Sunday, 31 January 2016
Food Story...
This is an example of the absurdity of food and convenience… we were discussing this last week…
Saturday, 30 January 2016
How are you feeling today?
That was how we started the Year 12 lesson on Friday.
It was an introduction to the key terms in the Health module.
These are mortality and morbidity.
Make sure that you know the difference between these two terms.
It was an introduction to the key terms in the Health module.
These are mortality and morbidity.
Make sure that you know the difference between these two terms.
Cities at risk of an Earthquake
Another splendid map by Ben Hennig.... Can you explain the pattern Year 9?
Sunday, 24 January 2016
Friday, 22 January 2016
Urban poverty and the link with social welfare...
One for Y12. This video by Charlotte Lemanski has her looking at the nature of urban poverty and how it's connected with urban structure and the development of cities. Hosted on the GA website too, where there are other related links as part of their new Videocasts.
Thursday, 21 January 2016
EBOLA
We will be exploring Ebola as our infectious disease case study.
Start reading up on this disease now...
This book is interesting, and at least one student has bought their own copy of it, although we wouldn't expect you to do that. It's an accessible read, and explores the history of the virus. It's taken from a larger book called Spillover.
I'm putting together a page of links to read...
Start reading up on this disease now...
This book is interesting, and at least one student has bought their own copy of it, although we wouldn't expect you to do that. It's an accessible read, and explores the history of the virus. It's taken from a larger book called Spillover.
I'm putting together a page of links to read...
Who is the World Health Organisation…??
As in WHO.
The website has a wealth of information on health, and students should become familiar with this if possible.
There are updates on mortality around the world, and child health, and a range of other materials.
Ensure that you know the meanings of all key terms.
It is also worth looking at the 21CC website, which has a Global Health section.
There are plenty of WHO campaigns such as Every Newborn.
Monday, 18 January 2016
Global patterns of death...
Not a cheerful subject for a Monday morning, but one that will be explored by Year 12 students for the next term. Here's a video made by Ben Hennig.
Thursday, 14 January 2016
OS Mapskills
Today we used Steve Backshall's videos to remember how to do some basic mapskills.
They are available on the OS website or You Tube channel
Here's the 4 figure grid reference one...
They are available on the OS website or You Tube channel
Here's the 4 figure grid reference one...
Saturday, 9 January 2016
AS Health Pinterest Board
Coming later this month…. make sure that you take a look at the main topics related to Health and start 'clipping' related stories…
Follow GeoBlogs's board Health Y12 on Pinterest.
Follow GeoBlogs's board Health Y12 on Pinterest.
Friday, 8 January 2016
Sunday, 3 January 2016
Wednesday, 30 December 2015
Flooding in the North of England - I hope you're following events...
Originally posted over on LivingGeography blog…
I never blog over the Christmas and New Year period…
Except for this blog post, which is unprecedented….
Except for that time when I blogged about the S.E Asian tsunami…. and that other time…
What does unprecedented mean?
It's been used quite a few times over the last few days to refer to the rainfall, and seems to be being used as some sort of 'excuse' for the extent of the flooding that has hit Cumbria, Carlisle, and then Leeds, Lancashire and West Yorkshire including Mytholmroyd, and the surrounding area, and now across into York, Selby and Tadcaster. Flood defences have been overwhelmed and a lot of buildings have been inundated, businesses are threatened, and people's homes and possessions have been ruined, in some cases several times, and for many for the first time in living memory. Many of these people didn't have sufficient insurance, and are going to have real trouble getting it now.
Over the last week or so, heavy rainfall has hit the NW and now further east, as several storms have passed through, with Frank due to arrive later today. The rainfall totals are far in excess of seasonal averages, with Shap and Capel Curig amongst places that are being reported as having very high rainfall totals.
My family all live in York, and my dad went into the city centre yesterday to check on the flooding, which has changed the city's mood completely - yesterday there was no internet or phones for some people, and shops were accepting cash only as card payments weren't possible. The city has been flooded before... is it the worst that it has ever been in the city? Is it really unprecedented? Certainly there are more houses and other buildings close to the river channels than ever, and many of these were seen in aerial photographs of the affected areas. There was also the collapse of an important bridge in Tadcaster, and many rivers in North Yorkshire had record levels of flow (or at least since their discharge was recorded)
Weather is making the news around the world too:
- a deadly swathe of tornadoes in the southern states of the USA
- record levels of water in the Mississippi, which is normally at low levels because the rivers further north are frozen
- huge snowdrifts in Texas...
- over 150 000 affected by flooding in S. America in Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay.
- 'record' warm temperatures in the Arctic
and many more...
- a record El Nino event...
This Guardian editorial provided a useful context… as did quite a few of the articles in yesterday's paper, and on the website, including an excellent article from the streets of York itself.
So is what is happening now truly unprecedented? Or is unprecedented starting to be the new 'normal'?
York is a medieval city which has several rivers running through it, and no doubt has flooded many times before, even worse than the previous 'worst ever floods' in 2000 probably. There have been several tweets which seem to show that that the rivers are really 'reclaiming' areas that used to be watercourses and pools in medieval times. This mirrors something that I used to talk about when I worked for the GA, following the flooding that hit Sheffield and Hull in 2007. "They're called floodplains because they flood" was a quote by Philip Eden on one of the first slides in the presentation, and in the paper yesterday (and today's Independent) it appears that around 10 000 homes a year are still built in flood plains. Indeed, George Monbiot has written about the inevitability of the flooding given the way that upland areas are managed. I also talked in my GA lectures about the changes to insurance coverage that took place.
