Sunday, 12 August 2007
Devastating floods hit South Asia
Thursday, 26 July 2007
Where has all the water gone?
England and Wales may be experiencing one of their wettest summers on record, but some of the UK's reservoirs and underground reserves are still not full.
Link to BBC NEWS | UK | Where has all the water gone?
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
23.07.07. UK FLOODS
LINK Interactive explanation of why the floods occurred
LINK Gallery of images from the Guardian
LINK The worst flood ever
LINK map of flood areas
Link to 23.07.07. Interactive. UK floods | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited
LINK what to do if your house is flooded
LINK BBC Flood crisis operation launched
Monday, 23 July 2007
Tanker beached in Australia
The Pasha Bulker wound up in this condition near Newcastle, Aus, for almost the entire month of June. Their mistake: ignoring warnings to head out to sea in advance of a major storm.
By the time they were grounded, they had to actually further ground it in advance off yet another storm. They pushed it parallel to the beach, so that it wouldn't sink entirely and release 700,000 tons of fuel oil into the water.
Worlds tallest man
The world's tallest man, Bao Xishun, who stands 2.36 metres (7 feet 8 inches) tall.
'$100 laptop' production begins
Five years after the concept was first proposed, the so-called $100 laptop is poised to go into mass production.Hardware suppliers have been given the green light to ramp-up production of all of the components needed to build millions of the low-cost machines. Previously, the organisation behind the scheme said that it required orders for 3m laptops to make production viable. The first machines should be ready to put into the hands of children in developing countries in October 2007.
Link to BBC NEWS | Technology | '$100 laptop' production begins
FLOODS July 2007
Link to BBC NEWS | Special Reports | 629 | 629 | Floods: At-a-glance
Flood crisis grows as rivers rise LINK
The Severn: Severe warnings for Gloucester, Tewkesbury and Worcester
The Thames: Severe warnings affecting Eynsham to Sandford Lock and also Little Wittenham
The Ock: Severe warnings from Charney Bassett to Abingdon
The Great Ouse: Severe warnings from Turvey to Sharnbrook
The Avon: Severe warnings at Evesham
LINK Floods bring chaos across county
Gloucestershire FLOODS LINK
Flood in pictures LINK
How Green is My Region?
Is England moving toward or away from environmental sustainability?How do England’s nine regions compare in the sustainability stakes?
Our research (PDF†) found that there are some good green policies in each of England’s nine regions. But overall each region is being held back by having to comply with central Government requirements to adopt environmentally damaging policies and trends.
Link to Friends of the Earth: England: News: How Green is My Region?
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
Gapminder - Dollar Street, 2002
All people of the world live on Dollar Street, the poorest to the left and the richest to the right. Everybody else live inbetween. Dollar Street contains complete photo-panoramas from households at different income levels. Current version includes 13 household and 3 school documentations from Mozambique, South Africa and Uganda. Scroll the street to left and right to move up and down the street. Click on the houses to get inside and explore different household functions.
Link to Gapminder - Dollar Street, 2002
State of the Countryside 2007
This year's State of the Countryside report shows there are now nearly 400,000 fewer young people aged 15-29 in rural areas than just twenty years ago. This trend is set against a rising rural population overall and has contributed significantly to a rural demographic which is both older and ageing faster than urban areas. The report also shows:
- that rural areas experienced over 200% growth in the number of migrant workers in the last three years;
- the average rural household spent nearly £480 per week in 2005, £60 per week higher than was paid by the average urban household;
- that just 44% of households in sparse isolated rural areas are within easy reach of a GP;
- a near doubling of energy crops in the last year; and
- that due to the changing climate there are now nearly 400 vineyards in England and Wales.
Link to CRC Publications CRC 46 - State of the Countryside 2007
New Forest: Coastal Management
New Forest District Council has 60 km of coastline, extending from Chewton Bunny, Christchurch Bay in the west to Redbridge, Southampton Water in the east; this also includes approximately 9km of the lower reaches of the Beaulieu and Lymington Rivers within the Western Solent. This stretch of coastline has a wide range of geologically and geomorphologically important features that include soft cliffs, spits and barrier beaches, saltmarshes and mudflats. These dynamically evolving environments are also of international importance for nature conservation.
Link to New Forest: Coastal Management
Sunday, 15 July 2007
Malaria Lesson Teaching Resources
Malaria is an important disease for students to be aware of – the following teaching resources have been used for use among A’ Level learners but can be adapted for younger students.
