Clipperton Project Update

For those of you that have been following the progress of the Clipperton project will be please to watch the new trailer which shows the findings of the group's recent expedition earlier this year!

The Clipperton Project is a multi-disciplinary, international arts and science project which aims to take outstanding practitioners in the arts and sciences on expeditions to little-studied, inaccessible and complex territories which have been isolated by history.

Cultural attitudes to the environment & risk

In her latest work, Naomi Klein wonders: What makes our culture so prone to the reckless high-stakes gamble, and why are women so frequently called upon to clean up the mess.

What makes our cultutal attitude to the envionment lead to conflict and risk?

http://www.naomiklein.org/main

Arctic melt releasing ancient methane

Scientists have identified thousands of sites in the Arctic where methane that has been stored for many millennia is bubbling into the atmosphere.This article is a good link to Edexcel Unit 1 World at Risk to show the possible impacts of global warming and positive feedback mechanisms...



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18120093

An Ocean of troubles - our attitude to the ocean environment

To what extent does the state of our oceans depict the global attitude to the environment?

Last night Simon Reeve's Indian Ocean programme  highlighted the state of the oceans in the tourist hot spot of the Maldives and how some islands are being used for waste dumping!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18073917

http://www.economist.com/node/21554490

6.0 Earthquake in Bologna Italy

An earthquake in northern Italy has killed at least six people and caused serious damage to buildings in several towns, officials have said.The 6.0-magnitude quake struck in the middle of the night, about 35km (22 miles) north of the city of Bologna.

Questions to consider:
i) Why so few deaths?
ii) What has the response been like?
iii) Is the loss of cultural heritage a significant impact & to what extent can cultural hertiage be protected from natural hazrads?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18136437




http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16231626

Ecological footprint

An ecological footprint measures the total amount of land and resources used, it includes your carbon footprint but goes further.See how your choices affect the environment and whether you are living beyond the capacity of the planet by clicking here - http://www.ecologicalfootprint.com/

The Economist provdies an excellent spatial overview:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/05/daily-chart-10?fsrc=scn/tw/te/dc/bigfoot

Charles Rothschild & UK Conservation

An interesting centenary marking the impact of one individual's attitude to the environment and how it defined a nation's approach to conservation:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18013101

Culture & conflict over the environment

Another excellent case study on how cultural attitudes and values (economic versus environmental especially) lead to conflict in one of the world's most charged regions. This case study is an excellent example of the environment as a contested category and how different cultures view the vital resource of water - economic development & geopolitics versus indigenous cultural rights versus environmental value (biodiversity). The map link here shows a classic case of upstream versus downstream conflict & dispute (http://mapsof.net/map/jordan-river-map).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11101797

Friends o the earth Middle east provide a good overview of the situation, admittedly from an environmental perspective: http://foeme.org/www/?module=projects&record_id=23

Opinion: Cultural cooperation is key to this area in order to preserve the cultural heritage from a multi-faith perspective!

Other opinions suggest that Israel is violating the human rights of indigenous Palestinians by not only occupying territory but also denying water access to the Palestinians - however, this is the opinion of Amnesty and it is a very divisive & debated issue!

Whose water is it?

Fred Pearce's article provides an excellent service in highlighting the chronic problems around the world of excessive groundwater exploitation - but it may not be taking us much further forward in finding solutions...what's your opinion?

Check out this month's New Scientist - Whose water is it? Very good for water security and conflicts.

Brazil's new forest law: short term economic gains over long term environmental security?

Despite the countless geographical case studies, the radical environmental groups and lobbyists and a global increased environmental awareness, it saddens me to read that yet another emerging superpower, one of the BRICs nonetheless, has chosen to put economics over environmental protection.  After over a year of political wrangling Brazil's government have passed a law ( 247-184) which eases rules on how much land farmers must preserve as forest. Now, i know it is easy for me with my Western perspective to sit here an chastise the Brazilian government for following the lead of the hegemonic USA and post industrial attitude of China, but having been and for a short timed lived in the Amazonian rain forest i feel it will be the TNC loggers rather than the indigenous tribes who will reap the rewards.

Once again this issue touches upon the wider themes of how societies (and cultures) view and subsequently protect the environment. With the law now passed it will be interesting, yet very sad to watch how deforestataion rates possibly increase even more over the coming decade and taking a particular morbid line i wonder how many more incidents of this will occur: Loggers 'burned Amazon tribe girl alive'

Fracking - extreme energy exploration & resoirce exploitation

Is fracking a game changer?

The Deepwater Horizon disaster proved the dangers of searching for our oil and gas in ever more challenging environments. Oil companies that had been keen to explore in deeper, colder and more isolated waters have been forced to take a step back and reconsider their options.

Their response has been to launch an extraordinary land grab, buying up the rights to explore vast tracts of the US and Europe in search of unconventional oil and gas. From Lancashire to Gdansk and New York to the Rockies enormous reserves of shale gas lurk temptingly close to the centres of population. Recent advances in extraction techniques have launched an industry in the US and persuaded the major oil companies to begin prospecting expeditions throughout Europe.

The advantages are obvious, removing our dependence on the Middle East, cutting back on the costs of transport and transmission. The disadvantages are less obvious but could be fatally insurmountable. In the US shale gas producers are blamed for poisoning water courses and even causing earthquakes.
Exploratory drilling is already happening within sight of the Blackpool Tower so the need to consider the pitfalls and potentially enormous prizes of land-based oil and gas in the UK is urgent.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tmtwh

Feedback comments from various newspaper sources include:

Against

 With respect to fracking, earthquakes are the least of our worries. Fracking involves drilling 1,800 metres down, then horizontally the same distance. Water, sand and chemicals are forced down the hole, the pressure splitting the shale and releasing the gas. The gas forces 40 per cent of the liquid back up the shaft, now contaminated with volatile chemicals and harmful carcinogenic metals. The really negative effects come from contamination of water and soil, as seen in Pennsylvania in 2010: sick animals and people, contaminated crops and air pollution. The promised job creation will be outweighed by job losses in agriculture and tourism: crops will be blacklisted, property devalued and landscapes scarred. An outright ban on fracking, as in France and Germany, is the only sensible answer.

