Fact of the day

Lake Baikal is the world's deepest lake and is located in Siberia, Russia, north of the Mongolian border. It is 5,369 ft (1,637 m) deep - more than one mile straight down.

The industrialisation of our seas- part 2

Previously I mentioned invisible impacts resulting from increased production of wind turbines. On such impact is the result it can have on wildlife, this year on the Norfolk coastline dozens of dead seal carcasses have been washed ashore, which according to scientists most likely got caught up in the propellers of boats involved in the construction of turbines. Evidence from other projects suggest that environmental consequences could result from the sinking of hundreds of 500-tonne chunks of machinery onto the sea bed. By law the turbine companies are supposed to produce environmental surveys, however the data that they provide is often vague and contradictory.

Examples of these contradiction can be found from many countries, Denmark proved that ducks and geese can avoid flying into turbines successfully, however Belgium evidence claim that many are killed by blades. I guess it just comes down to CRAVEN really. The RSPB fears that it could lose 50% of its sandwich terns to the blades of the turbines. Other scientists warn of the impacts they can have on whales and dolphins, which can get confused by the vibrations the turbines produce. One of the main concerns of the turbines however is not the damage they do when turning, but the frequent failure not to turn at all with lack of wind.

Wind turbines only reach their maximum energy production capacity around 35% of the time, contrasting with 90% for nuclear power and 50% for hydro-electric. However researchers from oxford argue that fears of reliabilty are false, as there wasn't a single moment in the last 35 years where the wind wasn't blowing somewhere in the UK, so with wide distribution and larger turbines, the fall in production can be made up for. Turnbines do have several advantages over altenratives, there is relative speed and easiness in building them, and they can be added to the national grid as soon as they are built, nuclear power stations on the other hand take several years to be able to constribute.

The royal family will also be benefiting creatly from the construction of off-shore turbines. Although Primce Charles describes onshore turbines as "horrendoues blots on the landscape", he with his family have no objections to off-shore turbines, partly due to the fact that they are expected to bring an annual income of between £100 million and £250 million into the Crown estate over the next decade. THis is due to the fact that the house of Windsor own the British seabed as far as 12miles out to sea, and since 2004 have the right to "lease the generation of renewable energy". As well as money from leasing they recieve £1 per megawatt hour of energy produces, which may not sound much, but added up to £2.6 million last year, which is predicted to rise over the next few decades.

The main problem in constructing the turbines is the cost, partly bought on due to the rising cost of steel, exchange rate fluctuations and the absense of a supply chain, which casued the cost of production to double in recent years. This means that each unit of electricty produced by wind farms costs twice as much as a unit generated by a coal powered station. Still they are renwable, which is the main boon for environmentalists.

The industrialisation of our seas- Part 1

Currently about 4%of the Uk's electricity is provided by wind farms, which on its own could provide enough energy to power every home in Scotland and is the largest source of renewable energy connected to the national grid. Wind power is becoming more prevalent in our society, with more than 3000 new turbines being built or having planning consent. As a result wind power is scheduled to overtake nuclear power in Britain in just three year's time.

However this does not mean we will be seeing wind turbines across the country, as the Uk's largest wind farms are being built out at sea. Until recently the added expense and technical difficulties of maintaining offshore wind farms meant that the vast majority were built on land. Currently 99% of the world's current wind power is onshore, however with objections to the noise, unattractiveness (subjective), as well as improvements to offshore technology with the approval of the royal family  have persuaded the energy companies to start construction on Britain's 7,700 miles of coastline.

Dozens of new offshore wind farms are thus being built. Currently the UK has 436 wind turbines operating across 13 sites from the coast, meaning Britain generates more offshore energy than the rest of the world combined. The crown estate which owns the sea bed up to 12 miles away from shore are now renting zones to the energy companies, so far awarding 34 sites which can potentially generate over 45GW which is more than equivalent to half the current capacity of the national grid. One such development is the Thanet Wind Park, which consists of 100 turbines each 380 feet tall.

One criticism of the plan is that the turbines will be an unwelcome site to our shores. They can be seen on a clear day, but have many advantages, they represent money and jobs. According to the British Energy Association building 20GW of offshore wind farms by 2020 will pump billions of pounds into the Uk's manufacturing and engineering sectors, as well as creating over 45,000 jobs. However as well as being unattractive to some, they do have other, less visible impacts.

Could Bill Gates be wrong?

According to a tory economist, Peter Bauer, foreign aid is a waster of money, mainaning it often hinders economic growth by inviting corruption and undermining civil society. He argues that instead of cutting back on some government departments having large budget cuts, money should be taken from the Department for Internernational Development (DFID), which is having its £8.7bn budget increased by 37% over the next four years. 2 weeks ago an inquest from the Human Rights Watch looked into the DFID effectivenss, which according to Peter Bauer showed it as incapable of monontiring the £300m it disburses to Ethiopia each year and how the country's dictator uses it to buy and reward loyalty to his regime, with similar stories in Rwanda. ALthough this may be true, Bill Gates proved that governmant aid does make a difference, so perhaps we just need to keep a closer tab on where its going and what its used for.

