Merchiston Geography: 2014

Wednesday 1 October 2014

Soft engineering on Pickering Beck

Watch video and use this Article and website on Pickering Beck in North Yorkshire to complete worksheet.

Tuesday 23 September 2014

Water quality - Citarum River

The Citarum River, West Java, Indonesia

Watch this video and read this article . Also photos from the Guardian.

Friday 12 September 2014

Use the following links to help complete the worksheet on the Pakistan floods 2010

Friday 5 September 2014

Three Gorges Dam

Watch this video as an introduction to the dam project.
Read BBC article.

Wednesday 11 June 2014

this is good

MT @CFigueres: @Momentum_UNFCCC fun, interactive annual report presents success stories http://t.co/PnfcHk39BA #SB40 pic.twitter.com/IPlC0cazXK
— UN Environment (@UNEP) June 11, 2014

Friday 30 May 2014

Pollution in rapidly urbanising countries.
Study the following link and answer the exam question.
Link 1
Link2

Wednesday 14 May 2014

Coltan Mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

BBC video showing the issues with coltan mining.
Youtube video looking at those involved in the mining.
BBC article looking at the impact of the mining

Tuesday 13 May 2014

Understanding Population Pyramids

Use this link to watch a short video clip explaining population pyramids

Use this link to create population pyramids by country and by year.
Use it to explore how population pyramids for a country chage as a coutry develops or faces humanitarian crises, and how population pyramids differ between more developed and less developed countries.

How Tsunamis work

Watch the video clip on this link to help your understanding of how tsunamis work.

Sunday 11 May 2014

Understanding Floodplains and Levees

Look at the above diagrams, and also this site , to help your understand

- how to describe and explain how and why FLOODPLAINS and LEVEES form.

Wednesday 7 May 2014

Tsunami management

How do you protect against tsunami?
NOAA tsunami forecasting
DART buoys
Pacific tsunami warning centre - FAQ
Lessons learnt from Japanese tsunami - Homeland Security
Japan's earthquake protection
Can you tsunami proof a country?
Sea walls offer little protection

Monday 5 May 2014

Desertification in the Sahel

Desertification in Africa:
Case Study - Niger

A good video documentary split into three parts on YouTube.
Desertification in Niger in the African Sahel

Part 1 (9 mins)

Part 2 (7 mins)

Part 3 (7 mins)

Impacts of climate change on Africa

DESERTIFICATION

Annotate your large map of Africa to illustrate the imapcts of climate change faced on this continent.

Your notes should cover the following:

Water issues

Food insecurity

Natrual resources

Health

Development of coastal zones

Desertification

Poverty

Use your imagination to present this well.

Your own textbook has some information on p55 and the smaller Contemporary Case Study book also has a section on p32. There are some other good online sources.

The BBC has articles which would be a good starting point. The WWF has written two very good papers on the impacts in East Africa. The Stern Report into climate change also had a chapter referencing the impacts of climate change on Africa. It is very long - but try just reading the Executive Summary.

Desertification - examples of issues and solutions

DESERTIFICATION

Study these pictures and read the captions. Write some notes explaining what the issue is, the causes of the problem in Niger and what is being done to try and address it.

Read this article and write detailed notes - including names of places and people - explaining how desertification is being addressed in this part of Africa. This article also expands on the issue.

When you have finished - watch this film

Friday 2 May 2014

Management and response to Christchurch earthquake

Video explaining how seisometers work to locate an earthquake
Video about predicting earthquakes and aftershocks

GNS monitoring of earthquakes

Describe and explain the research and consultancy offered by GNS

GNS monitoring of earthquakes II
GNS monitoring of earthquakes III

Describe in detail the work being done to monitor the deformation of NZ. Include an explanation of ‘continuous GPS’

Rapid response seismic team

Describe how the rapid response seismic team responded to the Christchurch earthquake

Earthquake insurance cover
Who are EQC?
Describe how their insurance policy works

GetThru.gov
Briefly describe the safety information offered by the NZ government in an earthquake

Thursday 1 May 2014

BedZed - eco-development

Watch these two video clips about BedZed, an eco-village in south London.

Clip 1

Clip 2

Wikipedia entry for further research

A further series of clips:

1 1of 6: BedZED - The need for sustainable communities
2 2 of 6: BedZED Sustainability During Construction
3 3 of 6: BedZED Energy efficiency and low carbon power
4 4of 6: BedZED - Sustainable water management and biodiversity
5 5 of 6: BedZED - sustainable lifestyles; food, transport and waste
6 6 of 6: BedZED - lessons learned and the future