(1) Malaria Multiple choice quiz (PDF format - 28kb)
(2) Malaria PowerPoint (PPT format - 274kb)
(3) Malaria Tasks – can be used to assess learning (PDF format - 18kb)
(4) Teaching Lesson Plan (PDF format - 21kb)
Link to Malaria Lesson Teaching Resources
Search for the world in one city
When they were boys, Alex Horne and Owen Powell obsessively collected Panini football stickers. Now the two friends have embarked on a more daunting task: instead of hunting down that elusive Portuguese striker, they are trying to find a person from every country in the world who lives in London.
Their quest for the 'World in One City' was launched on 24 October last year, United Nations Day. More than seven months later, they have ticked off more than half of the UN's 192 official nationalities, starting with the Philippines and leading in the last week alone to Albania, Finland, Uganda, Vietnam and Senegal, the 112th profile added to their blog,
BLOG
Link to Search for the world in one city | UK News | The Observer
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
Logging in Northern Republic of Congo
This very high resolution image of northern Republic of Congo was captured on June 27, 2002, by the commercial satellite Ikonos. The wider-area view at top shows dirt logging roads (orange lines) and different types of forest in the area around the border of the Sangha and Likouala regions. The lower view is a close-up image that shows not only part of a logging road, but also felling sites (clearings where trees are cut down) and skid trails (paths where trees are dragged toward the road.) Individual trees or sections of trees stacked on the road at left look like matchsticks.
Two types of forest are shown in the top image. At bottom left is a tropical evergreen forest with an extremely dense canopy, a forest type known locally as limbali forest. Most of the rest of the scene is occupied by a more open forest in which stands of trees (dark green patches) are separated from each other by a sea of lower-growing plants (light green)
Link to EO Newsroom: New Images - Logging in Northern Republic of Congo
Monday, 9 July 2007
Country Information
Maps and information available
Link to Countries of the World : geography, tourism, politics, economy, culture
Sunday, 8 July 2007
Thursday, 5 July 2007
BBC NEWS | UK | Q&A: June floods
Flooding has been so extreme in some parts of the UK that the Army has been called in to lend assistance. Meteorologist Nina Ridge from the BBC weather centre explains how and why heavy rainfall has created so much chaos.
What has caused the extreme weather?
What role has 'run-off' rain played?
Is this weather normal for this time of year?
Link to BBC NEWS | UK | Q&A: June floods
Brazil launches slum reform drive
The Brazilian government has pledged $1.7bn (£850m) to improve conditions in Rio de Janeiro's shantytowns and counter the grip of the drugs gangs.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that investing in running water and other basic services was the best way to beat organised crime.
Link to BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Brazil launches slum reform drive
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
SCOPAC HOME PAGE
SCOPAC works to promote sustainable shoreline management, and to facilitate the duties and responsibilities of local authorities and other organisations managing the coastal zone of central southern England.
Link to SCOPAC HOME PAGE
Geography University guide
Geography has transformed as a university subject over the last decade. It is now a truly multidisciplinary subject tackling issues from urban regeneration to climate change and globalisation. As a result, almost all universities and colleges offer degree courses on some aspects of these areas. Courses listed here can vary enormously in their content. University College London emerges as the best ranked teaching course, leading a group of old universities at the head of the table, including Nottingham, Cambridge, Leeds and Oxford.
Link to Univ 2002 Geography | University guide | EducationGuardian.co.uk
Source of the Amazon River
Geographers long agreed that, while the Amazon might be the world’s largest river by volume, the longest was likely the Nile. In 2007, however, the BBC reported that a team of Brazilian researchers challenged that long-held belief. After an expedition to Peru to locate the Amazon’s precise source, the team described a different starting point. The team claimed that the river originated not in northern Peru, where it had been thought to begin, but in southern Peru, somewhere on snowcapped Mount Mismi (or Nevado Mismi). The team narrowed down the starting point to one of two places, but concluded that either one would nudge the Amazon’s length past that of the Nile
Link to EO Newsroom: New Images - Source of the Amazon River
Do a good turn to 30°C
Thanks for Val Vannet for this find. Excellent site with good practical advice.
Link to Do a good turn to 30°C
Sunday, 1 July 2007
Flood Response
If you are unlucky enough to live in one of ththere are a number of steps you can take to minimise damage before the waters invade your property and to speed up repairs once they start to recede. Several insurers have issued advice for those affected; here is a summary of their suggestions.
If you expect to be flooded
Check what kind of damage your buildings and home contents insurance policies will cover and whether you need to update them, particularly if you have new possessions and haven't increased your cover limit recently. Buildings insurance will cover the damage to the structure of your property and home contents insurance will cover your possessions.
Turn off gas, electricity and water at the mains supply.
Disconnect cookers, washing machines, dishwashers and other appliances connected by rigid pipes to gas and water supplies. This will prevent damage to the pipes if the appliance floats or moves during the flooding. Unplug all electrical items and store them upstairs.
