveals reasons for its political complexities.
  • 🍞 Ukraine’s location impacts global grain trade and economies.
  • 🧠 Education should include geography to connect and comprehend global issues.
  • ♻️ Geography offers insights into combating climate change effectively.
  • 🤝 Cultural understanding grows with geographic education, reducing conflict.
  • 💡 Geopolitical strategies benefit from realizing geographic realities.
  • 🔍 Geography is about making connections, not just memorizing maps.

时间轴

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The speech addresses the widespread lack of geographic knowledge, focusing on the inability of many to locate Ukraine on a map. This ignorance, it is argued, hinders informed decision-making, especially in the context of ongoing global conflicts like those in Ukraine and Afghanistan. The speaker highlights that not understanding these geographies can lead to a misunderstanding of the strategic importance and complexities involved, such as Afghanistan's difficult terrain contributing to prolonged conflict or Ukraine's agricultural role affecting global markets.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:11:25

    The speaker emphasizes the importance of geographic education, arguing that knowledge of geography is crucial for understanding global issues like pandemics and climate change. For instance, Iran's COVID-19 spread was linked to geographic and cultural factors. The need for geographic literacy extends beyond crisis management to fostering better global citizenship and cultural understanding, which can potentially reduce conflicts. The call is made for more comprehensive geography education in schools and universities, not just focused on memorization but on connecting global events and cultural contexts.

思维导图

Mind Map

常见问题

  • Why is geographic knowledge important?

    Geographic knowledge is important because it helps individuals understand global conflicts, trade dynamics, health crises, climate challenges, and cultural differences, leading to informed decision-making.

  • What example is given to show the importance of knowing a country's location?

    The speaker uses the example of Ukraine to highlight the importance of knowing a country's location, explaining that its strategic position affects geopolitical dynamics and economic impacts.

  • How does geography relate to the COVID-19 pandemic?

    Geography helps explain the spread of COVID-19 by analyzing travel patterns and identifying cities or regions that serve as hotspots, assisting in effective public health responses.

  • What is the significance of understanding Afghanistan's geography?

    Understanding Afghanistan's geography helps explain its political fragmentation and historical involvement in conflicts, and why U.S. attempts to bring peace there have faced challenges.

  • How can geographic knowledge help combat climate change?

    Geographic knowledge helps people understand the planet's processes and motivates action by highlighting areas already affected by climate change, emphasizing the need for solutions.

  • What does the speaker suggest to improve geographic education?

    The speaker suggests incorporating dedicated geography classes in educational systems to help students connect global events and understand the complexities of the world.

  • How does geography foster cultural understanding?

    Geography encourages learning about different cultures and societies, promoting open-mindedness and potentially reducing conflicts by fostering an appreciation for diversity.

  • What role did geography play in the Vietnam War, according to the speaker?

    The speaker highlights that a lack of geographic knowledge contributed to poor decision-making during the Vietnam War, which led to prolongation and increased costs.

  • Why is geographic knowledge crucial during military involvement in foreign countries?

    Geographic knowledge is crucial during military involvement because it helps understand strategic locations, cultural dynamics, and logistical challenges, leading to better decision-making.

  • Why might people ignore the impacts of climate change, according to the speaker?

    The speaker suggests that a lack of basic geographic knowledge makes it difficult for people to grasp the seriousness of climate change and thus may lead to inaction.

