Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, the Rise of China, and Global Terrorism
Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, the Rise of China, and Global Terrorism – Review
Blij tells readers that greatly improving our knowledge of the world’s geography is key to fully understanding the key faces of the next half-century: Population growth to nearly 9 billion, climate change possibly causing chaos, China’s emergence as a superpower, and Islamic terrorism threats for America. Unfortunately, Blij’s efforts to convince us of the need to re-emphasize geography fails. A globe shows us that most of the earth’s surface is water or ice, and much of the land is mountains or desert. It also tells us that the Northern Hemisphere countries lead the world because most of the habitable territory is north of the Equator. All titles and other legal documents in the U.S. have been usually expressed in English measures – eventually converting to metric would be impractical. Assuming you are in North America, the room you are in will move about 1/2″ in the next year; over a geologic period of 1 million years it will move 8 miles. About 200 years ago the Earth’s population was only about 900 million, reaching 1 billion in 1820. Another 110 years was usually required to double (2M), and only 45 more years to double again (4M in 1975). Blij anticipates doubling again by 2035, possibly reflecting a slower growth rate. However, Blij reports that it is important to look at the data for different countries. Increasing lifespans includes another critical dimension. Currently 35 of every 100 in Europe are of pensionable age, and this will rise to 75 by 2050. Blij sees Sunni Muslims as a greater potential terrorism problem due to their highly decentralized nature, vs. Shiites (ayatollahs, imams). Haiti and Paraguay in South America, and Sudan and Somalia in Africa are potential future terrorist hotbeds – large Muslim population, fragile states. Russia continues the main territory, almost twice the range of #2 Canada. Having 13 neighbors, and simply lying roughly entirely north of Boston are problems for it. If trends persist it will have a mere 100 million population by 2050.