Post on 25-Feb-2016
description
Developing Geographical Minds
Lessons from World Regional and Vermont Geography
Cheryl MorseUniversity of Vermont Geography Department
Center for Research on Vermont
Two Minute Writes
A.
Please make a list of “global issues”.
Two Minute Writes
B.
Please describe what comes to your mind when you think of “Vermont Agriculture”.
Note: you are writing to a Martian, so be descriptive.
THE QUIZ(from Geography Hell?)
• Please take this quiz
• You will not be asked to share your answers or your score with anyone
• This is not challenge by choice!
Total Number of Quiz Responses: 626
Taken in 4 Semesters
Spring 2008-Fall 2010
Why Do I Ask My UVM Students to Take This Quiz?
Because I was clueless…
About 1/3 of students went to HS in Vermont
Quiz Results
Overall Quiz Average:43.53
Quiz Average Did Not Increase Over Time
Students are NOT becoming more geographically literate over time
Student Scores Do Not Increase:By year at UVM (eg., seniors do not score significantly higher than first-year students)
If the student took a Geography Course in High School
If the student took another Geography Course in College
According to where the student attended high school (in VT or out-of-state)
What I Do Not Know, because I didn’t ask:
Results by genderResults by travel experienceResults by race/ethnicity
What do students’ incorrect answers tell us?Name the capital of Iraq:Bangladesh, Qatar, Kuwait, “it’s not Baghdad”, “Televeve?”, Islamabad; Istanbul; Kuwait
Name one non-native or exotic species that has impacted Australia: “British Prisoners”; Zebra Mussels (from VT student); Americans; Switchback Mountain Goat; “huge mice things/rodents”; “Nemo/clownfish”
Name the capital of Canada:“WHO CARES!!!”, “there isn’t one”, “doesn’t each province have its own capital”, “which region of Canada?”, Ontario, Montreal, Calgary, Halifax, Vancouver, Quebec, Quebec City, Edmonton, Toronto, “A friend of mine would know that…I’m not sure.”; “O…something that starts with an ‘O’”; Vancouver; “Ottawa, eh?”
Latitude:“are you joking?!”, “10,000,000”, 500 ft, 200 ft above sea level, 90 N, 100, 32 NW, 80, 70, 30, 23N, “200 feet above sea level”; 120, “up there”; 350 ft; “90 (a little south of)”
OPEC- Name one member country that is not in the Middle East: Venezuela, George Bush, Texas, Exxon/Mobil, Russia, Britain, Chile, US, Egypt, Peru, Congo, Bulgaria, Turkey, American, Canada, Morocco, Argentina
How do the UVM results compare to:Indiana Tests, 1987 and 2002
National Geographic – Roper Survey, 2006
The Nation’s Report Card – Geography 2010 ?
Why Don’t Young Americans Know More Geography?
And,
Does it Matter That They Don’t Know Geography?
the importance of a “geographical mind”
Doreen Massey
Developing Geographical Minds:
Vermont’s Agriculture and the Production of Place
Geographical Imagination
Our mental maps of places; and the ways we render spaces and places
“a lot of geography is in the mind”Doreen Massey
What we expect of a place, even before we experience it for ourselves.
what we expect of other social groups within specific spaces.
Some Thoughts About the Importance of Descriptive Writing and Field Work
“The renaissance in Vermont agriculture…”Governor Peter Shumlin, Inaugural Address, Jan 6, 2011
“…[VT’s] wonderful marketshed from Montreal to Boston to Providence to Hartford to NY and Philadelphia…”
[We need to] “maintain this incredible landscape that makes Vermont such a special place" and “the culture we create by having working landscapes of farmers and foresters in our communities"
Chuck Ross, Sec. of Agriculture, Food and Markets, VPR, Jan 24, 2011
“We need to ensure that Vermont is the milk-bowl and breadbasket of New England…” Working Landscape Partnership, VT Council on Rural Development
Recent Comments about Vermont Agriculture
“…Vermont's farmers, right now, are in a constant economic struggle. Every year they have to figure out ways to work and survive so that we can all benefit: these are the folks who maintain a great piece of the landscape, jobs, and culture that is part of the fabric of what makes Vermont, Vermont.” Dan Kirk, “My Turn” BFP
“Place in the Country”“Green pastures, bales of hay, and mountainous backdrop provide a pastoral
setting for this landscape photograph.”Orwell, VT
photo: John David Geery http://johndavidgeery.com
The Endangered Working Landscapes of Vermont
A Brief Environmental History of Vermont’s Landscape (in Crisis)
‘great swarming time’, chartering of townssheep crazedairy farmingoutmigrationtourism and agriculturework as leisure (Blake Harrison, 2006)
photo and logo: VermontVacation.com
The Co-Dependence of Rurality and Tourism in Vermont
Sabra Field
Phyllis Chase
Woody Jackson
Contemporary Representations of Vermont Landscapes – How Media Reproduces Constructs
Vermont Department of Tourism ad in Spring 2011 Vermont Life
What Do These Maple Landscapes Produce, How, and For Whom?