Flood water can enter through drains. The easiest way of preventing this is by putting in plugs and weighing them down with sandbags. Disconnect the outflows of washing machines and dishwashers and block them with a cloth or plug to prevent backflow; place a sandbag in the toilet bowl.
Reduce the amount of water entering your property by using sandbags, plywood or metal or plastic sheeting placed on the outside of doors, windows and airbricks. Use silicone sealant to make doors and windows more resistant. Put sealant around the door/window then close and lock. You do not have to seal your home completely. After flooding, remove covers over airbricks as ventilation will aid the drying of your property.
Move furniture and electrical items upstairs and roll up rugs, carpets and curtains for suitable storage (if you are short of time, raise curtains by hanging them over the curtain poles). If furniture is too heavy to move, empty it and move contents upstairs. Raise it on bricks to minimise damage and move it away from walls; this can assist in drying the property later. Your insurer will expect you to minimise any claim in ways such as these.
Floodwater can contaminate foodstuffs and chemicals such as paint, pesticides, cleaning products and garage oils. These materials can also spill or leak into the floodwaters, causing additional clean-up problems. Keep such products upstairs or high up in your garage or shed.
During the flood
Do not touch the electrics.
Leave internal ground floor doors open (they may swell and jam if left closed).
Avoid contact with floodwaters; they may be contaminated with sewage.
Do not wade through deep floodwaters; manhole covers may have lifted, leaving dangerous unseen holes.
Do as instructed by the emergency services - you may have to be evacuated.
Although drivers can claim for damage caused by bad weather, this typically applies to parked vehicles. "Self-inflicted" damage caused by driving through water, thereby flooding the engine or interior, may not be covered. Drivers who chance their arm by driving through floods could face an expensive repair bill.
Coping with the aftermath
Commission immediate emergency pumping/repair work if necessary to protect your property from further damage. This can be undertaken without approval from your insurer. Remember to get receipts and let your insurer know, as it may wish to inspect the damage before permanent repairs are carried out.
Call your insurer as soon as possible and give full details of the damage.
Don't move back into a property that contains standing water - have it pumped out first. Clean and disinfect everything that may have come into contact with the floodwater.
If you haven't already done so, switch off the mains power supply. Don't go into rooms with standing water if the power is still on, and don't use electrical appliances affected by, or in contact with, moisture. Your electrical, gas and water systems should be checked and confirmed safe before they are turned back on. Wash taps and run them for a few minutes before use.
Move anything that is not too badly damaged upstairs or away from flood water where possible.
Fridges and freezers should be cleaned out as soon as possible and any food thrown away. If you have the relevant insurance cover, remember to keep a list of the food items for your claim and, if possible, take photographs.
Once the flood water has begun to recede and if weather permits, open all doors and windows during the day (but take care to ensure your house and valuables are secure).
When you've salvaged as much furniture as possible, start the drying out process by removing a couple of floorboards at each end of affected ground-floor rooms. You may want to borrow or hire dehumidifiers; use one for every two affected rooms and close the windows.
Help plaster to dry by removing wall coverings and skirting boards.
Clear out any mud or silt that has collected in airbricks. This will aid ventilation under floorboards and prevent rot.
Kitchen units are likely to have absorbed water, but may be salvageable. Try to dry them out, and wait for an adjuster to assess the damage.
Do not attempt to redecorate straight away.
Generally, masonry (brickwork or block work) should be largely unaffected by the water if it is allowed to dry out properly. The drying out process may take some time if the masonry has been saturated. As a guide, allow one month for every inch of wall thickness. Check with a decorator or other expert to ensure that the walls and other surfaces are fully dried out and, if necessary, treated to prevent mould.
Preparing for next time
Damage caused by the current floods will inevitably put upward pressure on insurance premiums. But not all insurers will be equally affected, so it will pay homeowners to shop around when it comes to renewing their home insurance.
Individual property owners can do much to increase the resistance of their properties to flood damage. Steps include replacing timber floors with concrete covered with tiles; replacing chipboard or MDF kitchen and bathroom units with plastic equivalents; replacing gypsum plaster with more water-resistant materials such as lime plaster or cement render; moving meters, boilers and electrical points well above likely flood level; and installing one-way valves into drainage pipes to prevent sewage backing up into the house. There are now some good options to fund any balance. For example, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has confirmed that lenders would normally be willing to consider extending loans to cover the additional costs of flood-resilient repairs, provided that the homeowner has sufficient equity and can afford to meet any additional repayments.
