Geography of Food

Make A difference (WWF)

BLOG ACTION DAY-15 OCTOBER 2009

Hi boys...

If you all are bloggers, do consider doing this since it is also after your examinations...=)

Everything you throw comes back

Below are three pictures of witty education about not throwing stuff unnecessarily.

Enjoy!

Photo sources from: http://www.bedifferent.it/scheda_blog.php?id=79

Dust Storm in Australia (Sydney)

Hi guys,

Though examinations may be over, but do look through the video and see how just like the haze problem, dust storms can also cause problems, in terms of visibility, health and environment.

CO2 emissions could fall due to recession

Below is an interesting article read from AFP related to what you are revising and studying, do take a read if you have time.

BANGKOK (AFP) - – Carbon dioxide emissions, the main driver of global warming, could fall three percent worldwide in 2009 due to the global economic crisis, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.

This would be the steepest drop in CO2 emissions for 40 years, chief IEA economist Fatih Birol said at a press conference in Bangkok, adding that the average annual growth in global carbon output until now has been three percent.

Birol said this silver-lining drop in carbon pollution was a "unique window of opportunity" for the world to put itself on a path to limit the increase in global temperatures to two degrees celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the scientific threshold for dangerous global warming.

The recession-driven fall would lead to CO2 emissions in 2020 being five percent lower than the IEA forecast from just a year ago, even if no further action is taken to curb global warming, he added.

The IEA estimate is part of its World Energy Outlook report, an excerpt of which was released at UN climate talks underway in the Thai capital.

It outlined how steeply countries would have to cut their carbon emissions over the next 20 years in order fix the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere at a level that would ensure the two degree threshold is not crossed.

That level, measured in parts per million, is 450 ppm, according to a benchmark scientific report issued in 2007 by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

"By reducing emissions, the financial and economic crisis has created a window of opportunity to transition the global energy system to a 450 ppm trajectory," said UN climate chief Yvo de Boer in a preface to the new IEA report.

"This gives us a chance to make real progress toward a clean energy future, but only if the right policies are put in place promptly," added IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka in a statement.

"Every year of delay adds an extra 500 billion dollars (340 billion euros) to the investment needed between 2010 and 2030 in the energy sector," he warned.

The climate talks under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have been stymied for months, and are running out of time to deliver a new global climate treaty at a December conference in Copenhagen.

Rich and poor nations are divided over how to share the burden of cutting greenhouse gases, and who is going to pay for it.

A steel factory belching smoke in the western suburbs of Beijing, 2008. The International Energy Agency said that carbon dioxide emissions, the main driver of global warming, could fall three percent worldwide in 2009 due to the global economic crisis

Developed nations are willing to take the lead, but expect emerging giants such as China, Brazil and India to commit to mitigation measures as well -- pledges these countries have fiercely resisted.

Rich nations created the problem and should bear the brunt of the responsibility to fix it, the developing countries say.

Economist Birol confirmed that China surpassed the United States as the world's top carbon polluter in 2007, adding that "it will be the same in the future"

Source: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20091006/tts-climate-warming-energy-economy-iea-c1b2fc3.html (AFP)

Time to be spent on EOY and tips for each section

MCQ (8 minutes)

Read the questions carefully. Highlight/Underline key words that might help you find the correct answer. E.g “not”, “most”, “least”

Take note of words that are in bold/italic/underlined.

Always choose the BEST answer that is available. Many answers in MCQ can be correct, but always choose the BEST.

Mapwork (7 minutes)

Remember the skills learnt for topography:

1) Always read the legend first, look at what each symbol signifies or represents.

2) Read the title of the topography map. (Which sometimes can give you the clue on what the map is about)

3) Identify the north arrow.

4) Identify the physical features: E.g. Relief, water bodies, and vegetation.

Relief-determine the highest height of the place with the trigo station (A triangle with a dot in the middle)

Contours-look at how each contour is spaced apart: Nearer to each other means steep gradient, further from each other means gentle gradient.

