IN THE NEWS

Geographical stories of interest from the newspapers. Get that clippings file started!

Early news in 2004 centred on the terrible consequences of the earthquake in the area around the Iranian city of Bam. I must confess to being rather ignorant of this historic city before the events of this week, but there have been some stories of tragedy as well as some small successes and triumphs of optimism that people could be found alive even a week after the event. There are numerous sites which give information on the earthquake.

A LESSON PLAN I produced for immediate use by Year 11 is available by clicking the link. Basic, but it's free!

A startling article in 'The Guardian' on 'An Unnatural disaster'. This included details such as 'Global Warming to kill off 1m species', and 'Third of life forms doomed by 2050'.

M6 apparently coned off already due to an uneven surface to the road. 2 lanes have been coned off, and a 50 mph limit imposed. (The Independent, 15/01/04) A few days later, there were traffic jams.

Atlantic 'block' apparently set to bring ARCTIC weather to Britain - will no doubt bring the country to a halt....just as long as I get a day or two off work I'll be happy. (The Times, 22/01/04) HIGH pressure descending from Greenland... Lots of thunder and lightning mixed in with the snow.

Snow in January shock! Got 2 days off work - which is rather good. Managed to catch up with some Geography stuff. Papers full of the weather, and Norwich gridlocked... This sort of thing makes useful additional case study material if you can include some relevant locational detail and a little more depth than saying 'it was snowy'.... Consider the various sectors of the economy that were affected by the snowfall, for example the effects on retail trends: apparently everyone was buying gallons of soup... The arrival of the snow resulted in some rather dramatic weather effects. Arctic air met the warmer air along a huge cold front, and the uplift was so sudden that there was the formation of hail, graupel and 'THUNDERSNOW' (thunder and lightning mixed in with the snowfall). There were downdraughts and freak winds.

A report in 'The Guardian' looked at the work of the National Salt Spreading Research Group. At the moment, one of our ways of keeping roads clear is to use rock salt (grit), which forms a brine solution with a lower freezing point than the surrounding ice and snow. Urea is used on some motorways because of fears that the salt might corrode the supports of bridges, it certainly gets to work on the underside of your car if you're not careful. In the USA, in Nebraska, they've mixed bits of carbon fibre, graphite and coke into a section of road to produce conductive concrete, which can be plugged into the mains. I remember doing a project on how the cold weather affected people back in 1984 at Huddersfield Polytechnic (as it was then...)

We managed to blag our way inside Emley Moor TV transmitter, and see the amazing ladder going up the inside, plus the control room for the local bus service. We discovered that a steep hill approaching a key roundabout (from the Manchester road end of the city...) had under-road heating. (The Guardian, 29/01/04)

"Cold ? I live 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle -15°C is not rare, and snow is measured in metres, not inches. Everything functions, even if it takes a while to start your car in the morning! Dress accordingly or stay at home. The UK seems surprised that temperatures drop below zero. I can't wait for the reverse in summer" Zak Sloan, Kvaloysletta, Norway (The Guardian, 29/01/04)

Visited Ant Veal's GREAT WEATHER site and took a look at some of the WEATHER CAMS. It was surprising how little snow there was at Sligachan on the Isle of Skye (not according to the cam anyway...) There seemed to be plenty on the ground in Great Yarmouth though. (I resisted the temptation of a virtual tour...)

A few visitors starting to discover the GEO BLOGS page. Some more materials posted there.

A new site of the month on SLN GEOGRAPHY (the BBC's VIDEO NATION)... fame is so fleeting...

Another social phenomenon from Japan. This time it's the HIKIKOMORI. The word Hikikomori means 'social withdrawal', and is particularly related to young men who have retreated to their bedrooms and avoid work and contact with others. There are more than 1 million people in Japan which this is thought to refer to - some of them have been in their rooms for more than 10 years. They spend their days reading comics, surfing the Internet and playing computer games.

The problem is that with a falling birth rate and increasing life expectancy, Japan needs young men to work. There are various triggers which cause people to retreat into their rooms. Japanese society has typically meant that people stay at home until they get married, and there is also a need for the parents to be reasonably well off to be able to support their son in this way. Apparently one man has been in his bedroom for 30 years...

