Geography Expert

Send us Fan Mail Just after midnight on 2 June 2026, a magnitude 6.26.2 earthquake struck deep beneath the sea off southern Italy. Although this sounds serious—and it is—the effects at the surface were surprisingly mild. Most people only felt light shaking, and there was no major damage. Why? The answer lies in how deep the earthquake occurred. Support the show Check out my website, Facebook group...

Send us Fan Mail If Germany is such a leader in renewable energy, why are electricity bills still so high there? And why do France and Spain often have cheaper power? That’s the big geography question today. The answer is not just about how much renewable energy a country uses. It’s about the whole energy system — what kind of electricity is produced, how it gets to homes, and how governments set...

Send us Fan Mail Electric cars are becoming a big part of the global shift away from fossil fuels. In 2025, about one in four new cars sold worldwide was electric, up from one in five the year before. That is a major change in transport geography because it shows how quickly technology can spread from one country to another. China is leading the way, with electric cars making up more than half of...

Send us Fan Mail Picture two places on a hot summer day. One is a city full of roads, rooftops, and concrete. The other is full of trees, grass, and shade. Which one feels cooler? Most of us would say the green place — and that’s exactly what geography tells us. Cities are often much hotter than the countryside, especially during heatwaves. But trees and parks can make a huge difference. Support t...

Send us Fan Mail When you hear the word Ebola, you probably think of a deadly disease — and that’s because it is. But Ebola is also a geography story. It’s about where the disease starts, how it spreads, and why some places are much harder to protect than others. In 2026, Central Africa was dealing with a fast-growing Ebola outbreak, with most cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and som...

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 Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/3514097965371452 UK Geography teachers | Facebook Twitter - @RRitchieC YouTube    Geography Expert@geographyexpert BlueSky @geographyexpert.bsky.social Th...

Send us Fan Mail When people talk about climate change, they usually focus on carbon dioxide. And that makes sense — CO₂ traps heat and drives global warming. But there’s another player in the climate system that doesn’t get as much attention: aerosols. Support the show Check out my website, Facebook groups and other social media. www.ritchiecunningham.com Geography Expert Substack | Ritchie Cunni...

Send us Fan Mail What matters more is where those people live… how populations grow… and why some places are booming while others are shrinking. Because population geography quietly shapes almost everything. Cities. Migration. Housing. Food supply. Climate pressure. Economic growth. Political power. Even the future of entire countries. Support the show Check out my website, Facebook groups and oth...

Send us Fan Mail Imagine a glacier the size of a city… slowly bulldozing its way across the landscape. What kind of mess does it leave behind? Because here’s the thing—glaciers don’t just carve mountains. They completely redesign entire regions. Valleys, plains, even farmland today—all shaped by ice that disappeared thousands of years ago. Support the show Check out my website, Facebook groups and...

Send us Fan Mail You flush a toilet, turn on a tap, or throw something in the bin… and then you stop thinking about it completely. For many people, infrastructure is invisible. Water disappears down pipes. Waste gets taken away. Electricity arrives with the flick of a switch. Cities are designed to make all of this feel effortless. om Support the show Check out my website, Facebook groups and othe...

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 Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/3514097965371452 UK Geography teachers | Facebook Twitter - @RRitchieC YouTube    Geography Expert@geographyexpert BlueSky @geographyexpert.bsky.social Th...

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 Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/3514097965371452 UK Geography teachers | Facebook Twitter - @RRitchieC YouTube    Geography Expert@geographyexpert BlueSky @geographyexpert.bsky.social Th...

Send us Fan Mail Imagine standing on a hillside after heavy rain. The ground looks stable enough at first glance, but deep inside the slope, things are changing. Water is seeping in, particles are loosening, and gravity is waiting. Eventually, the slope gives way. That is mass movement : the downslope transfer of weathered material under gravity. Support the show Check out my website, Facebook gro...

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 Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/3514097965371452 UK Geography teachers | Facebook Twitter - @RRitchieC YouTube    Geography Expert@geographyexpert BlueSky @geographyexpert.bsky.social Th...

Send us Fan Mail From Baby Boom to Baby Bust For most of the 20th century, population debates focused on rapid growth, “overpopulation” and pressure on resources. Today, the story is shifting. Global total fertility has more than halved since around 1950, falling from about 5 children per woman to roughly 2.2 in 2021. According to recent UN and Lancet‑linked analyses, over half of all countries al...

Send us Fan Mail As countries become richer and improve living conditions, they move from a pattern dominated by infectious diseases and high mortality to one dominated by chronic (degenerative) diseases and lower mortality . This shift is closely linked to changes in demography (falling death rates, then falling birth rates), urbanisation, and improvements in health care, nutrition and hygiene. S...

Send us Fan Mail Geographers measure population change by looking at how many people are born , how many die , and how many move in or out of a place. In other words, population change is driven by three main components: fertility, mortality and migration .​ Support the show Check out my website, Facebook groups and other social media. www.ritchiecunningham.com Geography Expert Substack | Ritchie...

Send us Fan Mail For much of recent history, people have equated population change with population growth . Over the last two centuries, global population has risen dramatically, with especially rapid growth between the 1950s and the late 20th century. However, this is only part of the story: some regions still grow quickly, others are close to zero growth, and several countries now face populatio...

Send us Fan Mail Critical thinking in geography means slowing down, asking sharp questions about places and patterns, and using evidence and logic (not just opinions) to reach a better conclusion. Geography is more than maps and place names; it is about the “whys of where” – why things are located where they are, and how places are connected. Critical thinking in geography means making sense of sp...

Send us Fan Mail The world of work is changing fast. New jobs pop up overnight. Others disappear just as quickly. You’re constantly hearing that AI is replacing workers and that traditional education doesn’t matter anymore. On top of that, you’re expected to choose a major—and basically predict your entire future—before you’ve even had time to explore what you’re good at or what you enjoy. A lot o...

Send us Fan Mail The mainstream media always seems keen to talk down “Green Energy” and expects us to believe that “Fossil Fuels” will not only be dominant but will continue to increase until at least 2050. Where do they get their assumptions from? Often, they use data from the IEA, but tend to misquote the source. Support the show Check out my website, Facebook groups and other social media. www....

Send us Fan Mail Tropical cyclones are powerful weather systems that develop over warm tropical and subtropical oceans. They are associated with extremely low air pressure, meaning that air at the Earth’s surface is rising rather than sinking. As air rises, pressure at the surface decreases, which helps draw in surrounding air and fuels storm development. Tropical cyclones are sometimes referred t...

Send us Fan Mail The industrial system The industrial system is a multifaceted web of economic activities and processes dedicated to the large-scale production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. This system encompasses diverse sectors, including manufacturing, mining, energy production, transportation, and infrastructure, all of which collaboratively drive economic growth and de...

Send us Fan Mail Counter-urbanisation, also known as de-urbanisation, refers to the movement of people and economic activities away from major cities and into suburban or rural areas. This process represents a significant reversal of the traditional urbanisation trend that dominated the 19th and 20th centuries, where people migrated in large numbers from rural areas to cities in search of employme...

Send us Fan Mail Urbanisation is the process by which an increasing proportion of a country’s population comes to live in towns and cities rather than in rural areas. This process has been one of the most powerful forces shaping society during the 20th and 21st centuries. It has changed where people live, how they work, and how they interact with the natural environment. In 1900, only about 16% of...