Geography Expert

20:51

When One Disaster becomes Five

Geography Expert ·

2026/10/01

Send us Fan Mail Cascading Disasters 1. Hazard Examples: conflict, drought, flooding, or disruption to shipping. Icon: lightning bolt or explosion symbol over a globe. Caption: A sudden or ongoing event that threatens people or systems. 2. Exposure Icon: map with people, roads, and buildings inside the affected zone. Caption: People, infrastructure, and businesses are located in the hazard area. 3. Vulnerability Icon: cracked bridge, weak house, and empty wallet. Caption: Poverty, damaged inf...

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14:35

Cities That Are Sinking

Geography Expert ·

2026/09/28

Send us Fan Mail Bangkok is sinking. So are Jakarta, New Orleans, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, and dozens of other delta metropolises around the world. Thai landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom likes to joke that her version of a climate-change photo isn’t a melting glacier — it’s a crocodile swimming down a flooded Bangkok street. The joke points to something deadly serious: a city of 15 million people, built on a soft river delta, is losing its fight against water. Voraakhom has spent the ...

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19:56

Ceuta, Spain and the EU

Geography Expert ·

2026/09/24

Send us Fan Mail How can immigration policy in one small Spanish territory affect relations between Spain, Morocco and the wider European Union? At first glance, Ceuta seems too small to have much influence on European politics. It has a population of roughly 85,000 and covers only a small area of land. But Ceuta occupies an extraordinary geographical position. It is Spanish territory in North Africa, immediately beside Morocco and close to the Strait of Gibraltar. It is therefore part of the...

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6:49

Europe’s Wildfire Wake-Up Call

Geography Expert ·

2026/09/22

Send us Fan Mail 2026: Europe’s Record-Breaking Fire Season By 29 July 2026, France had already burned 91,000 hectares — smashing its previous full‑season record. Spain? Over 200,000 hectares, including the largest fire in its recorded history near Madrid. Firefighters in France even faced a “fire cloud” — a fire so intense it creates its own weather, with lightning and chaotic winds. It was the first ever recorded in France. Support the show Check out my website, Facebook groups and other...

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20:38

Wildfires at Every Scale

Geography Expert ·

2026/09/21

Send us Fan Mail 2026: A Record-Breaking Summer, and It’s Only Halfway Done Let’s start with the raw numbers, because they’re genuinely eye-popping. By 29 July 2026, satellite data showed that around 91,000 hectares had burned in France so far in 2026 — smashing the country’s previous full-season record of just over 66,000 hectares, and remember, the fire season doesn’t even wrap up until the end of October. Spain’s numbers are even more dramatic: over 200,000 hectares burned, and a single fi...

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5:20

Why Yemen’s Location Shapes Global Power

Geography Expert ·

2026/09/17

Send us Fan Mail “Why Yemen’s Location Shapes Global Power” Hey everyone — today we’re diving into a place that doesn’t often make the headlines in your world, but quietly shapes global politics, trade, and even the price of things you buy. We’re talking about Yemen — a country where geography and conflict collide in a way that affects the whole planet. Support the show Check out my website, Facebook groups and other social media. www.ritchiecunningham.com Geography Expert Substack ...

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17:19

Global Food Uncovered

Geography Expert ·

2026/09/14

Send us Fan Mail Food is one of the most familiar parts of our daily lives, but behind every banana, chocolate bar, or carton of orange juice lies a story of geography, climate, economics, and global interdependence. When you walk into a supermarket in Scotland, you’re not just seeing shelves of products — you’re seeing the outcome of thousands of decisions made across continents, shaped by weather patterns, trade routes, political relationships, and human ingenuity. If you are studying geogr...

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4:57

Understanding Migration

Geography Expert ·

2026/09/11

Send us Fan Mail Today we're talking about something that touches almost every corner of the modern world, whether we notice it or not: human migration. Why do people leave the place they call home? And why do they choose to go where they go? Geographers usually explain this using something called the push-pull model. Push factors are the things that drive people away from home. Pull factors are the things that draw them toward a new place. And in real life, it's almost never just one or the...

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17:11

Why People Move

Geography Expert ·

2026/09/08

Send us Fan Mail One of the most useful ways to understand migration is through the push-pull model. Push factors are conditions that encourage or force people to leave their home country or region. Pull factors are conditions that attract people to a new destination. In reality, migration decisions are usually influenced by a combination of both. For example, a young person from a rural village might leave because there are few employment opportunities at home (a push factor) while being att...

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6:17

“A Giant Vacuum Cleaner for the Sky”

Geography Expert ·

2026/09/03

Send us Fan Mail Support the show Check out my website, Facebook groups and other social media. www.ritchiecunningham.com Geography Expert Substack | Ritchie Cunningham | Substack Geography Expert - Facebook Grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/3514097965371452 UK Geography teachers | Facebook Twitter - @RRitchieC YouTube Geography Expert@geographyexpert BlueSky @geographyexpert.bsky.social Threads cunninghamritchie LinkedIn (7) Ritchie Cunningham | LinkedIn ...

