Wednesday 12 November 2014

Wednesday 1 October 2014

In praise of the boring city....

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/oct/01/in-praise-of-boring-cities-arlington-zurich-adelaide-dull

Charlotte, North Carolina.

Do we really not value the lives of Africans?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/01/us-ebola-cheap-value-african-lives

A general view of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta

World's first carbon capture storage plant is switched on....

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/01/canada-switches-on-worlds-first-carbon-capture-power-plant

Canada has switched on the worlds first Carbon capture storage plant.
Boundary Dam CCS power plant in Canada

1 million to save the Bengal tiger!

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/01/david-attenborough-1m-bengal-tiger-india-project

Royal Bengal Tiger of Kaziranga National Park

1million plan to protect the Bengal tiger, aim is to relocate a village to create the largest group of the tigers in the wild.

Bye bye! Aral sea

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/01/satellite-images-show-aral-sea-basin-completely-dried


South Aral Sea shrinking

Earth has lost 50% of its wildlife in 40 years!!!

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/29/earth-lost-50-wildlife-in-40-years-wwf

Rubbish dumped on the tundra outside llulissat in Greenland with icebergs behind from the Sermeq Kujullaq or llulissat Ice fjord. The Ilulissat ice fjord is a Unesco world heritage site

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/30/scare-stories-wwf-disappearing-wildlife-matter

Why these wildlife scare stories really do matter

Its time to stop our war on the living world says George!

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2014/oct/01/george-monbiot-war-on-the-living-world-wildlife

Endangered species Radiated tortoise with destroyed habitat in Madagascar

Will climate change save Detroit?

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/28/climate-change-detroit-brighter-future-us-cities-weather

Will climate change help Detroit?

Detroit

Climate change is already here!!!

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/28/climate-change-has-arrived-global-warming-icecaps-deserts

climate change is all ready happening-
Bangladesh floods cooking

India- a possible energy superpower?

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/01/india-will-be-renewables-superpower-says-energy-minister


Union Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal

India's new premier- Modi- aims to speed up India's development of solar power.

Tuesday 16 September 2014

Is this it for britishness?

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/2014/sep/16/-sp-is-this-the-end-of-brutishness

The King’s Own Scottish Borderers parade in the grounds of Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh.

Hull- to the edge of doom and back again...

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/sep/11/-sp-to-hull-and-back-the-rebirth-of-britains-poorest-city

A fisherman on the River Humber alongside the Alexandra Dock in Hull.

Hull’s Alexandra Dock is set to be transformed into Green Port Hull, a huge offshore wind turbine assembly and export facility.

To Hull and back

Japanese culture under threat....

Japanese culture at risk from the whaling ban....

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/15/japans-whaling-has-produced-more-sushi-than-science

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/16/iwc-extend-ban-japan-scientific-whaling

Japan's scientific whaling programme

Off to Timbuktu- not for much longer!!! An ancient landscape and culture under threat from Desertification

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/sep/16/-sp-life-timbuktu-mali-ancient-city-gold-slowly-turning-to-dust

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2014/sep/16/-sp-timbuktu-portrait-of-a-city-on-the-edge-of-existence-in-pictures picture essay


Timbuktu's open-air abattoir



A real shame, one of the great ancient civilisations is under threat from desertification!

Are they deliberately drowning migrants?!!!

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/16/migrants-children-drowned-boat-Mediterranean

Migrants rescued by Italian navy

impacts of illegal migration from Africa to Europe!
Now Africans are being deliberately drowned!!

Clean air deprivation in the UK


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28898901

Car exhaust

is the UK deprived of clean air
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28898901

Car exhaust

Amazon rainforest destruction increases......again!!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-29151977

Area cleared of trees in the Anapu region in northern Brazil (04/2005)

Deforestation in the Amazon up 29% in the 12 months to July 2013

China marches on.....