Water bodies: Rivers, lakes, ponds, seas, look for floodplains, dams, irrigation canals or any water body related feature that can be found near or at the water body.

5) Identify the human features: Settlements, railways, roads, electrical lines, factories, industries, school, place of worship.

Settlement pattern: dispersed, linear, nucleated (Know the characteristics and remember to use EVIDENCE from the map if questions about settlement patterns are asked.

6) Four-grid reference, e.g. 0623, Six-grid reference, e.g. 062234. Always read the easting (x-axis) first, then the northing, y-axis. Always read the left hand bottom corner of the box of where the feature is located.

Normal Mapwork:

Got to know the continents, oceans, prominent countries and places learnt. Any map that can be found in the textbook can be tested

Basic Techniques (8 mins)

Always STUDY and ANALYZE at the photograph or graphical representations (pie chart, table, x-y graph etc) carefully and in detail. Spend at least 1 minute on this.

Photograph: Key words that you should use when describing a photograph or identifying features found on a photograph.

Foreground, middleground, background.

Left, right, top, bottom

North, south, east, west.

ALWAYS USE EVIDENCE SEEN FROM THE PHOTOGRAPH OR PICTURE TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER (for both basic technique questions and structured)

e.g from what year to what year, how much have increased, decreased, stayed constant, fluctuating, started, ended etc. Whenever, there are numericals, please use them.

Gradient of slope-best to use if there are no numerical to help support how much something have changed. But if there is numerical data, it is better to use the number data that you can analyze and interpret with to support your answer.

Structured (52 minutes, one question, approximately 13 minutes)

Always elaborate, your answers with explanation /or with examples.

Follow the sequence below when answering structured questions, especially when the question is of a 3 marks or above kind of weightage.

1) Topical sentence

2) Explanation/Elaboration

3) Example

Earthquake, Tsunamis, Haze

Hi guys,

As we are finishing off Chapter 10, and how I keep stressing from time to time the very real effects of our actions and pollution that we humans create that would lead to an increased occurrence of disastrous phenomena or natural disasters that would eventually hit back on humanity.

Source:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/samoa/6247891/British-toddler-swept-out-to-sea-among-Samoa-tsunami-victims.html

Recent natural disasters seen around the world is clear as crystal, like where Tsunami hit in the South Pacific, Samoa.

Source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6992499.stm

Near to home, at Padang, Indonesia a 7.6-magnitude quake toppled buildings and led to fires, leading to quite a number dead and the death toll is still climbing. Even back in Singapore, some parts of Singapore could feel the tremors.

Source:http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/messages/578191/2506855.html?1243388040

And at home, the haze problem is creeping back,with the very dry weather, causing the fires in Indonesia to be persistent. The Pollutant Standard Index is at 53 (at a moderate range), but visibility has significantly dropped.

The environmental problems or natural disasters the human race face is very real and could be triggered or worsened by the pollution we have created, increasing global warming and also ozone depletion.

As you guys study for your EOY, you can use such examples in your answers if need be.

And remember, what you are studying now are not for your grades only, the knowledge you gained through the classes with should EMPOWER you to make better, wiser and conscious choices that help the environment, and of course for a better future for your generation on this Earth.

Australian town in 'world-first' bottled water ban

(AFP) -26th Sept 2009

SYDNEY — An Australian town pulled all bottled water from its shelves Saturday and replaced it with refillable bottles in what is believed to be a world-first ban.

Hundreds of people marched through the picturesque rural town of Bundanoon to mark the first day of its bottled water ban by unveiling a series of new public drinking fountains, said campaign spokesman John Dee.

Shopkeepers ceremoniously removed the last bottles of water from their shelves and replaced them with reusable bottles that can be filled from fountains inside the town's shops or at water stations in the street.

"Every bottle today was taken off the shelf and out of the fridges so you can only now buy refillable bottles in shops in Bundanoon," Dee told AFP.

