We live in an age of wildfire. Last year northern California was devastated. These fires are happening so frequently that it’s impacting tourism in southern Oregon, where people wonder if they should still spend summer trips to enjoy outdoor recreation if the air might be filled with choking smoke. In northern Alberta, Fort McMurray was nearly …
Category: climate change
Permanent link to this article: https://www.introtoglobalstudies.com/2019/06/age-of-fire/
Nov 15
Exodus: Climate Migration
The Weather Channel has an online reporting series called Exodus: the Climate Migration Crisis, which examines how climate change is impacting diverse communities globally. This is an ongoing series, which will be updated throughout the year. Each article combines well-written text with beautiful photography, for topics as diverse as water shortages in Jordan, to the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.introtoglobalstudies.com/2018/11/exodus-rising-seas/
Oct 07
The future of Global Warming
I’ve talked before on this blog about the danger of teaching a Global Studies course as an introduction to global problems. Why would anyone want to study a field that consists of a long-list of overwhelming challenges? For this reason, I’m always careful to provide examples of people making a difference, alternative pathways, and positive …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.introtoglobalstudies.com/2018/10/doom-the-future-of-global-warming/
Jul 01
A book review: A Great Aridness
DeBuys’ book, A great aridness: climate change and the future of the American southwest, examines how the West will adapt to drying and warming in an era of climate change. Despite the complexity of the issues involved, deBuys is able to convey his key ideas in poetic language, while never oversimplifying his topic. This is a …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.introtoglobalstudies.com/2018/07/a-great-aridness/
May 25
Book Review: Retreat from a Rising Sea
Pilkey, Orrin H., et al. Retreat from a Rising Sea : Hard Decisions in an Age of Climate Change. Columbia University Press, 2016. As I’ve worked on the previous editions of our textbook with Kim Brown, I’ve become increasingly convinced that it’s important for educators to recognize that our task is not only to teach about …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.introtoglobalstudies.com/2018/05/book-review-retreat-from-a-rising-sea/
Mar 15
Sea level rise in Asia
I think that we have reached the point with global warming where we can no longer pretend that we’re going to meet our goals. That doesn’t mean that citizens globally can stop the effort to limit climate change. There is a vast difference between the worst scenarios and the best. There are also reasons for …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.introtoglobalstudies.com/2018/03/sea-level-rise/
Jul 28
Sea level, hurricanes and Tampa
My parents lived in Florida for six months a year over nearly twenty-five years, and other family members have lived there for longer, so it’s a state that I love. I think that the West Coast is a particularly beautiful place, where you can kayak through a river with alligators in the morning, before finishing …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.introtoglobalstudies.com/2017/07/sea-level-hurricanes-and-tampa/
May 18
Antarctica and Ice Loss
I love storyboards, which combine audio, video photos and maps to cover a topic in an interactive manner. The New York Times has an outstanding storyboard on Antarctica, which would be a great resource for an introductory class. I particularly liked the beautiful maps which showed the direction of ice flow by flowing colored lines, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.introtoglobalstudies.com/2017/05/antarctica-and-ice-loss/
Dec 01
Will Jakarta be lost to the waters?
Globally, sea level rise will challenge coastal cities such as Miami, New Orleans, New York and Shanghai. All of these cities face overwhelming challenges, especially those located in developing nations. For a good look at the debates in one such city, Jakarta, I recommend Chris Bentley’s article in PRI, “Trying to confront a massive flood …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.introtoglobalstudies.com/2016/12/will-jakarta-sink-beneath-the-waves/
Aug 01
Global Warming in the Arctic
Many people are aware that the Arctic is disproportionately impacted by Global Warming. I recently came across a web article titled “These infographics show how doomed the Arctic really is.” The graphs do convey in a powerful manner the rapidity with which climate change is transforming the region, particularly by melting the sea ice covering …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.introtoglobalstudies.com/2016/08/global-warming-in-the-arctic/
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Read a Sample from the Book