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29107792





 China marches on- it is now creating land in the sea
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29161620

A look at how one of the world's poorest nations Malawi has met the Millenium development goal of reducing child mortality.
A look at how they are managing their population too.

The place where most of the descendants are from 1 man.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25430383

Palmerston island map

An amazing article on an isolated culture in the middle of the Pacific ocean- ships only stop by every 6 months

Wednesday 14 May 2014

Brilliant maps of London

http://www.londonmapper.org
A brilliant website!!
Lots of maps of London showing how, income, employment, education levels etc, vary across London boroughs.

Before and after cities

http://justsomething.co/before-and-after-world




Excellent site, showing before and after cities, including Dubai, LA, Shenzhen, china and more

Current SuperPower issues

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/06/superpower-capitalist-world-order-Ukraine

US President Barack Obama meets with Russian President Putin in Los Cabos




Interesting article on the current situation re Superpowers!!

Brcko in Bosnia- Europes only free city?!!!!

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/may/14/brcko-bosnia-europe-only-free-city

The city of Brcko in Bosnia-Herzegovina

The centre of Brcko.

Brcko

Climate change threatens the Arctic

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/14/climate-change-arctic-security-threat-report

The changing Arctic climate could cause major conflict in the Arctic region.

Impact of humans on the hydrological cycle

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27393811

Over abstraction for irrigation and pumping is causing mountains to lift and valleys to subside increasing seismic activity along the San Andreas fault.


San Andreas fault

Sunday 11 May 2014

London has the most billionaires of all the cities in the world!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/uk-has-the-most-billionaires-per-population-than-any-other-nation-in-the-world-9350471.html

London has the highest number of billionaires than any other city in the world- 72 of them.
The UK as a whole has 104 billionaires.

The highest ranked Brit is the Duke of Westminster who owns lots of property in central London, other Brits on the list include Sir Philip Green, Sir Richard Branson and Mike Ashley of Sports Direct.

Funky maps of London!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/london-mapped-house-prices-hedgehogs-and-homelessness--from-the-people-who-brought-you-world-mapper-extraordinary-cartograms-reveal-capital-as-you-have-never-seen-it-before-9351704.html

The size of each borough changes according to the number of specific things, including hedgehog sightings, house prices and homelessness.

London Mapper

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2625443/Londons-banking-boom-hedgehog-crisis-revealed-extraordinary-maps-Oxford-University-researchers.html  
more detail here!
 

Do it for Denmark!

http://do-it-for-denmark.dk/

A campaign in Denmark to encourage people to have children!!!
It encourages them to go on holiday because couples are more likely to have sex whilst on holiday in a different place!
Novel, Pro-natalist policy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrO3TfJc9Qw     clip on the policy

http://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2014/mar/30/sun-sex-baby-package-holiday-danes-Denmark

The full story here!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/do-it-for-denmark--competition-calls-for-danes-to-have-more-sex-to-tackle-declining-birth-rates-9218490.html  
and here!

Sunday 20 April 2014

Impa ts of globalisation on different groups.

How can we get young people to say no to fast fashion? | Lucy Siegle http://gu.com/p/3zf47

Taking the culture of the Bushmen away!

Botswana bushmen: 'If you deny us the right to hunt, you are killing us' http://gu.com/p/3zdd3

Wednesday 16 April 2014

North Korea hosts a marathon- open to outsiders for first time- just don't wear anything with America on!!!!

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/apr/16/north-korea-marathon-pyongyang-running
On Sunday London was not the only city to host a marathon. Time limit 4 hours, but not to worry if you can't finish buses will get you and drop you at the finish line. No cameras, music players, no large logos on clothes though and onlookers with guns able to shoot at a moments notice. 

Tar oil and shale gas frenzy encouraged by Canada.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/16/canada-becoming-launch-pad-of-a-global-tar-sands-and-oil-shale-frenzy

THE DRIVE FOR CHEAP ENERGY MAY LEAD TO ECOLOGICAL DISASTER.  The increase is shale gas and tar sand oil some are saying will be a disaster for the planets air quality, carbon emissions and destroy global ecosystems.

