Development and Health

Two great movies here on the population topic. Just think of the first as a warning folks!
Population control?


Condom advert, India

Amazon in one Minute!

Malaria battle given $3bn boost

Malaria is the leading cause of death in children under five and the disease has far-reaching effects. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gives more to battle malaria. Donors hope the money will be enough to eradicate malaria by that time.
The money includes £598m from the World Bank and £870m from the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Malaria still kills more than a million people each year, according to the World Health Organization. Alongside the offers of money came reassurance from African leaders that efforts are working.
The president of Rwanda, said malaria deaths have fallen by more than 60% in his country. However a vaccine is still to be found and they hope this will be developed soon with the help of this money. Read the rest of this BBC article here and watch the short video.

Fishing Issues in the North Sea

On the BBC tonight. This is “Geography in your face” Around 1m tonnes of fish are dumped back in the North Sea every year - much of it because catches exceed EU fishing quotas. EU rules and regulations mean that as much as half of the fish they work so hard to catch is thrown dead, back into the water. "Quotas" limit not the amount of fish that's being caught, but the amount that is landed.
As a result, an astonishing amount of fish is being wasted because it is too big, or too small or the skipper is over quota for that particular species.
The quota system was introduced by the EU to protect threatened fish supplies. But what no-one expected was that it would result in so much waste. Read more and watch a video of this terrible situation here. More great stuff from the BBC for Geography!

Wave power

The wave farm has just been officially launched. The machines look like giant metal snakes floating in the water. At full production the company says they will be able to generate enough power for 1,500 homes. Read the BBC article here.

Development and Health

Since Higher are just about ready to start the Development and Health section, here is an old film about public health issues.

and another here about the start of the NHS. This short animation on the National Health Service Scheme stars Charley. It was to show the public how the main services would affect an ordinary family, including Charley's wife - even if he did consider her 'as strong as a blooming horse!' Census returns are essential for effective policy, planning and decision-making purposes at both national and local level. Not only do the results enable the Government to track developments over a long time with considerable accuracy, but they are essential for setting up the provision of health care, education and employment.
The first census in the United Kingdom was taken in 1801, and since then a census has been taken every 10 years apart from 1941.

Urban Change

Great cartoon here flagged up by Alan Parkinson (many thanks for the reminder). This is a good link for the settlement stuff covered by S4 recently and for Higher who have just about finished the urban section. It mentions sky scrapers and the green belt as well as the importance of planning new settlements. Remember Irvine and East Kilbride were New Towns built on exactly this model. Jobs as well as houses were planned along with shops, schools and leisure areas. New town building after the war
In the immediate post-war period 'New Towns' were considered to represent one of the main hopes for the future. Designed to help overcome overcrowded inner cities by building in less populated areas, hopes were high. It resulted in twenty-nine 'New Towns'. Twenty-three towns in England and Wales and six in Scotland, Stevenage being the first.

Careers using Geography

Great set of links here provided by a fellow blogger in USA. Many people think you can only use geography to become a teacher but the list from planner to tour operator is extensive and geography features highly in many careers nowadays. All of these are American but you can get the idea. I will do one of these for Britain soon. Try a few of these.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/3487542.cms
http://geography.about.com/od/careersingeography/a/jobsgeography.htm
http://geography.about.com/od/careersingeography/a/geogememgmt.htm
http://www.uncwil.edu/stuaff/career/Majors/geography.htm
http://www.geographyjobs.com
http://www.colorado.edu/geography/virtdept/resources/jobs/jobs.htm
https://communicate.aag.org/eseries/scriptcontent/custom/giwis/cguide
http://www.oneonta.edu/academics/geography/Gcareers.htm (long one!)

China earthquake info

Good site here providing lots of links about the Chinese earthquake May 2008 and earthquakes in general. Spend a bit of time if you are doing this one for your newspaper report. Remember – don’t just copy – put the info into your own words. Click the picture above for the site.

S1 maps

Good site here to help you with everything you need for the test at the end of this block. Save it or print it out or just revise a little bit at a time. There are lots of games too and even competitions if you want to enter. Don't get too carried away though - remeber to revise as well!

Happy map reading!

For link click the picture below.

14 stone in a day!

Now you know my sense of humour!

ITCZ movement

Great site here identified by the The Kingdown Geography Blog

Use the slider to see the dark blue rain pattern in Africa move north and south following the pattern of the sun's apparent movement in the sky. Higher will be doing this later in the year. turn on all the sections to see how the earth's atmosphere works. Nice site here too.

Map jigsaws

Thanks to Alan Parkinson for highlighting this one. Nice easy maps to look at and not too many pieces!!!! Have a go at these if you have a few minutes to spare.

Link here.

New battle over Arctic oil

With the Arctic ice-cap melting far beyond average for the second year running - and with US petrol prices above $4 per gallon - there's growing pressure to exploit the reserves beneath the seabed. Sarah Palin has her say in this report too.
A whaling captain, however, believes that drilling offshore could threaten his culture and badly affect wildlife such as the polar bears. Read the article here to see what you think.

Thanks to Richard Allaway for highlighting this video. It is a BBC docudrama. You can also follow parts 2-6 on Youtube as well. Richard warns that it may not be on for long, so watch it now if you can. Very useful for S3 and revision for S4. Prelims coming up soon!

S1 mapping revision

Thought this might help with your test revision S1. Be ready for Monday!