Source: How to cope with the floods | Yahoo! Finance
Monday, 25 June 2007
Tate Modern | Current Exhibitions | Global Cities
Information on current exhbition
SIZE: Cities are increasingly at the centre of global flows of people, capital, culture and information. Over the last 30 years their role as financial command centres has expanded, creating a new type of sprawling, often multi-centred, urban agglomeration.
SPEED: The speed with which many of the world's cities are growing affects their social and physical structure dramatically. The five cities featured in this section - Cairo, Istanbul, London, Los Angeles and Shanghai - are experiencing growth at a different pace, and absorbing it in different manners: some are growing upwards, others are growing outwards.
FORM: This section provides an overview of the distinctly different urban forms of five cities: Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Mumbai, and Tokyo. Satellite photographs illustrate the diversity and complexity of human impact on these cities, as physically manifest in street widths, block and plot sizes and distribution of open green spaces.
DENSITY: Density – the number of people living in a given area, usually expressed as people per square kilometre – is at the centre of public debate on the future growth of cities. Used as a planning tool, awareness of density can help to curtail over-development and overcrowding, or ensure that scarce urban land is not under-used, especially in areas with good public transport and social amenities. High density does not mean high-rise; large numbers of people can be accommodated in five- or six-storey buildings arranged in a compact and efficient manner, creating congenial places for living.
DIVERSITY n an urban context, diversity - the level of variety within a city - is usually interpreted as its ethnic and racial composition. But diversity has a much broader range of indicators: the spread of ages and incomes, education levels, the range of employment sectors, and people born in the city versus newcomers.
Link to Tate Modern | Current Exhibitions | Global Cities
Friday, 22 June 2007
Save the planet: Ten ways to cut your carbon footprint at home
According to the Energy Saving Trust, the average British household emits around six tonnes of CO2 and spends around £870 on power and fuel a year, but both figures can be massively cut with a few simple steps.
1 Change your light bulbs to eco ones replace your home’s conventional light bulbs with energy-saving ones. The latter used to be really expensive but prices have dropped dramatically and they come in all shapes and sizes, as well as different wattages and hues. Low-energy light bulbs last up to 12 times longer than conventional ones, and just one bulb will save you around £9 and 40kg of CO2 emissions a year. Incredibly, if every household in the UK had just three of these eco bulbs, we’d save the equivalent of the annual output of a power station.
2 Insulate Insulate your loft, walls and hot water cylinder. British homes lose enough heat through their walls and roofs to heat approximately 3,000,000 homes every year. Almost a quarter of heat loss is through the roof, but adequate loft insulation will save you around £180-£220 and one tonne of CO2 a year. Similarly, cavity wall insulation will cut your heat loss by approximately 60 per cent, saving you around £130-£160 and one tonne of CO2 a year.
3 Change your boiler All new boilers (with a few exceptions) have to be energy-efficient condensing ones, which retain heat from the gasses usually expelled down the flue. Have one of these fitted (by a CORGI installer) and you’ll cut your heating bills by around a third and emit one tonne less of CO2 a year.
4 Recycle Shockingly, Britain’s recycling record is one of the worst in Europe, according to the most recent comparable figures, with only Greece and Portugal recycling less. Of the 600kg of waste generated by each of us in Briton a year, 74 per cent goes to landfill, 8 per cent is incinerated and just 18 per cent is recycled or composted, compared to 65 per cent in the Netherlands and 58 per cent in Germany. Buying recycled goods (something many of us forget but also vitally important) and increasing your home recycling by just 10 per cent will save around 90kg of CO2 a year.
5 Draught proof and/or double glaze your windows Single-glazed windows and poorly insulated frames can result in a fifth of all heat loss. Double glazing can reduce this loss by 50 per cent and save you around £80-£100 and 570kg of CO2 a year. If you can’t afford double glazing (or secondary double glazing), invest in draught excluders for your windows and doors (both internal and external) instead. Draught proofing your doors and windows will save you around £20 and 140kg of CO2 a year.
6 Compost While the UK is only, of course, recycling and composting about 18 per cent of its waste, a third or more of household waste can actually be composted. As well as green and food waste, you can compost all kinds of things you might not consider suitable, including kitchen roll, shredded paper, cardboard and vacuum cleaner bags. If you don’t have outside space, you can get compact compost bins and sprinkle on a Japanese substance called Bokashi, which breaks the matter down quickly and should take care of any unpleasant odours. You could even have a communal compost bin if you live in a block of flats. Other benefits of composting include fewer bin bags to contend with when putting out the rubbish, knowing you’re contributing less to landfill and having an end product that will enrich your garden and house plants.
