Living with the Anthropocene blues

In this short discussion, we consider societal responses to the (impending) ‘death of nature’ associated with the epoch now dubbed the Anthropocene. We forward the case for a geographical perspective that engages with psychological and psychoanalytic analyses to better understand responses and coping mechanisms, such as societal death anxiety.     

Protected geographical indications: Institutional roles in food systems governance and rural development

This paper examines the importance of national-level institutional arrangements for promoting the EU’s Protected Geographic Indication scheme (PGI). Taking the example of Ireland, for which PGI designations remain comparatively low, it explores whether the approach to providing institutional supports to the PGI scheme is influenced by top-down technocratic governance structures that pertain to food safety and quality certification that encompass the broader operating environment for food production in Ireland. Although the regulation of food safety and quality certification are distinct remits to the administration of the PGI scheme, in the Irish context the same institutional bodies are involved in governance of both. Using a discourse analysis interpretative framework, this paper draws on interviews with Irish producer group members and institutional representatives to examine how governance of the PGI scheme reflects management perspectives and practices more in keeping with a regulatory environment for food safety and quality than with development of place-based food product links. It suggests that incentives to avail of the PGI scheme as a means of realising value-added for producers are not well established because they require the development of more subjective, context-dependent processes and practices linked to geographical place and place identity. These are not easily accommodated under current institutional arrangements that also incorporate food safety and quality remits because these are in turn strongly established through nationally and internationally recognised systems of regulation and benchmarking. The findings point to the benefits to be gained from a more layered governance structure for PGI; devolving operation of the scheme to relevant regional and local development organisations that possess the expertise and relevant local knowledge to (a) incentivise the formation of producer groups, and (b) prioritise mentoring and support for PGI concept development as a clearer reflection of bottom-up rural sustainability policy.     

Rehabilitation and Sustainable Use Pattern of Rocky-desertified Land in Southwest China＇s Poverty-stricken Karst Mountainous Areas ——A Case Study in Benggu Township, Xichou County, Yunnan, China

The rocky desert in a karst area directly causes the lack of soil, water and forest, hence leading to the poverty there. In 1990, the villagers from the Muzhe Village in Benggu Township, Xichou County, Yunnan declared a war against rocky desert in an attempt to ask the fields for more yields. They invented a distinctive land rehabilitation and sustainable use pattern called ＂transforming heaven and earth＂ that had been practiced in Southwest China＇s karst areas. The key mechanism of the pattern was to develop terraced fields with well conserved soil, water and fertility by exploding rocks in the fields, building stone walls, gathering more soil, and improving soil quality and productivity for the fields in combination with building of irrigation facilities and roads, as well as with forestation and agriculture structure adjustment. The purpose of the pattern was to alleviate poverty in the karst areas by improving soil productivity and promoting agricultural development. A typical area was studied with the help of Participatory Rural Appraisal （PRA） and the pattern was carried out there for fifteen years, have produced excellent ecological benefits and good economic benefits. Its application in the area approved that it was a sustainable land use pattern for rocky desert areas.     

我国国土综合开发整治研究的回顾与展望

改革开放以来,我国国土综合开发整治研究蓬勃发展。本文从国土综合开发整治的特点取得的重大进展,展望未来的发展方向。逐步形成具有中国特色的区域综合开发的理论体系,是地理工作者和其他国土工作者的任务。     

