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.

Link to project types :: project types :: Climate Care

Learning centre

Plan is a child-centred community development organisation with no religious or political affiliations, enabling families and communities in the poorest countries to make lasting improvements to the lives of their children.

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

Year 10 Geography Fieldwork

Ecological Footprints

Recycle now

  

Each UK household produces over 1 tonne of rubbish annually, amounting to about 31 million tonnes for the UK each year [source: Waste Watch]

Every year, the average dustbin contains enough unrealised energy for 500 baths, 3500 showers or 5,000 hours of television. [source: www.assurre.org]

On average every person in the UK throws away their own body weight in rubbish every 7 weeks [source: Waste Watch]

Every 8 months the UK produces enough waste to fill Lake Windermere (the largest lake in England) [source: Waste Watch]

In less than 2 hours the UK produces enough waste to fill the Albert Hall
[source: Waste Watch]

The cost of managing the municipal waste produced in England is around £1.6 million per year [Source: Waste not, Want not; Cabinet Office, 2002]

Link to Recycle now - Recycle Now Week - Plastics

The CarbonNeutral Company

Off set your Flight this summer click on the link

Link to The CarbonNeutral Company

The gathering storm

The gathering storm

Whether it's a freak dust storm stopping play in Pakistan, severe drought in Australia or the disappearance of snow from the Alps, our fast-changing climate is affecting sport as it is so much else in the world. Ed Douglas introduces our special on the weather and sport, while experts warn us of further troubles to come

Take this remarkable image of a Test match between Pakistan and Bangladesh in Multan, where the batsmen were forced to leave the field by an all-encompassing dust storm. Were you aware that dust storms in Asia - and elsewhere - are increasing both in strength and frequency, because global warming is turning previously fertile land to desert? Equally, how many of us know that many Indian cities could be underwater by the end of the century, making wickets there more than ordinarily sticky?

There are short articles on:-

1. Flood and water

2. Bare Mountain

3. Drought and Fire

Link to The gathering storm | Sport | The Observer

The Bradshaw Model

Link to IB Geography - The Bradshaw Model

The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth

Great images from space

Link to The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth

Developers to demolish Asia's biggest shantytown

The largest slum in Asia, a sprawling shantytown in the centre of Mumbai, will be demolished and replaced with free homes for the city's poor under a $2.3bn (£1.2bn) scheme to transform one of India's most obvious eyesores.

The state government of Maharashtra placed advertisements yesterday inviting Indian and foreign developers to raze the tin shanties and maze of open drains that make up Dharavi slum and replace it with a new township in India's financial hub. For the government the redevelopment is a demonstration that developers can help the poor and free land in one of the world's most densely populated spots.Dharavi stands on just a square mile of land - reckoned to be worth more than $10bn - and houses about 600,000 people in ramshackle buildings. The government will sell land below market prices and, as an incentive to create properties for the poor, says that for every square foot of accommodation created for slum dwellers, developers will get 1.3 square feet for commercial use. The argument is that while slum dwellers will get flats in high-rise blocks the rest of the land can be used for malls, middle-class apartment blocks and business parks.

The scheme has outraged local activists who say the poor are being ignored in favour of the rich. Jockin Arputham, president of the National Slum Dwellers Association, told news agencies that it was not clear where ordinary people would live in the new developed areas.

He said Dharavi's residents lived next to the small businesses - such as tanneries and potteries - where they worked. "Their businesses will be shut once the construction starts," said Mr Arputham. "[The government] is forcing us to get on to the street," he said. "We will tell bidders from Europe to China not to touch this project because it damages the country."

India, Asia's fourth-largest economy, is facing a crisis of "slumification" according to experts, with numerous people leaving the countryside in search of jobs in the booming cities. The Indian government's own figures show the number of people living in its slums has more than doubled in the past 20 years to more than 60m.

Food miles: The true cost of putting imported food on your plate

Some examples given in the article.