7 Full loads only Never put a washing machine or dishwasher on without it being full, unless you have an economy or half-load programme, because you’re wasting water as well as energy. Wash your clothes at 30Þ and you’ll save around 40 per cent of the energy your washing machine uses. Energy-sapping tumble drying should also be ditched in favour of drying clothes outside, on radiators and clotheshorses or in the airing cupboard. Tumble driers are one of the worst offenders in the home for CO2 emissions: a year of not using yours will save you around £75 and 635kg of CO2.
8 Only boil enough water for your needs It’s all too easy to turn the tap on and fill the kettle up without considering how much water you actually need, but again you’re wasting both water and electricity. Only boil enough water for your needs – at home and work – and you’ll make big savings. It’s estimated that if all of us stopped “filling” the kettle, enough energy would be saved to power between 50 and 75 per cent of the UK’s street lights.
9 Conserve energy when cooking Chop food into small pieces when cooking, as it will cook quicker and use less energy. It’s also important to boil water for cooking in the kettle and then transfer it to the hob, to only boil enough to just cover the food, to put the saucepan lid on and to ensure the pan’s the right size for the burner or ring you’re using, otherwise energy will be lost around the sides.
10 Don’t leave appliances on standby That little coloured standby light uses 10-60 per cent of the energy needed to power the appliance when in use, so always switch it off at the socket. Alternatively, invest in a Bye Bye Standby kit, which cuts power to appliances left on standby so you don’t even need to think about it. Eight per cent of UK households’ energy, or four million tonnes of CO2 annually, is wasted by appliances left on standby. Stamp out standby and unplug chargers and you could save as much as £130 and 560kg of CO2 a year. Another useful gadget is the Electrisave, which shows how much electricity you’re using so you can identify the most power-hungry appliances in your home.
Link to Ten ways to cut your carbon footprint at home - Independent Online Edition > Climate Change
Climate change and the fight for resources 'will set world aflame'
Climate change has become a major security issue that could lead to "a world going up in flames", the United Nations' top environment official has warned. From rising sea levels in the Indian Ocean to the increasing spread of desert in Africa's Sahel region, global warming will cause new wars across the world, said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
"People are being pushed into other people's terrain by the changing climate and it is leading to conflict," he said. "Societies are not prepared for the scale and the speed with which they will have to decide what they will do with people."
The world was already experiencing its first war partly caused by climate change, he said. Dramatic changes to the environment in the Darfur region of Sudan helped lay the ground for today's conflict which has displaced more than 2.5 million people and killed at least 200,000.
A report to be published by UNEP tomorrow will make a direct link between climate change and the Darfur conflict. "It will be one of the most significant documents in terms of linking environment change and conflict," Mr Steiner said. "It will say that climate change is now a key dimension that must be considered in conflict issues."
The roots of the four-year conflict can be found in the devastating drought that swept Sudan and the Horn of Africa in the 1980s, the report will say. Since then, rainfall in Sudan has fallen by 40 per cent, a result, claim scientists, of global warming. Farmers began to fence off land to which nomads once had access. Clashes over shrinking resources between nomads, who tend to be Arab, and the mainly African farmers became widespread.
The current crisis was sparked by a rebellion launched by three Darfuri tribes, and a ferocious counter-insurgency unleashed by Khartoum, but the dramatic changes to Darfur's ecology appear to have been a contributing factor. "What we see in Darfur is an environmental change phenomenon unfolding that puts pressure on local communities," Mr Steiner said. "Combine that with potential tensions and you very quickly get a potent mix within which increased pressure can result in conflict. The situation that emerged in Darfur will emerge in other parts of the world." He warned of a "world going up in flames" if countries did not "wake up", adding: "It is a major security issue that affects the whole geopolitical dynamics that we have today."
Earlier this year Britain used its presidency of the UN Security Council to lead its first debate on climate change and conflict. "What makes wars start?" asked the Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett. "Fights over water. Changing patterns of rainfall. Fights over food production, land use. There are few greater potential threats... to peace and security itself."
The two major areas of potential conflict, Mr Steiner said, are the Sahel region and east Asia. "In the next 35 years most of the glaciers in the Himalayas will... disappear. You are talking of 500 million people being affected directly and another 250 million people affected downstream." Rising sea levels off the coast of Bangladesh are another potential area for conflict, he said: "India has already started building a wall to stop Bangladeshis coming across. The predicted half-a-metre sea level rise means 34 million people not being able to stay where they are now. Where will they go? They will break through the boundaries."
But Africa is likely to suffer most. Rising sea levels could destroy up to 30 per cent of the continent's coastline, while between 25 and 40 per cent of Africa's natural habitats could be lost by 2085. Conflicts caused by a scarcity of resources are already brewing across Africa. In Ghana clashes between farmers and Fulani herders have become more widespread as resources have become increasingly scarce. In the Mount Elgon region of Kenya more than 40,000 people have been displaced as different tribes fought over access to land.