                              the school system and                               giving information leading to their                                                   some point this year meaning I can't blog about it. This is a classic example of                                                            , a remnant of                                                    which is unwelcome in contemporary               The                                                   grow up and have the                                                                  rather than hide it. If you are going to                                       at least let people know,                              is the point of                          ?

截尾的順序第十七條理事會承認北京高

Floods in Lotwithiel, Cornwall

Heavy rain and gale-force winds have resulted in a major flood in Lostwithiel and the surrounding area. Homes and businesses in the town were flooded along major areas such as Quay Street, Church Lane and Queens Street, with some under 4 feet of water.


The floods also caused a land slide  at St Austell, which stopped train services in and out of Cornwall. The A390 became impassable, causing massive traffic queues in both directions. Cars were completely submerged along Quay Street, with some being carried a distance down the road by flood waters.


Waters were at their highest between 4 and 6am on the morning of Tuesday 17th November. Emergency service workers from the Fire Service and Environment Agency worked hard to clear the main road, manage the traffic and prevent trees and branches in the river from blocking the Medieval bridge, which frequently happens during high waters.


As the waters receded, mud and debris was left  over Lostwithiel and the clean-up operation is likely to take a long time. The geography and landscape of Cornwall has resulted in many floods, such as Boscatle. However trying to fortify every settlement against flooding could be costly and take too long, preventing floods in Cornwall seems like  a losing battle.

My blog has now had over 100 views. Thank you Miss Ferrari ;) And also Xennor Malcolm May for the moral support, if it wasn't for your keen eye my blog would have more mistakes than a year 7 poem.

Fact of the day

Over 70% of the worlds freshwater is in the form of glaciers.

Currently 10% of the world's land mass is covered in glaciers - that's 15,000,000 sq km, but during the last ice age glaciers covered 32% of land.

What is Western Sahara?

Firstly Western Sahara is not an independent sovereign state in its own right, it is a disputed territory between Spain and Morocco. It is an ex-Spainish colony and is on the UN list of non self governing territories and has been controlled by Morrocco since 1991.

Geographically it is one of the most sparsely populated terrirtoies in the world, mainly consisting of dry desert flatlands. For a territory of  266,000 km square it has a very small population in comparison, 500,000 of which over half life in the main city, El Aaiún.

Britain's ageing future

In recent years there has been a dramatic shift in the demoraphic structure of Britain's population,the number of young people is dwindling while the older sector of the population rapidly expands.  The main reason for the recent trends is that we are living longer and having fewer children below the replacement rate of 2.1 per woman as well the size of the baby boomer generation, who are just starting to retire is accelerating the trend.

 

By 2014, it has been predicted that, the number of over 65 year olds will overtake the number under 16 year olds, and by 2025, the number of over-60s will have passed the under-25s for the first time in the history of British demographics, predictions goes as far as to say that by 2050 many people will be living past 130 years.

There is evidence to suggest that not only are we living longer, we are staying healthier until an older age, something health experts refer to as 'compression of morbidity', meaning that most of us will only suffer severe age-related illnesses in the last year or so of life. Although old age is often celebrated the older population are often seen as a burden on society, they put huge financial pressure on the NHS and require large somes of money to be used on constructing nursing homes and hospitals.

Demographic economists often worry about the dependency ratio, the ratio of people below working age and people over 65 compared with the sector of the population that is of working age. As the ratio rises, so it becomes harder to maintain living standards for the dependent population because the relatively shrinking workforce is put under strain. As a result there are talks of raising the retirement age, making the dependancy ratio are more manageable figure.

Fact of the day

The President of North Korea Kim Il-sing has been dead for over 16 years.

Should China keep its one child policy? - Part II

A far greater proportion of men to women is having grave effects in China. As a result prostitution in China is dramatically rising along with human trafficking, with thousands of women every year being smuggled in from neighbouring countries such as Burma and North Korea.

Normally in a population that is replacing itself, with a fertility rate of two, parents expect to have two children to bring up and a sibling to help them care for their parents in their old age. However China is suffering from the 4-2-1 problem, each couple is responsible for four parents and a Child. By 2015 China is expected to be in a "demographic deficit" leaving the nation in a situation similar to other ageing populations, but without the prosperity to support this. The imbalanced structure will mean that China's workforce will decline with the majority of workers ageing and not being replaced. In 2004 the President, Hu Jintao created a meeting of 250 demographers to discuss the problem. There was talk of changes such as using spacing (the time between births) and scrapping the quotas that forced couples to have an abortion, even if it was there first child if the neighbour hood birth limit had been reached. However little changed as a result.

