Geography Awareness Week makes premiere at Oberlin

Geography isn't just about the Strait of Gibraltar anymore.

This week marked Oberlin's first observation of National Geography Awareness Week, though it is normally considered an event for students in elementary and secondary school.

The observance comes as part of a push to increase visibility of geography as an academic discipline. The new tenure-track position for Environmental Studies has a geographical emphasis that faculty hope students will embrace.

Visiting Professor of Environmental Studies David Padgett said geography is key in studying environmental studies. "That's the missing link. Geography is the straw that stirs the drink," Padgett said. "Hopefully we'll realize soon that there's much more to geography than memorizing state capitals."

Padgett helped organize the events this week that were intended to show students just how important geography is. A group of students and faculty went to Toledo to tour polluted sites throughout the city. The goal of the tours was to explore ways of reclaiming the sites for further industrial use rather than contributing to sprawl.

"Some of them are pretty nasty sites," Padgett said. "Not only for aesthetic reasons, but for human health issues."

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are one of the most significant new tools of geographers today. GIS is used in mapping everything from toxic waste loci to congressional districts. Padget stressed that the software could be helpful for the social as well as physical sciences.

GIS has revolutionized many fields with its ability to make precise measurements anywhere on earth. Some new cars, for example, include GIS systems which drivers can use to download maps and provide directions to the driver. It could be the end of getting lost, for better or worse.

Earlier in the week, the chair of the University of Toledo geography program spoke to Oberlin students about urbanization issues around Ghana from a geographical perspective. The program was well-attended and the Environmental Studies major's group hosted a reception for the speaker Monday.

The week's events concluded Wednesday with a lecture given by Padgett on the use of GIS in the social and physical sciences. He spoke on how maps today are vital for survival and how mistakes in mapmaking cause disproportionately egregious problems. For example, he said that during the Dayton Peace Accords, the maps Serbian leaders were using were slightly off in scale and they actually had difficulty finding the meeting place for some of the negotiations.

Padgett hopes the week has raised awareness of the many facets of geography. "Now GIS can be used at small liberal arts colleges," he said. "Students here aren't really geographically literate."

The new Environmental Studies faculty position with an emphasis in geography will start in Fall '99. \