Renewing the purpose of geography education: Eco-anxiety,powerful knowledge,and pathways for transformation

Concerns about the decline in uptake of secondary geography education continue despite arguments supporting the value of geography education, the power of geographical thinking, and geography’s critical role in preparing students to deal with complex challenges. Already constrained by neoliberal politics of disadvantage, young people must plan and prepare for chaotic futures. Consequently, young people are becoming distressed and worried about their futures and feeling powerless as society fails to adequately address these issues. In this article, we ask what schools and universities can do as place-based public institutions to serve young people to effectively respond to eco-anxiety and build capacities to surf the unrelenting waves of change. We draw on journeys that brought three young doctoral candidates to study geography. From their stories, we sketch what a geographical education could offer in terms of relevance, practicality, and engagement with transformative system change. We think that under current world conditions, this is a moment to revive geography education and give it renewed purpose to encourage young people to develop skills and competences to tackle wicked problems.     

Book reviews

D. W. Rawson: Labor in Vain? A survey of the Australian Labor Party, Longmans, Green & Co. Ltd., Croydon, Victoria, 1966, pp. 128, cased $2.75, paperback $1.95.

Ralph Gibson: My Years in the Communist Party, International Bookshop, Melbourne, 1966, pp. 268, $1.75.

Keith McEwan: Once a Jolly Comrade, Jacaranda Press, Brisbane, 1966, pp. 119, $3.25 and $1.95 (paperback).

John Wilkes, ed.: Australian Cities: Chaos or Planned Growth? Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1966, pp. 138, $1.95.

F. B. Smith: The Making of the Second Reform Bill, Melbourne University Press, 1966, pp. 297, $6.00.

H. G. Gelber: Australia. Britain and the E.E.C.—1961 to 1963, Oxford University Press. Melbourne. 1966. pp. 296 + xii, $9.50.

Alan Stoller, ed.: New Faces: Immigration and Family Life in Australia, F. W. Cheshire for the Victorian Family Council, Melbourne, 1966, pp. 195 + x. $3.00.

Ian G. Sharp and Golin M. Tatz, eds.: Aborigines in the Economy: Employment, Wages and Training, Jacaranda Press in association with the Centre for Research into Aboriginal Affairs, Monash University, 1966, pp. 382 + xvi, $4.65.

Sir Solly Zuckerman: Scientists and War: The Impact of Science on Military and Civil Affairs, Hamish Hamilton. London. 1966. pp. 177 + xiii, $3.25.

Gerald E. Caiden: The A.C.P.T.A.—A Study of White Collar Unionism in the Commonwealth of Australia 1885–1922, Occasional Paper No. 2, Department of Political Science, Research School of Social Sciences, A.N.U., Canberra, pp. 371, n.p.

Michael Collins: The Land Boomers, Melbourne University Press, 1966, pp. 247 + viii, $7.50.

Enid Campbell: Parliamentary Privilege in Australia, Melbourne University Press. Melbourne, 1966, pp. 218, $6.00.

Anthony Clunies Ross and Peter King: Australia and Nuclear Weapons: the Case for a Non‐nuclear Region in South East Asia, Sydney University Press, 1966, pp. 111, $2.

Paul W. van der Veur: Search for New Guinea's Boundaries: From Torres Strait to the Pacific, A.N.U. Press, Canberra, 1966, pp. 176 + xii, $6.30. Distributor: Jacaranda Press, Brisbane.

Paul W. van der Veur: Documents and Correspondence on New Guinea's Boun‐daries, A.N.U. Press, Canberra. pp. 210 + x, $3.40. Distributor: Jacaranda Press, Brisbane.

J. P. Sinclair: Behind the Ranges: Patrolting in New Guinea, Melbourne University Press, 1966, pp. 230 + xvii, $4.75.     

‘Nuclear Sword of the Moslem World’?: the United States,Britain, Pakistan,and the ‘Islamic Bomb’, 1977–80

There exists today considerable fear of nuclear proliferation across the ‘Islamic world.’ Despite this, an issue that - in part - set the tone for contemporary debates has largely gone under-examined in the scholarly literature. The emergence of the ‘Islamic bomb’ idea in the late 1970s created a meme that remains with us today. Analysing the roots of this meme allows us to examine its creation and the attitudes of governments towards this alleged emergent nuclear-proliferation threat. This analysis demonstrates that while the media portrayed the ‘Islamic world’ as violent, undifferentiated, and determined to gain nuclear capability, the US and British governments assessed matters evidentially and came to the conclusion that the ‘Islamic bomb’ represented a propaganda problem rather than an imminent nuclear-proliferation concern. Attitudes towards the ‘Islamic bomb’ highlight media and governmental attitudes towards the changing power balances in the Middle East and South Asia during a turbulent and troubled period.     

Economic valuation of a rise in ambient radiation risks: Hedonic pricing evidence from the accident in Fukushima

Using a combined data set of radiation levels and property prices from Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures that runs from 2009 to early 2017, the economic impact of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear accident is assessed. A 1 percent rise in radiation is associated with approximately 0.051 percentage drop in housing prices and though the level of radiation falls substantially after 2011, the estimated elasticity is broadly stable. The associated estimate of VSL (value of a statistical life) is in the region of US$4.5–6.4 million, which suggests no strong element of dread or overestimation of risks is present.