Look, we might be a bit biased, but we think that Planet Earth is the best place in our Solar System (and probably the Milky Way Galaxy)! Earth’s full of cute cats, plenty of bamboo to keep us from going hungry, and it’s where we keep all of our stuff. It’s also full of so many wonderful and beautiful things that we lost count… and tons of mysteries to uncover in the future. Heck, the vast majority of the ocean is still left unexplored!

What we’re trying to say is that it makes perfect sense to learn more about our home planet. Some choose to study biology and all living things, others focus on human beings via sociology or economics, but when it comes to the fundamentals, you can’t go wrong with geography. The subject goes far deeper than just rattling off a few capital city names from memory.

Today, we’re featuring the r/geography subreddit, a celebration of all things related to geography. (The name really says it all, doesn’t it?) Scroll down for some of their best posts and if you enjoyed them, consider joining the online community. Geographers, amateur and veteran alike, are all welcome. Got your pencils and notebooks ready? Ready to have some feeky fun? Thinking caps: on! Let’s go.

Patrick McGranaghan, a land surveyor from Colorado with a passion for map-making and travel, was kind enough to answer Bored Panda’s questions about the importance of geography. Check out what he told us below.

#1 Canada Still Has 91% Of The Forest Cover That Existed At The Beginning Of The European Settlement

Image credits: WdrFgt

Patrick, a surveyor, map-maker, and the founder of another huge geography-related subreddit, told us that “geography is a way to systematically understand the world we live in.”

“For anyone that wants to explore and discover the world, they must first understand geography,” he told Bored Panda about why geography is so important.

We were very curious about what Patrick prioritizes when drawing maps himself. “When I am making maps I am thinking about all the subtleties of the geography I am mapping. Such as the ways some coastlines will curve in certain places or names of places I’ve never heard of before,” he shared a bit about his process.

#2 This Person Really Took The Time To Travel To The Right Spot

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#3 Nice F*cking Meme Bro

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“It gives me new ideas of places to visit. For me, accuracy is the most important thing as I’ve been trained as a land surveyor.”

Bored Panda also wanted to know how Patrick would go about convincing someone that learning geography is vital in a world where we can pretty much just Google everything that we need to know about the world and we have access to maps on our phones.

“This is difficult because the omnipresence of the internet has made most people take geography for granted,” he said. “However, understanding geography helps you make connections and feeds your imagination. If you really want to increase your vision and understanding of the world it must be based in understanding geography.”

#4 Just Right!

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#5 Mt. Fuji From The Iss

Image credits: ZannaSmanna

#6 Canadian-Us Border In Northern Idaho. They Cut Down All The Trees Along The Border To Mark It

Image credits: reddit.com

Geography used to be one of the challenging yet rewarding subjects we learned back in school. Obviously, part of that meant committing the names of all the countries (and their capital cities) in the world, as well as names of rivers, seas, and other geographical features, to memory. And that meant a lot of work and anxiety when you were tested in front of the entire class.

And while some students definitely enjoyed all that, others found it stressful. What we really enjoyed doing was drawing maps and learning about all the different systems working in-sync on the planet. From how mountains form to how rivers ‘work’ and beyond.

The r/geography subreddit is an academic community, so the posts there have to reflect that. “Geography is the study of the earth and its features, inhabitants, and phenomena, and goes far beyond simple location identifications on a map or general trivial information such as capital and country names,” the team running everything writes.

#7 I Feel As If Someone Just Got Bored Of Naming Things Here

Image credits: TastyMiscarriageSmeg

#8 Cross Sea Is A Very Beautiful And Rare Phenomenon That Happens When There Are 2 Wave Systems In The Sea Moving At Oblique Angles. It Might Be Beautiful From Above, But If You Get Caught In These Waves, Your Vessel Can Easily Turn Upside Down Or Lose Its Way

Image credits: JesseBBrown

#9 For All Those Namibia-Zimbabwe Border Posts, I Humbly Raise You This Unexpected Afghanistan-China Border Touch

Image credits: reddit.com

“Geographers have a special understanding about the Earth and global systems and use analytical skills and applied methods to answer questions about human and physical phenomena. In short, geographers are particularly good at determining the ‘Why of Where.’”

Around since mid-Autumn of 2008, r/geography has carved out a nice niche for itself. At the time of writing, the sub had 157.7k members. There are actually a ton of geography-related subreddits (which makes our inner geeks really happy), and they’re all listed in r/geography’s sidebar.

So if you want to go down the rabbit hole and learn something new while being amazed by all the impressive photos from our planet, you’re given the keys to so much knowledge, all on a silver plate. Just keep in mind it’s like going on Wikipedia: before you know it, it’s several hours later and you totally got way too enraptured by what the digital library has to offer.

#10 Topography Of The Indian Subcontinent

Image credits: KingLeopldII

#11 Fun Fact I Found On A Snapple Cap

Image credits: Nfl-nbA

#12 A Map Of The World Centred Around New Zealand

Image credits: hashtheninja

The r/geography subreddit encourages discussions of all branches of the subject, suggests that users link to original sources, and asks that all members assign a post flair when submitting something. Meanwhile, anyone with a degree in geography can ask the mods for a custom flair for their specific area of expertise which is actually a super cool idea and we hope more subs do this.

We feel like academically-focused subs are more important now than ever. With access to the internet, we have the ability to learn pretty much anything about anything, but there’s a downside to this. As information can spread very quickly, misinformation can, too. (Sometimes, even faster than facts.)

