Bangladesh ravaged again by Cyclone Sidr

Cyclone Sidr slammed into the Eatsern coast of Bangladesh last Thursday reaking havoc yet again on the poor low lying country of Bangladesh. Bangladesh has frequently played host to mother nature's horrific tropical storms over the last few decades and Sidr was no different; stripping a line of devestation along its path and flooding much of the coastal region, which supports aproximately 5 million people, with its resulting tidal surge.


See this CNN report:



Despite Bangladesh's sophistaicated early warning system it was powerless to protect itself. With the physical factors of low lying land, warm tropical waters and a category 4 force storm, combined with its poor infrastructure and the densest population in the world, death tolls were always going to be high.

The death toll is currently standing at 2000 and is sure to rise. Bangladesh has appealed for international assitance. Typical emergency response aid is required which includes tent shelters, food and water purifying tablets. With access limited, much of the aid needs to be deliverd by helicopter.

See the personal stories through the BBC's picture gallery

Water shortage in Cairo

water shortage in cairo

New York at Night Webcam

EU Structural Funds

Following on from our discussion in class here is an interesting site in relation to the European Structural Funds There is also an article on the BBC relating to Northern Ireland's bid for Structural funds.

GCSE Revision Case Studies

This worksheet is really to be used as a guide for 3H, which doesn't require a great deal of case studies, but rather located examples which add value to most written responses. By clicking on the tool bar above you can increase the size and print it.The tool bar below changes the type of document.

Physical Environment revision

This is a great effort by Val with her Higher Geog Blog which I'm definitely going to investigate making when I find the time. It's an interactive crossword that will test your knowledge of key vocabulary in the exams. Just click on the crossword and this will take you to a file sharing site where you download and open or save the interactive crossword. I enjoyed doing this alot!

I've now had a go and you can download mine here in the same file share site. Enjoy!

Tornadoes smash US

George Bush has anounced parts of Kansas a disaster area after it was pounded by a series of tornadoes. Sadly, 9 people are known to have been killed in Kansas with the search for the missing continueing. The following BBC report provides more details. The aftermath can be viewed here. The science behind tornadoes and their formation is explained here and in here in this animation.

I 've used the following film from youtube in class. This amazing footage accompanied by dramatic music captures both the devestating destructive power of tornadoes as well as the brilliant nerve of the storm chasers, who risk life and limb to witness such stunning natural phenomona.

Geography, how much do you care?

Great work here by Tony. How well do you know your Geography? Go to http://www.ggip.co.uk/ to sign the petition.

Jigsaw Brazil

brazil_map, originally uploaded by chelsie-rose.

Improve your knowledge of Brazil by clicking on the image above and completing the jigsaw. Let me know how well you learn the geography of Brazil through this activity.

Interpreting Questions

biology revision, originally uploaded by Ella88.

It's one thing preparing well for exams and knowing your stuff but unless you interpret the question right and make the correct links in your responses you will fall short of the top marks available. Thanks to NIck who has grouped his own worksheet on exam command words with Daniel Raven Ellison's video clip. Both can be seen on Nick's Brauntan Geography Blog

Earthquake in England

Believed to be 4.3 on the richter scale an earthquake hit Kent this weekend causing damage to houses and infrastructure. The epicentre of the quake was just a few kms from the the towns of Dover and Folkstone. Although earthquakes are not a frequent occurance in the UK they are reasonably active. Although most earthquakes occur at the boundaries of major crustal plates, they can occur, less frequently, within plates. The UK is on the British Eurasian plate.
Senior seismologist Dr David Booth, of the BGS, said there were lots of faults running through the British Isles. In this case, north-west pressure on the UK caused a build-up of energy in these fault systems, he said, and this energy was released - causing the earthquake.

Jigsaw France

Learn the Geogrpahy of France with this fun jigsaw of the regions of France Let me know through the comments how well you learned from it and what your fastest time was.