Gobbling up the planet: Your guide to food miles

APPLES (FUJI)

Seventy-six per cent of apples consumed in the UK come from overseas. Washington, home of the Red Delicious and grower of half of America's apples, produces 135,000 tons of Fuji apples a year. They also come from China and Japan, and have a long shelf-life. With refrigeration, Fuji apples can last five or six months.

Typical exporter: US
Food miles to UK: 3,700
C02 (kg per pack of four): by sea 0.06; by air 1.68
Price: £1.99/500g, £2.98/kg

BEEF

The United States, Brazil, the European Union, Japan and the People's Republic of China are the world's largest consumers of beef, while the world's largest exporters of beef are Australia, Brazil, Argentina and Canada respectively. While British beef is clearly labelled in UK supermarkets, Argentinian beef is still a best seller here.

Typical exporter: Argentina
Food miles to UK: 6,900
CO2 (kg/kg): by sea 0.22; by air 6.33
Price: approx £6/kg

PINEAPPLE

South-east Asia dominates world production of pineapples. Total world production in 2001 was 14.220 million tons. The primary exporters of fresh pineapples in 2001 were Costa Rica, 322,000 tons; Ivory Coast, 188,000 tons; and the Philippines, 135,000 tons. In the UK we get most of our pineapples from Ghana.

Typical exporter: Ghana
Food miles to UK: 3,100
CO2 (kg/pineapple): by sea 0.22; by air 6.26
Price: approx £2/kg

Link to Food miles: The true cost of putting imported food on your plate - Independent Online Edition > Lifestyle

Stansted expansion inquiry starts

Protesters on the opening day of the public inquiry

A public inquiry has begun into airport company BAA's plans to expand the capacity of Stansted Airport in Essex.BAA wants to increase passenger numbers from 25 million to 35 million each year. Plans were rejected by Uttlesford District Council so a final decision will now be made at the inquiry.

The Stop Stansted Expansion campaign group, which opposes the plans, staged a protest opposite Endeavour House where the inquiry is taking place. BAA also wants permission to increase the number of air traffic movements permitted from the airport from 241,000 to 264,000 a year.

Link to BBC NEWS | England | Essex | Stansted expansion inquiry starts

For and against AIRPORT EXPANSION

There are a number of groups that have views on the merits or pitfalls of airport expansion:

Many anti-expansion campaign groups have emerged including: HACAN ClearSkies, a campaign group that aims to reduce noise and air pollution from aircraft around Heathrow airport;

Stop Stansted Expansion; Stop Luton Airport Plan (SLAP) Stop Bristol Airport Expansion consists of a coalition of groups; Birmingham Airport Anti-Noise Group (BANG) which wants to see the reduction of aircraft noise, night flights and pollution; Swansea Airport No Expansion (SANE) opposes the increase in flights.

AirportWatch opposes airport expansion and wants to promote an aviation policy that is in line with sustainable development.

Aviation Environment Federation is a UK-based association that campaigns exclusively on the environmental impacts of aviation.

Campaign to Protect Rural England fears the government’s proposals will badly affect the countryside.

Friends of the Earth wants to protect the environment and is lobbying for airlines to pay tax on fuel.

Plane Stupid says it aims are to stop the destruction of the environment and communities caused by airport expansion and aviation.

Transport 2000 is concerned about how the environment will be affected by more aircraft flying in our skies.

BAA is an airport operator that runs several airports in the UK. It thinks expansion is key to the UK’s economic future.

Confederation of British Industry says expansion is important to Britain’s economic growth.

Department of Transport details the case for expansion in its progress report.

Future Heathrow is a group derived from trade unions, business groups, and airlines that believes Heathrow airport must modernise to secure its internationally competitive future.

London Chamber of Commerce supports expansion as seen in, “The Business Case for Airport Expansion” report.

Airlines believe expansion will create thousands of jobs and billions of pounds for the UK.