Geography at Kenilworth School

Earth Day - April 22nd 2012

2012-02-14T17:49:00.000Z

Year 13 homework for Mr Bains (27th Jan 2012): ENERGY SECURITY - the Alberta Tar Sands

2012-01-27T15:41:00.000Z

Year 13 - Energy security
Your homework is to carry on looking at the Alberta Tar Sands project. You must be confident in saying why some people are for it and why others are against it, looking at social, economic and environmental issues. The following articles and videos will help you do this.

You should make notes on what you see (and/or add to the cost-benefit table we did in class).

A potential exam question is:
"Examine the costs and benefits of countries and TNCs exploiting energy resources in technically difficult and environmentally sensitive areas"

National Geographic article on Canadian Tar Sands

Tar Sands Watch - a protest group website

Greenpeace campaign on the Tar Sands

Government of Alberta justify the exploitation of reserves

Nov 2011 article from The Guardian saying why the project is unwise

Two years since the Haiti earthquake

2012-01-20T15:59:00.001Z

Two years have passed since a ferocious earthquake levelled much of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, and killed about 250,000 people. It was one of the worst natural disasters of recent times, striking one of the poorest nations. There is still lots of work to do in Haiti (60,000 people still live in tents) and it is worth reading some reports that show how difficult it is for poor countries to recover after such devastating disasters, even with the assistance of foreign help.

Click on the title to read one report about the earthquake

Click here to read a different article

Click here to read a blog from UNICEF about the earthquake

SDME exam: 60min podcast for students

2012-01-10T23:08:00.000Z

As the Year 11s prepare for the SDME exam on the 24th Jan, some of you may find it useful to listen to this podcast, where Mark Howell, a teacher from a school in Northamptonshire, goes through the pre-release booklet and explains sources and gives advice on how to answer questions. Because it's a podcast, you can download it and listen to it whenever you get a spare moment, in small chunks. Click on the title and you'll be taken to the podcast on iTunes. If you do decide to listen to it or download it, leave a comment for the producer, maybe thanking him for the effort!

Philippines Flood Death Toll Nears 1,000

2011-12-22T03:08:00.002Z

2011 ends with yet another natural disaster. This one has claimed the lives of 1000 people in the Philippines. The flooding was caused by tropical storm Washi, which swept through the southern Philippines on Friday evening, dropping a month's worth of rain in 24 hours. About 143,000 people were affected in 13 southern and central states.

Conditions remain chaotic at the evacuation centres, mainly schools and gymnasiums, and with no running water fire trucks were being used to deliver supplies. Officials warned that the crowded conditions could lead to outbreaks of leptospirosis, diarrhoea, cholera, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, and dysentery, with children and pregnant women the most vulnerable.

"The problem is we only have one or two toilets per school, and they have to cater to 3 000 or 4 000 users," said Iligan health officer Levy Villarin.

Click on the headline to read more on the story or click here to be taken to the recent Channel 4 documentary "The Year the Earth went wild"

Year 13 Unit 4 Pre-release, 2012

2011-12-08T19:26:00.000Z

The pre-release EXPLORE and FOCUS themes are now available on the Edexcel website. Remember, the explore idea is about the theme that you should now focus on and the research is more about the examples and case studies that you need to find.

Click the heading to be taken there, although this the information relevant to us......

OPTION 2: Cold Environments – Landscapes and Change
• Explore the processes which shaped the landscape during the Pleistocene within a
region such as the British Isles.
• Research the wide variety of landscapes and landforms created at differing scales by
glacial and periglacial processes within a chosen region.

OPTION 3: Life on the Margins – the Food Supply Problem
• Explore the need for, and effectiveness of, different strategies that are designed to
improve food security.
• Research a range of food security strategies, including ‘sustainable’ ones, at differing
scales and locations.

OPTION 5: Pollution and Human Health at Risk
• Explore the relative health risks from incidental and sustained pollution, and how and
why these vary both spatially and over time.
• Research locations at varying scales and levels of development, that have experienced
or are experiencing health risks from different types of pollution

Kenilworth Geography department on Twitter

2011-12-05T12:17:00.001Z

There are now two twitter accounts - one aimed at Year 12 students http://twitter.com/#!/KenilworthGeo12
and one aimed at Year 13 students http://twitter.com/#!/KenilworthGeo13

Make sure you start following for the latest news that relates to the course, exam information and general updates.

Britain spends £10m to fight deforestation in Brazil

2011-12-04T15:18:00.002Z

Britain is spending £10m to tackle deforestation in Brazil in an effort to protect wildlife and reduce carbon emissions.

The environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, said the money would help farmers in Cerrado, central Brazil, restore natural habitats, reduce forest fires and ease the pressure for more deforestation to provide land for agriculture.

Speaking at the International Forest Day conference in Durban, South Africa, where the latest round of UN climate talks are being held, Spelman said: "The Cerrado is rich in biodiversity and yet, alarmingly, it has almost halved in size, because of wildfires and the demand for agricultural products.

"If we're going to stop the loss of biodiversity, we need to protect our forests, which house the majority of the world's wildlife. We won't succeed in tackling climate change unless we deal with deforestation."

Click on the headline to read the whole story from the BBC.

HS2 decision is delayed until new year

2011-12-04T15:08:00.000Z

A final decision on whether to go ahead with the controversial HS2 high-speed rail line between London and Birmingham is being delayed until the New Year, it was disclosed.
Transport Secretary Justine Greening is understood to be considering whether a £500 million tunnel should be bored to minimise impact on the Chiltern Hills landscape.
The 100-mile rail link, due to be built between 2016 and 2026, aims to cut the London-to-Birmingham journey time to 49 minutes.
However, the £32 billion project has provoked fury among many Tory MPs - including Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan, who has reportedly threatened to resign over the issue.
Ms Greening had been expected to make a final announcement before parliament rises for its Christmas break.
But the decision has now been delayed until January as she has asked for a feasibility study to be carried out on a £1.5 million tunnel near Amersham, as well as an environmental probe.

Toads can predict earthquakes!

2011-12-01T19:15:00.000Z

Scientists believe they have an explanation for Italian toads' apparent ability to sense the earthquake that struck the city of L'Aquila on 6 April 2009. Animals may sense chemical changes in groundwater that occur when an earthquake is about to strike and this could be the cause of bizarre earthquake-associated animal behaviour.

By chance, Dr Rachel Grant of the UK's Open University was monitoring a toad population at San Ruffino Lake, around 74km from the quake's epicentre. Five days before the 6.3 magnitude shake, "the number of male common toads in the breeding colony fell by 96 per cent", while "most breeding pairs and males fled" three days before the earth moved.

click on the title for more information

An update on China's one child policy

2011-11-27T09:38:00.001Z

The one child policy has been around for over 30 years. Read the following article to see the latest on the situation.

China's one-child policy means many benefits for parents – if they follow the rules http://gu.com/p/32nk6

Can renewable energy help Lesotho?

2011-11-27T09:28:00.001Z

Lesotho is one of the poorest countries in the world. They are going to spend £9bn on a huge renewable energy scheme that they hope will hep lift them out of povert. Follow the link to read more.

Lesotho to harness wind and water in huge green energy project http://gu.com/p/332mm

2011-11-22T17:58:00.000Z

A great website about Food Security

2011-11-17T23:03:00.001Z

All Year 13's studying Life on the Margins (unit 4) should make sure that they look at and bookmark The Guardian's section on Food Security - an absolutely fantastic site with lots of very recent stories.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/food-security

Kenilworth Geography department on Twitter

2011-11-13T11:14:00.002Z

In lots of parents evenings teachers tell students and parents that a key way of doing well in Georaphy is to keep up to date with current affairs and news. That is partly why this blog exists. However, I only post up a small percentage of relevant news stories, mainly because I want to focus on the most important stories, but there are plenty of news events that are relevant to your studies appearng every hour of the day......so to make sure you know what stories are important and helpful to read, I have set up a twitter account to tweet links to the latest news whenever I see a story. The wonders of modern technology mean that you can hear the latest news very quickly, without even having to follow the news, just the KenilworthGeog twitter account.

twitter.com/#!/kenilworthgeog or click on the title of the post to be taken there

Life on the margins - Year 13

2011-11-08T12:06:00.001Z

Click on the title to be taken to a useful website showing food insecurity and famine. It's called Famine Early Warning System (www.fews.net) and they are currently predicting some major famines in the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia)

The site lists lots of countries, in different continents and presents case studies and maps showing food insecurity issues. It explains some of the causes of the problems in each of those countries.

I would say that this website is pretty much essential for all of you studying Life on the Margins.

This is a map, taken from the website, showing the current situation in Ethiopia. There are maps for a huge number of countries and not only do they show the information like this they also have pages which tell you WHO is being affected and WHAT the underlying CAUSES are.
Click here for the underlying causes of food insecurity in Ethiopia (just one of many case studies available on the site)

The website deals with countries from all over the world - Here is a link to how a tropical storm threatened food security in Central America in October - a recent report published on the 3rd of November 2011. It is well detailed and looks at the crops damaged and numbers of people affected

World population reaches 7 billion.

2011-11-05T08:40:00.001Z

When this blog started about 2 years ago, I put a population counter clock in the corner of the page. It read 6.2billion. That figure has now officially hit 7 billion and there has been a lotwritten about what this rapidly rising population means for the future of the world. Below are sme links to articles that will be useful for you and your studies.

Click here to be taken to The Guardian site where they have a large number of articles about the issue. You can enter your date of birth and find out the population of the world when you were born. There are some interactive maps and resources to help you understand what has happened and why.