Britain causes crisis in China

Why? Read here and here and now watch this video here from India’s Mumbai to see recycling in action. Let the video go on to each separate part. The photos are especially good with this one.

Rock on!

Another good article from tonight’s One Show but this time all about limestone landscapes. Check this out on BBC iPlayer if you missed it. Great pics of Malham Cove for Higher and Int 2 and fabulous aerial photography. You can see this from tomorrow. Link here

When rockets go bad

How can you miss a 17 feet long crack?!!!!
Nothing to do with geography but …………….wow! This one melted car tyres and the tarmac too.

Ice Age Britain - Glaciation in the Carngorms

This is an old BBC programme which revises glaciation for S4 and S5/6. I know the programme is dated but this kind of geography never changes. Give it a go! Thanks to Val Vannet for highlighting this one. Click the photo.

China’s One Child Policy

Scottish version of this

Did Ye Ken

From: ltscotland, 1 week ago

Did Ye Ken

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: shifthappens didyouknow)

A version of the world famous 'Did You Know - Shift Happens' presentation from a Scottish context.


SlideShare Link

Deadly volcanoes

A great site here that is quick to red and gives lots of good informatio. Great for S2 who have their test next week. Look at the Deadly Volcano which is number 1. Ring any bells? Fantastic photos here too. Happy browsing!

Edinburgh's Geology/ Geography

Lovely description of Edinburgh's site on The One Show today with some great aerial views of the city. Good revision for the settlement work we finished today with S4 and the glaciation stuff you weren't so keen on before the summer holidays. Also good revision for Higher and Int 2. Try watching this on BBC iPlayer here. This will be available apparently from Friday 5th for a week.

Flags

Nice site here to spend a wee while on every now and again, Flag Identifier. Any flag you want to know or just have a look at the huge variety.
http://www.flagid.org/default.asp
Heres a couple of examples to test you. Are they Nepal, Brazil, Berlin, Thailand, Malta or Cambodia?

Amazon Programmes

Monday 15th September, Bruce Parry is back. This time, he is travelling along the Amazon, meeting some of the people who live along the river, discovering their stories, and exploring some of the issues that they face. Link here for more info about all the programmes. Now this is Geography in your face!!!!!

Climate Wars

Earth – The Climate Wars Sunday 7th September on BBC TWO.

Watch out for this one presented by Iain Stewart. You can read about what he learned and what's in store for this short series. Great revision for S4 and good for S3 doing the Environment unit right now and soon to study the weather. Couldn't be better timed! Interview with him can be found here on the BBC.

Geographers who have made their mark

Map Makers!

Map Makers!

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: geography: map)

Happy Places

The Worlds Happiest Places To Live

The Worlds Happiest Places To Live

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: businessweek causerelatedmarketing)

There are some lovely pics here. No sign of Scotland being a happy place? Thanks to Alan Parkinson for pointing out this one.

Non-renewable resource – OIL

Good video here about oil. Bear with it and look at the cheesy advert for Ford cars just about half way through and the sexist advert at the end too. Still worth a look though.

The Sahara Garden

Vast greenhouses that use seawater to grow crops could be combined with solar power plants to provide food, fresh water and clean energy in deserts. It uses mirrors to focus the sun's rays and generate heat and electricity.
The Sahara Forest project will use seawater and solar power to grow food in greenhouses across the desert. The greenhouses work by using the solar farm to power seawater evaporators and then pump the damp, cool air through the greenhouse. This reduces the temperature by about 15C compared to that outside. At the other end of the greenhouse from the evaporators, the water vapour is condensed. Some of this fresh water is used to water the crops, while the rest can be used for the essential task of cleaning the solar mirrors. The nutrients to grow the plants could come from local seaweed or even be extracted from the seawater itself. Read the full article from the Guardian here.

Gustav does its worst, but New Orleans survives

New Orleans appeared yesterday to have been narrowly spared a repeat of the devastation of Katrina three years ago when Hurricane Gustav weakened. While Gustav failed to live up to the terrifying standards set by Katrina, it still left communal and political chaos in its wake. Almost 2 million people fled the Gulf of Mexico, the largest evacuation of its kind, turning New Orleans and other coastal communities into virtual ghost towns. New Orleans enacted a dawn-to-dusk curfew designed to prevent the looting which broke out in 2005. In further echoes of Katrina, the streets of the city were lined by heavily armed police officers.
Read the article here.

Development

Millennium Development Goals

http://blip.tv/file/835101
Movie by Richard Allaway about the Gapminder site I have mentioned before. Link here
End Poverty by 2015 and eat ice cream too!!!!
See this site to find out what I mean
http://www.endpoverty2015.org/benjerry

Great site here from the BBC on poverty and showing the massive contrasts between rich and poor. Good for S2 to have a look and certainly S4 and S5/6. Look at each section.
The girl effect
Great, simple film and very effective.

Save the World?

Throwaway razors and nappies should be taxed as luxuries, says Defra (Dept for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs). Disposable razors and nappies could be taxed as luxury goods in order to cut the amount of waste going to landfill. If disposable razors were taxed at the same rate as cigarettes – about 80 per cent of the price goes to the government – a single Gillette Mach 3 would leap from £1 to £5. What do you think of this idea? It also suggests imposing taxes on disposable items such as paper plates and nappies. Some three billion disposable nappies are thrown away every year in the UK, accounting for 4 per cent of all household waste. Read the complete article here