How This Blog Came About
In 2012, I took an around-the-world trip to attend three conferences and a workshop related to soil erosion issues. I also met with erosion control professionals along the way and planned to promote the SOIL Fund, a charitable arm of the International Erosion Control Association (IECA) in the countries I visited. In 2011, the SOIL Fund had sponsored me to do an assessment of erosion problems in a mountain community in Ecuador in cooperation with Engineers Without Borders which had been working with the community on its potable and irrigation water systems for several years.
When the Board of Directors of IECA learned about my proposed around-the-world trip, they decided to make me their "SOIL Fund Ambassador" and provided me with a small (but much appreciated) honorarium in acknowledgment of my work on their behalf.
IECA also encouraged me to write a blog about my trip. Despite my resistance to "social media" (I don't do Facebook or Twitter, for example), I like to write and take photos. IECA's marketing director easily convinced me that a blog would be a good medium for sharing my experiences and promoting the SOIL Fund. We decided to name the blog, "Erosion Control Around the World" (www.soilfundambassador.blogspot.com). During and following my three-month trip, I posted 55 stories most of which were generously illustrated with some of my better photos. The trip ended in October 2012 but I didn't post my last story related to the trip until six months later.
In early July 2013, I attended an International Soil Conservation Organization conference in Medellin, Colombia. I decided to pull the blog out of mothballs and posted my first report from the Colombia conference (a story about a dramatic bus fire during one of our field trips) in late July.
I suppose it was inevitable that I would eventually say some things that ran afoul of the International Erosion Control Association's management team and membership. After all, IECA is in the business of serving erosion control professionals and businesses that provide erosion control products. The negative opinions I have occasionally expressed about the policies of foreign governments or obnoxious travelers I have encountered as well as my sometimes "salty" language are not exactly what IECA had in mind when they initially suggested I do a blog about my around-the-world trip.
In my very first post, "Intro to My Trip" (July 19, 2012), I pointed out that I am an opinionated SOB and didn't "plan on toning it down for this blog." While I did my best to stay positive most of the time, I'm no Pollyanna. Those of you who have done much traveling (particularly if you have ventured overseas without the benefit of a tour guide) know about the annoyances that go along with beautiful vistas and nice people you encounter along the way. I shared some of the negatives because I hoped that readers would find them informative and entertaining. Feedback from friends and professional colleagues has affirmed that I was largely correct.
Still I was uncomfortable about getting too blunt in the blog posts since my principal purpose was to promote the SOIL Fund. So when the IECA administration took me to the woodshed for being naughty one time too many, I came up with a solution which they enthusiastically supported: TWO blogs.
Here is how it's going to work. Henceforth, the "Erosion Control Around the World" blog will stick to erosion control issues outside North America including reports of erosion and sedimentation problems, the work of erosion control professionals, relevant conferences/workshops, and erosion and sediment control projects. This blog will continue to be associated with IECA and the SOIL Fund and will carry their logos. The IECA Region 1 administration in Denver, Colorado, USA will provide editorial support and will continue to provide a link to the blog on the SOIL Fund page of their website (http://www.ieca.org/soil).
The new blog which you are now visiting will include stories (and photos) not related specifically to erosion and sediment control. These posts may include information on the history, politics, and physical/cultural geography of the places I visit. I'll write about travel experiences, good and bad, as well as the people I meet. I will also share my "self-edited" opinions. The "Erosion Control Around the World" blog will include links to these stories but the "Perspectives of a Wandering Geographer" blog will in no way be associated with the International Erosion Control Association or the SOIL Fund.
A few thoughts about the title of this new blog. Ever since I received an M.A. in geography from the University of Montana 40 years ago, I've often struggled with what to call myself professionally. Many people with geography degrees have this problem. What do geographers do anyway? Are we experts in reciting the state capitals backwards and forwards? The answer is that people who have studied geography wind up in a great variety of professions and businesses. In my own case, environmental science has been a good fit for me especially since I have an undergraduate degree in geology and an associate degree (which I earned many years later) in environmental technology. However, when I travel, I look at the world from the perspective of a geographer. I see the spatial pattern of the physical and biological environment (the climate, geology, water resources, landforms, soils, and ecosystems) as well as the human interaction with that environment (including human culture, economics, population, transportation, and so forth). It is this perspective that I bring to my writing, photography, and my general view of our planet and human civilization.
Over the next few days, I plan to start moving some of my past posts from the Erosion Control blog to the Wandering Geographer blog. Some posts may wind up on both blogs for now if that seems appropriate. Next, I need to share several more stories from my recent trip to Colombia.
