Geography Directions: Energy Security

From our Geography Directions site reviewing Wiley-Blackwell’s Geography Compass review journal covering the entire discipline.  Keep up with cutting edge academic geography.  These articles may be useful for introducing students to the discipline or may be appropriate for upper division Geography classes.

Our dependence on energy is increasingly fragile. In the US, oil companies are drilling deeper and taking more risks in response to the demand for cheap oil. In April, a Transocean/BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and sank, resulting in a massive oil spill. Regardless of how the situation has been managed, it was the demand for oil that meant that the oil rig, with all its associated risks, was there in the first place. Energy supplied by fossil fuel is becoming more risky to obtain.

Meanwhile, on the Isle of Eigg, off the west coast of Scotland, residents have been urged to use household appliances less as a lack of rain has reduced the amount of electricity generated through hydro-power schemes. Energy supplies are becoming more difficult to sustain.

In Belarus recently, piped gas supplies from Russia were reduced in response to a disagreement over payment for gas and the use of transit pipelines. Energy security is therefore not just a case of the geographical distribution of supply and demand, but is also dependant on complex social processes and international relations.

Michael Bradshaw deals with these themes in an article in Geography Compass, published in 2009. Bradshaw illustrates the multidimensional nature of energy security. For example, climate change policy is driving a reduction in reliance on carbon-based fossil fuels. At the same time, China and India’s rapidly developing economies are increasing their demand for energy, reshaping the challenges of energy security as they add their voices to the debate.

Geographers are well placed to understand the interface of the physical and political drivers of changing energy supply and demand. A key challenge remains in translating this into an understanding of energy security and the policies needed to sustain affordable and sufficient energy supplies.

By I-Hsien Porter
To view the original article please visit the Geography Directions Blog.

Interrogating cleanup solutions for the Gulf oil spill

Much of the media focus has been on the plugging of the oil geyser on the ocean floor, and on the politics between BP, the national government, and local governments.  What information has been reported on the cleanup has been framed through its trials and tribulations, setbacks and sorrows.  Yet, there are some interesting proposed and enacted solutions that are not getting as much attention beyond harmful dispersants, futile shovels, soapy birdbaths and exorbitant Costner solutions.

These solution examples, one propositioned and one executed, offer very interesting critical thinking discussion topics for geography classes.  Inherent behind these contributions to aid the cleanup efforts are general questions of scale, place, diffusion/movement, and environment.  Not to mention, the countless specific questions that can be formulated regarding biogeography, marine and wetland ecosystems, ocean geographies, human-environment, political geographies, economic geographies, and more.

The first solution example is offered in a recorded demonstration that presents an ingenious, yet simple proposal for soaking up oil using innocuous, abundant hay, or dried grasses.

Discussion Questions:

1)  What are some challenges that this demonstration might have in the actual environment?  Think about diffusion both in the open ocean and on the shore.

2)  Following a refresher on the concept of scale – What are the various scale considerations in implementing this demonstration?  In particular, think of the experimental scale of the demonstration and then to its enactment at the regional scale.  Focus on the extent and degree of the oil spill, the supply and availability of the grasses/hay in the demonstration, the logistical needs of implementation, etc.

3)  Why do you think it is important that the grasses they use in the demonstration do not have any seeds?  Focus on possible environmental impacts.

A second solution is one that illustrates not only inventiveness, but decisive implementation by a small coastal town in Alabama in the face of waiting for BP’s “unified command structure” and federal government bureaucracy.

Discussion Questions:

1)  Following a refresher on the concept of scale – What are the various scale considerations that have been negotiated or considered by the actors in this article?  How are the institutions and actors at various scales portrayed and for what reasons?  Think about the political, economic and logistical arguments.

2)  What is an estuary?  What types of environmental interactions in estuaries contribute to the biodiversity found in a place like Weeks Bay?  What could oil do to such wetland ecosystems?

3)  How has wave action impeded the functioning of the BP unified command’s strand of booms?  What do you think about the possible environmental consequences of single strands of booms being the generally accepted plan?