The tiny town, two hours south of Sydney, voted in July to ban bottled water after a drinks company moved to tap into a local aquifer for its bottled water business.

"In the process of the campaign against that the local people became educated about the environmental impact of bottled water," said Dee.

"A local retailer came up with this idea of well why don't we do something about that and actually stop selling the bottled water and it got a favourable reaction," he said.

Dee said the 2,000-person town had made international headlines with their bid, which he hoped would spur communities across the world to action.

"Whilst our politicians grapple with the enormity of dealing with climate change what Bundanoon shows is that at the very local level we can sometimes do things that can surprise ourselves, in terms of our ability to bring about real and measurable change that has a real benefit for the environment," he said.

The cash savings only made the project more compelling, he added.

"I think that's why this campaign is doing so well, because we're saying to people you can save money and save the environment at the same time," said Dee. "The alternative doesn't have a sexy brand, doesn't have pictures of mountain streams on the front of it, it comes out of your tap."

Activists say bottling water causes unnecessary use of plastics and fuel for transport. A New South Wales study found that in 2006, the industry was responsible for releasing 60,000 tonnes of gases blamed for global warming.

Article from AFP, taken from : http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hZlHknsnA1Yhe-ZMnEDsF9w9U5qQ

Tips on how to study Chapter 7, 8 and for EOY

Dear Gentlemen,

1) Definitions of important concepts (a summary usually can be found at the last few pages of the chapter)

2) Playback questions in your textbook are good guiding questions to re-cap what you should know from the chapter.

3) Case Studies are important.

4) Maps, Figures and Diagrams found in the textbook should be studied and familiarized.

Cheers, Miss Zheng

Chapter 8: Water Supply (Intro)

Dear Gentlemen,

Here's the video I showed in class to introduce you to the topic on Water Supply. You will realize as we go through this chapter that water supply of the world is facing constraints just like land supply. You will also realize that a lot of factors contributing to the high demand for water(mainly high population growth/numbers in the world) and constraints are similar to what we have studied in the chapter of land supply.

Similarly, just like how we devise ways to increase land supply, humans have also devised ways to increase water supply, either by increasing price of water, creating more water sources or conservation, very similar methods/strategies we have learnt in the chapter on land supply.

As you start preparing for your end of the year examinations, see how you can study smart and interlink these two chapters together.

Chapter 7:Responses to rising demand for land (Increasing supply of land and Conservation)

Hi guys,

Here is a re-cap on the last bit of Chapter 7: Responses to rising demand for land

Besides, increasing the price, which I have touched about on the concept of Price mechanism, below are the two other ways to meet the rising demand for land.

Increasing the supply of land:

1) Land Clearance: Clearing forests and demolishing buildings

2) Land Reclamation: Landfill method, Empoldering, reclaiming derelict land

3)Maximising existing landuse: Maxmising urban landuse (mixing urban landuse and high density building)

Mixing urban landuse (examples: Sengkang and Jurong)

High density building

Conservation of land

1) Nature parks, wetlands or in general other green spaces.

Oil threat to Australia wildlife By Phil Mercer BBC News, Sydney

Hi guys,

As you all did Worksheet 6.2 and one of the headlines was about oil spill and the question asked about its impact, below is an article on BBC news about a oil spill from a rig in the Timor sea affecting the waters around Australia (which you can see here, it is a problem transcending all 3 scales: local (Timor Sea), regional(Timor Sea and other waters around Australia, global:affecting endangered marine animals and species that are of the world). Help to clear the slick came from the regions, specifically an emergency rig from Singapore.

Do read the article and gain some insight.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo credits: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8252982.stm

Conservationists believe that, in its rush to exploit abundant natural resources, Australia risks inflicting irreparable damage on its fragile environment.

Environmentalists have warned that an oil slick caused by an accident on a rig in the Timor Sea is threatening wildlife in Australian waters.

Oil has been flowing from the West Atlas platform for three weeks.