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  • 00:00:00
    Transcriber: Michael Nystrom Reviewer: Anna Sobota
  • 00:00:17
    So, I’m sure everyone here
  • 00:00:20
    knows about the war going on between Russia and Ukraine.
  • 00:00:25
    Now, here I have a blank map of the world,
  • 00:00:29
    and I’d like you to raise your hand if you are 100 % confident
  • 00:00:33
    that you can find Ukraine on this map.
  • 00:00:37
    Okay, not bad.
  • 00:00:39
    If you can’t, don’t worry because you’re not alone.
  • 00:00:43
    Only one in three American voters can.
  • 00:00:47
    Now, you’re probably thinking, okay, we’re not directly involved in this war,
  • 00:00:51
    so what’s the big deal with not knowing where Ukraine is?
  • 00:00:56
    Well, the numbers have shown that even in countries
  • 00:00:59
    in which we’ve had active military involvement,
  • 00:01:02
    we still had trouble locating them.
  • 00:01:06
    In 2002, at the beginning of the U.S. conflict in Afghanistan,
  • 00:01:11
    only 17 % of young Americans could find it on a map.
  • 00:01:17
    What does this mean?
  • 00:01:20
    What does it mean when we, as citizens of the most powerful country in the world,
  • 00:01:26
    cannot identify where major global conflicts are taking place,
  • 00:01:31
    including those in which we’re actively involved?
  • 00:01:35
    Here’s what it means.
  • 00:01:38
    When we don’t know where Ukraine or Afghanistan is,
  • 00:01:41
    we lack the key geographic knowledge needed to make informed decisions.
  • 00:01:47
    So, let me illustrate this.
  • 00:01:49
    A look at a map tells us that Afghanistan lies at this crossroads
  • 00:01:53
    between Central, South, and West Asia,
  • 00:01:56
    which means that it has always been at the middle of conflicts
  • 00:02:00
    between the great powers of the continent,
  • 00:02:03
    and knowing about its mountainous terrain
  • 00:02:06
    gives us insight into the politically fragmented nature of the country.
  • 00:02:10
    Afghanistan's terrain has actually culturally divided the country,
  • 00:02:14
    which means that ethnic groups
  • 00:02:16
    like the Pashtun, the largest in the country,
  • 00:02:20
    are actually made up of many smaller tribes and groups
  • 00:02:23
    and people of different cultural values,
  • 00:02:26
    and in an attempt to work with the Pashtun to establish order in Afghanistan,
  • 00:02:32
    the U.S. treated them as a singular monolith,
  • 00:02:36
    but this didn’t really work.
  • 00:02:39
    In addition to this,
  • 00:02:40
    the mountainous terrain is never advantageous to the attacker,
  • 00:02:45
    and this definitely contributed to the length and costliness
  • 00:02:49
    of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.
  • 00:02:52
    Now, let’s go back to Ukraine.
  • 00:02:56
    Voters that know where Ukraine is
  • 00:02:59
    are more likely to understand its strategic location
  • 00:03:02
    on the Black Sea as a buffer between Central Europe and Russia.
  • 00:03:07
    These voters, by double-digit margins,
  • 00:03:10
    are more likely to back assertive sanctions and measures
  • 00:03:14
    by the United States towards Russia,
  • 00:03:17
    and we all know that the war has caused gas prices to rise sharply,
  • 00:03:23
    but did you know that in developing countries
  • 00:03:25
    like Egypt, which depend heavily on wheat and grain exports
  • 00:03:29
    from the Black Sea,
  • 00:03:32
    there's been a bread crisis.
  • 00:03:35
    It's become very difficult for people to buy,
  • 00:03:38
    and yet it’s a staple food for everyone in these nations.
  • 00:03:42
    So, understanding Ukraine’s geography allows us to explain this
  • 00:03:47
    because Ukraine is rich in one of the most fertile types of soil
  • 00:03:50
    in the world, called chernozem.
  • 00:03:53
    This, along with its relatively flat terrain and location on the Black Sea,
  • 00:03:59
    has allowed it to become one of the leading exporters
  • 00:04:02
    of wheat in the world,
  • 00:04:04
    but the Russian invasion has halted production of this wheat,
  • 00:04:09
    as well as exports from key Black Sea ports such as Mariupol and Odesa,
  • 00:04:15
    which are now destroyed from the war.
  • 00:04:18
    So as consumers,
  • 00:04:19
    geographic knowledge allows us to better understand
  • 00:04:22
    where goods come from,
  • 00:04:24
    enabling us to make more informed purchases.
  • 00:04:28
    Now, let's go back in time a bit.
  • 00:04:32
    Most geographers agree that had we been better educated
  • 00:04:36
    about Southeast Asia and Vietnam,
  • 00:04:39
    we would have likely taken
  • 00:04:40
    a different course of action during the Vietnam War,
  • 00:04:43
    which basically means we probably would have pulled out earlier.
  • 00:04:48
    I'm sure some of you here are familiar with the name Robert McNamara.
  • 00:04:53
    He was the Secretary of Defense during the time of the war,
  • 00:04:57
    and in his 1995 memoir,
  • 00:05:00
    he would go on to list several major causes for disaster.
  • 00:05:03
    Most notably, and I quote,
  • 00:05:06
    “Our profound ignorance of the history, culture
  • 00:05:11
    and politics of the people of the area.
  • 00:05:14
    We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate people.”
  • 00:05:19
    Interestingly enough, just last week,
  • 00:05:23
    U.S. intelligence officials were questioned for misjudging
  • 00:05:27
    the governments of Ukraine and Afghanistan,
  • 00:05:30
    as some believed that Ukraine would fall to Russia in a matter of weeks
  • 00:05:36
    and that a U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan could last for months.