'green OPEC"

This is exactly how I see this site developing so thanks to Katt for sending through 'green OPEC' As she says in her comment it's ideal for the synoptic paper it shows how government decisions to move towards biofuels, whilst full of good intentions will have major impacts on the social and economic structures of societies in developing countries as well as enormous environment consequences.
There is alos an interesting article ob development and conservation concerning the paving of the B-163 in the Amazon.

The Miniature Earth

If the world's population was reduced to 100, it would look something like this.

Gapminder and Development indicators

Gapminder is an incredible site which along with a good number of publications is using Flash technology to create animations exploring development statistics. These animations are easy to use and help to develop a greater global awareness in comparing countries at different stages of development.

You can also watch this video on condions in slums

Oxfam Fair Trade Clips

Year 13 A level students might want to share this link with IB students for their development course. You should by now have a well formed position in regard to the trade/aid debate. This video is not endorsing Fair Trade as in the chocolate but rather fair trade, which along with apropriate aid is up there with effective governance in terms of important factors leading to development. Fair trade in this context refers to cutting government (agricultural) subsidies and opening up markets by reducing trading barriers such as, but not limited to financial tarriffs. It aslo highlights the problem of dumping cheap products on developing countries' markets. I'd be interested to hear some of your ideas. What do you think are the most important factors to develop countries.

An interesting book to read would be:
'How to spend $50 billion to make the world a better place' by Bjorn Lomborg. This book is available free on google.books

Bollard Bashing on the Rise!

City congestion mamagement doesn't suit everyon... eeh..eeh!

Managing Congestion

For cities to contunue to attract multinationals and industry they have to ensure ease of access. Goods and servics need to flow and this short clip helps to explain the problems of traffic congeston in New York as well as present some effective ways to manage congestion in other leading cities.

Aral Sea Returning

This is one of the case studies I've looked at for your 6.2, human impacts essay within the synoptic. There is also an interesting cross over to your 6.4 essay, communities and their governance.

The Aral Sea Trajedy

Also look at the case study links to the right of the page

Kazakhs get loan to save Aral sea

Geographical skills

Not sure whether you guys are viewing this blog as it develops but I thought you might make good use of the following link for your applied geographical skills paper

Evian - Waterboy

There's an amazing amount of Geography in this Evian ad'. How many aspects of the watercycle can you see? Where are the processes, storages and linkages?

Geography, Geography

Not a lot of Geography here but but a great chorus all the same!

Daft Punk saving the planet

Daft Punk have remixed the classic Pink Floyd's Proper Education and have given us all definite ways to reduce our energy use. Walking and riding your bikes to school isn't that bad.

MTV goes Geography

Kaiser Chiefs' recent single Ruby just shows that Geography is all around us. How many different examples of infrastructure can you see in their video? How important is infrastructure to the growth of cities? What functional zone of the city are the Kaiser Chiefs playing in? How do you know and would this be the best place for a free live performance?

Micro Credit and development

When we think of development we often think of large projects, such as mines or dams that bring many benefits including jobs to LEDCs. However often the benefits are short lived or biased towards one region and create large debts that are difficult to repay. Whilst benefits may come to the country as a whole the local people may never see the benefits.
Alternatively NGO's work more closely with local people and bring benfits at a different scale. Intermediate and appropriate technologies are adopted and indigenous people are empowered to help themselves rather than be dependent on donor countries. One such strategy is micro credit peioneered by Mohammad Yusen and the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh they work to develop legitimate employment oportunities for the poorest of people.

You can slo read the Grameen Bank official website

Managing Cities - London Docklands

Extend your MEDC magaging cities knowledge with this account of London Docklands:
Londland Doklands to get its own Twin Towers

Check out the stunning panaramic of Leadenhall Street in the Docklands

Tomb with a View

As part of your work on Managing settlements we've used Cairo as our case study for LEDC cities. You need to develop your specific knowledge of Cairo. Cities evolve all the time and with it the management strategies of the government. Read This BBC article on new attempts to manage squater settlements in Cairo in more sustainable ways.

