Geography is the study of place including the study of the relationship between people and their environment. As a field of study it is closely related to Earth Science which is a term for a variety of disciplines concerned with the natural science of planet earth. These disciplines are wide ranging, from studying rocks, soil and volcanoes, to climate change and migration, and there are a wide range of directions that you could go with a degree in these fields. Below, you will find a list of things that you could use to learn more about Geography and the various Earth Sciences, or to improve a future application to university.
Books; When the Rivers Run Dry by Fred Pearce
Land of Mountain and Flood: The Geology and Landform of Scotland by Alan McKirdy
Factfulness by Hans Rosling
The Planet in a Pebble by Jan Zalasiewicz
Prisoners of Geography and Divided both by Tim Marshall
The Human Planet: How we Created the Anthropocene and Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction both by Professor Mark Maslin
When Life Nearly Died by Michael Benton
Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould
Population 10 Billion, Slowdown and Inequality and the 1% all by Professor Danny Dorling of Oxford University
The Story of Earth by Robert Hazen
Supercontinent by Ted Nield
Assembling California by John McPhee
There is No Planet B: A Handbook for the Make or Break Years by Mike Berners
Trilobite and The Earth both by Richard Fortey
The Map That Changed the World and Krakatoa both by Simon Winchester
Orientalism by Edward Said
Why Geology Matters by Doug MacDougall
On the Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin
Magazines and Journals; There are a range of magazines and journals which deal with different aspects of Geography and Earth Science, but you should also ensure that you keep up to date with current events, particularly as Climate Change is one of the major global political issues of this era, so you should read newspapers online. Some magazine suggestions include Geographical which is the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society (they also published this useful guide to careers in Geography related fields and what personal statements should include); National Geographic; New Scientist and Rock & Gem. Journals include The Geographical Journal (from the Royal Geographical Society) and Frontiers in Earth Science.
Podcasts; What Planet Are We On? BBC podcast about Climate Change; Climate Conversations is the podcast from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology); Climate Cast is the NPR Climate Change podcast; Extremities a podcast about the most extreme settlements on earth and why people live there; History of the Earth a Geology podcast condensing the history of the earth (literally) into one year of podcasts; The Naked Scientists from Cambridge University; Earth Sciences Podcast from Oxford University; Nature Podcast from the Journal Nature; From Our Own Correspondent a BBC podcast looking at international news; The Royal Geographic Societies Podcast Geography Now.
YouTube Channels; The US Geological Society; National Geographic; BBC Earth; Darron Gedge Geography
Video; Gresham College Lectures (search for Geography, Volcanos, Oceans etc.); Ted Talks (search for Geography etc.); The Royal Geographic Society Lectures
Online Resources; There are a range of websites with tools that are useful for exploring Geography and the Earth Sciences in more detail such as Gapminder; Our World in Data from Oxford University; The Oxford University Climate Research Network; Population Pyramid; The World Bank; The World Health Organisation; The United Nations Refugee Agency; Eurostat; The Office of National Statistics
Competitions; Minds Underground run an essay competition on the topic of sustainability; The Royal Geographical Society run an annual essay competition in partnership with the Financial Times; the RGS also run a range of smaller competitions; Fitzwilliam College at Cambridge University run a Land Economy essay prize; Robinson College at Cambridge University run an open essay competition; The Student Union at Imperial College London run a Natural Science competition; Dukes Education run an open essay prize
Events or Activities; You may wish to start a Geography club in your school in which you discuss an article, YouTube video, podcast or book.