BOOK REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this article: Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing Aerial photography and image interpretation for Resource Management . DAVID P. PAINE . Analytical Models and Techniques Spatial Processes Models and Applications A. D. CLIFF AND J. K. ORD Quantitative and Statistical Approaches to Geography: A Practical Manual JOHN A. MATTHEWS . Cartography and Maps Map Data Processing . HERBERT FREEMAN AND GOFFREDO G. PIERONI , eds. Computer-assisted Cartography: Principles and Prospects, 1982 . MARK S. MONMONIER . Cultural Navajo Architecture: Forms, History, Distributions . STEPHEN C. JETT AND VIRGINIA E . SPENCER . Rational Landscapes and Humanistic Geography . EDWARD RELPH . Economic The Structure and Control of a State Economy . W. L. L'ESPERANCE . Economic Geography . JAMES O. WHEELER AND PETER O. MULLER . The Myth of the Family Farm: Agribusiness Dominance of U.S. Agriculture . INGOLF VOCELER . Libya: The Experience of Oil . J. A. ALLEN . Geography of Public Finance, Welfare Under Fiscal Federalism and local Government Finance . ROBERT BENNETT . Environmental Management, Resources, and Systems Mountains and Man . LARRY W. PRICE . Environmental Geology . DONALD R. COATES . An Introduction to Environmental Systems . G. H. DURY . The Environment: Chinese and American Views . Edited by LAURENCE J. C. MA AND ALLEN G. NOBLE . Land Use in America . RICHARD H. JACKSON . Medical Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Medical Geography . MELINDA S. MEADE (ed.). Philosophy and Geographic Thought Birds in Egg/Eggs in Bird . GUNNAR OLSSON . PhysicaI Climatology: Selected Applications . J. E. OLIVER . Geomorphological Techniques . ANDREW GOUDIE (ed.). Political Politics, Geography and Behaviour . RICHARD MUIR AND RONAN PADDISON . The State of the World Atlas . MICHAEL KIDRON AND RONALD SECAL . Population The Population of the South . DUDLEY L. POSTON , JR . AND ROBERT H. WELLER , eds. Regional Latin America: Economic Development and Regional Differentiation . ARTHUR MORRIS . Developing the Amazon . EMILIO F. MORAN . Western Europe: A Systematic Human Geography . BRIAN W. ILBERY . Settlement Systems in Sparsely Settled Regions: The United States and Australia . RICHARD E. LONSDALEAND JOHN H. HOLMES , eds. African Perspectives: The Economic Geography of Nine African States . HARM DE BUJ AND ESMOND MARTIN , eds. Rural Nonmetropolitan America in Transition . AMOS H. HAWLEY AND SARA MILLS MAZIE , eds. Social Crime and Environment . R. NORMAN DAVIDSON . The Ghetto: Readings with Interpretations . JOE T. DARDEN , ed. Urban Urban Problems and Planning in the Developed World . MICHAEL PACIONE (ed.) Problems and Planning in Third World Cities . Edited by MICHAEL PACIONE . The City in West Europe . D. BURTENSHAW , M. BATEMAN , AND C. J. ASHWORTH .     

关于地理环境的理解和运用问题

本文借助语言、逻辑知识,从“偏正结构”、“相关词义”、“派生概念”三方面,阐明了地理环境的确切含义和实际运用问题。笔者在分析、探讨地理环境问题时,提出了一些与当今辞书和重要著述相悖的定义。作者认为,长期以来,围绕地理环境及其派生概念“决定论”所开展的一切无端之争,除立场、观点和历史局限外,无不与下列问题的认识、理解不一有关:关于历史与现代决定论问题;关于决定与决定论问题;关于内外环境决定论问题。     

试论海洋经济地理学

作者认为海洋经济地理学属于经济地理学范畴,其研究对象为海洋产业布局,以及海洋经济体系的形成过程、结构特点和发展规律。海洋产业可分为传统的、新兴的和未来的三种,作者探讨了它们的内容及其与国民经济建设的关系。我国海洋经济地理学研究的重点,80年代以海岸带、90年代以海岛为主,以后将以大陆架和专属经济区为主。海洋经济地理学的研究方法以系统方法为主,文章结合作者住长山群岛的实践,阐述了海洋开发的若干问题,提出开展海洋经济地理研究的同时,要开展更广泛的海洋人文地理研究。     

甘肃省农村民居抗震设防现状与地震安全农居示范工程对策

本文根据甘肃省农村社会经济发展和地震环境特征,简要分析了甘肃农村民居主要建筑结构类型和抗震性能,结合近10多年来破坏性地震资料,总结了农村民居主要震害特点,提出了实施甘肃省农村民居地震安全工程的对策与措施。     

The Tornado Hazard In Southern New England: History,Characteristics, Student And Teacher Perceptions

Abstract

People generally do not perceive New England to be tornado-prone. Yet, there is a long history of such storms in the six states going back to the late seventeenth century. Usually, New England tornadoes are small and short-lived; even so, some have caused many deaths and much property damage. There is a greater probability for a person to be affected by a tornado in southern New England than in much of the American Midwest. As building and population density increases, so does the hazard potential. Data from awareness surveys indicate that the lack of tornado knowledge remains a serious problem for teachers, students, and the public, and government information about such storms is not being widely disseminated.