Climate change will also cause problems post-conflict. According to the UNEP report on Darfur, the majority of those displaced by the conflict will never be able to return to their homes. "We have have moved beyond a point of return," Mr Steiner said.
Link to Climate change and the fight for resources 'will set world aflame' - Independent Online Edition > Climate Change
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
Migrant workers 'help UK economy'
Migrant workers have boosted the UK economy, with their influx not having a negative effect on employment or wage levels, the TUC has argued.Foreign workers made a positive net economic contribution, it said, with their share of tax paid exceeding the cost of supplying public services.
Link to BBC NEWS | Business | Migrant workers 'help UK economy'
The Vertical Farm Project - Agriculture for the 21st Century and Beyond...
The Problem By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth's population will reside in urban centers. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. An estimated 109 hectares of new land (about 20% more land than is represented by the country of Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use (sources: FAO and NASA). Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to avoid this impending disaster?
A Potential Solution: farm vertically The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes, a wide variety of herbs, and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another 3 billion people. An entirely new approach to indoor farming must be invented, employing cutting edge technologies. The Vertical Farm must be efficient (cheap to construct and safe to operate). Vertical farms, many stories high, will be situated in the heart of the world's urban centers. If successfully implemented, they offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (year-round crop production), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.
Link to The Vertical Farm Project - Agriculture for the 21st Century and Beyond...
Your Earth galleries | Earth | Telegraph
Reader Photographs illustrating climate change in action.
Link to Your Earth galleries | Earth | Telegraph
Your CO2 Calculater..... from DEFRA
The Act on CO2 calculator is currently seeing an overwhelming response and we're working to fix the problems you may be experiencing. Please bear with us and visit again later today. Thank you for your interest and patience.
Use the Act on CO2 calculator to find out what your carbon footprint is. You'll also get a personalised action plan with recommendations about how you can help tackle climate change - including links to further information on Directgov and the Energy Saving Trust website.
Link to Are you ready to act on CO2? : Directgov - Environment and greener living
Monday, 18 June 2007
4L - Geography Essentials - Quick menu
Geography essentials area series of student resources
People and Place: Village settlers, Whars in the news, passporrt to the world, how and wheer we spend our time, a village overseas.
The environment: Improving the environment, Mountains, Weathera round the world, Investigating rivers, water
Your local area UK, Investigating local area, Local traffic
Link to 4L - Geography Essentials - Quick menu
Sunday, 17 June 2007
Is this the world's most polluted river?
It was once a gently flowing river, where fishermen cast their nets, sea birds came to feed and natural beauty left visitors spellbound. Villagers collected water for their simple homes and rice paddies thrived on its irrigation channels. Today, the Citarum is a river in crisis, choked by the domestic waste of nine million people and thick with the cast-off from hundreds of factories. So dense is the carpet of refuse that the tiny wooden fishing craft which float through it are the only clue to the presence of water.
Their occupants no longer try to fish. It is more profitable to forage for rubbish they can salvage and trade - plastic bottles, broken chair legs, rubber gloves - risking disease for one or two pounds a week if they are lucky. On what was United Nations World Environment Day, the Citarum, near the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, displayed the shocking abuse that mankind has subjected it to.
More than 500 factories, many of them producing textiles which require chemical treatment, line the banks of the 200-mile river, the largest waterway in West Java, spewing waste into the water. On top of the chemicals go all the other kinds of human detritus from the factories and the people who work there. There is no such luxury as a rubbish collection service here. Nor are there any modern toilet facilities. Everything goes into the river. The filthy water is sucked into the rice paddies, while families risk their health by collecting it for drinking, cooking and washing. Twenty years ago, this was a place of beauty, and the river still served its people well. As one local man, Arifin, recalled: "Our wives did their washing there and our children swam."
Its demise began with rapid industrialisation during the late 1980s. The mighty Citarum soon became a garbage bin for the factories. And the doomsday effect will spread. It is one of two major rivers that feed Lake Saguling, where the French have built the largest power generator in West Java. Experts predict that as the river chokes, its volume will decrease and the generator will not function properly. The area will be plunged into darkness. But at least the factories will be stilled and their waste will stop flowing.
Link to Is this the world's most polluted river? | the Daily Mail
Your climate, your life
Climate change is one of the most important issues of our time. It regularly makes the news - the main debate amongst scientists today is focussed on the amount and rate of climate change we can expect to experience in the future.
This site is about our changing climate and how it affects our lives, from the buildings we live and work in, to the way we travel, the holidays we take and the food we buy in the shops.