Click here for a podcast about population growth, questioning whether lots of people is necessarily a bad thing

The BBC also has a large section on the world at 7 billion. Agains you can get an estimate of what umber person you are out of the 7 billion and read information about how they have calculated the population of the world and how we could control it.

Year 13 homework for Mr Bains (1st November 2011)

2011-11-01T08:20:00.000Z

Read the article about Ghana and Ghana's energy needs and issue and makes notes on the following:

•Where are the main energy sources found?

•How large are the reserves?

•Are they energy secure?

•What energy related issues are there in Ghana?

This is due on Friday 4th November

Click on the headline to be taken to the article

Climate and Environmental issues to create migration issues in the future

2011-10-20T12:37:00.001+01:00

Climate and other environmental changes will cause "major challenges" for world leaders over the next 50 years as mass migration threatens to create new humanitarian crises, a major new report says.
The report estimates there will be between 154 and 179 million people living in rural coastal floodplains by 2060 who will be unable to move away due to poverty

The government's chief scientist, Professor Sir John Beddington, who commissioned the study, said that environmental change would hit the world's poorest the hardest and that millions of them would inadvertently migrate toward, rather than away from, areas that are most vulnerable.

“We have assumed mass migration away from affected areas, but millions of people will also migrate into vulnerable areas and there will also be those who cannot migrate out,” John Beddington, chief scientific adviser to the British government, told reporters.
“They pose different challenges to the international community,” he added.
The United Nations estimates there were 210 million international migrants in 2010. A further 740 million were internal migrants in 2009.
An average 25 million people a year have been displaced due to weather-related events since 2008, which will likely rise as such events become more extreme and frequent, Beddington said

Click on the headline to be taken to an article from The Telegraph

Click on the photo to be taken to an article from the BBC

East Africa drought 'remains huge crisis'

2011-10-20T12:25:00.000+01:00

Three months after famine was declared in Somalia, the scale of the crisis in the Horn of Africa remains huge, says a British official.

International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said hundreds of people, mainly children, were dying every day.

According to new figures cited by Mr Mitchell, British aid is feeding more than 2.4m people across the region.

The coming rainy season is expected to bring disease to crowded refugee camps.

In Somalia alone, Mr Mitchell points out, more than 400,000 children remain at risk of death.

Health has had a high priority in British aid that has come to the region - 1.3m people being vaccinated against measles, for example, while 400,000 doses of anti-malarial medication are currently on their way to Somalia.

Click on the headline to read the full story from the BBC

Click on the map to read a report and see more images from The Independent

Useful website for Life on the Margins (Unit 4, Year 13)

2011-09-25T20:00:00.000+01:00

World Disasters Report 2011- Focus on hunger and malnutrition

This year’s World Disasters Report focuses on the growing crisis of hunger and malnutrition. Smallholder farmers who produce half the world’s food are among the almost 1 billion people who go to bed hungry every night. Millions of children suffer the irreversible effects of undernutrition. Increasing food insecurity weakens people’s resilience to disasters and disease, and people everywhere are experiencing the increasing volatility of food prices.

“ Hunger and malnutrition are the worst enemies of humankind. They deny to children – even at birth – an opportunity for the full expression of their innate genetic potential for physical and mental development. Freedom from hunger is the first requisite for sustainable human security. This will depend upon the productivity, profitability and sustainability of agriculture, as this edition of the World Disasters Report points out. Therefore, if food and nutrition policies go wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right."

– M. S. Swaminathan, an Indian MP

Click on the titleto be taken to the website where you can find the report

Pakistan Floods

2011-09-24T11:42:00.000+01:00

At least 369 people have died and 700,000 are living in refugee camps because of flooding in southern Pakistan, the country's national disaster authority said Thursday.

The flooding in Sindh province has destroyed 1.5 million homes in 41,000 villages, the government said. About 8.2 million people have been affected. Along with the deaths, more than 740 people have been injured.

About 67 percent of food stocks have been destroyed and nearly 37 percent of the livestock has been lost "or sold to avoid loss," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said earlier this week.
"At least 5 million surviving animals are at risk, lacking feed and shelter and facing increased exposure to debilitating diseases and worm infestations," Byrs said.
The United Nations' World Food Programme has been distributing food to thousands of people.
More than 6,000 schools have been damaged by the floods and 1,363 education facilities are currently being used as relief distribution sites in Sindh, officials said.

Click on the title to be taken to more details and some video footage from the Telegraph.
Click on the photo to be be taken to more images of the flood.

Food security in the news - again

2011-07-21T22:58:00.000+01:00

The famine in Somalia and East Africa has been in the news and situation looks pretty dire. If you're in Year 13 and studying "Life on the margins" for unit 4 then you need to keep up to date with what is happening - there's plenty of information out there. What you may not be aware of is Oxfam's "GROW" campaign. Click on the title to be taken to their website where they explain the cause of hunger around the world and you can sign up to do your bit to help as well

The Guardian online - Global Development Section

2011-07-09T11:49:00.001+01:00

This section of The Guardian on-line newspaper is an excellent resources for all pupils, particularly A-level students. Have a look around it and save the site to your favourites as it will keep you informed of the latest news in terms of World Development. It has case studies of countries and how they're doing in terms of Millennium Development Goals, lots of data that can be searched and graphics to look at and plenty of videos and podcasts to watch and listen (click on image or title to be taken to the site)

Rising food prices affects the poor- useful for Year 13, Unit 4

2011-07-09T10:28:00.000+01:00

A report in June 2011 showed that the poor of the world are being affected much more seriously by rising food costs than any other group. Women appear to be harder hit then men as well.

The report says the world is being divided into "losers" and "winners":
"The losers – those already struggling in low-paid, informal sector occupations such as petty trading, street vending, casual construction work, sex work, laundry, portering and transport – are clearly worse off than last year."

Click on the title for further information and look at the links on that webpage for more about food price increases and the effects on people

Click on the photo to be taken to a graph and data about the rising costs of food around the world.

South Sudan becomes world's newest nation

2011-07-09T09:59:00.000+01:00

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011 as the outcome of a 2005 peace deal that ended Africa's longest-running civil war.

An overwhelming majority of South Sudanese voted in a January 2011 referendum to secede and become Africa's first new country since Eritrea split from Ethiopia in 1993.

Click on the headline to be taken to the BBC web-profile of South Sudan.

Year 12 Cornwall trip, March 21st-24th

2011-03-14T20:58:00.000Z

Here is some information for you in preparation for next weeks trip

What to take:
You will be provided with breakfast and dinner each day but you will need to make your own provision for lunch. This means you should bring enough money with you for lunch each day. Obviously you can bring snacks and things to bolster your lunches!

You will be provided with bedding at the hostel but need to bring a towel.
You should bring toiletries and sensible clothing. This means if you have waterproofs then bring them, walking boots and wellies if you plan to get into water.The weather can be changeable so you need to be prepared for rain, wind and sunshine! Layers of clothing is the best idea, so you can add/remove depending on the weather.

You may wish to bring some things to keep you entertained, but avoid bring expensive equipment (anything you do bring is brought at your own risk). There is a room with a TV in it and, I think, a DVD player. You can bring a film if you wish, but to be honest there won't be lots of spare time - there's a lot of work to cram in, both during the day and the evening!

Itinery for the trip:
Monday:
Arrive at school for 7.45am at the very latest. The coach will depart at 8.00am - do not be late.
We will stop for a break/lunch on the way and aim to be in Padstow for about 2pm. You will then have an hour to look around Padstow and do some of the tasks you will find in the booklet you are provided with.
We will then head onto the youth hostel at Treyarnon Bay where after settling in you will walk to the nearby beach at Constantine in order to do some measurements.
After the evening meal you will be do some preparation work for Tuesday.

Tuesday:
After breakfast you will go back to Constantine Bay to meet a beach ranger who will talk to you about the management of the area and the sand dunes. You will also take some measurements. This will take till about 10.30am when we return to the hostel to change and then head out for Watergate Bay. At Watergate Bay you will do some tasks from the booklet. Those who wish to surf will have their lesson at about 1pm and then afterwards you will all meet the manager and managing director of the Extreme Sports Academy to see how they have helped with the rebranding of the area.
After all the tasks are completed you will then head for St Austell for a game of bowling and then back to the hostel for evening meal. After dinner you will do some more preparation and answer an exam question!

Wednesday:
Leave for the Eden project after breakfast at about 9.30am. We are booked in for a talk about the impact of the Eden project on the rebranding process in Cornwall at 12.30pm for an hour. You will have some time before the talk and after to explore Eden.
We will leave Eden between 2-3pm and head for Carlyon Bay where at 4pm you will meet a representative from CEG, the company involved in the development of "The Beach" project. Then at 5pm you will meet a panel of local people from the pressure group Carlyon Bay Watch, to hear what their objections to the plans are.
An evening meal is booked for 6.15 at an Indian restuarant. You will need to pre-order your meal, so your teacher should ask you to choose a main from the menu! After the meal you'll head back to the hostel.

Thursday:
After breakfast you will answer an exam question or two before getting the coach home at about 10.00am. We should be back in Kenilworth around 3.30. There will be a lunch stop on the way.

You will all be fit and well and ready for school on Friday!

Hopefully this answers any questions you have. If you are still unsure of anything then ask your teacher. If you are surfing you MUST have paid your £20 before the day of the trip. I need to give the surfing man definite numbers, so don't think you can oull out on the day!

Apologies to my class for my continued absence. It's not out of choice. Once I have been fixed I shall be back in school, probably after Easter.

I hope you all have a great time on the trip and I wish I was going along as well.

Mr Bains

China as a Superpower TV programme on BBC iplayer

2011-02-09T09:46:00.000Z

Year 13 should definitely watch this programme as it ties in perfectly with the Unit 3 option on Superpower Geographies.