Safety authorities have been using chemicals to try to break up the spill but warn it could be at least two more weeks before the leak is plugged.
Up to 400 barrels of oil per day have been pouring into the Timor Sea to Australia's north.

An emergency rig has arrived from Singapore to repair the damage and aircraft and boats have been dousing the slick with dispersants

Fragile environment

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has said that this has helped to contain the spread of oil, the bulk of which remains around the drilling platform thanks, in part, to benign weather conditions.

Officials have stated that the slick is about 170km (100 miles) from the Australian coast.

Environmental groups believe the contamination poses a significant threat to wildlife and is heading towards land.

Piers Verstegen, from the Conservation Council of Western Australia, says the spill - off the north coast of the Kimberley region where whales congregate - is an ecological disaster.

"Humpback whales, an endangered species, go to that area and that region to calf and give birth and this oil spill is happening just off the Kimberley coast," Mr Verstegen said.

"The oil, as far as we are aware, is travelling towards the Kimberley coastline but it is definitely affecting areas that are used by these whales and dolphins."
Fishermen have reported seeing endangered flatback turtles covered in oil.

There have also been claims that fish and sea-snakes have been poisoned.


From:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8252982.stm

Agriculture pioneer Borlaug dies

Photo credits:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8253005.stm

Norman Borlaug, the man known as the father of the Green Revolution in agriculture, has died in the US state of Texas aged 95.

Prof Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for agricultural innovation and the development of high-yield crops.

The Green Revolution helped world food production more than double between 1960 and 1990 with Asia, Africa and Latin America in particular benefiting.

The Nobel Institute said he had helped save hundreds of millions of lives.

Prof Borlaug died late on Saturday evening at his home in Dallas from complications with cancer, said a spokesperson for Texas A&M University, where he had worked.

'A better place'

In the early 1960s Prof Borlaug realised that creating short-stemmed varieties would leave food plants more energy for growing larger heads of grain.

His high-yield, disease-resistant dwarf wheat quickly boosted harvests in Latin America, and his techniques were particularly successful in South Asia, where famine was widespread.

Analysts believe the Green Revolution helped avert a worldwide famine in the late 20th century.

A close friend of Prof Borlaug at Texas A&M, Dr Ed Runge, told Associated Press news agency: "He has probably done more and is known by fewer people than anybody that has done that much... He made the world a better place."

The Nobel prize presentation said Prof Borlaug "more than any other single person of his age... has helped to provide bread for a hungry world". Prof Borlaug continued his work into his 90s.

At a conference in the Philippines in 2006 he said: "We still have a large number of miserable, hungry people and this contributes to world instability.
"Human misery is explosive, and you better not forget that."

Norman Borlaug was born in Iowa in 1914.
He studied at the University of Minnesota and later worked for DuPont and the Rockefeller Foundation.

He set up his wheat and maize centre in 1963 to train scientists.
Prof Borlaug was awarded the highest US civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal, in 2007.

from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8253005.stm, 13 September 2009

Chaper 7: Effectiveness of Land Reclamation

Hi guys,

Countries that are small like Singapore or where it is mainly made up of lowlands, below the sea level like the Netherlands, land reclamation is a popular solution to the limited land supply the country has. However, land reclamation is not all rosy and good, there are costs that the country have to bear when they embark on land reclamation and limitations to land reclamation itself.

They are:

1) Limitations on the current technology

2)Cost of reclaiming deeper waters

3)Availability of sand for reclamation

4)National territory boundaries (Law of the Sea)

5)Negative impacts on the environment:destruction of natural habitats and sedimentation

Sedimentation is a form of water pollution and I mentioned in class it affects especially the corals found in the sea, I questioned in class if there were corals found in Singapore and many of you said yes. Unlike the beautiful corals of myriad colours of other countries such as Malaysia, the Maldives or Australia, Singapore's corals are usually dull and brownish in colour. This is mainly due to the high sedimentation in Singapore waters that restrict certain growth of aquatic plants that produce the sugars which gives off the pretty colours that you see.