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18:53

The Earth's moving puzzle

Geography Expert ·

2026/08/31

Send us Fan Mail Understanding the forces that shape our planet The Earth may appear solid and stable beneath our feet, but in reality it is constantly moving and changing. Mountains rise, oceans widen, volcanoes erupt, and earthquakes shake the ground because the outer layer of our planet is broken into moving sections called tectonic plates. These movements occur extremely slowly — usually only a few centimetres each year — yet over millions of years they completely reshape the surface of t...

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19:20

El Niño Unpacked

Geography Expert ·

2026/08/24

Send us Fan Mail Imagine a change in ocean temperatures thousands of kilometres away causing floods in South America, droughts in Australia, crop failures in Africa, and unusually warm winters in North America. This is exactly what can happen during an El Niño event. El Niño is one of the most powerful natural climate phenomena on Earth. It is part of a larger system known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which involves interactions between the Pacific Ocean and the atmosphere abov...

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17:29

La Niña Decoded

Geography Expert ·

2026/08/24

Send us Fan Mail Support the show Check out my website, Facebook groups and other social media. www.ritchiecunningham.com Geography Expert Substack | Ritchie Cunningham | Substack Geography Expert - Facebook Grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/3514097965371452 UK Geography teachers | Facebook Twitter - @RRitchieC YouTube Geography Expert@geographyexpert BlueSky @geographyexpert.bsky.social Threads cunninghamritchie LinkedIn (7) Ritchie Cunningham | LinkedIn ...

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4:26

Ageing Populations and the Old‑Age Dependency Ratio

Geography Expert ·

2026/08/20

Send us Fan Mail Hello and welcome back to the Geography Expert podcast. Today we’re exploring one of the most important demographic challenges facing modern societies — ageing populations and the old‑age dependency ratio. This ratio compares the number of people aged 65 and over with the number of working‑age people, usually defined as those aged 15 to 64. It doesn’t mean that every older person is dependent or that every working‑age person has a job, but it gives us a useful snapshot of ho...

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17:20

Mangroves are back!

Geography Expert ·

2026/08/17

Send us Fan Mail Mangrove Forests: The Amazing Comeback of Nature's Coastal GuardiansImagine a forest that can protect people from tsunamis, provide homes for thousands of marine animals, and help fight climate change all at the same time. It might sound like something out of a superhero movie, but these forests really exist. They are called mangrove forests, and after decades of destruction, they are making an incredible comeback. A Forest in Trouble For much of the last century, mangrove fo...

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5:34

The Hunger Gap — How Climate Change Threatens Food...

Geography Expert ·

2026/08/14

Send us Fan Mail Today we're talking about something that touches almost every corner of the modern world, The Hunger Gap — How Climate Change Threatens Food Security Today we're tackling a question that sounds simple but isn't: why is it getting harder for some people, in some parts of the world, to get enough good food to eat? Spoiler — it's not really about there not being enough food on the planet. It's about climate change, and it's hitting some countries a lot harder than others. Let'...

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23:28

Bhutan's Population Crisis

Geography Expert ·

2026/08/03

Send us Fan Mail Bhutan, a small Himalayan country between India and China, is trying to encourage families to have more children. The government has announced monthly cash payments for families with a third child or more, showing how population change can become a major geography issue. Bhutan’s population is under 800,000, and recent figures show that births have been falling. At the same time, many young people are leaving the country to look for jobs and opportunities abroad, especially i...

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18:04

Landscapes Built From Below

Geography Expert ·

2026/07/27

Send us Fan Mail External weathering and erosion processes gradually become the dominant factors in the development of the landscape as tectonic activity ceases or becomes very slow. The influence of geology remains important but passes to a more detailed level in which’ rock type (lithology) and structure may strongly influence local relief features. In all landscapes, the critical factor is not so much the absolute resistance of a rock as its resistance relative to the rocks around it. It i...

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20:05

Banda's Burning Crisis

Geography Expert ·

2026/07/20

Send us Fan Mail In May 2026, the district of Banda in northern India experienced temperatures of 47–48°C, making it one of the hottest places in the country. At these temperatures, daily life changes dramatically. By early morning, conditions already feel like midday, and even at night, temperatures remain around 30°C. As a result, people say that “mornings and nights no longer exist.” Banda is located near the Tropic of Cancer, a region that naturally experiences intense solar heating. Howe...

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17:39

China's Road to the Top

Geography Expert ·

2026/07/18

Send us Fan Mail In 2000, almost every one of the world’s ten biggest carmakers came from Japan, Europe or North America. By 2025, China had become the world’s largest car market, the world’s largest exporter of cars and home to some of the fastest-growing manufacturers on Earth. For most of the twentieth century, the global car industry was dominated by a handful of famous names. Companies such as Ford, General Motors (GM), Volkswagen and Toyota built millions of vehicles every year and bec...

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