The BBC blurb reads:
Travelling across three continents, Justin Rowlatt investigates the spread of Chinese influence around the planet and asks what the world will be like if China overtakes America as the world's economic superpower. In the first of two films, he embarks on a journey across Southern Africa to chart the extraordinary phenomenon of Chinese migration to Africa, and the huge influence of China on the development of the continent.
While many in the West view Africa as a land of poverty, to the Chinese it is seen as an almost limitless business opportunity. From Angola to Tanzania, Justin meets the fearless Chinese entrepreneurs who have travelled thousands of miles to set up businesses

Click the heading to be taken to the show (it is the first episode in a series)

Year 13 - LIfe on the margins (unit 4)

2011-01-24T19:45:00.001Z

The Foresight group published a report today about food and farming. It may well be looking at bits of it (the executive summary is a sensible starting point). If there's some useful bits in there (maybe a simple quote to add to your exam answer?) it will look good to the examiner as it so current.

Foresight Report (published 24th Jan 2011)

Guardian article on the Foresight report

Telegraph article about the report and warning of food price rises/GM crops

Unit 4 Life on the Margins (Year 13)

2011-01-13T21:35:00.000Z

Hopefully you have all been busy working on unit 4, researching and preparing yourselves for the exam. This post is really just to give you some things to think about.

Possible questions they could ask in the exam?

Maybe something along these lines....

1) "Strategies to improve food security have benefits as well as costs". Discuss.

2) Explain why strategies used to increase food production have costs as well as benefits.
3) Evaluate the costs and benefits of strategies to increase food production in order to improve food security.
4) To what extent can food production be increased without any costs?
5) Explain why strategies to increased food production have varied success in improving food security
6) Evaluate the success of a range of strategies designed to increase food production.
7) Assess the impact of strategies to increase food production to improve food security at a range of scales.

Research
Here are some things you may wish to consider (and maybe research further)

Land-grabs article from Guardian (with lots of links to other relevant stories)

Does US Food security strategies go far enough?

When looking at different scales, you should be thinking about strategies to sort food supply/security that are for small areas/villages (small scale/local - maybe something from a NGO like FarmAfrica) to those which are designed to help entire countries (Green Revolution - impacts on places like Thailand, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Mexico or the Cuban Organic farmning example that is linked to later on in this post) and maybe some strategies that could be used on a larger scale/global (such as GM crops)

7 minute video on Cuban Organopnicos
Article on how Cuba have tried to become self sufficient using organic farming

The costs of increasing food supply/security?

Soil erosion/degredation
An article about how use of chemicals on the land in Punjab (India) in order to increase food security has led to soil degradation

You could also look at the effects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on the environment in Europe. The CAP was set up after WWII in order to ensure Europe never experienced food shortages again (ie improve food security) but many felt that it had a negative impact (economically, socially and environmentally).

UN climate change talks in Cancun agree a deal

2010-12-12T14:50:00.000Z

More than 190 countries have struck an agreement at the latest round of UN climate talks that puts efforts to secure a new international deal to tackle global warming back on track.

At the end of two weeks of talks in Mexico, government ministers and officials agreed a deal which Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne described as a "serious package" of measures.

He acknowledged the agreement did not give everybody everything they wanted and would still require work towards a final deal at a meeting next year in Durban, South Africa.

Environmental campaigners said it threw a lifeline to efforts to get a deal to tackle climate change but there was still much work to do, in particular to close the "gigatonne gap" between the greenhouse emissions cuts countries have pledged and the reductions needed to limit temperature rises to no more than 2C.

The agreement acknowledges the need to keep temperature rises to 2C and brings non-binding emissions cuts pledges made under the voluntary Copenhagen Accord, hammered out in the dying hours of last year's conference, into the UN process.

It also includes an agreement to set up a green climate fund as part of efforts to deliver 100 billion US dollars (£60 billion) a year by 2020 to poor countries to help them cope with the impacts of global warming and develop without polluting.

Click on the post heading to be taken to the BBC site for more information

Click on the photo to be taken to the Independent newspaper for more information

Click here for the Guardian Environment Blog with updates on the Cancun conference

Year 13 Unit 4 pre-release information

2010-12-09T09:54:00.004Z

Pre-release explore and research information is now available.

To help with the exploration of food production/food security, you may find these links useful:

Feeding Africa article from Dec 2010

Farm Africa website

A rather long document on the Green Revolution in Africa

More about the Green Revolution

Food security in LEDCs

Policies to reduce food insecurity (from UN)

World Food Programme - Purchase for Progress plan (useful case studies)

Are GM crops the solution to food issues in Africa (news story from 7th dec 2010)

Africa can feed itself within a generation (news story from 2nd dec 2010)

The Guardian Food section (useful, up to date information)

Vertical Farming in Urban areas

Trying to achieve food security in Australia (news report from Weds 8th Dec 2010)

FAO - hunger around the world

Don't forget to look at Geofile:
series 25, Issue 3 "Globalisation of food production" (April 2007)
series 27, Issue 2 "Global food production" (Jan 2009)
series 29, Issue 1 "Geopolitics of food" (Sept 2010)
series 29, Issue 2 "Feast or Famine - feeding the worlds people" (Jan 2011 - for some reason it os available now)
All useful but also useful is to look at the bibliographies and see if it can lead you towards further information

A quote for you (dated Tuesday 7th Dec 2010, from the Guardian)

It is great that new research from Harvard University is challenging pessimistic views of Africa as a continent unable to feed itself (Africa can feed itself in a generation, says author, if leaders take up cause, 3 December). However, the expensive and failing technology GM should have no role to play in this – not even selectively. UN research has shown that the adoption of organic and near-organic farming practices in Africa has improved yields by 116%, improved access to food for both farmers and local communities, and raised incomes. The role of agro-ecological farming methods in developing food security was strongly supported in the recent International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development report, written by 400 scientists and approved by 60 countries.

Isobel Tomlinson
Policy and campaigns officer, Soil Association

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

2010-11-28T22:17:00.000Z

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.

Click the post title to read more from this article

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

2010-11-17T17:33:00.000Z

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)

2010-11-12T11:27:00.000Z

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!

2010-11-09T11:08:00.000Z

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"

2010-11-08T09:55:00.000Z

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

Pre-release material for unit 4 (Year 13 students)

2010-10-31T17:34:00.000Z

The pre-release materials will be available on the 9th December 2010. You can find it by following this link.
You will not be able to take this material into the exam with you.

The Prosperity Index

2010-10-27T19:13:00.000+01:00

What is prosperity? This website looks at ways of measuring how well countries are doing

The Legatum Prosperity Index is the world's only global assessment of wealth and wellbeing; unlike other studies that rank countries by actual levels of wealth, life satisfaction or development, the Prosperity Index produces rankings based upon the very foundations of prosperity those factors that will help drive economic growth and produce happy citizens over the long term.

Using their system of ranking countries and measuring prosperity, here are the 10 most successful countries in the world:
1 Norway
2 Denmark
3 Finland
4 Australia
5 New Zealand
6 Sweden
7 Canada
8 Switzerland
9 Netherlands
10 United States

Click on the post title to be taken to the website, where you can see data and maps showing levels of development all over the world.

International Aid from the UK to increase

2010-10-23T22:55:00.000+01:00

The Government has been cutting spending in an attempt to save money. But it announced that the amount of money being spent on aid for poorer countries will be increased by about 40%. This means that the UK will hit the UN target of 0.7% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) being given as aid within 3 years. Each country has this target, though only a handful have ever managed to meet it. However, aid to China and Russia will be stopped.

Click on the post title to watch a 2 minute clip from the BBC that looks at the issue and opinions.

Click here to read more about this story

Click here to watch a short and simple presentation from the BBC called "Beating Poverty"

Qatar attempt to solve food security problems

2010-10-23T22:26:00.001+01:00

Click on the title to watch a 4 minute BBC video report on attempts to sort out the issue of food security in the Middle Eastern country of Qatar.

With a rapidly-growing population and more than 90% of its food needs met through imports, the island state of Qatar has begun investing heavily in improving its food security. While working to improve and maintain relationships with its providers, Qatar is also setting several challenges for its own agricultural industry to help address the imbalance.

Over 100 dead and thousands suffering from effects of Cholera in Haiti

2010-10-22T09:18:00.000+01:00

It's been 9 months since the devestating earthquake that hit Haiti in January. Although the story might not be in the news headlines as often now, thousands of people are still living in tents in temporary camps.
An outbreak of Cholera has killed 135 people and the fear is that if the disease spreads to these camps, then many more hundreds or thousands will also die. This shows how the effects of earthquakes can be felt for long periods after the actual disaster.

Click on the post title to read the full story and watch the latest video news from Haiti

Water Scarcity Poses International Conflict and Threatens Regional Stability

2010-10-21T22:54:00.000+01:00

An interesting article for Year 13 students, currently studying Water Conflicts. This article talks about the potential for conflict in various parts of the world as a result of growing popualtions and resource scarcity.

An extract from the article (read the whole thing by clicking on the post title):

"With the global population expected to reach ten billion people by the year 2050, severe shortages over our most critical resource, water, will certainly arise. The areas of the world that will ultimately confront this challenge already are challenged by instability"

The article then goes on to look at the Middle East and Aftrica and South Asia in more detail.

Cick on the photo for another report into the growing water crisis in Asia

Climate change threatens emerging superpowers

2010-10-21T22:46:00.001+01:00

Some of the "big economies of the future" are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, according to a new study published today.

