Water conservation

Water conservation involves reducing the demand for water, rather than trying to increae water supplies. This is important in a world where water supply is finite. Water conservation can be on three main levels; domestic, agricultural, industrial.

Domestic

Note each of the water saving tips here. Create a table with the headings 'Tip', 'Water saving' and 'Why do this' and add the information for 'in the kitchen', 'in the bathroom', 'in the garden' and 'others'.

Agricultural

Use the wikipedia entry to note some tactics for saving water in an agricultural context.

Industrial

Pernod Ricard (the major wine and spirits producer) are an example of water conservation on a commercial level. Read their policy and note some examples of the things they have done.

Lynford House Farm

You need to have knowledge of a case study of farming in the UK. We will use Lynford House farm in Cambridgeshire. Use the web site to complete the worksheet.

Water transfers

One solution to water shortages is to transfer water form one basin to another. Rivers can be diverted or canals built. All water transfers carry political and environmental risk

Two contrasting examples:

1. The Snowy Mountains Scheme (p52-53)

Also see the Snowy River wikipedia entry

2. The South-North Transfer project (p63)

Good video story

BBC news story

Detail from water-technology.net

Middle East water conflict

An old, but still relevant BBC article and one focusing on the problem in Israel.

Use these articles, the handout and your textbook (p47-48) to complete the work set.

Prep to be done for Wednesday 18/11/09

Complete the case study sheet on the water conflicts in the Middle East.

Using the example of the Middle East, show how disputes over water can create tension between countries? (15)

Edinburgh's climate change strategy

Use the Edinburgh Council environment pages to note some of the initiatives that are happening in our local area to address some of the climate change isses we have studied.

What is your carbon footprint?

• Calculate your carbon footprint using the ‘Act on CO2’ web site


• Draw a divided bar chart to show your footprint


• Draw a divided bar chart for the national average footprint


• Create a ‘plan’ to begin to reduce your carbon footprint


• Sort the actions by ‘Easiest to do’. Complete the table to show three actions you could take in each of the categories – Home, Appliances and Travel

The business case studies are here.

History of climate change and adaption and mitigation

Use this website to complete the climate change timeline.

Adaption to climate change

Mitigation against climate change

China's top water issues

China is suffering from many environmental problems - including water stress. Use this map to complete the sheet detailing some of these issues.

Use this to help you with the Prep question:

Examine the factors which have created water stress in India and China (15)

9/11/09

Check your text book p39-40, the Geo Factsheets you were given on 'Pollution in China' for the Development Gap topic, and the other handouts distributed.

Web resources include the BBC source and here, these news stories, an article in Fortune magazine and long article from the New Yorker which includes detail on the problem in India.

Basic Google and wikipedia searches will also produce results.

Solar power from the Sahara

An article from today's Guardian about a German company hoping to provide solar power form the Sahara to Europe.

Floods, drought, famine - the face of a 4C hotter world in 2060

In the build up to the Copenhagen Conference in December, the UK Governement has released a new map showing the predicted impacts of a 4oC global temperature increase worldwide. View the map here. The Guardian followed the launch of the map closely.

For more detail, also go to the Met Office site.

Use the map to complete the sheets you have been given.

Energy Futures?

Google Earth image: oil consumption by country

UVI Geographers have to have a good overview of possible ways forward as our global energy sources change over the next 30-40 years. The multinational energy company Shell have got some ideas: click this link to see what they have to say on the matter. How would you categorise their viewpoint? Balanced? Biased? A 'Domesday scenario'?

Stern Review

The LVI have been set a Prep to investigate the Stern Review. The whole report is available here, but as it is hundreds of pages long, I suggest looking at the Executive Summary.

The BBC Business pages summarised the findings. Wikipedia also has it's review.

The Guardian newspaper (among others) reported on the release of the review extensively.