GBBO - support Alice

We'll be supporting Alice Fevronia, geography teacher, in the new series of the Great British Bake-Off.
She has a new Twitter feed.



Plenty of geo-bake off potential here.

Nine things you can do about Climate Change

Lithium Mining

"The birds have gone, we can't keep animals anymore," he says. "It's getting harder and harder to grow crops. If it gets any worse... we will have to emigrate."
Jorge Cruz

Atlas Obscura had some amazing images of lithium mining in a recent blog.
A recent National Geographic magazine also had an excellent report on this particular industry, which sits alongside cobalt mining as being an extractive industry which influences all of our lives, via the requirements of smartphone manufacture and other items needing batteries.
Lithium is used in the creation of batteries which have a long life, and are rapid to recharge, while being very light and compact.
One key area for lithium extraction is Bolivia.

The National Geographic article is here.

Electric cars are becoming more common on our streets, as the charging infrastructure expands and costs come down (or the maths make more sense as fuel prices rise)
There is still a way to go before they challenge conventional petrol engines, but they all need a battery, and batteries need lithium. The narrative that electric cars are better for the environment doesn't really play out when one considers all the costs.

The BBC recently explored the potential implications of this technology.

Electric Car Icon by Prashanth Rapolu from the Noun Project

Thought for the Day

"This year’s GCSE results not only highlight the hard work of teachers and students, but also must surely reflect the fact that a knowledge of geography is an essential tool in understanding the enormously consequential and dizzyingly rapid changes our planet is going through. Geography is the one subject that looks at the whole story.”

Michael Palin

Expeditions Unpacked

I have this book on pre-order.

‘A fascinating and unique look at these celebrated expeditions. Ed Stafford knows all too well how important an explorer’s kit can be and this brilliant book gives great insight into the role it plays.’ —Sir Ranulph Fiennes

In this unique and enthralling book, explorer and survivalist Ed Stafford curates 25 great expeditions through the lens of the kit these remarkable explorers took with them. In an environment where lack of preparation could mean certain death, the equipment carried, ridden and sailed into uncharted territories could mean the success or failure of an expedition. Was it simply a case of better provisions and preparation that helped Amundsen beat Scott to the South Pole? And how has the equipment taken to Everest changed since Hillary’s first ascent?

Through carefully curated photographs and specially commissioned illustrations we can see at a glance the scale, style and complexity of the items taken into the unknown by the greatest explorers of all time, and the impact each item had on their journey. How it potentially saved a life, or was purely for comfort or entertainment, and how these objects of survival have evolved and adapted as science advances, and we plunge further into the extremes.

Conquering fears and mountains, adversity and wild jungles, each item these explorers flew, pulled or hauled played a crucial role in their ambitious and dangerous missions to find out a little more about our world. Through each of these objects, we can gain a better understanding ourselves.

Get an intimate view of these and more amazing expeditions:
Roald Amundsen, race to the Pole: Norwegian expedition (snowshoes, Primus stove, piano, violin, gramophone… )
Amelia Earhart, first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (Bendix radio direction finder, parachutes, emergency life raft, rouge… )
Tim Slessor, first overland from London to Singapore (machetes, crowbar, typewriter, Remington dry shaver, tea… )
Nellie Bly, around the world in 72 days (Mumm champagne, accordion, silk waterproof wrap, dark gloves… )

Ely

Ely featured on this Open Country broadcast recently. Thanks to Helen Young for the tipoff.



Earlier this year, Helen Mark visited the Isle of Eels in the heart of the Cambridgeshire Fens for its annual eel day festival. She joins the parade of eels through the streets and takes part in the World Eel Throwing Competition (which thankfully involves no real eels). She also learns about the life cycle of the eel and discovers how this extraordinary fish is intimately bound up with the history and culture of Ely. 

Five minutes with our new colleague from September

The value of GIS

An excellent new video from ESRI

ESRI StoryMap by John Nelson

Ecotourism - an RGS subject animation

UN CC Accreditation - put your school on the map

There seems to be a growing consensus now about the importance of teaching climate change in schools.
And from my personal perspective, and Steve Brace of the RGS agrees, it's perhaps the geographers who are best placed to do that within the curriculum.

However, all curriculum subjects could bring their own perspectives to the issue: the scientists exploring the atmosphere, mathematicians exploring the data behind changing temperatures, the English teachers studying appropriate books, and Historians exploring the Little Ice Age and the widespread impacts of previous changes in climate over a short time period.

You may also have other ideas of how your subject can support the teaching of climate change.

Are you on the map of climate change teachers yet?

It may be that the summer is the perfect time to go through the accreditation, or perhaps you prefer to wait until the new school year?
The accreditation involves a range of quizzes, following working through a series of modules on climate change topics. I've blogged about the process previously.

The deadline to be part of phase 1 of the project is the end of September.
Don't delay...
Because climate change won't wait either.

I mentioned Greta Thunberg earlier and the author Melissa Harrison has been co-ordinating a crowdfunding project to get more copies of the book into schools. This has been very successful, and the amount raised is increasing.