It sounds like a good lifestyle to me...if you want me I'll be in my room. (The Times, 31/01/04)

The month starts with flooding: caused by heavy downpours of rain, and the thawing snow in Scotland in particular - and our melting snowman made his own little contribution. The flooding continued for the first 3 days of the month, with flooding in mid and South Wales, and into Cumbria, and as the week progressed, communities in North Wales were also cut off. I remember staying near Dolgellau many years back, and nearly getting stuck in floodwaters near Machynlleth. Also climbed Cadair Idris in a blizzard on New Years Eve.... as you do.

Lots of stories on outsourcing to India. An article by Deborah Moggach in 'The Times' suggested that we could start outsourcing our elderly to India, where the cost of care would be much less - reminds me of a story I read years ago about elderly Japanese being cared for in Africa ? Was is true ? I'll have to do a spot of research. (The Times, 21/02/04)

Banks and supermarkets announcing huge profits. Dollar worth less than ever against the pound, which means lots of tourists heading off to the US rather than to Europe.

A computer game has been produced by a company called DISCOVERY SOFTWARE called Flood Ranger. The idea is that you try to stop an imaginary area from flooding as sea levels rise, and land use changes. The software costs £50, and is linked to the Government's FORESIGHT initiative. (The Times, 20/02/04)

Frightening story in 'The Observer' with the headline: "Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us". Some rather extreme, but plausible scenarios for a future world, with the UK heading for freezing temperatures by 2020, flooding in the Netherlands within 4 years, and climate refugees swamping those parts of the world that remain habitable.

Earthquake in Morocco, with epicentre in the Straits of Gibraltar. Can't remember an earthquake in this area before.

Big Chill possibly coming back again. Apparently some local authorities are trialling a new Highways Agency product to replace grit (rock-salt) on the roads. The product, called SAFECOTE is a natural sugar-based product that is environmentally friendly and less corrosive.

Fears about the visual impact if plans go ahead to erect thousands of giant steel gantries over all major road links as part of a proposed road toll charging system. (The Times, 20/02/04)

Article: 'Dying for a Cappuccino' in 'The Times' included extracts from a book about the Coffee trade by Antony Wild. The problem lies in the extremely low price paid to coffee producers. This has caused the loss of 600 000 jobs in the industry in Central America since 2000. The cost paid is less than the cost of production, so smallholders and farmers are subsidising consumers. The World Bank has suggested that 25 million small producers depend on coffee as their sole source of income, and each one supports an average of 5 family members.

Of the world revenue of about $55 billion, only about 13% goes back to the producers.

The 4 major coffee roasters are: Proctor and Gamble, Sara Lee, Philip Morris and Nestle.

The US has promoted the exfoliation of Vietnam (which was deforested by Agent Orange...) with robusta coffee bushes, which has affected producers in other parts of the world. As Vietnam expanded production, there was a drop in the price of coffee. In 2001, Oxfam said that coffee had fallen to its lowest ever price in real terms.

For more on this area, see 'Coffee: A Dark History' by Antony Wild. Published on March 15th by Fourth Estate. Order from AMAZON. Why not go to the BOOKSHOP page first and click through.... (The Times, 28/02/04)

Russia has just finished the final section of a road which links St. Petersburg with Vladivostok: the longest road inside a single country: it's 10 000 km long. This is an important stage in the development of infrastructure in Siberia. The road was first planned in 1966, but the construction had to cross inhospitable terrain, taiga forests, mountains and up to 50 different types of soil, including PERMAFROST. More than 250 bridges are required. Temperatures range from 40 degrees in the summer to minus 50 in the winter. One stretch of the nearby 2000 mile Baikal-Amur railway line collapsed into a swamp when the permafrost melted after forest clearances. Much of the road surface is still gravel, but the surface will eventually be smoother. (The Times, 28/02/04)

A 47 storey high residential glass tower block called BEETHAM TOWER is being built (as of March 2004) in Manchester. The basic problem is that there will be problems for people affording traditional homes in the future, as well as the problems of finding space to build them. One way of achieving a high density of housing is to build upwards: as Yazz said...

This is a more 'sustainable' use of an area of land. A similar project in London called SKYHOUSE plans to offer one bedroom flats from £70,000 which is unheard of for London. There are other projects in the pipeline: Frank Geary's controversial plans for Brighton, and other plans near the Tate Modern in London. The problem is in getting over the poor reputation that the design has acquired from the original High Rise blocks in the 1960's. These tended to be poorly constructed, and had poor security regimes. (BBC Website)

The investigation is into sportswear made by Puma, Umbro, Fila, Adidas, Reebok, Nike and Asics. Workers producing clothing for these firms regularly have their rights violated, according to a major report by Oxfam and a number of trade unions. This report was timed around the Olympic Games. There are a large number of companies involved.