4)  What are the two main parts of the Weeks Bay solution?  What do you think of this as an alternative solution?  Think about possible environmental, and even economic, consequences for the estuary that could accompany the semi-permanent wall of barges at the mouth of the bay, and for the possibility of closing off the bay completely if called for.

For more solutions topics, refer to the many idea articles and videos compiled by the Huffington Post.

World Cup 2010: Globalization, Geopolitics and Sport

During the last World Cup in 2006, the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization (YCSG) highlighted the deeper symbolism that cultural activities, like sports – namely the sport most illustrative of globalization, football – can offer an understanding of geopolitics.  Speaking particularly in the context of political conflicts, the YCSG contends that, “Rituals of the match, such as waving flags or singing anthems, can inject new passion into national rivalries or also diffuse hostility.”  Viewing sport in this way, the matches of the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa have been symbolically framed in many geopolitically and historically significant ways.  The expectations and representations of national and regional rhetoric bring the sport far beyond the matches and scores.

Where the tone of the 2006 YCSG essay was hopeful for the role of football in diffusing hostility, Foreign Policy magazine offers a disheartening look at the symbolic hopes that football might offer to the Middle East region, specifically.  The article recounts the 2010 World Cup qualifying match between Egypt and Algeria, which was accompanied by attacks and rioting, arguing that it provided, “an uncanny analysis of the region.”  Noting the success of soccer as an “act of cultural imperialism,” the author contends that it is a perfect frame from which to view the region, through its inherent tension between uniting and dividing peoples.  The remainder of the article discusses each of the national teams, their quests to qualify, and their eventual undoing.  Some of the most politically telling include:  the plight of Palestine as, “a national team without a nation”; the divisions of Lebanon’s domestic teams controlled by various sectarian groups and the resulting hopelessness of uniting a national team; and the donning of green wristbands by the Iranian team in their match against South Korea, which were then conspicuously missing during the second half.

Quite the reverse of the divisions in the Middle East region, 2010 World Cup football sparked the flame of pan-African solidarity when Ghana was the only African nation to advance into the quarterfinals.  The Atlantic magazine cites some interesting geopolitical and historical circumstances that may have led to the trans-national camaraderie of the Sub-Saharan African region.  The author briefly describes the nationalism that thrived in the 1960s and 1970s, but then goes on to underscore the let downs of national governments since.  Ultimately, it may have been the historical beyond-borders identities, like ethnicity, language, or religion, some of which were divided in 1885 but have proved lasting in the minds of many Africans.  The author also discusses the essentialist ‘lumping’ of Sub-Saharan Africa into a single category, perhaps an interesting counterpoint to the tenets of regional geography.  Further, the article concludes with a look at the globalized marketing campaign, “brand Africa,” which may also be leading the notions of unity through “Africa United” jerseys and products featuring paint colors that were custom-made from soil samples of four different African countries.

A final perspective looks at the event, through a historical lens, using the games to analyze the distinct evolving relationship between two nations over time.  The South African Mail & Guardian Online views the 2010 World Cup as, “The symbol of a new postcolonial world order.”  The author argues that the event offers a “snapshot” of the current world system along with a “retrospective view” for the globalization currents shaping it.  Taking a closer look at the match between Portugal and Brazil, the author highlights the shift in the balance of power between these two nations in a postcolonial world.  The rising power of Brazil is set politically, economically, and diplomatically against its former colonial master, Portugal.  The article offers an interesting take on the historical metamorphism of the world political and economic system.

Discussion Questions:

1)  What are some other examples of cultural activities or products that can serve to unite or divide people?  Explain your example.

2)  How would you explain the relationship between football and nationalism/regionalism?

3)  Following a prior introduction of both the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa regions – Compare the two regions.  What explanations can you offer for understanding the football experiences of the two regions as described by the articles in Foreign Policy and The Atlantic magazines?

4)  How does globalization inform the World Cup or football in general?  Think of historical, economic, cultural, political connections, among others.

Sarah Goggin

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