UK consultancy Maplecroft identified Bangladesh and India as the two countries facing the greatest risks to their populations, ecosystems and business environments after ranking 170 countries based on their exposure to climate-related natural disasters and their social, economic and political ability to adapt to a changing climate.
According to Maplecroft, the countries facing the greatest risks are characterised by high levels of poverty, dense populations, exposure to climate-related events and reliance on flood- and drought-prone agricultural land.
Bangladesh ticks most of these boxes and the report warns that rising climate risks could hit foreign investment into the country, undermining the driving force behind economic growth of 88 per cent between 2000 and 2008.
Similarly, the report warned that India's massive population and increasing demand for scarce resources made it particularly sensitive to climate change.

Typhoon Megi leaves 200,000 homeless in Philippines

2010-10-20T21:41:00.000+01:00

Typhoon Megi is gathering strength and heading towards southern China, meteorologists said, after leaving 200,000 Filipinos homeless.

The severe storm left a trail of destruction in its wake after hitting the northern Philippines on Monday.

Officials there said at least 200,000 people remained homeless with the cost to infrastructure still unknown.

The storm is described as the worst in many years, but predictions vary about where it will make next landfall.

People in the Chinese province of Guangdong and Hong Kong are stockpiling food ahead of the storm, which has been gathering strength over the South China Sea.

Ships and fishing boats have been told to stay in harbour, as Hong Kong's weather officials predicted winds of up to more than 185 km/hour(115mph).

The Philippines hit by "super typhoon"

2010-10-18T22:41:00.000+01:00

The Philippines declared a state of calamity in a northern province after super typhoon Megi made landfall on Monday, cutting off power, forcing flight cancellations and putting the region's rice crop at risk.

A typhoon is a tropical storm. In the Atlantic ocean they are known as Hurricanes and in South Asia they are called Cyclones.

Forecasters said Megi was probably the most powerful storm in the world this year and the strongest to hit the Philippines since Typhoon Durian unleashed mudslides that buried entire towns and killed more than 1000 people in 2006.

With the storm forecast to sweep into the South China Sea, Chinese authorities have issued a disaster warning across southern coastal areas.

Megi pummelled remote coastal areas of the northern Philippines with gusts of up to 260km/h yesterday morning as it made landfall, tearing roofs off houses and bringing down power lines.

"We are marooned inside our home. We cannot go out. The winds and rain are very strong. Many trees are being uprooted or snapped in half," Ernesto Macadangdang, a resident of Burgos town in Isabela province, told DZBB radio.

Click on the title for a more detailed report or the photo for some footage of the typhoon

United Nations calls for united front against hunger on World Food Day

2010-10-16T19:03:00.001+01:00

With nearly one billion people still suffering from food shortages around the globe, the world must take a united stand against hunger, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said.

World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on October the 16th in honour of the date of the founding of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in 1945.

The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of hungry people in the world is a pillar for achieving all eight of the globally-agreed targets with a 2015 deadline, Ban said.
"When people are hungry, they cannot break the crippling chains of poverty, and are vulnerable to infectious diseases," the secretary-general said. "When children are hungry, they cannot grow, learn and develop."
This year alone, Ban said, millions have been pushed into hunger by the earthquake in Haiti, the drought in the Sahel and floods in Pakistan, while the twin food and financial crises continue to affect the world's most vulnerable.
He highlighted the need for global cooperation -- bringing together governments, intergovernmental organizations, regional and sub-regional bodies, business and civil society groups -- to combat hunger.
"Increasingly, their approach is comprehensive," Ban said, covering all aspects of food security, ranging from small farms to feeding schoolchildren.

For more information follow the links below:

Some progress made and some suggestions for the future - including an audio report on the issue

Hunger in Focus: India's Hungry Women and Children Remain a Major Problem

Report Says Hunger Costing Poor Countries Billions

UN Says Global Hunger Remains 'Unacceptably High'

Google news search results about hunger on world Food Day 2010 (search dated Oct 16th)

Ban Ki-Moon speech on World Food Day 2008

Resources being used at 1.5 times the rate nature can replace them

2010-10-14T14:02:00.002+01:00

The Earth's population is using the equivalent of 1.5 planets' worth of natural resources, but the long-term decline of animal life appears to have been halted, a WWF report shows.

The latest Living Planet report, published today by the conservation group, also reveals the extent to which modern Western lifestyles are plundering natural resources from the tropics at record levels.

The report shows shows the impact of living off the planet's "savings": in the last 40 years human consumption has doubled, while the Living Planet index – measuring the decline and increase of thousands of species on land, in rivers and at sea – has declined by 30% overall, and by a massive 60% in the tropics.

Click the title for a full report from The Guardian newspaper

The map below shows ecological footprints across the world. The darker the green, the bigger the ecological footprint.
Click the map to be taken to the WWF site for a full report and a short video

Year 10

2010-10-13T08:59:00.000+01:00

Thank you for all pupils who worked hard and behaved well on the trip Monday and Tuesday. We now have data that we can use for our controlled assessment which will begin next week. This week your teacher will talk to you about the fieldtrip and how to approach your work.

I have in my possession one pair of wellington boots and a pair of girls black boots. If you didn't collect these from the coach please come and see me at some point (or they're going to end up in lost property)

Map of the world

2010-10-10T19:41:00.002+01:00

Click on the map to be taken to a site where you can see the world presented in lots of different ways, depending on what you choose to look at. You can have a map that shows you population, military spending, broadband access, aid and energy consumption - it really is quite interesting!

Year 10 trip to Wales - weather update

2010-10-10T17:08:00.000+01:00

Hopefully you're all packed and ready to go - don't forget to bring a pen and pencil with you. The latest weather report is that it will be dry and a little sunny with some patchy cloud, with top temperatures of around 16 degrees. So that sounds pretty positive and good weather for getting into a river - but be aware that the weather could change suddenly, so still come prepared for rain!

Click on the title to be taken to the local newspapers weather forcast.

Further advice about what to bring is a few posts down.

Attention Year 13! Colonialism and Neo-colonialism

2010-10-02T14:49:00.001+01:00

Your current topic of Superpower Geographies is constantly in the news. Make sure you keep up to date with the changes in power and relationships that are taking place.

This week Nigeria have been celebrating 50 years of independence from their former colonial power - Britain. But how has the last 50 years been for Nigeria? Have they made advances since gaining their freedom?
The link below is for an article about the independence of Nigeria and is worth a read:
Guardian article on Nigeria's 50th year of independence from Britain

And here's another article, from today (2nd October 2010) about the new form of colonalism - in this case China's growing relationship with Africa. China has now overtaken the USA as Africa's number one trading partner. They are more than happy to deal with some of the countries Western countries frown upon (Zimbabwe for example). Read the article by clicking the link below:
Independent newspaper article on China in Africa

Look at the podcast section and you will see more useful information, in a form that you can listen to.

If you click on the title of this post you will see a blog by someone about China and India's battle for supremacy in China. There are 4 parts to to, follow the links at the end of each article.

Year 10 fieldtrip to Wales - October 11th and 12th, 2010

2010-10-02T13:57:00.002+01:00

Our fieldtrip is fast approaching and here are some final bits of information:

1. Rooming: Your teacher should have told you about the rooming and how many people there are in each room - get your lost of names to either your teacher or Mr Bains as soon as you can. Make sure the names of those on your list do not appear on other lists, discuss the matter with your friends fully!

2. What you need to bring with you: Bedding and such like are provided. You need to bring the following -
Toiletries (for washing, cleaning and smelling nice - for example a toothbrush or some soap or deoderant)
A towel
Clothes - a long sleeved top (in case we do any evening activities), layers of warm clothing (rather than one big jumper, it is better to have layers that can be removed if you get warm and added to if you get cold). If you have Wellies and waterproofs you should bring them. You are likely to be asked to get into the river to measure it! a change of footwear - you may find one pair get wet. Jeans aren't geat if they get wet as they stick to you, so think about suitable bottoms. Keep the shoes sensible - don't bring high heels for example. If you've got hats and gloves you may wish to bring them (remember, we're going to Wales in October!).
Pencil case, with the proper equipment (pen, pencil, ruler etc)

3. Food - Dinner will be provided (it is essential that tell us of any allergies etc on the medical form so we can warn the centre) on Monday and you will get breakfast and lunch on the Tuesday. You should have a good breakfast on Monday morning to set you up for a day of travel and work!You may wish to bring snacks.

4. Expensive items: If you bring ipods, games, camera's and other expensive items, you do so at your own risk. The school nor the centre will be responsible if anything is damaged or goes missong. My advice is not to bring expensive items......you're only away for one night and I'm sure you can live without such things!

5. Bag search: A reminder that your bags will be searched for items you shouldn't be bringing before we leave (alcohol, drugs and weapons! I'm sure no one will be bringing any of these items, but it's best to be safe and have a quick look!). We expect you to behave well when we're in Wales and remember that you are collecting information for your controlled assessment - work hard and properly!

6. GET TO SCHOOL FOR 7.00AM ON THE MONDAY!
This may seem very early for some of you, but we need to make a quick and early get away in order to get all our data collection done once we're in Wales. We will be back about 7pm on the Tuesday and you are expected to come to school as normal on Wednesday. You will not need a day to recover as it's only a short trip. You must catch up with work missed from other subjects - it is your responsibility to make sure this happens.

If you click on the title, you will be taken to the website of the Kingswood, Colomendy Centre.

Welcome back

2010-09-05T16:29:00.000+01:00

Welcome back to school. Hopefully you have had a good rest and are ready to start working again! The blog has had some new information put on it, but will constantly be changing, with the latest Geographical news and advice/tips on how to do well in your studies.

Year 9 will be faced with an entirely new approach to their lessons and should look at the tab at the top of the page for more information.

