GIF from the Animation Factory
Geographical stories of interest from the newspapers. Get that clippings file started!
I always recommend it to my Year 12 and 13 students. Do they listen ?
"95% of geography teachers use news stories in the classroom"
2005
AUGUST
Major drought in Europe. I saw evidence of this while in France over the summer. Ground was cracked open everywhere, and we didn't have a drop of rain in over 2 weeks.
Dried up stream bed in Marais Poitevin, France. Picture by Mister P
Australia has started a drive for 20 000 immigrant workers which it needs. Wonder if they need any Geography teachers ?
Hurricane KATRINA made the news over the August Bank Holiday weekend. I watched the live continuous coverage on Fox News. Good images and animations on the NBC site and the New York Times.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9107338/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9063708/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9108975/
Super Dome damaged by the storm - this was a last resort centre of refuge for as many as 20 000 people.
This has now turned into a MAJOR disaster. The NEW YORK TIMES is a good place to go for the latest information. There are now a range of archives and blog postings.
SEPTEMBER
Too busy, but clearly the KATRINA story continued well into September, when Rita followed up.
OCTOBER
Terry's Chocolate factory in York closed yesterday. 316 jobs were lost. This leaves Nestle-Rowntree as the only chocolate maker left in the city and members of my family work there.
Another major earthquake in South Asia. This time in Pakistan controlled Kashmir, North of Islamabad. The epicentre was close to a city called Muzzafarabad. Parts of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan are affected.
There is plenty on this on the BBC News site. I have now added a SOUTH ASIA page, with a few basic links on there - sorry for paucity of resources, but I've sort of been overtaken by events recently.
TONY CASSIDY has also been quick off the mark with some teaching resources.
A body, thought to be a WWII US pilot whose aircraft crashed in 1942 has been discovered in a glacier in the Sierra Nevada mountains. (The Times, 24/10/05)
Interesting article on the effect of plastic bags in Bombay. Has been featured in a couple of papers recently. Flooding in the city was made worse because of plastic bags blocking the drains. According to The Times, 944mm of rain fell in one 24 hour period in July, and killed more than 1000 people. Plastic bags were apparently already banned due to their link to previous floods, but there was apparently a 'black market' in plastic bags. Apparently the UK gets through 15 billion a year. (The Times, 24/10/05)
Hurricane WILMA the third in the triumverate of hurricanes hits the Yucatan peninsula and Florida.
NOVEMBER
Machu Picchu now has a limit on the number of visitors that can be at the site on any given day.
Pakistan quake toll rising to over 73 000. The weather is worsening, and people are living outside.
Interesting article in Independent suggesting that volcanic eruptions help curb the rise in sea levels.
Tuned in to Sky News and discovered an ex-pupil Lucy Verasamy is now presenting the weather.
Report in 'The Times' suggests that apparently some students cheat on their coursework by getting it from elsewhere, or downloading it from the Internet (get away....)
Huge toxic spill in China which has contaminated the water supply for millions of people.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4475384.stm is a BBC news story which refers to this and has links to some of the others.
$100 laptop revealed, to help bring ICT to LEDCs
General Motors announce that they are going to make 30 000 workers redundant in the USA by closing a dozen assembly and parts plants due to a loss which is already at $4 billion for this year. (The Guardian, 24/11/05)
DECEMBER
Interesting article on possible congestion charge to be introduced to selected areas of the Peak District National Park. ('The Observer', 04/12/05)
Some debate about the Pathfinder project, which aims to identify slum housing, pull it down and redevelop it to reduce the need to build on green belt land.
Explosion at Buncefield Oil depot near Hemel Hempstead. This is leading to fuel shortages.
Snow and freezing temperatures hitting the East of England between Christmas Day and New Years Eve. I have added new resources to my WEATHER page.
GO ON TO THE NEWS PAGE FOR JAN 2006 and BEYOND