The negatives of globalisation....

http://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2014/apr/bangladesh-shirt-on-your-back
This is a brilliant interactive article for GSCE and AS level. Looks at the clothing industry in Bangladesh.
Contains lots of video clips about the impacts of cheap clothing on the people of Bangladesh. For AS it focuses on negatives of globalisation and reasons there is not an equitable world. For GCSE you can use it for the negatives of globalisation on different groups of people including women of the developing world.

Interesting cultural diversity mini example

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26969150
The Kazakh people of Mongolia hunt using Golden Eagles, its believed they are the only ones to do so across the globe. There are about 400 still doing so. It is mainly a tradition followed by boys but there is a girl of 13 carrying on the tradition.
Her partaking in a 2,000 year old male tradition highlight the fact that Mongolia is at a bit of a cross roads. their cultures are changing as females do not traditionally do such things however if females don't partake will it die out completely is it better to maintain a tradition and allow alterations rather than lose it?

Saturday 12 April 2014

The world's dirtiest river

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world


A 30 minute programme about the Citerum river on the island of Java, Indonesia. You can watch on 4 OD
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/4od
or there is a 2 minute clip of the river outlining the main issues on this site.
Some are calling it the world's most reported river.


"The Indonesian island of Java is home to the planet's most polluted river and a textile industry supplying some of the world's biggest fashion brands.
Reporter Seyi Rhodes and director Hugo Ward expose the extraordinary amount of untreated toxic waste from the textile factories, non-degradable plastics, household rubbish, dead animals and fish and human effluent blanketing the Citarum river, which 35 million people rely on for drinking, cooking and washing.
The team accompanies former fisherman Herman and his son as they push their boat through rubbish so thick that they can't see the surface of the river. Forty years ago Herman made a good living from fishing.
Now, with 60 per cent of the fish species wiped out as the river is starved of oxygen and polluted with toxic waste, he is after another catch: plastic for recycling.
Thirty miles upstream, the river passes through Majalaya: a major industrial area and home to a booming textiles industry. Water from the Citarum pollutes the drinking wells and communal washing areas.
One man says he has to use a cloth to filter the water as it irritates his skin: 'On Sundays the water is a little bit better, less murky. Other days it turns green, yellow, red and black,' he says.
Children are clearly suffering from contact with the water, which is contaminated not only with the textile waste, but also human excrement, as the channels serve as both sewer and bathroom. A local doctor says around 60 per cent of local children have skin infections like impetigo as a result.
And this isn't the only health hazard. The Unreported World team enlists local scientist Dr Sunardi to test samples from the village and the river. All the water sources are contaminated with heavy metals, including the drinking well, which has mercury levels nearly four times the recommended safe level.
Dr Sunardi says that the villagers who drink the water - especially the children - are at risk of cancer and mental and physical health issues.
The villagers are well aware of the problems. But more than half of the adults in this region work in textile factories, which are their only source of income. One villager says the factory he works in regularly dumps toxic waste directly into the river at night.
Indonesia's Association of Textile Manufacturers says its 200 members on the Citarum treat their wastewater, but it accepts that hundreds more textile factories - which don't belong to their organisation - pour untreated waste into the river.
Indonesia's Deputy Minister for the Environment, Arief Yuwomo, tells Rhodes: 'We have a few strategies in place and we hope we can reduce these problems. If factories are breaching these laws we will take enforcement action against them.'
The government claims it has shut down a factory for illegally dumping chemical waste into the Citarum, but it wouldn't disclose any details of the incident or name the factory.
Meanwhile, some of the villagers have decided to try to block one of the outlet pipes, which is releasing toxic waste into the river, in the hope that it floods the factory. It's a dangerous operation, but for the villagers it seems like the only way they will get their concerns noticed."
The above paragraph is taken from the programme's website.