If you sign up on the right side of this page to follow the blog by email, you will receive an email notice each time there is a new post. As with my "Erosion Control Around the World" blog, I have disabled the feedback option. Your feedback is welcome but please send it to my email address, wbmahoney@gmail.com.
When the Board of Directors of IECA learned about my proposed around-the-world trip, they decided to make me their "SOIL Fund Ambassador" and provided me with a small (but much appreciated) honorarium in acknowledgment of my work on their behalf.
IECA also encouraged me to write a blog about my trip. Despite my resistance to "social media" (I don't do Facebook or Twitter, for example), I like to write and take photos. IECA's marketing director easily convinced me that a blog would be a good medium for sharing my experiences and promoting the SOIL Fund. We decided to name the blog, "Erosion Control Around the World" (www.soilfundambassador.blogspot.com). During and following my three-month trip, I posted 55 stories most of which were generously illustrated with some of my better photos. The trip ended in October 2012 but I didn't post my last story related to the trip until six months later.
In early July 2013, I attended an International Soil Conservation Organization conference in Medellin, Colombia. I decided to pull the blog out of mothballs and posted my first report from the Colombia conference (a story about a dramatic bus fire during one of our field trips) in late July.
I suppose it was inevitable that I would eventually say some things that ran afoul of the International Erosion Control Association's management team and membership. After all, IECA is in the business of serving erosion control professionals and businesses that provide erosion control products. The negative opinions I have occasionally expressed about the policies of foreign governments or obnoxious travelers I have encountered as well as my sometimes "salty" language are not exactly what IECA had in mind when they initially suggested I do a blog about my around-the-world trip.
In my very first post, "Intro to My Trip" (July 19, 2012), I pointed out that I am an opinionated SOB and didn't "plan on toning it down for this blog." While I did my best to stay positive most of the time, I'm no Pollyanna. Those of you who have done much traveling (particularly if you have ventured overseas without the benefit of a tour guide) know about the annoyances that go along with beautiful vistas and nice people you encounter along the way. I shared some of the negatives because I hoped that readers would find them informative and entertaining. Feedback from friends and professional colleagues has affirmed that I was largely correct.
Still I was uncomfortable about getting too blunt in the blog posts since my principal purpose was to promote the SOIL Fund. So when the IECA administration took me to the woodshed for being naughty one time too many, I came up with a solution which they enthusiastically supported: TWO blogs.
Here is how it's going to work. Henceforth, the "Erosion Control Around the World" blog will stick to erosion control issues outside North America including reports of erosion and sedimentation problems, the work of erosion control professionals, relevant conferences/workshops, and erosion and sediment control projects. This blog will continue to be associated with IECA and the SOIL Fund and will carry their logos. The IECA Region 1 administration in Denver, Colorado, USA will provide editorial support and will continue to provide a link to the blog on the SOIL Fund page of their website (http://www.ieca.org/soil).
The new blog which you are now visiting will include stories (and photos) not related specifically to erosion and sediment control. These posts may include information on the history, politics, and physical/cultural geography of the places I visit. I'll write about travel experiences, good and bad, as well as the people I meet. I will also share my "self-edited" opinions. The "Erosion Control Around the World" blog will include links to these stories but the "Perspectives of a Wandering Geographer" blog will in no way be associated with the International Erosion Control Association or the SOIL Fund.
A few thoughts about the title of this new blog. Ever since I received an M.A. in geography from the University of Montana 40 years ago, I've often struggled with what to call myself professionally. Many people with geography degrees have this problem. What do geographers do anyway? Are we experts in reciting the state capitals backwards and forwards? The answer is that people who have studied geography wind up in a great variety of professions and businesses. In my own case, environmental science has been a good fit for me especially since I have an undergraduate degree in geology and an associate degree (which I earned many years later) in environmental technology. However, when I travel, I look at the world from the perspective of a geographer. I see the spatial pattern of the physical and biological environment (the climate, geology, water resources, landforms, soils, and ecosystems) as well as the human interaction with that environment (including human culture, economics, population, transportation, and so forth). It is this perspective that I bring to my writing, photography, and my general view of our planet and human civilization.
Over the next few days, I plan to start moving some of my past posts from the Erosion Control blog to the Wandering Geographer blog. Some posts may wind up on both blogs for now if that seems appropriate. Next, I need to share several more stories from my recent trip to Colombia.
If you sign up on the right side of this page to follow the blog by email, you will receive an email notice each time there is a new post. As with my "Erosion Control Around the World" blog, I have disabled the feedback option. Your feedback is welcome but please send it to my email address, wbmahoney@gmail.com.
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