Jordan’s Sugaring Operation, Essex
What Do These Maple Landscapes Produce, How, and For Whom?
Map: Jan Albers, 2002, Hands on the Land
Vermont’s physiographic regions align closely with its geologic regions.
6,000-7,000
24,000-62,000
156, 545
ORLEANSFRANKLIN47,746
ADDISON36,821
ESSEX6,306
RUTLAND61,642
GRAND ISLE6,970
CHITTENDEN156,545
LAMOILLE24,575
CALEDONIA
WASHINGTON
ORANGE
WINDSOR
WINDHAM
BENNINGTON
Vermont County Population, 2010
POPULATION
One of every four Vermonters lives in Chittenden County
Chitt. County’s population is 2.5 times larger than the next most populated county, Rutland
loss of pop since 2000
Two Vermonts?
Data: US Census, 2010
Rural Urban
Population (2009 est) 413,705 (66.5%) 205,055 (33.5%)
Per Capita Income (2008)
$37,480 $41,139
Earnings per Job (2008) $35,867 $46,043
Poverty Rate (2009 est) 12.0% 10.5%
Not completed High School
14.5% 11.5%
Completed College 27.0% 34.8%
Rural – Urban Differences in Vermont
Data: USDA Economic Research Service
Less than $9,999
$10,000 to $49,999
$50,000-$99,999
$100,000-$499,999
More than $500,000
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Vermont Farms by Sales, 1997 and 2007
19972007
Farm Sales
Percent of Farms
Top 5 Agricultural Commodities
Percent of state total farm receipts
Dairy Products 65.4
Cattle and calves 8.0
Maple products 6.2
Greenhouse/nursery 5.3
Apples 2.5
Number of farms (2009): 7,000Dairy farms (2010): 1,010 Organic dairy farms : 205 Conventional dairy farms: 805
Organic dairy farms make up 20% of the state total;They produce about 5-7% of the state's milk
Data: National Agricultural Statistics Service
Vermont Farm Data
PERCENT OF VT’S STATE AGRICULTURAL SALES
23.5-24
12.2
5.2-6.4
Vermont’s Top Five Counties in Agricultural Sales, 2007
ADDISON$161,417,000
1
2FRANKLIN$160,619,000
3ORLEANS$82,348,000
ORANGE$43,292,000
4
5RUTLAND$35,286,000
Together, Addison and Franklin counties constitute nearly half of VT’s agricultural production
The county in third place produces half that of the counties in first and second place
How Many Agricultural Vermonts?
Less than $9,999
$10,000 to
$49,999
$50,000-$99,999
$100,000-$499,999
More than $500,000
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Top 3 Agricultural Sales Counties Farm Sales, 2007
AddisonFranklinOrleans
Farm Sales
Percent of Farms
Addison County
Total number of farms: 773
# farms w/ $500,000 + in sales: 79
Milk is 78% of ag salesCattle and calves are 8% of sales
Franklin County
Total number of farms: 740
# farms w/ $500,000 + in sales: 80
Milk is 81% of ag salesCattle and calves are 11% of sales
Orleans County
Total number of farms: 635
# of farms w/ $500,000 + in sales: 25
Milk is 85% of ag salesCattle and calves are 8% of sales
The Freestall Landscape
Smaller Farm Landscapes
Questions that Can be Pursued:Now that we know something of the environmental history, landscape change, and social dynamics of Vermont, what can we predict its landscape in the future? What will the landscape look like? Who will live here? How will people make a living?
How does your community compare to Vermont’s statistics? Is your town the same or different? How and why?
Why are rural areas of Vermont “poorer” than urban areas and why are some losing population?
What crops and agricultural products were produced in VT over time, and which crops and products will support the state in the future? Where do our agricultural products go? Can we map them?
Which ‘global’ problems or issues can we study here in Vermont?
Data Sources• US Census data• Center for Rural Studies at UVM• VCGI maps of VT• State of Vermont Dept of Ag, Food and
Markets• National Agricultural Statistics Service• Landscape Change website, UVM Geology
Dept