A summary of the article
The article, “Globalization: a Physical Geographical Perspective,” by Nicholas Clifford was published in the year 2009 by SAGE in the Progress in Physical Geography Journal. The research topic is the link between globalization and the practice of environmental sciences through physical geography. The hypothesis of the author is that globalization is directly linked to practices in physical geography in terms of environmental conservation, political ecology, Earth science, and sustainability science. The author adopted secondary methodology in the research from previous journals on the topic. The results of the research indicate that the practices in physical geography are shared by the commercial interests and the traditional discipline of physical geography (Clifford, 2009).
The article and Geographic concepts
This article is connected to a location in that the aspect of globalization reviews different resources within different regions. In terms of place, the article reviews the specifics in physical geography practices as elements of the interests. The aspect of movement in the article is captured by comparison of different interests that are to be aligned through sustainability in the Earth sciences. In terms of human-environment interaction, the article discusses environmental conservation as the primary element in the interaction between human activities and the need for sustainability. In term of the region, the article discusses economic, social, and geographical resources that are found in a different region of the globe (Clifford, 2009).
The geographical scale of this research revolves around the relationship between the physical environment, resources, human activities, and sustainability as a globalization phenomenon. The main subfields of physical geography represented in the article include Earth science, environmental conservation, and political ecology. This article applies biosphere since it dwells on land and living. There is an interaction between human beings and the physical environment at the global level. Human beings exploit the physical environment but must ensure that sustainability and economic activities are balanced (Clifford, 2009).
Significance
This article is significant in understanding the relationship between physical geography and globalization. Specifically, the article relates Earth science, human activities, and sustainability as elements that are dependent on each other to balance the human activities and the physical environment. The article is important since it has covered the much-neglected relationship between physical geography and globalization as human activities merge across the globe. The impact of this research on humans is the clarification of the link between activities at the global level and the elements of physical geography as dependent on each other. Thus, humans have the opportunity to review the sustainability of these activities on the physical and social environments.
Critique
This article is effective in understanding the global aspects of sustainability and Earth science as elements of physical science that human beings operate on. Therefore, the scope of this article is effective in addressing the relationship between global human activities and the physical environment. Reflectively, the findings in this article changed my perspective on globalization as an element of physical geography.
The article is silent on segmentation of the research target, which is the quantifiable living activities, geographical location of the research target, and the dynamic aspects of the sector of study (Clifford, 2009). Thus, it is important to present findings and recommendations that are not restrictive and to paint an actual picture of the subject topic. The only question I have about this article is the rationale of the research since it only provided a summary of previous research findings. Since this article dwells on aspects of physical environmental factors which cannot be quantified, it is necessary to carry out quantitative data collection and analysis on each of the physical geography elements as independent of each other.
Reference
Clifford, N. (2009). Globalization: a Physical Geography perspective. Progress in Physical Geography, 33(5), 5-16.