GCSE students can find out more about their course using the tab at the top of the page as well as looking along the left hand side of the blog. The same applies for A-level students.

There are a collection of podcasts available (see tab at top of page), though these are mainly aimed at A-level students.

If there is anything that you wish to see on the blog, please mention it to your teacher and we'll see what we can do.

Attention! Year 12 going into Year 13

2010-06-29T11:55:00.000+01:00

How water raises the political temperature between countries

You've had some introduction to the A2 course by now. Below is a part of an article which relates directly to Unit 3 Water Conflicts.

It's well worth reading to prepare yourself.

Fifteen years ago Ismail Serageldin, an Egyptian who was vice-president of the World Bank, shook politicians by predicting that the wars of the 21st century would be fought not over oil or land, but water.
So far he has been proved wrong, but escalating demand for water to grow food and provide drinking water for burgeoning urban populations has raised political tensions between many countries.
To see the whole article click the heading at the top of this post.

If you're stuck and not sure how to revise.....

2010-05-23T15:57:00.000+01:00

....try some of these ideas:

Flashcards: On small cards, summarise a case study into one (or both) sides of the cards and refer to it regularly. Make sure that you include key facts and number as you condense the case study to fit the card.

Colour coding: colour code large pieces of text into sections. For example, it could be the social, economic and environmental impacts of the Cardiff Bay redevelopment

Memory tests: You could look at an important diagram (erg the cross section of a meander) for 20 seconds, then cover it over and draw what you remember. Then give yourself another 20 seconds to see what you missed and add it in. Eventually, you will be able to draw the sketch without looking at a copy.

Key words test: You could ask someone to read out 10 definitions and you have to say what the key word is. Then you could try it the other way around which is harder with someone giving you a key word to define.

Spider diagrams (mind maps): Write a key theme in the centre of an A3 piece of paper. Write the sub-themes around it with important ideas and case studies to back them up. Stick your finished spider diagram somewhere visible where you will be able to refer to it often (e.g. fridge door, bedroom wall).

Practice exam questions: Look at the examples of past case study questions. Practice writing responses to these questions using the flashcards or colour coded case studies you have created. There are some past papers and mark schemes under the Year 11 panel on the left hand side of the blog.

Summarising: Condense a section of text into a set number of bullet points.

Reading aloud: Read a case study summary aloud, then try to say aloud all the facts and figures you remember without the summary. You could also read your keyword lists aloud.

Repeated writing: Copy out pieces of information more than one time (five times would be appropriate). The repetition will help you to fix the facts in your memory, which is obviously important with case studies.

Look at the STUDY SKILLS section on the left hand side panel for more ideas and search for "mind maps" to see some examples.

Year 9 - Titles for your investigation

2010-05-23T09:52:00.000+01:00

Year 9 students will be starting an investigation soon. You should choose a title from the following 6 options and conduct research on it. You will be given a booklet with some tips and hints. Inside the booklet are some web links to get you started, but you need to conduct your own research and use the research diary to keep a record of all the different websites, nespapers, books, magazines and DVDs that you use to gather information. Make sure your research helps you answer the key questions that are listed in the booklet. You are aiming to write 800 words.

The titles for you to choose from are:

Ecosystems
1. How is global climate change affecting coral reefs?

2. How can we sustainably develop an area of tropical rainforest?

Sport

3. London 2012: What venues have been chosen and why?

OR
4. What are the impacts of skiing and snowboarding on a chosen mountainous area?

Tourism
5. How can UK seaside resorts attract tourists?
OR
6. What is the effect of increased visitor numbers on the Himalayas?

Year 10 Controlled Assessment

2010-05-19T21:10:00.000+01:00

All Year 10 students are currently undertaking their controlled assessment - writing 1200 words on the question "How and why do coastal features vary along the Dorset coast"

It is vital that you attend all lessons.

There are support materials for you to look at further down the blog, on the left hand side.

Revise thoroughly before each lesson as you will not be allowed to get help from your teacher during the exam conditions. Make sure you know what the answers are, what you have to do and how to do it. Ask your teacher for help outside the exam conditions.

If you miss a lesson you will have to come back Thursday after school to catch up. This is in L13 and will go from 3.40 to 4.40pm.

Gulf oil now in powerful Loop Current, scientists say

2010-05-19T21:04:00.000+01:00

The first oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill has entered an ocean current that could take it to Florida and up the east coast of the US, scientists say.

The European Space Agency said satellite images suggested oil could reach the coral reefs of the Florida Keys within six days.

"We have visible proof that at least oil from the surface... has reached the current," said Dr Bertrand Chapron.

Meanwhile, the US said it was having talks with Cuba over the spill.

Observers say the talks demonstrate a concern that the oil may be carried by currents far from the site of the Deep Horizon disaster.

A BP executive said this week that the company had paid out $15m (£10.4m) in claims, much of it to shrimpers and commercial fishermen who have little or no income because of the spill.

Meanwhile, astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station have said they could see the oil spill while passing over the Gulf of Mexico.

"It looks very scary," Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov told reporters via a video link.

Oil spill - USA

2010-05-04T22:28:00.000+01:00

A massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is slowly starting to reach the shore, according to reports.

Up to five thousand barrels a day are thought to be leaking from the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig which sank on 22 April after an explosion in which 11 workers lost their lives.

The delicate eco-system of the gulf coastline is rich in wildlife including the brown pelican, many species of duck, turtles, and whales.

There are fears that the disaster could reach the scale of the 11m gallon Exxon Valdez spill off Alaska in 1989.

Volcanic Ash from Iceland continues to cause disruption

2010-04-18T09:59:00.000+01:00

The UK is enduring a fourth day as a virtual no-fly zone, as the travel chaos caused by volcanic ash drifting from Iceland shows no sign of ending.

Flight restrictions have been extended until at least 7pm and forecasters say the ash cloud could remain over the UK for several more days.

BBC business editor Robert Peston said the disruption risked becoming a "major business and economic disaster".

He said a number of European airlines were facing financial difficulties.

Our correspondent said: "If [the disruption] goes on many days longer, a number of European airlines will run into financial difficulties and may need bailing out by governments - or so I am told by senior airline figures."

On Friday, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned airlines would lose at least $200m (£130m) per day in revenues during the disruption.

Meanwhile, Dutch airline KLM and German airline Lufthansa have carried out test flights in their countries' airspace to see if it is safe for planes to fly.

KLM said its aircraft had been able to fly at its normal operating altitude of 13km (8 miles) over Dutch skies and no problems had been reported. The plane's engines were being inspected for possible damage, with a view to getting permission from the aviation authorities to start up operations again.

The disruption has affected hundreds of thousands of travellers since Wednesday, when the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano began erupting.

Among those affected were British wedding guests who had to watch on an internet connection as a bride and groom stranded in Dubai took their vows.

Link to live webcam of the volcano

The silver lining?

In the shadow of the volcano

Year 9 and 10 exams coming up!

2010-04-18T09:49:00.001+01:00

Year 9 exam - on the theme of Sustainable development

This link may be of some use (although it is all about Northern Ireland) : http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/11_16/ks3geography/swf/index.shtml
There is more information about Sustainabke development, including a short video clip, further down the blog.

Year 10 exam - a decision making paper on the theme of coastal processes and management

This link may be of some use: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/coastal/

Year 11 Revision material

2010-03-27T23:24:00.000Z

Two more revision presentations for Year 11 have just been added - look on the left hand panel under the Year 11 banner.

GCSE students

2010-03-16T23:00:00.000Z

Year 10 - information about May's controlled assessment can be found now on the left hand panel. Please take a look at it.

Year 11 - Two items have been added for your revision. One is a powerpoint, produced by the exam board which is well worth a look. The other is a 47 page document that has revision tips and case studies in it. Some of the case studies are different to the ones you have studied, but some are the same. It is worth getting hold of this document and printing it out.

Year 13 pre-release materials

2010-03-11T19:51:00.001Z

Just a quick note to remind current Year 13 students that pre-release material for unit 3 and 4 will be available from May 4th 2010.

Chile earthquake: nation in shock as death toll climbs

2010-02-28T10:46:00.000Z

The death toll from the massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile on Saturday has reached 300 and is expected to climb further as authorities estimate two million people were affected by the disaster and half a million homes were severely damaged or destroyed.

The country is in shock after the most powerful earthquake in a century hit 200 miles southwest of the capital Santiago.

The number of dead is expected to exceed 300 and the country’s president has declared a “state of catastrophe".

Following the earthquake, Chileans fearful of strong aftershocks - one as powerful as the devastating Haiti quake of Jan 12 - camped outside on the streets, as officials struggled to grasp the scale of the damage to the country’s transport, energy and housing infrastructure.

The earthquake tore apart houses, bridges and motorways, and Chileans near the epicenter were thrown from their beds by the force of the temblor, which was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil — 1,800 miles to the east.

"We think the real (death) figure tops 300 and we believe this will continue to grow,” said Carmen Fernandez, head of the National Emergency Agency

Year 13 - Energy Security:

2010-02-28T01:03:00.000Z

Just as we start the Energy Security topic as part of the Contested Planet unit, Britain finds itself in a row with Argentina over oil exploration and extraction off the Falkland Islands (which the two countries went to war over in the 1980's).

You can hear a 19 minute podcast from The Guardian newspaper about the disagreement over energy by following this link.

Britain and the Falkland Islands have made a deal to split any proceeds from the controversial oil drilling programme in the South Atlantic.

UK ministers have revealed that the Executive Council in Port Stanley had "offered to share some of any future hydrocarbons-related revenues", which could be worth billions of pounds. If a 30-day drilling programme begun by a British firm last week strikes oil, the yield from corporation taxes and royalties in the fields north of the islands alone could be more than £100bn.

