Day 77 - Thanksgiving

Since my last blog entry the past two weeks have been rather busy. The big USC vs UCLA American Football game took place in which we won! Enrolment for the next quarter also is now coming to a close. As emphasised in my previous post, I greatly desired to enrol in Hydrology and Political Geography, two modules of which I feel will be a bit more in line with the knowledge I acquired at UCL. Thankfully, I was able to enrol in both classes despite the high demand surrounding them; I can now look forward to starting them after Christmas and developing my knowledge in both subject areas.

In this post I wish to discuss more about Applied Climatology and how it has compared to what I have studied previously in the UK. Despite having high hopes for this course, I feel underwhelmed by the substance of the lectures. Rather than being technical and going into detail about processes in the climate, the class has been structured into 10 rather vague lectures in which do little more than outline climate processes and their interactions with the environment. In my first blog entry I made reference to Chagnon (1995) definition of Applied Climatology with the 3-ringed theory. For me, this was an interesting way to approach the area of climatology and I expected that the class would explore the topic through the lens of Chagnon giving equal emphasis on each aspect of applied climatology. Despite this however, I feel there has been an overemphasis on the ‘inner ring’, which comprises of interpretation and generation of climatic data (Chagnon, 1995). This could be seen as one of the flaws with using the quarterly system instead of the semester system which is hotly debated between students and teachers in the United States, with such little amount of class time, one can barely scratch the surface of the main objectives of the module, something that I believe not even extensive reading could fix. In addition to this, a lot of the reading is based on IPCC workings; the ones that feature in my reader however are out-dated, using the 2001 publication. In terms of differences between what I’ve learnt in the UK and US related to climatology through this module provides no distinctions of interest in terms of perceptions and paradigms. The notable differences are present in how engaging, and stimulating the content taught has been. The science is essentially the same, the IPCC is an intergovernmental body and widely considered of great importance in providing up-to-date data and assessments both in the US and the UK. Yet, I have found that climatology has been much superior and interestingly taught in my experiences at UCL.

As I write this blog entry it is torrentially precipitating outside, a sight that is not often seen in this semi-arid area of California. This proves noteworthy as it provides a momentary break from what has been the worst drought in California’s history (figure 1), or at least since 1895 according to the standardized precipitation and evapotranspiration index (SEPI) for California (NOAA, 2014).

 

FIgure 1. NOAA Standard Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index for California

The subsequent blog post will be in a few weeks as final exams are fast approaching! After this busy period I shall be returning to the UK and providing a summary of my findings.

Changnon, S. A. (1995) ‘Applied climatology: A glorious past, and uncertain future’, American Meteorological Society, 379–393.

NOAA (2014) SPEI California Drought through to October 2014. [WWW.] http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/drought/; [Accessed: November 30, 2014]

Day 63 - Midterms and revelations...

After two months of consuming happily the wealth of amazing food offered at the dining halls scattered around campus it appeared to me I needed to start being a lot more careful with what I consume. This thought process was inspired by reading ‘Salt, Sugar and Fat’ (Moss, 2013) a recommended reading for my Food and Environment class. The book explores the politics, science and corporate aspects of modern processed foods and how many deceptions lay underneath the grey areas of food labelling and processes of production. The book makes a vital point that fat cannot be detected by the receptors on the tongue and there is no tangible taste that can be attributed to it (Moss, 2013). In addition to this, Moss highlights that fat stimulates the brain and is widely enjoyed inviting extensive addition of fat to foods in order to preserve, reduce costs yet still satisfy consumers. Upon adjusting my consumption patterns, opting for less fatty foods, I decided to try one of the appealing salads offered by one of the healthier choices of on campus restaurants. I was rather shocked when I saw that my salad of choice contained 74% of my recommended daily intake of fat and 53% of saturated (figure 1). Putting this into perspective, the night before, I consumed deep fried chicken tenders and curly fries, which contained only 51% and 37% respectively (figure 2). This revelation reminded me of some of the key ideas and experiments undertaken in ‘Salt, Sugar and Fat,’ as fat can be hidden into even the most healthiest of foods, and yet still cant be detected through taste. Not only this, but it sparked interest into the perception of healthy foods. I feel that there needs to be a better understanding of what actually constitutes healthy and nutritious food as many people will happily indulge in a salad like the one I was interested in believing it is nutritious, healthy and almost fat free. This interest led me to the work of Marie-Claude Paquette at the University of Quebec, who did a direct study on the perceptions of healthy eating in Canada and highlighted similar issues (Paquette, 2005). These are some of the deeply interesting debates that I’m covering currently in Food and Environment. I feel through this course I have gained a significant understanding of what food constitutes, where it comes from and the scale of politics that is involved from production to consumption. This is a side to geography I have never really come across in the UK, however it is one that is very interesting and relevant in the context of fears over the obesity crisis (Caballero, 2007) and the monopolisation and privatisation of foods by large companies like Monsanto (Hauter, 2012).

Figure 1. Nutritional facts for typical salad

Figure 2. Nutritional facts for fried chicken tenders

The past 3 weeks have been demanding, mid terms have come to their conclusion and attainment of high grades in all modules has left me very pleased. However, I feel that the way these exams are conducted does not permit the presentation of extensive knowledge over the debates of a certain topic area. Structured in the form of multiple choice, definitions and short essays, specific knowledge is expected, however there is no freedom to explore a subject area in depth and illustrate that one has completed in-depth reading. This is the key difference between the exams I have conducted at UCLA so far and those in the past at UCL.

In the approaching weeks, module selection for the upcoming winter quarter will take place. As with this current quarter there is a wide selection of courses available. A module I am particularly excited for is based on hydrology, taught by Professor Lettenmaier, whom I believe is a friend of one of my favourite lecturers Professor Taylor at UCL. Despite being a physical geographer by nature, I thoroughly enjoyed political geography modules taught in my first and second years at UCL. This upcoming quarter offers a class on political geography taught by John Agnew, a distinguished academic that has featured on many of my reading lists at UCL! My favourite work of his is his critique on International Relations with the ‘Territorial Trap’ (Agnew, 1994). Understandably, enrolling in this course will be difficult due to high demand and limited space however I will try my upmost to become enrolled.

In two weeks time I shall update this blog once more on my experiences of Geography at UCLA.

Agnew, J. (1994). ‘The Territorial Trap: The Geographical Assumptions of International Relations Theory,’ Review of International Political Economy, 1, 1: 53-80.

Caballero B (2007). ‘The global epidemic of obesity: An overview,’ Epidemiology Review 29: 1–5.

Hauter, W. (2012) Foodopoly, The News Press: New York.

Moss, M. (2013). Salt, Sugar and Fat, Random House: New York.

Paquette, M-C. (2005) ‘Perceptions of Healthy Eating: State of Knowledge and Research Gaps’, Canadian Journal of Public Health, 96, 3 15-19.