 
Daily mail article on the same river- some good images here

Who does Britain think it is?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26885743

Outlines what Brits think about themselves and their identities- overview seems to be that we feel we are becoming both more local and more global- impact of globalisation


Graphic on connectedness
The survey goes into detail about which countries we feel are most similar to us in values (part of culture) and a bit about what aspect is most important to peoples identity. Very interesting reading and very useful for our current steer for the up coming exam.

Monday 31 March 2014

Saturday 29 March 2014

culture 2014- Brazil

http://www.mongabay.com/history/brazil/brazil-the_brazilian_way.html

Look at perhaps a 'Brazilian culture'

http://www.brazilrus.com/culture-and-people/

overview of Brazilian regional differences

http://countrystudies.us/brazil/35.htm
basics of the Amerindian population

http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/uncontacted-brazil
info on some of the most isolated- and what threatens their survival and therefore their diversity

2014 culture paper- Nauru

http://www.everyculture.com/Ma-Ni/Nauru.html

The basics of Nauru culture

culture paper - China and Tibet

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/10/dalai-lama-tibet-china

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/china/survival-tibetan-culture

http://tibet.net/2007/04/07/chinas-impact-on-tibetan-cultural-and-linguistic-identity/

http://www.mtac.gov.tw/mtacbooke/upload/09409/0202/2.pdf
impact of railway built by Chinese on Tibet

http://www.cwru.edu/affil/tibet/booksAndPapers/Impact_China_Reform_Policy.htm


http://www.globalization101.org/the-impact-of-globalization-on-tibet-2/

globalisations impact on Tibet

http://news.xinhuanet.com/zhengfu/2002-11/18/content_633172.htm
china's view of changes to Tibetan culture since 1959

http://www.academia.edu/1319076/Chinas_minority_education_policy_with_reference_to_Tibet

education policy- impact on culture in Tibet

Culture paper 2014- EUculture?

http://www.lse.ac.uk/publicEvents/pdf/20060215-Figel.pdf

Interesting lecture notes- is there a European culture?

http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2013-07-12-odoherty-en.html

Interesting article

http://www.debatingeurope.eu/2011/12/19/is-a-european-identity-possible/#.UzbU1KRF3IU

Some interesting quotes on whether there could ever be a European culture

Friday 28 March 2014

culture paper 2014- Algeria

http://www.minorityrights.org/4083/algeria/berbers.html
details about Berber culture

http://www.dayan.org/commentary/bruce_The%20berber%20culture%20movement.pdf
globalisation and the berber

http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2014/02/berbers
fortunes of the berbers

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2014/02/algeria-sectarian-conflict-ghardaia-reflects-mismanagement.html#
modernisation a threat to Mozabite diversity

http://www.african-bulletin.com/7536-the-baground-of-mozabite-issue-in-algeria.html

Background to the issues

2014- culture report

http://journals.culture-communication.unimelb.edu.au/platform/resources/includes/vol2_1/PlatformVol2Issue1_Movius.pdf
Article about cultural globalisation rather than global culture

Culture report 2014- France

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3601299/Disney-fini-Dont-take-the-Mickey.html

The French reaction to Disneyland- a bit old but some good points

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/merde-asterix-screwup-shows-mcdonalds-just-cant-get-it-right-in-france/
Is McDonalds a threat to French gastronomy
 
 
cultural conflict- North African immigrants in France

2014 culture report- useful article

http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/24132_19_Hollway_Ch_19.pdf
a useful article to read

The Culture report 2014- North Korea

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/15/north-korea-pyongyang-secret-culture

From 2010, so pushing it time wise but still very useful, insightful information.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-26/an-north-korea-video-shows-karaoke-salons/5347926

This video is poor quality but is reportedly from inside North Korea- of Karaoke and beer drinking- not exactly traditionally North Korean.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16243995

An overview of life in North Korea

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-26747649
the haircut link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03txq49/Panorama_Educating_North_Korea/
I player