One question involving the policy is would abolishing it lead to bigger families. The obvious answer may be yes however from a closer look the answer may be different, the one child policy has changed attitudes towards families greatly. China's fertility rate was already falling rapidly in the 1970s, before the policy was introduced, and has since followed patterns similar to those in neighbouring countries such as Japan and South Korea. . According to leading demographers lifting the policy would make little difference to the population structure, but would perhaps reduce the gender imbalance and reduce deaths from abortions. China is now a country of small families, and a 2008 survey suggested that 76% of the populace approved of the policy, meaning it is likely to stay for a while longer

Thank you again to Mr Xennor Hamish May for pointing out the errors in the post about Bill Gates, it was not finished at the time and administration seems to have fixed most of the errors. Concerning the "Fuwa", yes the others will hopefully be making an appearance.

中國獨生子女政策的共產主義天安門火山地震里弗羅克獨裁者日本

Should China keep its one child policy? - Part I

The one child policy, known in China as "birth planning" was started in 1980 and is considered one of the world's most ambitious control measures of population. The aim was to decrease the population and increase China's development by limiting the birth rate and thus decreasing the number of people to feed. A third of the population (urban families) were forced to follow this with rural familes allowed to have two. It was orignially intended to last no more than a generation, but now thirty years later it is the children of the policy now subject to it and the policy's future is in their hands.

As a policy it can be considered a success. In 1979 the average fertility rate was 2.9, now it has had a large decrease to 1.7. The government claims to prevented around 400 million births, meaning China's populace is 1.3 billion rather than 1.7. This decrease in birth rates has helped show what demographists call "the demographic dividend"- a phase in the population structure where the number of workers is higher than the number of young and old people in need of care. This occurs in all industrialised societies, but most dramatically in China which the savings made from its workforce have gone into fuelling its enormous ecenomic growth. This has howver come at a price.

A cost of the policy has been had by people trying to have more children than they are allowed. Government officials levy large fines, £20,000 on parents producing more than the quota allows. This isn't too much of a problem for rich parents, who can buy their way out of this, but the poorer offenders often lose their jobs. The policy has also resulted in vast numbers of infanticide, millions of late term abortions (many late term and self performed) and forced sterilisations for persistent offenders as well as the problems for China in the long term.

One such long term problem is China becoming known as the "land of the little Emperors", a ruling generation of single children who have become spoilt due to lack of siblings. Perhaps more serious is the large gender imbalance. In Asian culture there is often a preference for sons over daughters, partly due to the cost of marrying a daughter off. The prefernce means that 120 boys are born for every 100 girls, and as a result by 2020 there could be around 30million bachelors unable to find a partner (more details next week). Although China has benefited from the "demographic divedend" for the last 30 years it may not do so well in the long run with not enough children to support both their parents and their grandparents, causing major ecenomic difficulties. Part II of "Should China keep its one child policy?" out on Sunday... 

United Kingdom 41 United States 19 Canada 4 Israel 2 Pakistan 1 Russia 1

Can global warming be a good thing? For some people it could be.

Greenlanders are possible the only people in the world who are happy about global warming. To most of the world the rapidly melting Greenland ice sheets mean rising ocean levels, reduced growing seasons and possible famine. However with more of Greenland, a vast landmass, becoming accessible  oil exploration becomes easier and mineral deposits can become discovered, mountains uncovered by the thaw have revealed visible zinc deposits. Although this probably won't make Denmark the next world superpower as long as temperatures keep rising an oil an mineral boom is bound to come.

Volcanic eruptions in Indonisia

Residents around Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia, are asked to evacuate amid repeated eruptions, which have killed over 100 people. The 2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi began in late October 2010 when Mount Merapi began an increasingly violent series of eruptions that continued into November. Seismic activity around the volcano increased from mid-September onwards, causing repeated outbursts lava and ashes.

Does giving money to development really make a difference? Can it reduce child deaths but at the same time and end overpopulation? Bill Gates seems to think so.

According to Bill Gates many people ask him why he devotes much of his wealth to "development" when the matter can't be solved. Well Mr Gates believes that "the problems of poverty and disease in the developing world can be solved and are being solved, everyday." Bill Gates may sound like a radical optimist, but is there truth to his words? Possibly not according to Xennor May.

Reducing the number of children who die year makes population growth decrease instead of increase. this may sound strange but it is surprisingly simple. Most families generally want smaller families, around two children. However if the mother isn't confident that her children will suffer she is likely to have twice as many or more, and as a result has to partition the family's resources between them.Over the last fifty years every nation has made improvements to its child survival rate and thus and declines in fertility.

