Geography is the science of place and space. Geographers ask where things are located on the surface of the earth, why they are located where they are, how places differ from one another, and how people interact with the environment. Human geography is concerned with the spatial aspects of human existence - how people and their activity are distributed in space, how they use and perceive space, and how they create and sustain the places that make up the earth's surface. Physical geographers study patterns of climates, land forms, vegetation, soils, and water. They forecast the weather, manage land and water resources, and analyze and plan for forests, rangelands, and wetlands.
Geographers also study the linkages between human activity and natural systems.
Geographers were, in fact, among the first scientists to sound the alarm that human induced changes to the environment were beginning to threaten the balance of life itself. They are active in the study of global warming, desertification, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, groundwater pollution, and flooding. While many professors' interests overlap, and all share in various aspects of geography's way of looking at the world, the department at UNC has expertise that well represents most of the discipline's domains of interest. Interest in the human societal geographic domain is also very well represented in the department by professors Birdsall , Cravey , Florin , Gesler , and Zonn. The domain of human societal and environment interactions is a prime concern of professors Meade , Palm , and Whitmore .