A Foreign Office source said the Government had already begun negotiations over the eventual share-out, and had reached an "understanding" that could see the Treasury taking up to half the profits. Officials have pointed to Britain's multimillion-pound programme of support to the islands over almost three decades since the war following Argentina's invasion in 1982.

Argentina, which disputes the British claim to the Falklands, last week asked the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, to bring the UK into talks over the islands' sovereignty. The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, said British oil exploration in the area was "completely in accordance with international law".

You can also find out more about the story by clicking the headline.

Chile earthquake: death toll passes 200

2010-02-28T00:50:00.000Z

A massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Chile early yesterday, killing at least 140people, bringing down homes and hospitals, and setting off a tsunami that triggered warnings and evacuations across the entire Pacific. At the time of writing, a tidal wave of as yet undetermined height is heading, at a speed of hundreds of miles an hour, towards places as far away as Australia, the Philippines and even Russia. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii called for "urgent action to protect lives and property".

Yesterday's quake was far stronger than the 7.0 magnitude tremor that killed more than 200,000 in Haiti in January, but it happened in a country that is better prepared than most. Yet the impact was immediate and, for those feeling it, severe. Chilean TV showed images from the city of Concepcion of collapsed homes, broken roads, large buildings engulfed in flames, the injured lying in the streets or on stretchers, and residents huddled in streets strewn with glass and masonry.

Many were terrified by the powerful and repeated aftershocks. In just a few hours after the quake, there were no fewer than 29 that registered a magnitude greater than 5.0, and one at 6.9 – within a whisker of the main Haiti tremor. The country's President, Michelle Bachelet, wasted little time in declaring a "state of catastrophe" in central Chile. The death toll is expected to rise, but not, according to the country's Interior Minister, Edmundo Perez, dramatically. He may yet be proved wrong.

Click on the headline to find out more and see footage

Click here to read more about earthquakes and why larger earthquakes don't always kill more people - this earthquake is 500 times more powerful than the Haiti one.

Giant iceberg breaks off from Antarctic glacier

2010-02-27T10:30:00.000Z

An iceberg the size of Luxembourg has broken off from a glacier in Antarctica after being rammed by another giant iceberg, scientists said on Friday, in an event that could affect ocean circulation patterns.

The 2,500 sq km (965 sq mile) iceberg broke off earlier this month from the Mertz Glacier's 160 km (100 miles) floating tongue of ice that sticks out into the Southern Ocean.
The collision has since halved the size of the tongue that drains ice from the vast East Antarctic ice sheet.
"The break up (calving) itself hasn't been directly linked to climate change but it is related to the natural processes occurring on the ice sheet," said Rob Massom, a senior scientist.

This 97 km long slab of ice is a remnant of an iceberg of more than 5,000 sq km that broke off, or calved, in 1987, making it one of the largest icebergs ever recorded in Antarctica

Click on the headline for more detailed information

Massive earthquake hits Chile

2010-02-27T10:23:00.000Z

A massive earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 has struck central Chile, the country's largest in 25 years.

The quake struck at 0634 GMT about 91km (56 miles) north-east of the city of Concepcion and 317km south-west of the capital, Santiago.

Chilean television is reporting 16 deaths so far. President Michelle Bachelet also said a large wave had affected one southern island group.

The US issued an initial tsunami warning for Chile, Peru and Ecuador.

That was later extended to Colombia, Antarctica and Central America. Japan's meteorological agency warned of a potential tsunami across large areas of the Pacific.

Click on the headline for more detail about this story

Click here for more information about earthquakes

Why did so many people die in the Haiti earthquake?

2010-02-15T15:11:00.000Z

The devastating earthquakes that hit China on 12 May 2008, Italy on 6 April 2009 and Haiti one month ago all measured above 6.0 and took many lives. But why was the human cost so much greater for Haiti?

Click on the title to go to a BBC report on why the Haiti earthquake was so devestating. It has lots of graphics to look at and provides a fascinating insight into what happened in Haiti.

Fifty-five countries pledge to cut greenhouse emissions

2010-02-02T17:42:00.000Z

Fifty-five countries have formally pledged to cut or limit their emissions in a move welcomed by the UN's climate change body as an important step towards achieving a legally binding global agreement.

They include the US, all EU countries and China, as well as major emerging economies such as Brazil, Indonesia and India. The 55 nations between them emit 78% of the world's greenhouse gases. But, significantly, the group includes only Brazil from South America, and just six out of 55 African countries. In all, 137 countries have not made pledges.

Haiti earthquake - 2 weeks on

2010-01-28T22:27:00.000Z

The Haiti earthquake took place over two weeks ago now. The full extent of the horror is becoming clearer. Although there are some heart warming stories, as people are still being found alive (the latest is a 16 year old girl found under the rubble of a house, 15 days after the quake) there are also many terrible reports coming out of Haiti.

If you click the headline above you will be taken to a report that suggests that many of the orphans and vulnerable children left behind in Haiti (up to a million are estimated to have either no parents, one parent or be unattended) are in danger of being sold or abused.

There are also reports of increased sexual crimes against women and lawlessness in the country. Speaking on American TV on Wednesday night, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said he has received reports of kids being sold, and he believed human organs were also being taken from victims of the quake for profit.

Read more here

South Koreans told to go home and make babies

2010-01-21T19:22:00.000Z

South Korean government workers are being given an unusual instruction - go home and multiply.

At 1900 on Wednesday, officials at the Ministry of Health will turn off all the lights in the building. The country has one of the world's lowest birth rates, lower even than neighbouring Japan. South Korea's birth rate stood at 1.19 children per woman in 2008

Boosting the number of newborn children is a priority for the government, which is staring into the abyss of a rapidly ageing society, falling levels of manpower and spiralling health care costs.

The Ministry of Health, now sometimes jokingly referred to as the Ministry of Matchmaking, is in charge of spearheading this drive, and it clearly believes its staff should lead by example.

Generous gift vouchers are on offer for officials who have more than one child, and the department organises social gatherings in the hope of fostering love amongst its bureaucrats.

Although this seems like an odd story, it is a really useful example of how to manage populations and the concern an ageing population can cause.

Click here for further information
Click here for more detail

Click the title to read more and see a video clip

Earthquake in Haiti

2010-01-13T14:07:00.000Z

On Tuesday a big earthquake hit the poor Caribbean country of Haiti.

The extent of the devastation from the huge quake in Haiti is slowly emerging thousands of people feared dead.

Jordan, Brazil and China have all reported deaths, and France says it fears the Tunisian head of the UN mission in Haiti has been killed.

The 7.0-magnitude quake, Haiti's worst in two centuries, struck south of the capital, Port-au-Prince, on Tuesday.

The Red Cross says up to three million people have been affected

The quake's epicentre was only 10 miles from the Capital city, Port-au-Prince, which has a population of about 1 million, and aftershocks as powerful as 5.9 rattled the city throughout the night and into today. Reports on casualties and damage were slow to get out of Haiti due to communication problems.

As the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti is ill-equipped to respond to such a disaster, lacking heavy equipment to move debris and a sufficient force of emergency personnel.

Click the headline to go to BBC reports about the disaster.

Why has it been so cold?

2010-01-13T13:46:00.001Z

The Big Chill is being blamed on a change in the position of the jet stream – the current of air that moves from west to east. In a normal British winter – when conditions are mild and soggy – the jet stream lies over northern Europe, at an altitude of between 35,000 to 50,000 feet.

During these grey winters, Britain’s prevailing winds come from the west and south west, and bring with them warm and moist air from the sub-tropical Atlantic. But since mid December, the weather patterns high in the atmosphere have changed. The jet stream has shifted south hundreds of miles and is now positioned over North Africa.

The warm westerlies that usually keep away the snow are instead giving the Mediterranean an unusually mild winter. What wind the UK has experienced has blasted in from the Arctic, or from across the cold land masses of Siberia and Eastern Europe.

Helen Chivers, of the Met Office, said: ‘Because the jet stream is so far south, we have now got two areas of high pressure bringing cold weather to Britain.

‘One is over Greenland, and the other is over Russia. We are stuck in an area of low pressure between them and we are getting northerly winds from the Arctic and northern Scandinavia.’

No one knows why the jet stream has shifted so far south. Some believe its location may be linked to the emerging El Nino weather phenomena – where the surface temperatures of the Pacific periodically get warmer.

The Met Office said yesterday that the cold snap has nothing to do with climate change – but is part of the normal ebb and flow of normal local weather.

Read more here

You can also look at the BBC special report on the big freeze by clicking this link. It has lots of very useful information.

It's cold! A million Scottish sheep could die!

2010-01-07T20:10:00.000Z

Welcome back to school and using the blog! I was going to put some information about the cold weather up here, but I'm sure you've all seen and heard of the main effects - travel disruption, schools closed, people staying off work and so on, so I looked for something a little more unusual......

Scottish farmers fear that up to a million sheep face being starved or frozen to death after being caught out on exposed hillsides.

The National Farmers' Union in Scotland said about a third of the country's sheep were on hills and warned that many flocks were "on a real knife edge". After weeks of snow and sub-zero temperatures, conditions are expected to worsen this weekend, with the cold lasting for at least another week.

The warning came as some dairy farmers had to dump milk and add it to their slurry after milk tankers were unable to reach them because local roads had become impassable.

Copenhagen Conference on Climate change ends

2009-12-19T12:56:00.000Z

The 2 week conference on Climate Change has finally finished. There have been some agreements reached, but also so disappointment that not enough has been done. At the moment, the agreements are NOT legally binding and need further discussion.

Here is a summary of what has happened:

President Obama said a "meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough" had been reached between the US and China, Brazil, India and South Africa.