Link to Your climate, your life
GeoHive: Global Statistics
Welcome to GeoHive, a site with geopolitical data, statistics on the human population, Earth and more. The main kind of data you can find here is population statistics of regions, countries, provinces and cities. Next to that there are some statistics on economic factors like wealth, infrastructure; statistics on natural phenomena; ....... and yet, even more
The site is structured into several parts. To get at statistics for a specific country, you can go directly to by Country. The Global section has regions and countries compared with each other: what are their capitals, areas, population, growth figures, &c. Also two- and three-letter codes for countries, historical population data and projected future populations for countries. Then there is a section with Charts. Find the city with the highest number of inhabitants, the largest airports of the world and the longest rivers.
Link to GeoHive: Global Statistics
Global Warming Interactive, Global Warming Simulation
Good interactive simulation from National Geographic
Link to Global Warming Interactive, Global Warming Simulation, Climate Change Simulation - National Geographic
Three Gorges Dam, China
The longest river in Asia, the Yangtze River brings mixed blessings to China. Although it meets the water needs of millions of people, the river regularly overflows its banks. In the twentieth century alone, Chinese authorities estimated, the river claimed the lives of 300,000 people. To protect some 15 million residents and 3.7 million acres (roughly 14,970 square kilometers) in the lower Yangtze floodplains, China began construction on the Three Gorges Dam in 1994. Like the river itself, the dam appears to be a mixed blessing: the reservoir was expected to submerge about 632 square kilometers (244 square miles) of land and force the relocation of more than a million people. The reservoir was anticipated to submerge ecologically and culturally important sites in the three gorges—Qutang, Wu Xia, and Xiling—that were the dam’s namesake.
These images show the Yangtze River in the vicinity of the Three Gorges Dam (lower right). Landsat 7 acquired the top image on November 7, 2006, after the main wall was complete. Landsat 5 acquired the bottom image on April 17, 1987, several years before construction on the dam began. In the top image, the dam’s main wall appears as a thin, buff-colored line crossing the water. The water body balloons out markedly in the later image—evidence of the rising water level. The water has backed up and expanded tributaries well upstream of the dam (upper left of image).
Link to EO Newsroom: New Images - Three Gorges Dam, China
World's Longest Rivers Map Quiz
Interactive river game based on world map and identification of rivers shown.
click on links above for Interactive games on naming countries and capitals.
Link to World's Longest Rivers Map Quiz
Friday, 15 June 2007
fitfortravel
fitfortravel' is a public access website provided by the NHS (Scotland). It gives travel health information for people travelling abroad from the UK.
Link to fitfortravel home page
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Sunday, 10 June 2007
Chong Qing 重庆
Chongqing is a move by the Chinese government to spread the benefits of economic boomto the countrys vast interior. Home to3 Chinese in four. The government believes that the way to ease poverty in the interior it has to encourage people to abandon the land and migrate to cities.
In 1978 18% of chinese lived in citiesa nd towns. By 2010 the authorities estimate that 50% will, in the greatest migration in human history. One after another the cities of the interior have entered the race to urbanise, with the objective of becoming a world city. The most spectacular growth has occurred in Changqing.
The citys growth is attracting 200,000 new residents a year. The authorities are still encouraging expansion. The city limits are being expanded under a scheme the city calls "one hour economic circle". Under the plan, teh city wants to move 2 million rural residents into newly urbanized areas within an hours driving distance from the city centre within the next 5 years and another 2 million in the 5 years after that.
Switch it off!
London is to make one of the biggest environmental statements Britain has ever witnessed next week, when the heart of the city switches off its lights in a mass twilight turn-off.
Between 9pm and 10pm on Thursday 21 June, many of London's most famous landmarks, including Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, Canary Wharf, the BT Tower and at least one government department, will execute the black-out to raise awareness of global warming.
London's three million households will be urged to switch off their non-essential lights and appliances in what organisers hope will be the first in a series of events that will spread to cities across the country. The event is based on Earth Hour, a similar, hour-long mass switch-off earlier this year in Sydney that involved 65,000 households and 2,000 businesses and landmarks, including the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. Earth Hour saw energy consumption in the city fall by 10.2 per cent, meaning many fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide were released than otherwise would have been. Spectacular photographs recorded the blacked-out skyline.
Link to Switch it off! | UK News | The Observer
Is carbon offsetting the solution or part of the problem?
We burn fossil fuel in the developed world - and plant much-needed trees in Africa to 'off set' our emissions. It sounds like a win-win situation. But is it? Read the article here
Link to Is carbon offsetting the solution or part of the problem? | Magazine | The Observer
Climate Care
Climate Care was set up to tackle climate change by reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. We do this by offsetting - making CO2 reductions on behalf of individuals and companies.
