Alphabet of Nations

Try this video from You Tube.



Personally I would have said 'West Xylophone' didn't exist but there is a website....
http://westxylophone.com/

Just proves you can't believe everything you read on the internet!

Thanks to Miss Ellis, a Geography teacher in Derbyshire for pointing this out!

Penguins and seals

You can find the webcam for South Georgia by clicking here

Are there any seals or penguins in front of the camera at the moment?

Bhopal - an industrial accident

The following information may help year 10 complete their homework on the Bhopal industrial incident in India in December 1984:

The factory was owned by Union Carbide, a U.S. owned multinational company. The factory produced pesticides (Sevin) which were needed by India to help increase food supplies for a rapidly growing population.

On the 3rd December 1984 a series of events led to a chemical reaction and escaping MIC gas which killed and maimed thousands.

There were several failures in the safety procedures which led to the disaster. If any of these had been in place, the disaster may have been prevented, or the effects may have been reduced:
 Sections of pipelines being cleaned should have been isolated – this was not done
 Gauges in the central control room were not working properly (cost-cutting by the company?)
 For 6 weeks prior to the accident the pressure gauge for the MIC tank was showing ‘no pressure’. This was ignored as a faulty gauge but in fact there was a leaky tank (and if air could get out then water could get in!)
 MIC (the chemical) needs to be kept cool. The cooling system had been switched off (under orders from the Senior Management) since May 1984.
 The vent gas scrubber, which neutralises toxic gases before they are released into the atmosphere, was switched off for maintenance.

The disaster occurred because water used to flush out some pipes found its way through the main pipeline system and into the MIC tanks. Here it mixed with the MIC and the resulting chemical reaction led to the leaking of the toxic gas cloud over Bhopal.

Who was to blame?
You decide……
 Was it Union Carbide for failing to have adequate safety procedures in place?
 Was it the local people for building shanty settlements so close to the factory? (Something that wouldn’t have been allowed with planning restrictions in a MEDC)
 Was it the Indian government for failing to check that safety procedures were in place?
 Was it a disgruntled former Union Carbide employee who sabotaged the plant? (as the company claimed?)

What were the effects?
Death, blindness, breathing problems, birth defects….. and more. Use the information given in class and any additional information from websites to find out more about the effects, including numbers of people estimated to have been killed and injured.

Websites
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bhopal/default.stm is a good starting point.

Cyclone Sidr hits Bangladesh

In the last few days, Bangladesh has been badly hit by Cyclone Sidr. There is some really useful information here including interactive guides, photos, video footage and eye witness accounts. This would make a useful case study for GCSE, AS (Climatic Hazards) and A2 (Coasts - the cyclone caused a 5m storm surge). BBC coverage is here and includes information about the management of the cyclone here . There is also an animated guide to cyclones.

Oil Spill in California

In the news today - oil spill in California. read about the spill and the clean up operation here.

African migrants die in Atlantic

In July 2006 a boatload of African migrants reached the Canary Islands and were helped by tourists on the beach. This week at least 47 migrants were found dead after failing to reach the Canaries and drifting in the Atlantic for two weeks without enough food and water. Read the full story from the BBC website here.

Interactive maps

A superb interactive world map showing data from the world bank can be found here.

Which parts of Africa are richer than others? Click on the map to see!


Ever wondered what some places in Europe are actually like? try the interactive European tourism map here Click on a location to see pictures and short video clips of the places.

Thanks to two Geography teachers from Preston and Woodcote (near Reading) for these links!

East Coast Storm Surge

Earlier today, the largest storm surge since 1953 was predicted for the east coast of England. In 1953 several hundred people were killed by flood waters, as very high tides coincided with a deep depression bringing northerly winds that caused the sea to breach flood defences and inundate the land. Today, there were plenty of warnings to people living along the coast, and many homes were evacuated. This article from the BBC explains what happened, and why people were evacuated. Even though the storm surge was not as bad as predicted, the waves were still impressive - there are some good pictures here.

Thinking of a Geography degree?

A really helpful new site from the Royal Geographical Society....
http://studygeography.rgs.org/

Websites for Three Gorges Dam

Here are the websites I promised my A2 group today.....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/0,,1799355,00.html (excellent site with the flash movie intro and a special report)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/aug/08/endangeredspecies.conservation
Yangtze river dolphin declared extinct (Aug 2007)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwFGyzllCJg
Three gorges documentary style clip from You Tube shown in the lesson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ypN7lDhCZk&mode=related&search=
the time lapse three gorges dam from you Tube shown in the lesson

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5000198.stm
social impacts of the dam from the BBC

http://www.threegorgesprobe.org/tgp/index.cfm very detailed information (don’t get bogged down with TOO much info!)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Fantastic pictures from around the world

Thanks to Alan Parkinson (Head of Geography in Norfolk) for pointing out this fabulous site - 336,458 photos so far (and rising) from around the world - some fantastic pictures......
Click on the website link to take you there...

www.woophy.com/map/index.php

Methods of flood control

Year 8 - here is the powerpoint that will help you with your assessment (hopefully!)

