Friday, 1 August 2008
The rains have come, the land is lush but Ethiopians still go hungry
The green highlands of West Badawacho in south-west Ethiopia are not a place where you would expect to find hunger. The land is fertile and lush. Rain falls on fields covered with waist-high maize and red flowers dot the tree-lined tracks leading deep into rural farming land.
But West Badawacho is in the grip of the worst "green famine" it has experienced in decades and severe malnutrition can be found in many of the villages dotted among these fields. Here, and across Ethiopia, drought, high population density, successive failed rains and rapidly rising food prices are dovetailing to create a crisis. Ethiopia is bearing the brunt of the food shortages currently sweeping across east Africa threatening the lives of millions.
The rains have come, the land is lush but Ethiopians still go hungry | Environment | The Guardian
The Closure of the Docks - The London borough of Barking and Dagenham.
In the 1960s the amount of goods handled in the Port of London reached record levels. Yet in 1967 the East India Dock closed, followed one year later by the London and St Katharine Docks.
At the beginning of the 1980s the last of the upstream docks closed when the Royal Docks stopped operations in 1981.
To understand why this happened in such a short space of time we must look at important changes which had been taking place since the Second World War. The full force of these changes hit the docks in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Closure of the Docks - London Docklands History for GCSE - The London borough of Barking and Dagenham.
Welcome to the Canary Wharf Group plc website
Canary Wharf is a thriving space and vibrant business district with a wide range of shops, restaurants, pubs and wine bars, as well as healthcare and leisure facilities and an extensive arts and events programme.
The vision of Canary Wharf is now a reality. Leading international companies enjoy the highest quality buildings, facilities and infrastructure within London's newest business district.
Dramatic changes are happening all around Canary Wharf. As the working and residential population increases, the area surrounding the Estate continues to grow into thriving living and working environment.
In design terms, Canary Wharf is one of the most highly specified urban areas in the world. For attention to details both on buildings and in the streetscape, it is virtually impossible to find a contemporary comparison.
Welcome to the Canary Wharf Group plc website
Disasters
Natural disasters come in many different forms and with different intensities. Technology can predict some events and increase our warning time, but everyone needs to do his or her part by preparing in advance. Preparing will also decrease your recovery time if a disaster strikes where you live.
Di.sasters.com provides you with preparedness content, tracking map gadgets, disaster news and a community to share your experiences, photos and stories.
Stay informed on:
- Earthquakes
- Floods
- Hurricanes
- Tornadoes
- Volcanoes
- Wildfires
- and be prepared.
Disasters
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
BBC NEWS | Magazine | The filthy air conundrum
Beijing is taking drastic measures to improve its air quality in the run-up to the Olympics. But is it possible to conquer air pollution in a short space of time?
In China's capital city, emergency measures are afoot.
It is nine days until the games begin. Beijing has a reputation for bad air pollution and if the national stadium is shrouded in smog on the first day of the games, the embarrassment will be palpable.
Driving through the city is restricted to cars with even or odd number plates on alternating days. Factory emissions have been reduced and some building sites shut down.
BBC NEWS Magazine The filthy air conundrum
EarthTrends: Searchable Database - Population, Health and Human Well-being
Example of data available:
Population, Health and Human Well-being
SEARCHABLE DATABASE
Select the variable you wish to view from the list.
Access to Information: Broadband internet subscribers
Access to Information: Cellular mobile telephone subscribers
Access to Information: Cellular mobile telephone subscribers per 1000 people
Access to Information: Homes with personal computers
EarthTrends: Searchable Database - Population, Health and Human Well-being
EO Newsroom: New Images - Sea Surface Temperature and Hurricane Bertha
On land, the passage of a severe storm might be marked by fallen trees or swollen streams. In the ocean, a hurricane leaves a swath of cold water in its path. That trail of cold water marks the passage of Hurricane Bertha through the North Atlantic Ocean in this sea surface temperature image, taken by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on July 7, 2008. Water that is warm enough to fuel a hurricane—about 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit)—is yellow and orange, while cooler water is blue and white.
EO Newsroom: New Images - Sea Surface Temperature and Hurricane Bertha
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Olympics environment: Beijing shuts all building sites and more factories to clear the smog | World news | The Guardian
Beijing's Olympic organisers are planning new emergency measures to reduce pollution after the draconian steps introduced a week ago failed to stop a grimy haze from smothering the host city.
Air quality has failed to reach national standards for four of the seven days since the city took more than 1m cars off the roads and shut hundreds of factories.
With less than two weeks until the opening ceremony, organisers are planning more drastic steps to ensure that the "Greyjing" tag does not undermine the promise of a green Olympics and force endurance events such as the marathon, triathlon and 10km open-water swim to be postponed.
According to the China Daily, all building sites and more factories in and around Beijing may be temporarily closed if the air quality deteriorates during the games.
