Wednesday 30 November 2011

Globalised population change

Population change linked to globalisation







Using the Wikipedia page and the other links, complete a study of the Demographic Transition Model. Include a copy of the model and the corresponding population pyramids for each stage. For each stage detail the following information:


  • How BR / NR / total population changes during that stage

  • Why this is occuring

  • Examples of countries currently at this stage

  • UK specific examples and timeline

  • Issues / limitations with the model

Friday 18 November 2011

Key players in climate change

Use these links to complete the sheet on what businesses are doing to help address climate change:

ASDA cutting it's carbon footprint
Tesco aiming for a greener business




Explore 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.

Tar sands



To the last drop - video
To the last drop - part II - video




Guardian video
National Geographic video
The Alberta oil sands
Greenpeace Canada






Thursday 17 November 2011

Edinburgh traffic



Use the following links to complete the sheet on traffic issues in Edinburgh









Go to p15 of the Edinburgh 2030 Transport Vision for an overview

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Climate change timeline



Use this website to complete the climate change timeline.

Primary energy sources

Use the following to help you with your research task:

A good summary of all the Primary Energy Sources

Wikipedia entry for renewable energy

Wikipedia entry for fossil fuels

Data on amounts of renewable sources used to generate electricity.

Good section of BP website on alternative energy

Good section on Shell website about energy diversity

Greenpeace site on renewable energy

Wind power in the 'How Stuff Works' website. Other energy sources also on the site

BBC Energy in the UK mini-site - links to lots of relevant stories

Energy on BBC Bitesize


Sunday 13 November 2011

Gas pathways








Gas pathways into the EU are vital for energy security. Problems in Russia and the former Soviet states threaten this supply.



Nabucco pipeline


South Stream pipeline


Nord Stream pipeline


Russia - Ukraine gas disputes



Russia Today report - Nabucco



Videographic from The Economist



Russia-Ukraine gas dispute report 1 and 2









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.

Wednesday 9 November 2011

Supervolcano





UK energy security

Use the following links to help with your report:

BBC Panorama programme



The Energy Security report by Malcolm Wicks MP (just read the Executive Summary)


The Governement response


This entry on the 'Oil Drum' blog


Government energy security research paper (just read the Summary)



Guardian article - there are many more similar



Latest update of the ESI from June 2011

Monday 7 November 2011

Coping with climate change




Use these two sites to add examples onto your mitigation / adaption table:



Adaption to climate change



Mitigation against climate change

Volcanic activity



Use this link to complete the worksheet on volcanic activity.



Friday 4 November 2011

Urbanisation




Complete the urbanisation maps using this link.

Thursday 3 November 2011

Volcano on Montserrat




Copy the latest photo of the volcano from the web cams and label it with features of the volcano

What is the current hazard level? what does this mean?

Read the latest volcano report. What was happening last week?

Go to 'Education', 'Junior Scientists', 'For kids' and use the Glossary to look up the following terms:

Ash

Dome

Igneous rock

Lava

Pyroclastic flow

Vent






Wednesday 2 November 2011

Stern Review




Investigate the Stern Review using the following guidelines

What was the Stern review?
  • Summarise its findings
  • Include a table similar to that on p62 of the text book detailing the possible effects of temperature rises on life on earth
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.

What would a 4C warmer world look like?



In the build up to the Copenhagen Conference in December 2010, the UK Governement 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.


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

Seven billion - so what?

An interesting take on the population 'issue'. 'Seven billion people is nothing to be scared of' - The Times

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Africa to EU migration






Thousands of Africans try to make the journey to Europe each year. The BBC News website gives information about the routes they travel, the cause of this movement and some of its impacts as well as personal stories.