This site is excellent for Case study material:
1. The treadle Pump 2. Bioenergy 3.Wind Energy 4. Efficient Lightening 5. Efficient Cooking Stoves 6. Rainforest restoration
Useful (and simple) Carbon Offsetting Calculator available.
Wednesday, 6 June 2007
Learning centre
Because I am a Girl encourages students to explore and examine the role of girls in society and identify the differences between the experiences and expectations of girls and boys around the world. It accompanies the report ‘Because I am a Girl: The state of the world's girls 2007’ published by Plan.
Water in Kenya looks at the impact of water shortages in Kenya and the wider world. Students will begin to asses the impact that water shortages will have on them individually and the world as a whole.
Fair Trade in Pakistan begins to explore the idea of Fair Trade and the affect we can have in the developing world through Fair Trade. Students will develop an understanding about where products originate from and social responsibility.
Child Labour in India introduces the country of India to young people and examines the practice of child labour. It encourages young people to examine their own life and compare their experiences with those in India.
Make the link, break the chain examines the history of the transatlantic slave trade as well as the forms of slavery which still exist in the world today. It was developed from a project which linked schools in Brazil, Haiti, Senegal, Sierra Leone and the UK.
Togo: making choices has been designed to help UK children explore the ideas of needs, choices and fairness whilst learning about the lives of children in Togo.
Real life in Ghana explores similarities and differences between life in the UK and in Ghana. It draws on multimedia extracts of Ghanaian children, discovering everything from their daily routines through to the games that they play.
A global identity looks at the idea of our identity and how it can be used to distinguish and unite us all.
Speak out on Africa introduces the continent of Africa and encourages pupils to think about how their voice could facilitate change there. The work is an introduction to youth advocacy.
Visit a virtual village Experience a virtual visit to an African village. Nyalakot is a rural farming community of about 6,200 people where poverty is endemic and average income amounts to about £130 per person a year – less than 60 pence a day. Meet community members, children, students and adults.
Stop Disasters game Play this interactive game where you plan and construct an environment for a community affected by natural hazards.
Link to Learning centre
E Waste
Electronic waste in Guangdong, China As much as 4,000 tonnes of toxic e-waste are discarded every hour. Vast amounts are routinely and often illegally shipped as waste from Europe, USA and Japan to places where unprotected workers recover parts and materials.
This is a search on GREENPEACE. There are some excellent photographs here
Link to e waste | Search Results | Greenpeace International | 1
Tourism Threatens Antartica
More than anywhere else on Earth, the polar regions are most affected by global warming. Yet it is exactly this threat to their existence that is attracting more tourists to the region than before.
The World Tourism Organisation puts the number of annual visitors to the Arctic, including Alaska, at more than one million. Although far fewer tourists visit Antarctica, the rate of there growth is causing as much concern to environmentalists.
This year 33,000 people will visit the Antarctic region, up from about 7,400 a decade ago, according to the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO), which promotes responsible tourism practices.
Link
Large Area of Antarctica Melted, Re-Froze in 2005
In contrast to the Antarctic Peninsula, where evidence of climate warming has been evident in rising temperatures, retreating glaciers, and collapsing ice shelves, the interior of Antarctica has generally appeared to be staying well below freezing. In May 2007, however, a team of researches from NASA and the University of Colorado found evidence of warming and melting as much as 900 kilometers (500 miles) inland. Just 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the South Pole, and more than 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) above sea level, portions of Antarctica’s interior experienced temperatures above freezing for about a week in January 2005.
The areas where snow melted and then refroze as ice over the winter were detected by NASA’s Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT). In this image, areas where QuikSCAT detected more ice are red, and places where it detected less ice are yellow. Small patches of yellow and red around the coastline of East Antarctica show that at least some melting took place there, but the most significant amounts of ice formed in West Antarctica. QuikSCAT detected significant amounts of melting along a stretch of the West Antarctic coastline more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) long. Additional evidence of melting appeared as a ring of icy patches surrounding the Ross Ice Shelf.
Link to EO Newsroom: New Images - Large Area of Antarctica Melted, Re-Froze in 2005
Hurricanes - Towers in the Tempest
'Towers in the Tempest' is a 4.5 minute narrated animation that explains recent scientific insights into how hurricanes intensify. This intensification can be caused by a phenomenon called a 'hot tower'. For the first time, research meteorologists have run complex simulations using a very fine temporal resolution of 3 minutes. Combining this simulation data with satellite observations enables detailed study of 'hot towers'. The science of 'hot towers' is described using: observed hurricane data from a satellite, descriptive illustrations, and volumetric visualizations of simulation data.
Scroll down to available formats - click on desired size
Link to SVS Animation 3413 - Towers in the Tempest
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)