Bitesize Revision Podcasts

A range of Geography revison “audiobite” podcasts can be found at Bitesize Podcasts


Also try these websites for extra revision, quizes and testing your knowledge:
S-Cool
Bitesize Geography
internetgeographer

Check out the other Blog sites in the links section

Noel Jenkin's advise on Level marking at GCSE

In the GCSE exam, answers worth more than 4 marks will be marked using a level of response. You are not awarded a mark for every correct point you make. In general it works like this:

Level 1: Basic (1 or 2 marks)
Knowledge of basic information
Simple understanding
No links between statements
Little or no detail
Few specialist terms

Level 2: Clear (3 or 4 marks)
Knowledge of accurate information
Clear understanding
Links between statements
Some named examples
Use of specialist terms

Level 3 (5 or 6 marks)
Usually found at the end of a question, a level 3 answer requires in depth knowledge and understanding, very clear links between statements, and detailed case study examples.

Here is an actual example of levelled marking from the Year 10 end of topic test that I’ve just marked.

Question: Describe the main features of the outer suburbs of a settlement (4 marks) (AQA A 2005 Higher)

Student A wrote:
There are lots of green space, modern housing, curved roads and very quiet.

This answer gets L1 basic. (2 marks) Simple knowledge is shown, but there are no links between statements.

Student B wrote:
Outer suburbs generally house upper class residents. Houses are more likely to be detached and there would be more fields. The motorway or large road heading to the CBD would be present. Also there may be airports or big shopping malls that are easy to get to.

This answer gets L2 clear (4 marks) as the student makes two linked statements .

The final question on the paper was:
Describe how governments of MEDCs try to cope with urban sprawl. (6 marks)
Read the following answer and then submit a comment suggesting the level at which you would mark the answer, and why. Re-read the criteria for level marking first!

Student C wrote:
In MEDCs, in particular Britain, the government has created green belts to stop cities from continuing to grow too far into the countryside. Instead the growing population can be housed in new towns containing spacious housing and many services. Also in older cities, inner city areas can be re-furbished or rebuilt, creating more space for new homewosks, businesses and services, though it is often more expensive.

Mass Movement

The relationship between the different components of the physical environment is complex and often finely balanced. Watch the clip and think about the different human and physical factors that may have led to such a dramatic event. Feel free to post your thoughts through the comments section

Virtual Towns with Google Sketch up

It's now possible through Google sketch up to design your own new town. Have a go yourself at home and think about the following: transport infrastructure, industry, residential zones and retail and commerce. Just click on the image to go direct to Sketchup!

Tony's Pop-up Drainage Basin

Firstly a big thank you to Tony Cassidy; a digital friend and fellow geographer, for this fabulous homework idea. Simply follow the instructions using the slide show and glue your finished pop-up drainage basin into your exercise books.

lost jungle

lost jungle, originally uploaded by Tatiana Cardeal.

Is sustainable development an Oxymoron?

As part of the synoptic paper you may need to tackle a question on the environment. You will need to develop your understanding of the sustainable development debate and take your own position.

To further aid your reading use the following links:

Sustainable Development Commission - National scale

Bhopal disaster website - TNC influence

Rainforest Alliance - NGO scale

United Nations - multilateral scale

Context of globalisation

BBC News and other links

The Guardian - Climate change

Sustainable Development article - Common challenge

Another Happisburgh Wave

Another Happisburgh Wave, originally uploaded by martyferris.

As part of year 8 's work we have looked at the reasons for defending the coastline in Happisburgh. Check out the following links on innovative coastal defense schemes.

Bitesize - Coastal management

Artificial Reef

'Greening up'

Wind Turbines, originally uploaded by justpedalhard.

In class we have been studying how local actions have global affects. These affects range in scale from dropping chewing gum on the school pitch to industrial effluent in the River Rhine. From choking traffic congestion in Brussels to the melting ice shelfs of Antarctica. Collectively our actions make a big difference. Normal household energy consumption through normal household objects like the TV and toilet all contribute to greenhouse gases.

I'm asking you for your comments on how we can all make small changes to 'green up'and reduce our ecological footprint and collectively make a difference.

Explore the following links:

BBC news article - Planet

My ecological footprint