  • 00:05:41
    We completely misjudged the geopolitics of the situation in Vietnam,
  • 00:05:46
    and we continue to do so in many parts of the world today.
  • 00:05:51
    Consider how costly not knowing more about a place is.
  • 00:05:56
    Consider the amount of money spent and the number of lives lost,
  • 00:06:03
    but the applications of geography extend far beyond the realm of geopolitics
  • 00:06:09
    and are also applicable to things like global health.
  • 00:06:13
    Geography has been crucial in understanding the COVID-19 pandemic,
  • 00:06:18
    and with geography, we can explain almost every aspect of it,
  • 00:06:24
    from the spread of the disease to the vaccine distribution
  • 00:06:28
    or the worldwide economic effects.
  • 00:06:31
    For example, why did Iran, out of all the countries in the world,
  • 00:06:36
    have a large outbreak at the beginning of the pandemic?
  • 00:06:40
    There are many factors,
  • 00:06:41
    but we can actually trace this back to a single city,
  • 00:06:44
    the site of Iran’s first case.
  • 00:06:47
    This city is called Qom,
  • 00:06:49
    and Qom isn’t the largest city in Iran, nor is it the most densely populated,
  • 00:06:54
    but Qom is important because it’s a major pilgrimage site for Shias,
  • 00:06:58
    and introduction of COVID to the Middle East
  • 00:07:01
    happened to coincide with Nowruz, the Iranian New Year.
  • 00:07:06
    So, increased travel to the city allowed the virus to spread quickly
  • 00:07:10
    and to all parts of Iran,
  • 00:07:12
    and understanding what creates hotspots like these is crucial for saving lives.
  • 00:07:18
    This example, in particular, illustrates
  • 00:07:21
    why religious and political authorities need to work closer together
  • 00:07:26
    during times of pandemic.
  • 00:07:29
    It's really a paradox
  • 00:07:32
    that in a time where global events shape our lives more than ever,
  • 00:07:37
    we are the least educated in geography.
  • 00:07:41
    You see, geography isn’t simply this rote memorization of capitals
  • 00:07:46
    or places on a map,
  • 00:07:48
    as much as I may find that entertaining.
  • 00:07:52
    (Laughter)
  • 00:07:53
    Geography is about making global connections,
  • 00:07:58
    piecing together different disciplines and knowledge about places
  • 00:08:02
    so we can better understand the events that take place in our world
  • 00:08:05
    to make more informed decisions.
  • 00:08:08
    Prominent geographer Harm de Blij put it simply, “Geography is synthesis.”
  • 00:08:15
    Geography’s ability to connect the seemingly different is crucial
  • 00:08:20
    for one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century -
  • 00:08:24
    climate change.
  • 00:08:27
    Now, we all know about climate change,
  • 00:08:29
    but why are there still so many people who refuse to believe it,
  • 00:08:33
    or maybe even worse, not do anything about it?
  • 00:08:36
    Now, I think there are lots of reasons,
  • 00:08:39
    but a lot of this has to do with a lack of basic geographic knowledge.
  • 00:08:44
    It’s really hard to grasp the danger our planet is in
  • 00:08:48
    when we don’t know a lot about it in the first place.
  • 00:08:52
    Our world is shaped by a web of intricate processes
  • 00:08:56
    like atmospheric phenomena or oceanic circulation,
  • 00:09:01
    and we really need to get to know how our planet works
  • 00:09:05
    if we want to understand the challenges it faces
  • 00:09:08
    as well as the possible solutions,
  • 00:09:12
    and geography opens up our eyes
  • 00:09:14
    to the circumstances of places unfamiliar to us,
  • 00:09:18
    and in learning about the places that are already grappling
  • 00:09:21
    with the worst effects of climate change,
  • 00:09:24
    we become more motivated to ensure that the same doesn’t happen to us.
  • 00:09:29
    Knowing about disasters like the drying up of the Aral Sea in Central Asia
  • 00:09:34
    or the disappearance of glaciers in Bolivia is essential
  • 00:09:39
    if we want to avoid similar mistakes in the future.
  • 00:09:43
    In the end, geography allows us to be better global citizens.
  • 00:09:48
    We need classes specifically dedicated to geography,
  • 00:09:52
    not classes where focus is on things like memorization or world capitals,
  • 00:09:58
    but classes where students are taught how to connect the dots
  • 00:10:01
    and make sense out of our complicated world
  • 00:10:04
    so that they too can make informed decisions,
  • 00:10:08
    and in universities where geography majors are all but a thing of the past,
  • 00:10:14
    they should at least require students to take a couple of basic classes
  • 00:10:17
    in physical and human geography,
  • 00:10:20
    but geography isn’t just about saving the world from nuclear disaster
  • 00:10:27
    or fighting climate change,
  • 00:10:30
    because it also connects us as humans.
  • 00:10:33
    Geographic knowledge can enrich our personal lives and our relationships,
  • 00:10:38
    making us better people
  • 00:10:41
    because when we learn about places, we also learn about the people there.
  • 00:10:47
    So, geography lends itself to cultural understanding.
  • 00:10:52
    The more we learn about others, the more open-minded we become,
  • 00:10:57
    and perhaps if we were more knowledgeable and appreciative about other cultures,
  • 00:11:03
    we would be less inclined to create conflict with those different from us.
  • 00:11:07
    Thank you.
  • 00:11:08
    (Applause)
标签
  • geography
  • global conflicts
  • Ukraine
  • Afghanistan
  • COVID-19
  • climate change
  • education
  • cultural understanding
  • geopolitics
  • geographic knowledge