Has China's One Child Policy been successful?

How successful has China's 'One Child Policy' been? A recent report says it has prevented 400 million births but China may be storing up problems for the future. Read more about it from the BBC here.

Two approaches to a declining and ageing population....

Japan have an ageing population and have decided robots may be the solution. read the whole story here.

Meanwhile, in Russia, they are worried they may lose 40 million people, a third of their population, by the middle of the century. Read about their unusual solution to raise the birth rate here.

Migrant workers face English test

An article from the BBC today (here) says that skilled migrant workers to England are going to have to take an English test.

"The government estimates 35,000 of the 95,000 skilled migrants who entered the UK last year would not have been able to show they could speak the language."
but.... "Exemptions will include international footballers signed by Premiership clubs."

Strange maps

Here's one way maps can be used to show something different! This map shows the life expectancy of different states by renaming them with countries with the same life expectancy. You'll probably have to click on the map to get a slightly more legible version!
I found it at http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/page/2/

Hurricane Dean

Normally I'm a little bit jealous of my sister who lives in the Cayman Islands. However, over the weekend, she and her sons have had to leave the island because of the imminent arrival of Hurricane Dean. It is expected to hit Cayman today, at Category 4, possibly 5 (the Saffir Simpson scale which is used to measure hurricane strength only goes up to category 5!). You can track the progress of Dean here - http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/#DEAN - it's already hit Jamaica, and is on its way to the popular tourist resort of Cancun in Mexico. The BBC website has a number of links worth looking at, like http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6955163.stm(news story), http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/6952773.stm (eye witness accounts) and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6956117.stm(for pictures). Makes our dismal "summer" that we've had this year not seem so bad!!

Foot and mouth disease update

The strain of diasease has now been identified and it is identical to that used at the Institute for Animal Health, at Pirbright, three miles from the farm. Defra could not say the laboratory was the source but has increased the size of the protection and surveillance zones covering farms in the area. (from BBC news website)

The map below shows the new, enlarged protection and surveillance zones. The map can be enlarged using the tool on the top of the 'scribd' page below (map from Defra)

Foot and mouth disease found on a farm near Guildford

Foot and mouth disease has been discovered on a farm close to Guildford.

This is taken from the BBC website: "Cattle at a farm in Surrey have been found to be infected with foot-and-mouth disease. Animals on the farm near Guildford have tested positive for the disease which swept the UK and wreaked havoc in 2001. A 3km protection zone has been put in place around the premises and a UK ban imposed on movement of all livestock."

Read the full story here and now updated here which includes a link to the map below (where it is much clearer!)

The map below shows the 3km protection zone and the 10km surveillance zone that have been put in place. This information is taken from Defra. (http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/fmd/pdf/declaration-pz-sz-rz-070803.pdf)

Cycling around the world

How would you feel about cycling 18,000 miles? On Sunday 5th August 2007, Mark Beaumont will cycle out of Paris on a solo attempt to break the 18,000 mile World Record to become the fastest person to have ever circumnavigated the globe by bicycle. You will be able to follow the full adventure as it happens by clicking on his website here

He plans to beat the current world record which is 276 days 19 hrs 15 min - just over 9 months. Mark is planning to smash this by cycling around the globe in under 210 days. This seven month race will include 20 countries through Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australasia and North America. We wish him luck!

Floods in Southern Asia

We aren't the only ones experiencing difficulties with floods at the moment. Weeks of torrential rain, landslides and floods in China have left more than 700 people dead and forced about 5 million others to flee their homes.
Click here and here to see more pictures from the region.

Earthquake in Japan

Today, a significant earthquake hit the island of Honshu in Japan. Tsunami warnings were issued, and a nuclear power station was damaged. Read the story here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6901213.stm

and look at some pictures here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6900355.stm

Video footage of the quake can be seen here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_6900000/newsid_6900200?redirect=6900209.stm&news=1&bbram=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1

Make your own at ProfilePitstop.com

Planet Earth as you may never have seen it before....

Thanks to coolpics from Slideshare for this....

Makes you think.....

Turn your sound on then watch the video below from You Tube....

Create pictogram using excel

For those of you doing coursework at the moment this site here might be helpful - it shows you how to create a pictogram using excel

World Population Clock

World population clock. If you click on 'Now' button the statistics start again at zero so you can see how fast things are rising.


Created by Poodwaddle.com

For those of you who wanted to see Yakko's World (the countries song) again here it is....

Find out the distance between two places.....

This might be useful, especially for those doing coursework.... click here to take you to a website where you can find out the distance between any two UK cities.