Geographic Literacy
Geography Does Matter
Geographic knowledge has a far reaching potential for our planet, our country, our community, and ourselves. Geographic inquiry focuses on complex understandings at the local and global level. It will help us manage the challenges of the 21st century. It assists us as stewards of the world to pose and answer spatial and environmental questions that impact our lives. Maps and other geographic representations are an important part of the language of geography, allowing us to see spatial relationships between the physical and the cultural world.
Why is Geography Important?
Geography, and particularly geospatial technology provide critical information that can strengthen the American economy.
Understanding geography is essential for our nation’s security and for protecting us from environmental threats.
Geographic knowledge will help us manage global issues by assisting us in understanding cultural, geophysical, and geopolitical differences among countries, thus making policy makers more likely to respond.
“In a recent National Geographic Society survey of U.S. educators, nearly two-thirds of participants (62%) said teaching geography was “extremely important.” The survey captured a cross-section of pre-K to 12th grade educators of varying ages, experiences, and subjects taught. Strikingly, the poll found that 74% of non-geography teachers have integrated geography into their curricula across a wide range of subjects, from biology, environmental science, history, literacy, visual arts and religion to—one might be surprised to find—performing arts. As one educator noted in the survey, “I teach music, so we study the locations and people…associated with the songs we learn.””
How Does Geography Connect with Our Daily Lives?
Nearly everywhere!
Geography…
provides relevant information for making consumer decisions.
helps us understand and improve our interactions with the rest of the world.
allows decision-makers to use geospatial technologies to understand and address contemporary issues.
permits us to choose the best site for schools, businesses or homes (location, location, location).
assists us in finding resources and using them in a sustainable manner.
Thus, geography allows us to be protectors and informed citizens of this fragile planet.
More Global Than You Think
Connecticut, and Hartford, are more global communities than many people think.
More than 730 global companies have subsidiaries in Connecticut, and there are more than 70 languages spoken in Hartford, for example.
In 2018, Connecticut exported a record $17.4 billion of Made-in-America goods to the world. Connecticut was the 25th largest state exporter of goods. The state’s largest market was France. Connecticut exported $3.2 billion in goods to France in 2018, representing 18 percent of the state’s total goods exports. France was followed by Germany ($2.3 billion), Canada ($2.0 billion), United Kingdom ($1.5 billion), and Mexico ($948 million).
More than one in seven Connecticut residents is an immigrant, while another one in eight is a native-born U.S. citizen with at least one immigrant parent, according to the American Immigration Council, which also reports that:
In 2015, 519,648 immigrants (foreign-born individuals) comprised 14.5 percent of the state’s population.
The top countries of origin for immigrants were India (6.6 percent of immigrants), Poland (6.4 percent), Jamaica (6.3 percent), the Dominican Republic (5.1 percent), and Mexico (4.8 percent).
In 2016, 480,001 people in Connecticut (13.5 percent of the state’s population) were native-born Americans who had at least one immigrant parent.
More than 46,351 immigrant business owners accounted for 23.7 percent of all self-employed Connecticut residents in 2015 and generated $1.2 billion in business income.
One in six workers in Connecticut is an immigrant, making up a significant part of the state’s labor force across industries. And foreign investment in Connecticut was responsible for 7.1 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2015, the most recent data available.
Pandemic Geography
During these past two years, many of us have become more familiar with nations of the world, and their locations and relationships, as we have watched the news related to the spread of COVID-19, once and once again. And as video calls have become routine - and routinely include people well beyond our local office, often to distant nations. Understanding geography has many applications - in our daily life and the life of our communities, not only now, but even after COVID has receded.