Cancun Climate Change conference to begin Monday 29th Nov - Report warns of problems

A billion people will lose their homes due to climate change, says report.

British scientists will warn Cancún summit that entire nations could be flooded.

Devastating changes to sea levels, rainfall, water supplies, weather systems and crop yields are increasingly likely before the end of the century, scientists will warn tomorrow (Monday)

A special report, to be released at the start of climate negotiations in Cancún, Mexico, will reveal that up to a billion people face losing their homes in the next 90 years because of failures to agree curbs on carbon emissions.

Up to three billion people could lose access to clean water supplies because global temperatures cannot now be stopped from rising by 4C.

"The main message is that the closer we get to a four-degree rise, the harder it will be to deal with the consequences," said Dr Mark New, a climate expert at Oxford University, who organised a recent conference entitled "Four Degrees and Beyond" on behalf of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. Tomorrow the papers from the meeting will be published to coincide with the start of the Cancún climate talks.

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Click the photo to be taken to  detailed Guardian website coverage of the whole conference, with lots of useful articles about climate change.

Cornwall Flooding

More than 100 homes have been evacuated after floods and gale-force winds caused disruption across Cornwall. People were trapped in their cars and homes by the rising floodwaters, which reached up to 6ft (2m) deep in places.

Up to 40mm (over 1.5ins) fell in an hour in some places, causing rivers to burst their banks and quickly overwhelming drains and culverts.

Main roads have been closed, landslides have disrupted train services in and out of Cornwall and some schools are shut.

Click the photo to go to the BBC website and see videos, photos and more news about the story

Click on the post title to read more about the floods

Year 13 Human Geographers - Unit 4 (Life on the Margins)

The dates for you to hand in summaries of each Enquiry Question are laid out below. The idea is that you use all your research to sum up the over EQ in a side or two of A4. The point of the summary is so that your teacher can check that you are on the right track in terms of content and understanding. It is not designed as a way of practicing writing in exams - we'll cover this later. Remember that each EQ is made up of smaller questions (parts A, B, C and D and these should be used to help you return to the original overal EQ and write your answer) One of the skills needed is the ability to use the research and pick out what is important - so a short summary is better than something that goes on for 4 pages. You must learn to be selective with the research and information you have used. Don't worry too much about sourcing/referencing at the moment, though you can add these in if you wish. It would be useful to add a bibliogrphy for the summary.

Friday 12th November - hand in summary of EQ1
Tuesday 23rd November - hand in summary of EQ2
Friday 3rd December - hand in summary of EQ3
Thursday 9th December - the date of the pre-release materials (make sure you have got a copy)
Tuesday 14th December - hand in summary of EQ4
Tuesday 1st February 2011 - date of the exam!

Hand this work in by the date shown, preferably typed and sent to staff email addresses
ks.haba@ksn.org.uk (Mr Bains)
ks.refo@ksn.org.uk (Ms Ford)
ks.pesp@ksn.org.uk (Mrs Spooner)
ks.gipa@ksn.org.uk (Mrs Palmer)

We will be practicing and going over things like how to approach the methodology, introduction, essay/report plans and so on in the lead up to the pre-release material being made available. After the Christmas holidays we will start practicing actual Unit 4 exam questions.
Make sure you ask about anything you are unsure of - either in lessons or by email.

And finally, make sure you have looked at the shared area where there are LOADS of useful hints and tips sheets and presentstions. In particular, have a look at the powerpoints produced by Edexcel (our exam board!) as they give you lots of good ideas and information.

Good luck!

Click on the picture to be taken to Amazon.co.uk where you can buy the student guide for Unit 4 for £6.99

More useful sites to visit (in fact these are ESSENTIAL sites to look at):
http://www.wfp.org/hunger/map

http://www.fao.org/hunger/en/

Make sure you explore these sites fully. The bottom one has links to information about food insecurity, the location and prevelance of hunger, the people who are affected and so on.

Year 10 Wellington Boots!

I still have, in my possession, a pair of lovely Wellington boots that were left on the coach frm the trip to Wales. Someone must be missing them! Come and collect them from L13 or the Humanities office by the end of next week or they'll be sent to Lower School Lost Property.

USA-India talks: Obama calls India a "superpower"

On a visit to Delhi, President Obama said India was a world power, and both countries could work together to promote stability and prosperity. In a speech to parliament later, he said he would address Delhi's bid for a permanent UN Security Council seat.

Mr Singh said Washington and Delhi had decided to "accelerate the deepening of ties to work as equal partners in a strategic relationship". He said he and Mr Obama had agreed protectionism was detrimental for both countries, and that India was not in the business of stealing American jobs. Both sides would expand co-operation on space, civil, nuclear and defence matters, he added. President Obama also announced $10bn (£6.2bn) in new trade deals with India.

Click on the post headline to read more and see a clip of President Obama giving a speech.
 
More on the story here