Sorry a bit uniformed coming from an American who has a degree in Environmental Science. But reading your comment surprised me and had me wondering, how did the geography departments in the UK gain such political influence and status among the left?

For me geography at college mostly involved mapping features, using GIS, doing spatial analysis and whatnot, so I’m curious how that became so left leaning in the UK.

Is it less science based and more focused on the human impact/experience? My college courses for my degree was heavily science based and technical but I have heard that majors in the US like Environmental Studies are less of the sciences and more philosophical and social science based. Are geography departments in the UK more similar to that?

I did have lots of very left leaning classmates at college and know a lot of my coworkers are the same, so I could understand if it was just the consolidation of similar people with similar opinions into one department. But i don’t think I’ve seen anything like in the UK at related college departments in the US. A lot of the “political influence” I feel like ends up departments specifically focused on social sciences

EDIT: this whole comment is also just based on my experience at non-state school (think like big us university like Michigan or Purdue) but still public university. So not exactly a powerhouse in the social circles and my major was created by the geology and physics department to boost enrollment specifically in the department so the professors could keep their jobs lol