Reports suggest the following points were agreed

• A commitment from wealthy and key developing nations to limit global warming to 2C

• Between $25bn and $30bn in climate funds for poorer nations over the period 2010-12, with an annual sum of $100bn envisaged by 2020

• A way to check each country's compliance with its commitment to curb greenhouse gas emissions

Five countries agreed the deal - what about the rest of the world?

The 193 nations gathered in Copenhagen are due to vote on the agreement shortly. It is not clear how many will back it. Tuvalu delegate Ian Fry, whose country is one of those most at risk from rising sea levels, said the deal sounded like "30 pieces of silver to sell our future" and rejected it. Venezuelan representative Claudia Salerno Caldera described the US-brokered deal as a "coup" against the UN

Click the headline to find out more answers to common questions about the conference

Copenhagen Conference: Discussions not going too well

2009-12-17T10:33:00.000Z

The hour of truth loomed Thursday at the UN climate talks where countries had to draw a line under squabbles to nail down a deal ahead of one of the largest gatherings of world leaders in history.
With just hours to go before some 120 leaders are called to seal an agreement to roll back the rise in Earth's temperature, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was receiving "bad news" from Copenhagen.
"At the moment, the negotiations do not look promising but I of course hope that the presence of more than 100 heads of state and government can give the necessary impetus to the event," Merkel said in Berlin.
Wealthy nations pledged some 22 billion dollars late Wednesday to help bankroll the war on global warming, with Japan leading the way by promising to stump up a whopping 1.75 trillion yen (19.5 billion dollars) to developing nations on climate change if a comprehensive deal is reached at Copenhagen.
But the announcements could not mask the huge differences still dividing rich nations and the developing world over how to shoulder the burden.
Some of the bitterest exchanges at the 12-day conference have been between the United States and China, the world's two biggest polluters.
"It's proceeding at a snail's pace right now," Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said after talking into the small hours with Ethiopian leader Meles Zenawi on funds to help developing nations.

Eruption at Mayon Volcano imminent say experts

2009-12-16T14:07:00.000Z

The Mayon volcano in the Philippines, which has blown its top nearly 40 times in 400 years, menaced nearby residents with small eruptions of ash and lava on Wednesday as Philippine authorities moved more than 30,000 people to shelters in case of a larger eruption.
Trickles of lava rolled down the 8,070-foot mountain towering over the Albay Gulf in the central Philippines, while five new ash explosions, one of them reaching 550 yards in the air, shook Mayon's steep slopes.
During the day, the summit (the top of the volcano) is shrouded in white clouds of dust and ash, and dark orange lava becomes clearly visible in the nighttime. Residents of Legazpi city on the foothills of the cone-shaped mountain converge in a downtown park at night to watch the spectacle from a safe distance.

Look to the left to see video footage of the volcano

Will there ever be a way of preventing HIV?

2009-12-16T13:54:00.000Z

Hopes of a breakthrough that would allow women to protect themselves from HIV have been dashed with today's revelation from a large, British-funded trial that a promising drug has turned out to be ineffective.

Britain's Medical Research Council (MRC) and the department for international development (DfID) had backed the trial in four African countries, involving 9,385 women. But after four years and significant investment, scientists have been forced to conclude that the PRO 2000 gel does not prevent HIV/Aids. Dr Sheena McCormack of the MRC, chief investigator of the trial, said they were deeply disappointed, but that the search must go on.

A microbicide, in the form of a cream or gel that kills the virus, would give women in Africa and Asia the power to defend themselves against HIV given the refusal of many men to wear condoms. The trials in Africa showed that both men and women found its use acceptable.
Expectations were raised in March when a smaller US-led trial of PRO 2000, involving 3,099 women, found a 30% reduction in infections, but the actual numbers of people who became HIV positive were not large enough to give conclusive results.
"I have to say then we got quite excited," said McCormack. "But in a big trial you get closer to the truth, and unfortunately the truth is it didn't work. It is bitterly disappointing for us, but it will inform the way we go forward."
Half the participants were given PRO 2000 while the other half got an inactive gel. There were 130 infections among those who used the real thing and 123 among those who had the inactive gel. The UK Government £14m to the MRC, Imperial College and five African countries in 2002. The final cost to DfID of the PRO 2000 trial has been £40m, with £2m from the MRC – a substantial sum, but tiny compared with the cost of pharmaceutical company trials.

About 2.7 million people were infected with HIV last year. A number of African countries have run out of money to put newly diagnosed people on drugs to keep them alive and will struggle to continue to treat those already taking them if donations fall because of the economic crisis. There is a danger, said McCormack, that it is "going to go wrong again for Africa".
If PRO 2000 had worked, it could have been made available cheaply over the counter to any woman who wanted it.

What is HIV? Click here to find out more

For the latest ews about HIV and AIDS click here

Philippine volcano fears force thousands to evacuate

2009-12-15T22:39:00.000Z

More than 20,000 people have evacuated homes in the Philippines after lava and ash flowed from one of the nation's most active volcanoes.
Soldiers and police directed the evacuation from around the foothills of Mayon volcano amid concerns that a big eruption could occur at any moment.
Philippine officials raised the alert level for Mayon on Monday.
Mayon, 330km (206 miles) south-east of the capital Manila, has erupted 48 times since records began.
The head of the disaster relief operations in the region, Cedric Daep, said the authorities aimed to evacuate nearly 50,000 people from villages within eight kilometres of the volcano by Thursday.

In pictures: Filipinos flee
He said that after a series of ash puffs and ash explosions up to 1,000m high, a major explosion could not be ruled out.

Copenhagen Conference: Signs of progress after talks with African group lead to proposals for climate fund

2009-12-15T22:34:00.000Z

Gordon Brown became the first world leader to fly into Copenhagen tonight, aiming to break through one of the greatest obstacles to a climate change treaty: who should pay to tackle global warming.
With the UN talks balanced on a knife edge, the prime minister said they had three days to "shape the future of humanity".
As the high-level political part of the summit began, its Danish president, Connie Hedegaard, said: "In these very hours we are balancing between success and failure. Success is within reach. But I must also warn you: we can fail."
Delegates at the summit are nervously awaiting fresh versions of the draft treaty (agreement) which more than 115 world leaders will want to finalise by Friday.
The first sign of progress could come tomorrow with the Ethiopia's prime minister, Meles Zenawi, expected to announce proposals for climate change funding that some rich and poor countries have agreed on. Developing countries say they need billions of dollars to cope with rising sea levels and extreme temperatures, and to move to clean energy technologies

Copenhagen Conference Day 5: EU agrees climate pledge, led by UK and France

2009-12-11T12:30:00.000Z

EU nations are set to commit more than €2bn (£1.8bn) a year to help poorer countries cope with global warming, the leaders of Britain and France indicated today as they sought to bolster UN climate talks in Copenhagen.
The UK prime minister, Gordon Brown, and president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, said their two countries would contribute the bulk of that sum and were trying to persuade smaller members of the 27-state European Union to pledge more.
EU leaders failed on Thursday to come up with a firm figure for the fund, an embarrassing setback for a bloc that has seen itself as a trailblazer in the fight against global warming. Smaller eastern European states are reluctant to donate as they struggle with public sector debt and rising unemployment in the wake of the financial crisis.
The climate aid is intended to go towards a global $10bn (£6bn) annual fund for short-term help to poor countries, particularly in Africa. It would begin in January and run for three years, when any new climate treaty emerging from Copenhagen would come into force.

Click on the title for more information and to see a press conference by Brown and Sarkozy

Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change, Day 4: Vulnerable and poorer countries clash with the richer countries

2009-12-10T15:41:00.000Z

More than half the world's countries say they are determined not to sign up to any deal that allows temperatures to rise by more than 1.5C, as opposed to 2C, which the major economies (richer and powerful countries) would prefer.

But any agreement to reach that target would require massive and rapid cuts in greenhouse gas emissions combined with removal of CO2 in the atmosphere. An extra 0.5C drop in temperatures would require vastly deeper cuts in carbon dioxide and up to £6.5 trillion extra in energy-related investment by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.

Today the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis), a grouping of 43 of the smallest and most vulnerable countries, including Tuvalu, said any rise of more than 1.5C was not negotiable at Copenhagen. They are backed by 48 of the least developed nations.

But the UN conference chief, Yvo de Boer, implied this morning that the proposal had little chance of being adopted. "It is theoretically possible that the conference will agree to hold temperatures to 1.5C but most industrialised countries have pinned their hopes on 2C," he said.

Click here for photos of the conference and more information

25 year anniversary of the worlds worst industrial accident (Bhopal, India)

2009-12-04T12:12:00.000Z

People in the Indian city of Bhopal have been marking 25 years since a leak at a gas plant killed thousands and left many more seriously ill. Activists and survivors marched through the city, chanting slogans against the government and Union Carbide - the US firm that owned the plant at the time.

The incident was the worst industrial disaster in history. Forty tonnes of a toxin called methyl isocyanate leaked from the factory and settled over slums on 3 December 1984.

Campaigners say at least 15,000 were killed within days and that the effects of the gas continue to this day.

The site of the former pesticide plant is now abandoned. The state government of Madhya Pradesh took it over in 1998, but environmentalists say poison is still found there.

Campaigners say Bhopal has an unusually high incidence of children with birth defects and growth deficiency, as well as cancers, diabetes and other chronic illnesses.

No-one has ever stood trial over what happened at Bhopal.

Twenty years ago, the American company, Union Carbide paid $470m (£282m) in compensation to the Indian government.

