Edmund Hatch Bennett School, Taunton -- Feb. 24

41° 54' 08" N
71° 08' 20" W
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EarthView is visiting third- and fourth-grade classes at the Bennett School in Taunton with Dr. Hayes-Bohanan and Ms. Hart, a local teacher who worked with EarthView when she was a student of geography and education at BSU.

She had spent part of her childhood in Fairbanks, Alaska and found Taunton to be cold enough Tuesday night that she decided to make some comparisons. The weather report from her phone shows which place was warmer. (To be fair, it was still mid-afternoon in Fairbanks and the sun was already down in Taunton.)

She also looked up some details about winters in the two places.

Taunton

1674 miles Boston to Arctic Circle
Average temperature in February 39
Average snow fall in February 10 in
This year 99 inches of snow and 27 degrees

Fairbanks

198 miles Fairbanks to Arctic Circle
Average temperature in February -3.6
Average snow fall in February 9 in
Temp today 30 degrees
This year since Dec 1 snowfall totals 19.9 inches in February .1 inches. Average temp for Feb this year 28 degrees. 

So if she discusses going back to her former Alaska home to warm up, students will now understand why!

The EarthView team were not the only people making Massachusetts-Alaska comparisons today. After our visit to Bennett School, we found this image making the rounds on social media. It is a great example of what geographers call "sense of place" because it uses the ubiquitous Massachusetts town-boundary signs. And it captures perfectly what a lot of Bay Staters are thinking about recent weather. Moreover, the star of this image bears a slight resemblance to Dr. Hayes-Bohanan.

Sharon Middle School- February 27th

42° 06' 24" N
71° 09' 58" W
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The EarthView team is happy to be back at Sharon Middle School for the third year in a row. We will be visiting this Friday, February 28th and next Friday, March 6th. The blog post from our visit in April of 2012 describes the geographic characteristics of Sharon in terms of site and situation.

While looking for things to discuss in today's post, we came across an article from National Geographic describing the top ten most sustainable cities in the world. If you are unsure of what sustainability is, it is the balance between the environment, society and the economy that helps to ensure that we will be able to keep our planet alive and thriving for future generations. It is about more than just the initiative to go green by recycling and reusing but by adopting a new way of thinking about life in order to treat the world and its people the way they should be treated, respectfully and appropriately.

Sustainability

                                 
While no cities in the United States made the top ten list, Boston did come in at number fifteen. Knowing that Boston is recognized as the most sustainable city in the United States says a lot about where we live. Although we have a long way to go in sustainability, it is hoped that we will one day make it into the top ten cities. Or perhaps one day lists like these won't be necessary because the human population around the globe will have changed by adopting the ways of sustainability thus creating a less polluted and more ecologically conscious world.  

St. Columbkille, Brighton -- February 13

42° 21' 09" N
71° 09' 11" W 
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The EarthView team is very pleased to be visiting St. Columbkille Partnership School for the first time, in part because our visits to Boston are relatively few and we would like to have EarthView programs in the city much more often. The school is named for a sixth-century Irish-Scottish saint, and "partnership" refers to its affiliation with nearby Boston College.

As with several other communities in the area, Brighton is sometimes thought of as an independent city or town, but in reality it is a neighborhood of Boston. As the map suggests, it was formerly a neighborhood of Cambridge, but it "moved" to Boston in 1807.

Horace Mann Middle School, Franklin -- Feb 5-6

42° 05' 28" N
71° 24' 22" W 
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The EarthView team is very pleased to be returning to Horace Mann -- because of the enthusiastic support of geography in the Horace Mann community and also because the school happens to be named for the founder of Bridgewater State University.

Among many other things we discussed during the visit was a recent visit by BSU students to Cerro Negro volcano in Nicaragua. Part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, it is the only place in the world where people can sandboard on a volcano!

The Pacific Ring of Fire is important to geography in so many ways that this blog includes several other Ring of Fire articles.

Dr. Hayes-Bohanan spoke briefly about some of the geographic connections he explores when rowing in New Bedford. Although whaling has not been practiced in the United States in over a century, it continues to influence the geography of our region.

While in EarthView, Horace Mann geographer Mr. McGovern pointed out the Aral Sea, which his students will soon be discussing. We included some Aral Sea imagery on this blog's most recent North Andover visit.