Olympics environment: Beijing shuts all building sites and more factories to clear the smog World news The Guardian
Haiti: Mud cakes The Guardian
Brittle and gritty - and as revolting as they sound - these are "mud cakes". For years they have been consumed by impoverished pregnant women seeking calcium, a risky and medically unproven supplement, but now the cakes have become a staple for entire families.
Haiti: Mud cakes become staple diet as cost of food soars beyond a family's reach World news The Guardian
Saturday, 26 July 2008
BBC NEWS | Business | Mumbai's slum life poses world problem
Mumbai - according to the UN - has a population of 19 million. And the UN forecasts that total will rise to more than 26 million by 2025. At that point, it would be the most heavily populated "urban agglomeration" in the world, apart from Tokyo and its surroundings. Mumbai's increase in population will partly be caused by increasing life expectancy and partly by migration from other, poorer, parts of India. Although Mumbai is India's commercial capital and rents for luxury apartments are some of the highest in the world, it is estimated that more than half the city's population live in slums. And controversial plans to redevelop the slums highlight some of the problems faced by mega-cities around the world.
BBC NEWS | Business | Mumbai's slum life poses world problem
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Benidorm History Benidorm Old Photos
In 1956 the town mayor approved plans to build the now famous
avenues along the Levante which would welcome at first Spanish
tourists and later those from Holland, Germany and Britain. The first
package holidays to Benidorm for as little as 21 euro for a week
half board in the four star Delfin Hotel including air travel to
Valencia airport which opened in 1933. In those early years the
coach trip from Valencia took four and a half hours. Late evening
arrivals when hotel kitchens were closed necessitated a stop at a
road side Tapas bar where a bottle of wine would only cost 9
pesetas and dinner 15 pesetas.
Alicante airport did not open until April1967. Once opened this
was the biggest contributing factor to Benidorm´s success as a
holiday resort, together with the introduction of modern jet airliners.
These made flying more cost effective and for the first time
enabled the ordinary family to enjoy a basic holiday abroad. This
was the beginnings of the end for many seaside destinations in
Britain such as the channel islands which saw tourist numbers
decline rapidly. Passenger numbers reached 8.9 million in 2005
and a new terminal is due to open in 2009 to cope with the
increased air traffic of which 80% arrives from foreign destinations.
Benidorm History Benidorm Old Photos
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Association of Public Health Observatories - Health Profiles Interactive
Health Profiles Interactive is a service new to Health Profiles 2008. It was designed to allow users to select indicators and areas for comparison through a map or list in an intuitive visual interface including the Health Profiles spine chart format.
The interactive atlases have been produced at several different geography levels to allow indicator comparisons over these geographies.
Association of Public Health Observatories - Health Profiles Interactive
Monday, 14 July 2008
China's £4bn drive to buy Africa's mineral wealth - Telegraph
Full scale work by the Chinese begins to rebuild 2,050 miles of roads in the Democratic Republic of Congo, left to rot in the rainforest after the Belgian colonialists pulled out 48 years ago and further shattered by seven years of war.
The vast project, which will triple Congo's current paved road network, is part of China's largest investment in Africa, a £4.5 billion infrastructure-for-minerals deal signed in January.
China's £4bn drive to buy Africa's mineral wealth - Telegraph
Wednesday, 9 July 2008
English dialect vocabulary
Recordings of all sorts of UK dialects and accents
English dialect vocabulary
BBC Correspondents Map by Stuart Pinfold
This is a map showing the location of news correspondants. Great for Geography in the news items
BBC Correspondents Map by Stuart Pinfold
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Wasting food | Environment | The Guardian
Waste not ...
We throw out 4.1m tonnes of food each year - the equivalent of £420 for every home. The government wants us to cut back, but how can we break our habit? Laura Barton and Jon Henley ask the experts for tips
Laura Barton and Jon Henley on how to break the habit of wasting food | Environment | The Guardian
Eight new natural wonders added to World Heritage list | Environment | guardian.co.uk
A Canadian fossil park, an Icelandic volcanic island and an archipelago in Yemen are among the latest sites to be added to the World Heritage list of natural wonders. Each year the IUCN World Conservation Union evaluates hundreds of nominated sites for the list in a bid to protect and preserve natural heritage around the world that is considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. There are 855 properties on the World Heritage list: 663 are of cultural importance, 166 of natural value and 26 are mixed sites
Eight new natural wonders added to World Heritage list | Environment | guardian.co.uk
URBAN EARTH
For the first time in human history more people are living in urban than rural places. Over the summer of 2008 URBAN EARTH will be travelling on foot across Mexico City, London and Mumbai to witness our increasingly URBAN EARTH.
URBAN EARTH
Monday, 7 July 2008
Sunday, 6 July 2008
placeSpotting.com | The online map game | solve
Go to the website and click CREATE.
Move and zoom the map until it shows an interesting place. Provide some hints for the person / friend who will try to solve the puzzle (a number of hints can be provided) and a message that they will see if the riddle is solved. After saving the quiz you can send it by mail to a friend or embed it in your homepage as a picture. The task is to find the place shown in your picture on a second google map.