#13 Iceland In The Winter

Image credits: rufctr3

#14 Pangea With Borders

Image credits: Gajakunne

#15 [Close-Up View] Of Antarctica From Space

Image credits: reinascythe7

#16 America By Trump Administration

Image credits: PutOk4751

#17 Chile Is Gigalong!

Image credits: Icy_Resolution_454

#18 Stanislav Canyon, Kherson, Ukraine

Image credits: Roller-bon45

While being skeptical of information and double-checking things yourself are an important part of the scientific tradition, there comes a point where questioning well-established facts and mistrusting everyone and everything turns from quirky to stubborn.

#19 You Can Sail In A Straight Line From Chile To Spain Without Ever Crossing Land

Image credits: GreenKeel

#20 A Modern Photo Compared With A Photo Taken Over A Century Earlier In The Same Place

Image credits: birdyroger

#21 Flew Over Horseshoe Bend In Arizona A Couple Weeks Ago, Thought Everyone Here Might Appreciate This!

Image credits: jaygeebee_

Lee McIntyre, from the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University, explained to Bored Panda during a previous in-depth interview that Flat Earthers should be commended for actually testing out their hypotheses, but they don’t actually understand how science works.

“One of their main arguments was that if the Earth was spinning, the water would fall off. Do they not understand that gravitational pull comes from the center, is based on mass, and works on water too?”

#22 The Oldest Current National Flag

Image credits: SurtexX1

#23 Topography Of South America

Image credits: Traditional_Cat_524

#24 Beautiful Aerial View Of Venice, Italy

Image credits: ZannaSmanna

According to McIntyre, many Flat Earthers beliefs aren’t based on evidence in the first place. They keep moving the goalposts when debating scientists. For instance, if you ask a conspiracy theorist what kind of evidence would be sufficient to prove them wrong, the answer you get might reveal a lot about how they think.

“I used that question in person at FEIC [Flat Earth International Conference] 2018 and it was very telling. Most of them just said ‘proof’ and I said ‘proof of what?’ They couldn’t be specific,” McIntyre told Bored Panda.

#25 The Elevation And Depth For Great Lakes

Image credits: AustinYaoChen

#26 How Come We Aren’t Taught About The Mongol Empire That Much In School

Image credits: ErasableGhost

#27 Each Section Contains 10% Of The World’s Population!

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“At one session, I heard many Flat Earthers talk about losing family members, getting kicked out of their churches, losing jobs… who would do that for fun? These are hardcore science deniers. As hard as it might be to accept, there are people who believe this stuff and are willing even to put their lives on the line for it! One rocket guy crashed trying to prove Flat Earth. They aren’t pretending,” the expert said that there are quite a few people who genuinely believe in the conspiracy. So much so that they’re willing to risk their finances and reputation.

“Conspiracy theories have been around since Nero in the Roman Empire. They pop up in times of turmoil or mass unrest when people try to make sense of the world, but can’t. Flat Earth is in some ways just a run-of-the-mill conspiracy theory. They’ve all grown in popularity because beliefs (even fringe beliefs) are reinforced by peer approval, and that is now readily available on the internet. Virtually all of the flat earthers I met were converted based on YouTube videos. Some then went to the conferences. After that, they were ‘down the rabbit hole.’”

#28 Actually There Are Quite A Few Natural Borders In There

Image credits: teknicallyspeaking

#29 The Vasyugan Swamp Is The Largest Swamp In The World, Which Is Located In Russia. The Swamp Is The Same Size As Switzerland. There Are Legends That Atlantis Is Located Here

Image credits: Neonsky123

#30 Lake Chad In 1967 vs. Lake Chad Now

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According to McIntyre, Flat Earthers try to convert others to their cause. “It’s important to remember that these pathologies of human reasoning exist not just to defend themselves but to proselytize new members. They are virulent. They are infectious. I wish Flat Earth were the worst of them, but it isn’t. It’s the scourge of our age. And it will only continue to get worse.”

#31 Uluru (Ayers Rock) From A Birds-Eye View

Image credits: rufctr3

#32 Since Some People Didn’t Know What Landlocked Countries Were, I Decided To Make A Map

Image credits: Pythagoras-007

#33 This Map Shows All Of The Earthquakes With A Magnitude Greater Than 5.0 Over The Last 20 Years

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#34 Egypt’s Pyramids Of Giza May Be Considered One Of The Wonders Of The World, But Sudan Has Nearly Twice The Number Of Pyramids. Sudan Touts 200-255 Known Pyramids, Built For The Kushite Kingdoms Of Nubia, Compared To Egypt’s Relatively Paltry 138 Pyramids

Image credits: Nicat_95

#35 This Is Me At The Lowest Point In Sweden, The Pole Indicates Sea Level

Image credits: kajola1969

#36 When, As An American, You Think How Strange It Is For Russia To Have This Little, Unconnected Piece Of Land Surrounded By Another Country… Then Remember Alaska

Image credits: Live_Dirt_6568

#37 This Is Isla Incahuasi: A Small Rocky Outcropping In The Middle Of The Largest Salt Flat On Earth

Image credits: Terezzian

#38 Second Language

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#39 Did You Know About The French Border With Brazil?

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#40 The Only Geography Lesson You Need

Image credits: reddit.com

Source: boredpanda.com