This Week’s Resources

Returning after a two-week break, we have resources on sustainability, development and another map-making resource.

Last week was half-term for me and the week before that involved the usual end of term madness, so apologies for the longer-than-planned break from the newsletter. Going forward I’m going to try and keep to a weekly format during term time. I’m aiming to include three resources per week. Any longer form posts will be included as links to my blog, so your inbox isn’t full of polemics from me if you just want the resource recommendations.

Doughnut Economics

You may already be familiar with Kate Raworth’s work on sustainable economics. Her doughnut model explores how people can live well in the space between a set of social floor conditions and an ecological ceiling - this space being represented as a ring donut. For more on Doughnut Economics in general, see the Doughnut Economics Action lab website.

Of particular interest to geography teachers and students could be the work being done to apply doughnut economic to cities. Amsterdam has already completed a project on how their city can become more sustainable through a doughnut economics-based approach.

Human Development Reports

Development is a common topic and the Human Development Index is an often-included composite indicator of development. This UN website introduces HDI really nicely, with an easy to understand graphic and video. There is also a really interesting graph allowing you to explore how countries’ HDI have changed over time.

You can also find the latest Human Development Report.

National Geographic Mapmaker

This isn’t the easiest to use website, but could be very useful for teachers and students. Choose from a range of base-layers, such as a straightforward political world map, and then from any number of data sets ranging from population density to Amazon deforestation to hurricane tracks.