Below are the two videos that I showed about sedimentation and the corals found at Pulau Hantu. enjoy!

Effect of Sedimentation

Pulau Hantu

Below is a map of the areas where you can find corals in Singapore and the type of corals you can find.

Below is another video about the marine life and corals of Singapore, with better colours..enjoy!

Chaper 7: Land Reclamation ( 3 methods)

In class, I have gone through with you that land reclamation is the creation of dry land from an area covered by water. Land reclamation can also refer to the process of recovering land that is damaged and abandoned and making it usable again.

There are three major methods that for land reclamation:

1)Landfill: create land by draining waterlogged areas such as swamps and marshes and filling them with material like sand to form dry land.

2) Empoldering: method of creating land from the sea through the use of polders.

3) Reclaiming derelict land:

-->Poor farming practices:

1) Through usage of fertilizers.

2) Letting the land lie fallow.

-->Mining activities:

1)Spoil banks have to be levelled

2)Mining pools filled.

3)Chemicals can be introduced to treat acidic soil

4)Vegetation planted to prevent soil erosion.

Chapter 7:Land Supply (Responses to limited land supply)

I moved on to the ways in which we can increase land supply or to solve land supply problems.

They are:

1)Increasing price of land

2)Increasing supply of land

3)Conserving land.

1) INCREASING PRICE OF LAND

For increasing price of land, the concept that surrounds this is price mechanism and is about the demand and supply graph as shown below:

Second way is to increase supply of land and related to Chapter 4 on Agriculture where you learnt people clear the forest for land for settlement and agricultural purposes.

So two ways were demolishing old buildings and deforestation. The video below showed about deforestation in Brazil, at the Amazon rainforest and I told you to think about the negative effects that it brings besides being able to increase supply of land and that forests around the world are carbon sinks. Look at the video for re-cap and look at why deforestation is so rampant in Brazil, link it back to the concept of demand and supply too.

Possible impacts of deforestation:

1)Loss of biodiversity

2)Habitat degradation

3)Modified global climate (emission of CO2)

4)Social impact (indigenous people)

2) INCREASING SUPPLY OF LAND

Below was the video i showed about how Dubai is increasing their supply of land largely for tourism purposes.

Below are the satellite images that showed the growth of the islands of Dubai

Jan 1973-Barely much settlements seen

August 1990-Transport networks and settlements sighted

Oct 2006-Increase in settlement and transport networks and the growth of the Dubai islands

Images credited to : http://kuusanmaki.com/blog/?p=21

Chapter 7:Land Supply (Reasons for Land Constraint)

Hi guys,

For the past week, I started the lesson on land supply by using the newspaper game and had each of you represent as particular landuse (

be it for housing, settlement, factories etc) and you guys had to STRATEGIZE and plan how you could accommodate as much people as possible on the folded newspaper (which represented 30% of the Earth surface made up of land) w

ithout stepping out of it.

I told you all as you relate back the the topic, land supply is limited and there is a need for people to strategize on how to best use the piece of land as there is not only limited land supply, there is also a rising demand of it due to mainly the increasing population growth of the world.

The important concept that reflects about land constraint is this: CARRYING CAPACITY.

Carrying Capacity is the maximum number of people an area can support comfortably

without straining its supply of resources for future use.

The Generation of change starts from YOU.

The video below is the the conclusion video I showed you boys in class for the chapter on Managing the Changing Environment. And after the video I challenged you boys to be the Generation of Change where you will be problem solvers and Earth savers and to REVERSE what our forefathers have done the environment in which we are experiencing the impacts and effects now.

It's not too late yet, don't wait till its too late.

You still have at least 40 more years to live and in order to have a better future on Mother Earth, I challenge you to lead an environmentally friendly life through small steps that will help in conserving the environment for a better future for yourself and the next generations to come.

Start small.

Start now.

Start with yourself.

don't be part of the Lost Generation...