If you would like to get some copies of the book for your own school, particularly if your budget would otherwise make it difficult for you to do this, then you need to request some copies.

Are you a teacher, teaching assistant or school librarian? Would you like your school to receive 10 free copies of Greta Thunberg’s book of speeches, to give to kids? Send an email to gretaforschools@gmail.com with the name of the school, its address and a contact name. Please RT

— Melissa Harrison 🌾 (@M_Z_Harrison) August 6, 2019

South Georgia Heritage Trust

South Georgia is an important and fascinating place, which is of global importance despite its remote location in the South Atlantic.

It was first approached closely by mariners taking part in Captain Cook's 2nd voyage around the world in January 1775, although it is thought that Portuguese sailors first saw it on the horizon, amongst the sea ice and the bad weather in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. Captain Cook went on shore to claim the land for the King.
At the time, he described it as a "terrible and savage place" and described seeing:
‘Seals, or sea-bears, were pretty numerous. Perhaps the most of those we saw were females, for the shores swarmed with young cubs’
This description caught the attention of some people when he returned, as sea-bears were otherwise known as fur seals, and had valuable pelts.
The sealers moved in, followed by whalers. They came on wooden ships overrun with rats and mice and these all came ashore eventually.

For centuries, the island was over run with rodents, the escapees from the ships which landed there to exploit the resources of fur seals, whales and sea lions. The whalers built a settlement at Grytviken, which is still the hub for visitors, and slaughtered millions of seals, whales and sea-lions. The rats bred, and made their homes in the burrows made by sea birds, whose eggs they consumed for food.
Shackleton made his way there in the 'James Caird' from Elephant Island, following the sinking of the 'Endurance'. Arriving on the wrong side of the island in King Haakon Bay, he made an incredible crossing of the island along with Frank Worsley and Tom Crean.

The thousands of tourists who visit annually, often paying their respects and take a dram at the grave of Sir Ernest Shackleton are entranced by the dramatic glacial landscape, precipitous peaks and valleys and the millions of penguins which can be seen in these panoramic views.
There are also people working there for the scientific season, for the British Antarctic Survey, or manning the museum run by the South Georgia Heritage Trust.

I have recently started work on a major new resource for the South Georgia Heritage Trust, which will be available in full early in the new year. 

I've created the structure for the resource, which is designed to tell the story of the SGHT's work, as well as introducing students to this amazing place. In this way, the resource will cover a whole range of different topics, relevant to National 5 Geography in Scotland, and KS3-5 in England and Wales (with some elements of iGCSE and IB Geography too for good measure).

This project will also involve my friend Val Vannet, who I have known for over 15 years. We are going to be doing a workshop at the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers' Conference in October, up near Stirling.



If you are coming to the SAGT conference, please sign up to our workshop.
We will also be putting in for a session at the GA Conference in 2020.
Here's a map of Grytiken, embedded using the Google Maps API.
Explore it...



I've also treated myself to a suitable map to plot my various work.
These are published by the British Antarctic Survey.



The resource is taking shape nicely, partly with the help of the South Georgia Association, 

Saffron O' Neill's Climate Change Resource

You'll have noticed a Climate Change trend appearing in recent posts on the blog perhaps, following my starting work as a UN Accredited Climate Change teacher which has meant a lot of behind the scenes work to develop some new support options which will be made available to all schools in time.
This is a critical time for influencing public behaviours, and ensuring that students are aware of the realities of Climate Change, which is going to change the world they live in, and require certain changes in their lifestyle, purchasing, transport options and potentially far greater changes.

I've been following up various leads to new Climate Change resources, which are different to the norm.

Saffron O' Neill replied to one of my requests for help with some research she is doing on how  people view Climate Change, and how it is represented in the media.
She developed some work about how people respond to climate change. The tweet I saw was this one...

Paper just accepted to Climatic Change: 'More than meets the eye: A longitudinal analysis of climate change imagery in the print media'. Found a distinct change in visual framing from mid-2000s, illustrating rise of CC scepticism. Visual synedoches (e.g. polar bears) play a role. pic.twitter.com/RPpYfHlnt1

— Saffron O'Neill (@SaffronJONeill) July 17, 2019

Check out Saffron's blog as well.

She has produced a set of materials and images which are very useful using a Visual Q method which she has used in her research. Thanks for sharing the materials.
I am going to use and adapt these for a forthcoming resource which I am working on for the new term. A spot of research led practice but for me the best kind: one based on research around the specific geographical context of the work, rather than generic neuroscience...

Feeling hot...

London can be upto 9 C hotter than the surrounding countryside during a #heatwaveuk 🌡

During the 2003 #heatwave over 70,000 elderly people ⚰ died in Europe due to excessive night time temperatures 🌡

July 2019 could break UK hottest temperature records #ClimateChange pic.twitter.com/71dlBUz05I

— Mark Maslin (@ProfMarkMaslin) July 25, 2019

More to come on this in the new Michaelmas term, with a brand new unit to get us started in Year 7 and 8. 

In the news...