Norwich Union produced a new FLOOD MAP of the UK: a digital map of the country which shows flood risk. Norfolk is one of the launch areas. People who are in safe areas could end up with lower premiums as there is a reduced flood risk, others could find problems insuring their property.

20 years ago today (as I write) the Miners' strike began. The trigger was the announcement of the closure of Cortonwood Colliery near Barnsley.

I'm from Yorkshire. In 1984 I was doing my degree, but a lot of people I went to school with were miners, and my parents lived within a few miles of Maltby and Silverwood colliery, Haworth and others were nearby, as was Orgreave. Pit communities at places like Dinnington and Rossington (where a friend of mine lived at the time) had grown up and depended on the colliery. Hatfield colliery also closed.

Buckets started to appear at train stations and in town centres, Arthur Scargill, Ian MacGregor and Margaret Thatcher dominated the news broadcasts.

The BBC have a page titled: THE MINERS' DARKEST YEAR.

Some communities are still divided 20 years on. The division between strikers and 'scabs' (an emotive term...) remains.

The BBC have now added a SLIDESHOW: a selection of images which you can hear along with sound files from the time of the strike. This is well worth playing through to introduce your students to the key figures...

(King's Lynn, 05/03/04)

According to 'The Times': "PAST TEN SUMMERS WERE THE HOTTEST IN 500 YEARS". Is this more evidence for Global Warming ?

Just watched "WHY GEOGRAPHY ?" - a free video: one copy of which has been sent to all secondary schools in the UK. This is produced by the RGS/IBG and is fairly entertaining. Some good images, and examples of the relevance of Geography. Head off to the Royal Geographical Society for more information, and the Geography in the News site. A good thing to show to Year 9 groups prior to options perhaps ? Worth 10 minutes of your time.

BROADBAND hits Norfolk. After years of waiting, the telephone exchange I'm on was finally enabled for Broadband 2 weeks ago, and I'm now waiting for the line-check to be carried out. Expect some faster changes to the website, and a happier webmaster without the frustrations of waiting for the egg timer to move....assuming my line is OK of course.

Make sure that you have booked your place at the GA's CONFERENCE in CANTERBURY in APRIL.

Get involved in the BBC's 2015 SURVEY. The page is HERE, or click the image below:

The UN has set this as the date for the completion of its Millennium Development Goals.

A report in 'The Times' used an image of PIPE AND SLIPPERS to point out that most workers expect to carry on past the age of retirement. Half of all people over 50 expect to carry on working past retirement. They are also subject to AGE DISCRIMINATION in their applications for jobs. Age Concern estimates that there are 250 000 people in London alone who are unemployed but able to work, and offer their skills in the workplace. On current trends, there will be 3 people who aren't working for every person who is working. At the moment the ratio is only 1.1 to 1. The value of the State pension is also likely to be much less, particularly with the demise of final salary pension schemes. (The Times, 22/03/04)

The new PILOT for the GCSE Geography is now available to download from the GA site for those of you who are interested in the content of the new HYBRID GEOGRAPHY courses. The GA is calling this area GEOGRAPHY 21, and has some new resources. The download is 13Mb which is OK for broadband users...did I mention I got broadband ? They have some resources on teaching about the HIMALAYAS too, as an extreme environment.

IF...THE GENERATIONS FALL OUT.. some links related to this programme on the POPULATION page. Also related to article just above...

G.A. CONFERENCE: University of Canterbury, April 5th and 6th - watch out for Geo Blogs and Geography Pages...

Report on GLOBAL WARMING on the Guardian website and also in the paper. This mentioned a Hurricane called CATARINA. This was apparently the first hurricane to occur in the South Atlantic. It occurred in March 2004.

Hurricanes in the South Atlantic turn the opposite way to those in the North Atlantic. It had always been assumed that there was insufficient heat in the ocean to generate the uplift necessary to create and sustain a hurricane. It made landfall in Brazil, with winds approaching 90mph.

The article also mentioned the disturbing rate of retreat of the San Rafael glacier in Patagonia, Chile. The front of the glacier has retreated over 1km since the early 1990s.