Environmental Geography -- International

UBCUD	Study geography in Brazil: We'll pay for it! I am a co-director of the U.S.-Brazil Consortium in Urban Development, begun in 2006 with generous funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) and its Brazilian counterpart, CAPES. The grant provides funding for several years of semester-long exchanges to study the role of geography in urban planning in southern Brazil and New England. Students pay tuition and earn credit at Bridgewater while studying abroad. The program pays for language classes, travel, and most living expenses!
International Office - BSC	The Office of International Programs coordinates all study-abroad opportunities for Bridgewater State College students, including semester-long exchanges and short-term study tours led by BSC faculty. The office is also involved with the other international initiatives of the college.
FINA-NAFI	The North American Forum on Integration studies the three countries of the NAFTA region -- Canada, Mexico, and the United States -- in terms of their important, tri-lateral relations. Students from all disciplines are welcome to participate in FINA's annual Trimuvirate, a week-long model parliament held in late May. Bridgewater State College will be sending a delegation in May 2007. Contact me immediately if you would like to be part of it; financial assistance will be available to cover most costs. Preference is given to students who speak two of the NAFTA languages: English, French, and Spanish.
LACS	The Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Bridgewater State College offers an interdisciplinary minor (18 credit hours) and a variety of campus programs related to Latin America. Coordinating the program has helped me to make a lot of interesting connections, both on campus and throughout the hemisphere.
Places I Have Visited I have never been to a place I found boring. Everywhere I have ever been, I have found something interesting. Usually I notice something unusual about the topography, the soil, the waterways, or the vegetation. It could, for example, be something as simple as noticing that the slopes on the south side of a highway are wetter or more likely to be covered with ice than the slopes on the north side. Beyond the physical geography, though, the human character (and characters!) of a place make it memorable. This section provides many stories, maps, and photos of places I have had the privilege to visit. For everything in this section, I owe a great debt of gratitude to the thousands of people who have made my travels possible and enjoyable. These include friends and professional colleagues, travel agents and airline pilots, hotel clerks and waitresses, and passersby on countless street corners.
County Maps	This project shows maps of every county I have visited in 46 of the 50 United States, with aerial photographs of most of my homes. It also points to basic information about each state and travel advice for a few locations. The project now includes maps of my international travels at the state and provincial scale.
Rondônia	I first visited Rondonia, in the western part of the Brazilian Amazon, in 1996. This page includes many resources about urbanization and deforestation in this modern frontier, as well as the other parts of Brazil I have visited.
Romania	Perhaps it is something about far-away places abbreviated "RO:" in 2004 I organized a delegation from Bridgewater to visit our partner church in Romania, the Unitarian congregation in Haranglab, Transylvania.
Cape Verde	In March 2006, I had the great privilege of leading a study tour of Cape Verde, a country on a small group of islands near the coast of West Africa. A group of 20 students, alumni, faculty and staff explored ways for low-income countries to pursue development that is socially and environmentally sustainable. I will be leading another group in 2008!
Cuba	During early January 2003, I went to Cuba as part of a BSC study tour. This was an extraordinary opportunity, since Cuba is the only country in the world to which the United States government prohibits travel for most U.S. citizens.
Nicaragua: Geography of Coffee	My Geography of Coffee page brings together two of my passions: learning about the world and enjoying a hot, bitter cup of coffee. It provides information about the Geography of Coffee course that I taught in Nicaragua in January 2006 and am repeating in January 2007. It also includes recipes, stories, and music about the magical brew. See some of our great photos and stories !
Global Topics This section is organized by topic -- some happy, some tragic -- rather than place.
Pax Mundo	I created this entirely separate web site to address the question: Is war the only way that Americans can learn geography?
Hurricane Reflections	The major hurricanes of 2005 -- Katrina and Rita -- exposed many shameful inequities and misplaced priorities. In many ways, it was not a time to be proud of America. I was, however, enormously proud of three colleagues from the counseling program at Bridgewater State College. Dr. Michael Kocet, Dr. Maxine Rowlins, and Dr. Louise Graham went to the Gulf Coast to provide counseling services for relief workers, who were so emotionally drained by the experience. On these pages, the three professors tell stories and ask important questions.
WAR on Iraq	This page presents my thoughts about the war in Iraq, discussion of why the rest of the world opposed it, and links to alternative news sources. My perspective on support for the troops is also presented, as are some thoughts on the capture of Saddam Hussein. It is time to get serious about SUPPORTING THE TROOPS .
September 11 Resources	A student who was in my class at the time of the September 11 attacks lost a cousin in one of the airplanes. She did not finish that semester; even students not so directly affected had trouble with their studies. My father spent part of his birthday on a rooftop in Washington, watching the smoke rise from the Pentagon. We were all touched by the attack on the land and ideals we love. We also are now touched by what our leaders ask us to do in response. Some of it is perhaps sensible, but some of it clearly is not. This page provides access both to tributes and to a range of opinions about the aftermath of the attacks.
Musica	I am increasingly interested in using music to learn more about the human geography of Latin America, and I enjoy sharing the rich variety of music with my students and other audiences. Complex and dynamic global connections are reflected in music that ranges from deeply rooted regional styles to highly eclectic synergies of samba, mariachi, rock, urban, and much more. On this page, I share specific examples from my presentations, and links for learning more and perhaps building your own Latin American CD collection.
Tsunami Visualizations	This educational site is a compilation of high-quality images and digital models of the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. The tsunami is out of the news in the United States, but the recovery will be important in this region for years to come. The collection is compiled by John McDaris at Carleton College. My colleague, Dr. Wing-kai To, has created a comprehensive site on the disaster and relief efforts . For an important critical view, see Derrick Jackson's " Victims that we don't count " essay.
International Debt	My presentations and additional links regarding the dire circumstances of external debt in many developing countries. Dozens of the poorest countries in the world are saddled with enormous debts, even though they gained nothing from the loans on which the debts are based.