The website has 6638 different quizzes stored. 108274 quizzes were solved and
927275 opened.
placeSpotting.com | The online map game | solve
Spain: Dark days for Brits who sought a life in the sun | World news
Spain: Dark days for Brits who sought a life in the sun | World news | The Observer
Saturday, 5 July 2008
Friday, 4 July 2008
Global Rich List
HOW RICH ARE YOU?
Every year we gaze enviously at the lists of the richest people in world. Wondering what it would be like to have that sort of cash. But where would you sit on one of those lists? Here's your chance to find out. Just enter your annual income into the box below and hit 'show me the money'
The GLOBAL RICH LIST
Every year we gaze enviously at the lists of the richest people in world. Wondering what it would be like to have that sort of cash. But where would you sit on one of those lists? Here's your chance to find out. Just enter your annual income into the box below and hit 'show me the money'
The GLOBAL RICH LIST
Thursday, 3 July 2008
BBC NEWS | World | Denmark 'world's happiest nation'
Denmark is the happiest country in the world, according to the latest World Values Survey published by the United States National Science Foundation.
The annual study surveyed people in 97 countries to discover who is happiest.
BBC NEWS | World | Denmark 'world's happiest nation'
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Monday, 23 June 2008
Sunday, 22 June 2008
Costa Blanca Britons to lose free healthcare | World news | The Observer
Half a million British expatriates living on Spain's Costa Blanca are to lose their right to free healthcare under a radical new law introduced by the provincial government.
The Spanish authorities say that providing for 500,000 Britons - most of whom are over 50 - and other European residents living in the Valencia region is placing an impossible burden on the country's health service.
Costa Blanca Britons to lose free healthcare | World news | The Observer
The hidden face of Primark fashion
The huge fashion store Primark sacked three of its suppliers last week after an investigation for the BBC's Panorama and The Observer uncovered children labouring in Indian refugee camps to produce some of its cheapest garments. Here we reveal the brutal reality of a supply chain that sees children as young as 11 sewing T-shirts which cost shoppers just a few pounds to buy on high streets across Britain. Watch the Panorama preview here
The hidden face of Primark fashion | World news | The Observer
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Google Earth Blog: Disappearing Forests Google Earth Visualizations
Google Earth Blog: Disappearing Forests Google Earth Visualizations
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
The Commodities Game
An interactive simulation designed to teach students about
natural resources and the issues surrounding globalisation
The Commodities Game
Geography Games - Test Your Geography Knowledge Online
This site provides lots of different games, most of which are against the clock. The games revolve around locating places or features on maps. Most suitable for A,G&T students at KS3 or GCSE and A-Level students.Wide variety available
Geography Games - Test Your Geography Knowledge Online
World66 - visited countries
World Maps - click on the countries you want so they are shown on a world map
World66 - visited countries
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Sunday, 15 June 2008
Best-Places-to-Live-2008
Mercer Consulting's annual roundup of the global cities with the best quality of life is here, and Zurich once again comes out on top. The best place in the U.S.? Honolulu at No. 28.
New York, London, and Paris are internationally renowned cities but consultants at Mercer Consulting have picked Zurich, Switzerland, as the best place to live in the company's annual survey.
More from BusinessWeek.com:
• World's Most Expensive Real Estate Markets
• World's Most Affordable Housing Markets
• Countries With Most Millionaire Households
Consultants rated each city on a variety of factors including the level of traffic congestion, air quality, and personal safety reported by expatriates living in more than 600 cities worldwide. In the top 25, U.S. cities such as San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago were all edged out by Geneva, Switzerland, Vancouver, B.C., and Auckland, New Zealand. The highest-scoring U.S. city is Honolulu, which came in at No. 28.
The-World's-Best-Places-to-Live-2008: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Nature laid waste: The destruction of Africa
Nature laid waste: The destruction of Africa - Africa, World - The Independent
Monday, 9 June 2008
Sunday, 8 June 2008
FOOD CRISIS
Global food crisis http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7432583.stm UN food response http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10926579 rising food prices http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/09/food.unitednations - global food crisis http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7284196.stm food facts http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/12/egypt.food http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/polit ics/the-other-global-crisis-rush-to-biofuels-is-driving-up-price-of-food-808138.html http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/news/events/gecafs-0408.php food stories http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7432972.stm rural people fight back in Lesotho
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Meteo satellite images - Sat24.com - Realtime weather satellite images of Europe
Meteo satellite images - Sat24.com - Realtime weather satellite images of Europe
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Plan for quake 'warning system'
Nasa scientists have said they could be on the verge of a breakthrough in their efforts to forecast earthquakes.
Researchers say they have found a close link between electrical disturbances on the edge of our atmosphere and impending quakes on the ground below.
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Plan for quake 'warning system'
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