There are hundreds of documented cases in the US of shale gas fracturing leading directly to water contamination, in some cases so severe that domestic water supplies became flammable. If there's even a tiny chance of this happening in the UK, I would expect the Department for Energy and Climate Change to imprison those responsible.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letters-fracking--only-a-ban-will-do-7654717.html

For

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/facing_frack_hysteria_PWwcCDKjR1BxHCVNDT7ARO

It boosts overall worldwide gas supplies and can help to reduce market cost. Shale is not anticipated to supply a large proportion of Britain's gas needs, but it is contributing to a worldwide flow of gas that has halved gas prices in the US domestic market, and led to a glut in world markets. It's estimated to have offered gas security to the US and Canada for about 100 years, and has presented an opportunity to generate electricity at half the CO2 emissions of coal. Exploration companies are also claiming there is a potential £70bn of reserves in rocks deep under south Wales.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14432401

Andaman Islands tribe threatened by lure of mass tourism

The clash of cultures and erosion of values:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/07/andaman-islands-tribe-tourism-threat?newsfeed=true

Another Lake Nyos disaster....?

More than 1,000 people died in 1986 when a lake in Cameroon released a cloud of CO2 that suffocated entire villages. A much larger lake in Rwanda - with two million people living nearby - is also at risk of eruption, but plans are afoot to make it safer. Click here



http://www.geo.arizona.edu/geo5xx/geos577/projects/kayzar/html/lake_nyos_disaster.html
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/lake-nyos.htm

Transition to a world without oil

Different ways of measuring tectonic events...

Ok say ask any budding geographer how do you measure tectonic events and they will probably quote: Richter scale, Fujitsu scale, may be the Mercalli or even the VEI...but are some of these too out of date - according to topical popular science programme like QI they are!

Tectonic recording and measurements now focus and refer to the following:

VEI
Moment magnitude scale
Sieberg-Ambraseys Tsunami Intensity Scale
Mercalli

Interesting..no..?

Moss helped cause Climate Change...

The invasion of the land by plants was a pivotal time in our history. It brought about huge changes to our climate”

Prof Liam DolanOxford Universityhttp://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21417-first-land-plants-plunged-earth-into-ice-age.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=environment
Find out more here

Is 2011 the year of the disasters? Global economy pays out record $350 bn bill for natural disasters in a time of global economic strife!

As the Times states "a torrent of natural disasters in which about 30,000 people lost their lives has cost the worldwide economy a record $350 billion this year according to new figures published yesterday by Swiss Re".

Japan has been particularly hard hit - already struggling with an ageing population and an economy dependent upon imports - the earthquake and subsequent tsunami along with the flood in Thailand and the continuing uncertainty of the Eurozone's prospects dealt a severe blow to Japan's manufacturing confidence. The disasters in Japan will cost insurers $35billion, with the New Zealand earthquake in February resulting in payouts of $12billion and the floods in Thailand costing $12billion.

The fact is, according to Swiss Re's chief economist, Kurt Karl, "Unfortunately, earthquake insurance coverage is still quite low, even in some industrialised countries with high seismic risk, like Japan. So on top of people losing their loved ones, societies are faced with enormous financial losses that have to be borne by weither corporations, relief organisations or governments, and ultimately taxpayers".

The question in a time of global economic uncertainty and tightening of belts is how will the world's most vulnerable and hazard prone countries survive i they are already dependent on global voluntary aid - will we see a new form of moral protectionism or will we still want to give?

A record year of disaster payouts?

As the Times states "a torrent of natural disasters in which about 30,000 people lost their lives has cost the worldwide economy a record $350 billion this year according to new figures published yesterday by Swiss Re".

Japan has been particularly hard hit - already struggling with an ageing population and an economy dependent upon imports - the earthquake and subsequent tsunami along with the flood in Thailand and the continuing uncertainty of the Eurozone's prospects dealt a severe blow to Japan's manufacturing confidence. The disasters in Japan will cost insurers $35billion, with the New Zealand earthquake in February resulting in payouts of $12billion and the floods in Thailand costing $12billion.

The fact is, according to Swiss Re's chief economist, Kurt Karl, "Unfortunately, earthquake insurance coverage is still quite low, even in some industrialised countries with high seismic risk, like Japan. So on top of people losing their loved ones, societies are faced with enormous financial losses that have to be borne by either corporations, relief organisations or governments, and ultimately taxpayers".

The question in a time of global economic uncertainty and tightening of belts is how will the world's most vulnerable and hazard prone countries survive i they are already dependent on global voluntary aid - will we see a new form of moral protectionism or will we still want to give?

Global Warming Wilts Malaria Transmission of infectious parasites slows with rising temperatures, researchers find.

A real corking bit of research, challenging the myth that malarial belts will widen with increased temperatures...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=global-warming-wilts-malaria

African demography is unique...

AFRICAN demography is unique. It is the only continent that will double in size, reaching 2 billion people by 2045 at current rates. Some countries, such as Liberia and Niger, are growing faster still. They are due to double in size in less than 20 years—an increase that is causing forecasts of Malthusian disaster for countries that cannot feed themselves. Yet Africa is also showing signs of embarking on the same transition towards smaller families that has occurred everywhere else, thus avoiding the Malthusian trap. 



Further links: http://www.economist.com/node/21541834