Click on the headline to see a short video of the effects of the disaster

Nepal Government hold cabinet meeting on Mount Everest

2009-12-04T12:01:00.000Z

Nepal's cabinet met on Mount Everest today to highlight the threat of global warming to the glaciers and mountains of the Himalayas.

The government, represented by ministers wearing thick jackets, woolen hats and in some cases oxygen masks, endorsed a resolution on climate change in the bright sunshine of a Himalayan morning before flying back.

The 20-minute meeting, which took place under the shadow of the peak of Mount Everest, comes in advance of next week's key climate change summit in Copenhagen. The political stunt comes after a cabinet meeting held underwater in October by Maldivian ministers which drew attention to the risk the Indian Ocean island-state faces from rising seas.

On the Himalayan slopes, ministers posed for pictures, signed a commitment to tighten environmental regulations and pledged to expand the nation's conservation areas.

"Due to global climate change and its effects, the entire human civilisation is faced with additional challenges for their survival" said the prime minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal told reporters.

Nepal, which sits between China and India, is home to Everest, the world's tallest peak, and eight more of the world's 14 highest mountains. Global warming, say many experts, could see glaciers on the roof of the world melt away – threatening the water and food security for 1.5 billion people downstream in south Asia.

Dark roads will lead to brighter future says pollution commission

2009-11-28T12:06:00.000Z

Street and motorway lights should be dimmed or switched off to save energy and let people see the stars, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution says.

It says there is little evidence that such lighting significantly cuts accidents or crime. It recommends the removal of thousands of motorway lights, possibly even at junctions. The report says that since 1993 most of the UK has become brighter, obscuring the stars, and it backs a recent paper in the scientific journal Nature that said: “Without a direct view of the stars, mankind is cut off from most of the Universe, deprived of any direct sense of its huge scale and our tiny place in it.”

The commission proposes “dark- sky parks” all over Britain, with planning restrictions on outdoor lighting. The Galloway Forest Park in southern Scotland this month became Britain’s first official dark-sky park, with 7,000 stars visible there, compared with 500 in Glasgow.

It says that the planned replacement of 2.3 million of Britain’s 7.4 million road lights in the next two years is “a real opportunity for local authorities to think about minimising the negative impacts of stray light”.

It says motorway lighting reduces crashes by about 10 per cent and that this may be too low to justify the costs. It welcomes the Highways Agency’s trials of switching off lighting on six stretches of motorway between midnight and 5am. The trials began in March and have so far reduced carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation by 230 tonnes, equal to 100 cars’ annual emissions

Satellites to monitor countries for climate change under Gordon Brown plan

2009-11-28T11:53:00.000Z

Last night at a meeting in Trinidad Gordon Brown reached agreement with Commonwealth leaders and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, to put forward a new £10 billion fund to tackle what Mr Brown said was “a climate emergency.”

He said the Launch Fund would allow the world to break the “deadlock” over a deal at Copenhagen (the conference starts next week) and “get moving on climate change as quickly as possible”.

Mr Brown said: “'Together the collective power of the Commonwealth must be brought together to tackle a new historic injustice, that of climate change.”

Ahead of the UN-sponsored climate change conference in the Danish capital, Mr Brown proposed a £10 billion rich-world fund - to which Britain would contribute £800 million - to give incentives to developing countries to halt deforestation, develop low-carbon energy sources and prepare for the effects of a warmer climate.

To police the new deal satellites would monitor countries, like Papua New Guinea, Guyana and Indonesia, responsible for deforestation. Any country found not to be abiding by the deal would have their funding halted.

But some countries, not least China, are likely to be very wary of allowing international satellites to spy on their country.

Floods in Cumbria: Army could build WW2 Bailey bridges

2009-11-23T15:24:00.000Z

An emergency meeting is being held by the County Council this afternoon to discuss ways of bridging the Derwent at Workington, where residents currently face a 40-mile detour if they want to get from one side of the river to the other.
Structural engineers have told the council that prefabricated bridges could be built over the Derwent in a matter of days, if necessary, as they are strong enough to cross the river in a single span. Bailey bridges, named after their inventor, Donald Bailey, have been in use since the Second World War, when their light, modular design enabled soldiers to piece together bridges in a matter of hours without the need for cranes or specialist equipment. They are designed to hold the weight of a tank, and were credited by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery as being one of the most important inventions of the war

Revision - Mind Maps

2009-11-23T15:10:00.001Z

Year 11 - see if you can use the mind map technique to help you revise for your mock exams. Mr Bains' Year 10 group - remember you have a piece of homework to draw a mind map about Coastal Defences.

Look at the example provided here and remember the key ideas:

1. Use different colours for the arrows - a different theme should have a different colour (in the example you can see the light blue arrows are all to do with things that can be done in the home to reduce global warming, the green arrows are things that people can do as individuals and the black arrow is all about transport and climate change)

2. Have different size writing - make the more important information larger in size than the less important information

3. Use pictures and few words - only have the key facts and key words on your mind map. They should trigger memories and thoughts and help you remember the important information

Hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes in Cumbria after flooding of 'biblical proportions'.

2009-11-20T22:02:00.000Z

Record rainfall of 12.3 inches fell in the area in just 24 hours, causing rivers to burst their banks and flood waters to rise to 2.5m in some streets.
Hundreds of stranded residents have been rescued from their homes, roads have been blocked and four bridges have collapsed.
Workington MP Tony Cunningham said the flood was "of biblical proportions" and seen "once every 1,000 years".
The Environment Agency has six severe flood warnings in place - all in Cumbria - 29 flood warnings, and 65 less serious flood watches. More rain is expected on higher fells in Cumbria and across areas of the UK later today.
Flooding has also been reported in north-west Wales, Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland and other parts of north-west England.

Click on the title to go to photos of the floods and more information

Copenhagen Conference on Climate change - 4 weeks to go!

2009-11-10T16:59:00.000Z

There are just over four weeks to go before the Copenhagen conference intended to agree a new international framework for controlling greenhouse gas emissions. The final round of preparatory talks in Barcelona has revealed deep divisions between some of the key participants.

What is the Copenhagen Conference?
It will run between December the 7th and 18th
192 countries will be represented
There will be 15,000 officials from around the world

What are they hoping to achieve?
They want to agree targets for the richer and poorer countries to cut greenhouse gases (which cause Climate change)
They want to agree funding for poorer countries to help them cut their greenhouse gas emissions

Click on the title to see a table of the differing viewpoints from around the world.

More information can be found by clicking this link

91 die in El Salvador floods

2009-11-08T22:35:00.000Z

At least 91 people have been killed in El Salvador by flooding following days of heavy rain, the government says.

Authorities have declared a state of emergency in five regions

Journalist Juan Carlos Barahona told the BBC that San Vicente had almost been completely cut off by landslides and collapsed bridges.

Mr Barahona, of the El Salvador daily La Prensa Grafica, told the BBC that the other worst affected areas were La Libertad, La Paz and Cuscatlan.

60 people are still missing, and about 7,000 more are in shelters.

Environmental issues in China - Year 13 homework

2009-11-04T12:38:00.000Z

Use this website on China to help you with your Superpower Geographies homework (due Tuesday 10th November). Have a look at the interactive map, videos and article (it's a bit long at 6 pages, but useful) and make a list of all the environmental problems that China have as a result of their rapid growth and emergence as a superpower.

ps - go down to the "Slideshare" widget on the left hand panel for past exam papers if you need some for the re-takes. Mark schemes are there as well.

Deadline for fieldtrips this week

2009-11-01T21:38:00.000Z

A quick reminder to Year 10 and Year 12 students.......payments and slips are due for the fieldtrips by the end of this week. It is essential that slips are back and your parents should contact Mr Bains at school is they have any issues.

Ask your teacher if you have lost your letter.

Interactive Atlas of the Millenium Development Goals

2009-11-01T21:33:00.001Z

Have a look at this resource. It has been produced by the World Bank and shows how each country around the world fares against the Millenium Goals. This Online Atlas of the Millenium Development Goals takes each goal and resizes the world map to show the inequalities that currently exist.just click on one of the development goals on the right hand side of the screen, select a map and then resize it by clicking 'play'. The results are fascinating.

Copenhagen (Denmark) Summit, December 2009

2009-10-27T12:49:00.000Z

You may have heard of the Copenhagen summit (a meeting) that is due to take place in Decemember. What's this summit all about? Well, basically 192 countries will be getting together in order to discuss climate change and set targets for CO2 reductions. It is a very important meeting and chance for the world to take action on Climate change before it is too late. Keep an eye out for news of the summit. There are some useful links below that will keep you informed of the latest news.

This BBC page has lots of really useful information about the summit and will keep you up to date on what is going on

This is the Guardian newspapers special site dedicated to what is happening in Copenhagen

Click here for a 5 minute clip from the BBC about the lead up to the summit

Plan to freeze the world's coral

2009-10-27T12:38:00.000Z

Scientists reckon the world's coral is disappearing so fast they should freeze samples of it for the future.
They say that climate change is causing coral reefs to die off really quickly, because of changes to the water temperature and acidity.
The plan would be to freeze the coral, store it and then put it back into the oceans later on.
Coral is really important because loads of fish and other animals live in and around the reefs.
Millions of people also need the coral reefs to make money.
In a meeting in Denmark, scientists said that most coral reefs will not survive, even if tough rules to try to stop climate change are put in place.

BBC report about the same story

Click here to take a BBC sea and oceans quiz

Click here for an older story about coral from May 2009

'Day after tomorrow' map produced

2009-10-22T21:16:00.000+01:00

This map has been produced by the Met Office and basically says Britain faces rising sea levels, floods and drought unless more is done to stop climate change. It predicts temperature rises may reach the dangerous tipping point by 2060 unless more is done to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Click on the map to see a larger version