Contrary to a common belief, government aid does make a difference. The UK is the largest funder of GAVI (Global Alliance of Vaccines and Immunisation), which in eight years reduced the number of children who died from measles by 75%, over 500,00 lives a year. Worldwide since 1980 measles is down 93%, tetanus down 85% and diphtheria 93%. The greatest success could be considered the decline of polio, which is down 99% and now only exists in four countries worldwide. By giving aid money there is in fact long term benefits, countless lives will be saved and billions of pounds will be saved every year when the vaccine is no longer needed.

Why we've lost the battle to save the world

This article is rather pessimistic
and unsuitable for younger reader.
That means you Linsey

Perhaps it is time to accept the truth, that the battle to prevent climate change is lost. The only global deal for limiting green house gas emissions, the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 with chance of replacement being unlikely. Last year's Copenhagen talk collapsed and governments have pretty much given up trying to reach a deal. Most Americans still deny climate change, out of the 48 contenders for the November senate election not one of the contenders accepts man made climate change is happening. It is not just America failing to cut climate change, for example Britain claims to have cut its contribution to global warming by 19% since 1990, however taking into account all factors such as aviation it has increased by 29%. With china opening a new coal fired power plant every week it seems we have lost the war after putting up little fight.

Thank you to MR XENNOR MAY for pointing out a spelling error in one of my posts. Not sure why you bothered reading it but hey. Also  thanks to the rivers topic for putting the "graph" back in Geography.

Geofiles

• each series provides 24 articles across 3 issues offering the latest Geographical news and insights in a convenient downloadable format.
• Includes exam-style questions at the end of each unit, decision making exercises, fieldwork and geographical skills.
• A tried and trusted resource, Geofile allows you to build up a bank of valuable, time-saving A Level materials on key topics.

The Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936, and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over a hundred lives.  Such a large concrete structure had never been built before, and some of the techniques were unproven. The torrid summer weather and the lack of facilities near the site also presented difficulties. Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead, and is located near Boulder City, Nevada. Although mainly intended to control floods and provide irrigation water, the dam's generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona and California.

Typhoon Fanapi makes landfall in Mainland China after devastating Taiwan, leaving at least 72 people dead.  The picture shows the path the typhon has taken so far. This post will be expanded sometime.

Today on September 27 is World Tourism Day

Also on this date in 1777 in the American Revolutionary War: Lancaster, Pennsylvania, became the capital of the United States for one day as members of the Continental Congress fled Philadelphia, which had been captured by the British.

Geo-terms

Evapotranspiration- The loss of water directly from the ground, water surfaces and vegetation. Evaporation is thephysical process where moisture is lost directly into the atmosphere from water surfaces and the soil due to heat and air movement. Transpiration is thebiological process where water is lost from a plant through stomata on its leaves.
Precipitation- Rainfall on an area. This is the greatest contributer of water in the water cylce and drainage basin system.   Generally the greater the intensity of a storm the shorter its duration.
Interception- When water is stopped from reaching the ground by factors such as vegetation. At the start of a rainfall the vegetation will shelter the ground below, this is greater in a wooded area or where tree crops are grown. If there is enough vegetation and the rainfall is short or light then much if the water may never meet the ground.
Infiltration- I most areas overland flow is rare due to the soil taking in water. The maximum rate at which water can pass through the soil is called its infilltration capacity, the rate of infilltration depending on the amount of water already in the soil, and the structure and type of the soil.
Percolation- Percolation is the constant movement of water through the underlaying soil and rock, the action of which creates ground water storage. Water may be transferred laterally as groundwater flow or baseflow.
Channel flow- Although some rain does not reach the river the majority does through either surface run-off, throughflow or groundwater flow. Once in the river its is known as channel flow.

New Zealand Earthquake

Almost two weeks ago a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck New Zealand's South Island. Two thirds of the buildings in the area's capital, Christchurch were damaged but luckily there were no casualties. New Zealand lies at the southern end of the Pacific "Ring of Fire", the boundry of the Pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plates. As a country New Zealand experiences over 14,000 earthquakes a year, though only about 150 are noticable.

National parks of the seas

Fifteen new "national parks of the seas" have been created around the coast of England where fishing and offshore windfarms are restricted. The most famous of the protected areas are the reefs of Lizard Point and Land's End (Cornwall) containing species such as sponges, squid and coral. Other include the Thames Estuary and Liverpool bay.

More than 2000 people have been killed with hundreads of thousands stranded by the annual moonsoon rain in Pakistan. These floods have destoryed millions of hectacres of crops, overun towns and villages and demolished bridges and roads. Due to food shortages famine is spreading as long as diesease such as cholera due to polluted water supplies. It has been estimated  that over 21million people are injured and homeless as a result, a total which is greater than that of the people affected by the boxingday tsunami, the kashmir earthquake in 2005 and the recent Haiti earthquake combined however I feel compared to these, especially the Haiti earthquake very little is being done to provide aid for the Pakistani people.