How to improve your geography knowledge

"The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything." 

Albert Einstein

I have been keen about geography since I was a child. Indeed my natural curiosity and my strong desire to learn everything comes primarily from my childhood enthusiasm about geography.

I did not wait to attend my primary school. I started to watch the sky, the sun, the moon ad the stars when I was 4 years old and even before. I asked lots of questions to my parents and also to my uncles.

At the end of my high school cycle, my essay was about astronomic geography. I knew everything about earth and moon rotational movements, latitude, longitude, azimuth, the hemispheres, the seasons and so on.

So I believe that if you have never had a true and sincere passion about geography, it will be a bit more difficult to improve your geography skills and general knowledge.

Unfortunately in these days there are not so many jobs requiring geography skills, unless you are trying to become a skipper! Modern jobs are related mostly to finance and to information technology of course.

Recently, during my New Zealand trips, I watched and observed so many times the sky and the position of the sun, the moon and the different constellations, both from the southern and from the northern emisphere.

Each time to me was a moment of meditation and reflection. About our humanity. Our place in the Universe. Our life. Our emotions.

I strongly believe that we are all connected in different ways. The day by day problems of a Maori sheep- shearer are exactly the same of an ordinary workman living in Europe or America. The have the same needs: air, water, food, a shelter and Love!

I love geography, and you know why? Because it remember to us that we are all one. No matter where you live, no matter what you are doing to live, no matter your race, your opinions, your wealth.

In other words I think that to improve one's geography knowledge does not mean to be able to remember which is the capital of every nation on the planet earth or the name of the main rivers, deserts, mountains, volcanoes, forests, lakes and so on.

I think that the best way to improve your geography knowledge is to travel, to talk with local people, to exchange thoughts and ideas with them, to observe other cultures behaviours, to value our differences, rather than to be afraid of them.