10 things Americans should know about the world

We Americans come from a big, powerful and influential country, to say the least. As if being a big (No. 3 in population) and wealthy (No. 1 economy) weren't enough, we've also managed to have a disproportionately large world influence culturally. It’s like Goliath becoming the planet’s most popular TV-show host.

It's long been too easy for us Americans to be content to gaze a bit too admiringly at our own navels when it comes to our world view; this dulls our appreciation of how much of our everyday lives is provided to us by other countries that are often half a world away.

As part of the 2009 Geography Awareness Week Blog-a-thon, hosted by National Geographic's My Wonderful World Campaign, this blog post required us to boil down, to a list of just 10, the things that Americans should know about their world. It seems to us that the best use of these 10 is to help close the gaps we may have in fully appreciating our daily interdependence with the wider world.

Here we go:

1. Download Google Earth 5 if you haven’t already. Do it now. It will take about 10 minutes to download, but there is simply no good reason why every American should not be armed with this awesome made-in-California tool of global awe and appreciation.  Plus, your enjoyment of the rest of this post depends on having Google Earth installed (click the links to download Google Earth files that will fly you from the United States to the countries named).
2. Google Earth it: Go to China, where just about every plastic item around you was likely manufactured.
3. Google Earth it: Go to Japan and South Korea, where most of our consumer electronics come from.
4. Google Earth it: Go to Germany and Japan, which make up the lion’s share of our auto imports.
5. Google Earth it: Do a flyover of the countries that make a lot of our clothes: Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Turkey, India, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia (China and Japan make a lot of them, too).
6. Google Earth it: Go to Colombia and Brazil, which are largely to thank for your morning cup of Joe. Sugar with your coffee? Go to Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Brazil, where we get most of our sugar.
7. Google Earth it: Do a flyover of the countries that make America's other vital "cup of Joe," oil/petroleum: Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.
8. Google Earth it: Go to Costa Rica and Ecuador, which supply us with most of our bananas (Why bananas? More than half of all U.S. fresh fruit imports are bananas.)
9. Google Earth it: Do a flyover of the countries that supply our "will-you-marry-me" moments, i.e., our diamonds: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Botswana, Russia and Australia.
10. Google Earth it: Go to India, which has likely had a hand in building some part of any software you might be using (even Google Earth). It's also the place that's on the other end of the line when you call a lot of help desks—you're often a long-distance caller without even knowing it.

So there is our list. If you're ever tempted to think that talk of "our global world" doesn't apply to your life, we hope this persuades you to reconsider.

And, whether you've just downloaded it today or have had it all along, please go and have fun exploring the globe with Google Earth. It's an amazing homegrown tool. Do a favor for your fellow Americans who built it: Be its most avid users and learners.

The rest of the world pays a lot of attention to us because we have a lot to do with their lives; we owe them the same attention, for the same reason. Getting a solid sense of where our neighbors are and what they do is our collective jump-start toward that goal.

For more about the 2009 Geography Awareness Week Blog-a-Thon, hosted by National Geographic's My Wonderful World Campaign,
please visit the My Wonderful World Blog.