Nursing home says children hardly visit parents to avoid paying fees (Singapore)

The article below is about the problem of an aged population in Singapore where seemingly and increasingly more Singaporeans are abandoning their parents and not visiting them due to the fees need to paid to look after them. I do hope that in the future, your generation will not do the same and that each and everyone of you will appreciate your parents and look after them after they grow old.

Channel NewsAsia - Tuesday, August 25

SINGAPORE: Abandoning parents may not be common but it is becoming an emerging issue in Singapore

Five per cent of the elderly at Bright Hill Evergreen Home have not seen their children for some time. The home said the children do not visit so as to avoid paying ward fees.

Ninety per cent of some 140 elderly in the home have children who are unable to support them.

Staff at the nursing home said the children would cite reasons such as being busy with work, being ill or that they are having family problems.

The staff added that the elderly who have not seen their children in a long time are prone to depression, and most refuse treatment.

The home said they usually turn to counselling and games to help the elderly keep their minds off their children.

One elderly at the home said: "My children do not come over to visit me, they never came once."

Tang Yip Chong, head nurse, Bright Hill Evergreen Home, said: "The family normally has to pay (the ward fees) for a long time for the parents to stay in the home. (There is a) burden on them (the children), so after some time, they come (less often) to visit the patients so they can more or less escape paying the ward fees."

— CNA/yt

Story of Stuff (Animated)

Below is a 20 minutes plus long video about the "Story about Stuff", it is really a good animation and video show that links up the whole story about how human change the earth (through industrialization and extracting resources from the Earth), how the developed countries(in this case, the context is USA) kind of exploit the developing countries and most importantly, our human actions affecting the earth.

A good wrap up and summary on Chapter 6: Managing our changing environment.

Enjoy!

Chapter 6: Managing Our Changing Environment

Hi guys, today in class I talked about how we humans have been changing BOTH the physical and human environments to meet our needs. I also reminded us that as we take the resources out of the Earth with a unprecedented rate, we are in a danger zone of having the Earth's natural resources running low for our future generations (your future children) and also when we take from the Earth, we are also damaging the Earth through the processes and the by-products that we generate to create the goods and produce that we consume.

Below are the videos I showed in class today, look through them again as a re-cap about the kind and amount of waste we throw and how some cannot even be broke down, remember glass? In Singapore, being an affluent society, we are a "throw-away society/country" and the amount of unwarranted waste is great, so do think about what as an individual, can you do to play a part in conserving our Earth....recycling is not the convenient green solution that we should head towards. Instead, we should really be reducing our own consumption of goods and products that are not really needed by us to live, but are only wants.

GARBAGE CRISIS

CASE STUDY: NAPLES (ITALY) GARBAGE PROBLEMS

The video below is about Naples of Italy and how the huge amount of garbage have caused trouble to not only the locals (poisoning of vegetable produce,poisoned water supply due to the leakages in landfills, foul smells of rubbish thrown on the streets) but is also as a result of a regional effect (the mafia bringing in rubbish from outside Naples and illegally dumping it in Naples) and even international (of the processed food, mozzarella cheese which they export out)

So in studying this chapter and the following chapters, we need to not only think about the inter-relationships between humans and the environment (where we are actually inter-dependent, what happens at the far end of the Earth can eventually affect us), we need to think about the impacts of our human actions in the three spatial scale: local, national/regional and global/international.

The video below is about the fast fashion that is happening around the world especially in developed countries such as the USA or UK where high end fashion design threads are made readily available to the mass market and made affordable now, thus feeding to the growing problem of a Throw-away society. With fashion made to be easily accessed and disposed, the amount of waste generated by it is an on high. The video below shows the ways in curbing the waste created by fashion. So the next time you buy your Chinese New Year clothes, negotiate with your mother to not buy clothes in red which you will not get to wear so often but in tradition with Chinese New Year, buy clothes that will last you throughout the year and something that you will wear.

The link here shows you a video on how to handle e-waste, another big contributor to waste where electronic appliances phase out at a very fast rate, resulting in the massive e-waste created.

Click here!