A few other links I noticed:
We will have to make difficult decisions on what can be saved and what must be sacrificed to rising waters, unreliable coastlines and dangerously high rivers. Not all property, not every house, but surely every person can be made safe in this new, warmer time. (That is more than can be said for poorer parts of the world.)
And finally, I've been curating a Pinterest board… no doubt there are some Flipboard magazines out there too...
Follow GeoBlogs's board UK Flooding incl. Dec 2015 on Pinterest.
Don't forget you can also now follow all the main EA river gauges on Twitter via GaugeMap website. These have been followed and tweeted endlessly.
I hope that the recovery continues to show the resilience of these communities, which have already been affected. I expect there to be a reappraisal of flood defences and land-use management, and of return periods, and also the longer-term impacts of almost £6 billion of losses.
Stay safe for the arrival of storm Frank, I hope that nothing unprecedented is about to happen….
Update
I never blog over the Christmas and New Year period…
Except for this blog post, which is unprecedented….
Except for that time when I blogged about the S.E Asian tsunami…. and that other time…
What does unprecedented mean?
It's been used quite a few times over the last few days to refer to the rainfall, and seems to be being used as some sort of 'excuse' for the extent of the flooding that has hit Cumbria, Carlisle, and then Leeds, Lancashire and West Yorkshire including Mytholmroyd, and the surrounding area, and now across into York, Selby and Tadcaster. Flood defences have been overwhelmed and a lot of buildings have been inundated, businesses are threatened, and people's homes and possessions have been ruined, in some cases several times, and for many for the first time in living memory. Many of these people didn't have sufficient insurance, and are going to have real trouble getting it now.
Over the last week or so, heavy rainfall has hit the NW and now further east, as several storms have passed through, with Frank due to arrive later today. The rainfall totals are far in excess of seasonal averages, with Shap and Capel Curig amongst places that are being reported as having very high rainfall totals.
My family all live in York, and my dad went into the city centre yesterday to check on the flooding, which has changed the city's mood completely - yesterday there was no internet or phones for some people, and shops were accepting cash only as card payments weren't possible. The city has been flooded before... is it the worst that it has ever been in the city? Is it really unprecedented? Certainly there are more houses and other buildings close to the river channels than ever, and many of these were seen in aerial photographs of the affected areas. There was also the collapse of an important bridge in Tadcaster, and many rivers in North Yorkshire had record levels of flow (or at least since their discharge was recorded)
The headline says it all. Tomorrow's @LeedsNews front page....
#flooding #Yorkshire #Leeds #NorthernPowerhouse pic.twitter.com/1eyNmPDQqd
— YorkshireEveningPost (@LeedsNews) December 27, 2015
Weather is making the news around the world too:
- a deadly swathe of tornadoes in the southern states of the USA
- record levels of water in the Mississippi, which is normally at low levels because the rivers further north are frozen
- huge snowdrifts in Texas...
- over 150 000 affected by flooding in S. America in Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay.
- 'record' warm temperatures in the Arctic
and many more...
- a record El Nino event...
This Guardian editorial provided a useful context… as did quite a few of the articles in yesterday's paper, and on the website, including an excellent article from the streets of York itself.
Guardian Editorial – 27th
December 2015
The
peculiar destructiveness of modern floods arises from complex causes acting
over long periods. They are not just a product of unprecedented rainfall, but
of well-established patterns of land use and river management. All too often
these have been greedy, arrogant, and short-termist: changing them will require
co-ordinated efforts, maintained over decades. The way in which the floods have
recurred over the past decade does not make for optimism
So is what is happening now truly unprecedented? Or is unprecedented starting to be the new 'normal'?
York is a medieval city which has several rivers running through it, and no doubt has flooded many times before, even worse than the previous 'worst ever floods' in 2000 probably. There have been several tweets which seem to show that that the rivers are really 'reclaiming' areas that used to be watercourses and pools in medieval times. This mirrors something that I used to talk about when I worked for the GA, following the flooding that hit Sheffield and Hull in 2007. "They're called floodplains because they flood" was a quote by Philip Eden on one of the first slides in the presentation, and in the paper yesterday (and today's Independent) it appears that around 10 000 homes a year are still built in flood plains. Indeed, George Monbiot has written about the inevitability of the flooding given the way that upland areas are managed. I also talked in my GA lectures about the changes to insurance coverage that took place.
A few other links I noticed:
- Geogabout blog post with some useful resource links, curated by David Drake
- A N-S divide in flood protection ?
- Gaia Vince writing in the Telegraph
- David Cameron visiting flood victims
We will have to make difficult decisions on what can be saved and what must be sacrificed to rising waters, unreliable coastlines and dangerously high rivers. Not all property, not every house, but surely every person can be made safe in this new, warmer time. (That is more than can be said for poorer parts of the world.)
And finally, I've been curating a Pinterest board… no doubt there are some Flipboard magazines out there too...
Follow GeoBlogs's board UK Flooding incl. Dec 2015 on Pinterest.
Don't forget you can also now follow all the main EA river gauges on Twitter via GaugeMap website. These have been followed and tweeted endlessly.
I hope that the recovery continues to show the resilience of these communities, which have already been affected. I expect there to be a reappraisal of flood defences and land-use management, and of return periods, and also the longer-term impacts of almost £6 billion of losses.
Stay safe for the arrival of storm Frank, I hope that nothing unprecedented is about to happen….
Update
Lowest Atlantic pressure last 200 years 913mb Braer Storm 1993; #StormFrank >930mb low but not "unprecedented" pic.twitter.com/xbyejvOsLA
— RGS Weather (@RGSweather) December 30, 2015
Monday, 21 December 2015
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