Geography on TV

Thanks to Val Vannet for pointing out that Iain Stewart returns this Sunday (7th September) at 9.00pm on BBC2 with "Earth - The Climate Wars". The BBC don't seem to have pages for the programme at the moment, but you can read an interview with Iain Stewart about the series here.

At the same time on BBC1, Joanna Lumley is "In the Land of the Northern Lights"...

And on Monday 15th September, Bruce Parry is back!!! This time, he is travelling the length of the Amazon, meeting some of the people who live along the river, discovering their stories, and exploring some of the issues that they face... The picture below shows Bruce with one of the Kayapo - a tribe from the Central Brazilian Plateau, whose name means "the men from the water place". If you click on the picture, it will take you to the BBC's Amazon pages where you can read the blog from the journey, look at some photos (including Bruce in drag ready for a football match... hmm... not sure about that one...) and maps, and watch various video clips.

The Amazon in Graphics

Those of you resitting the DME might like to have a look at The Amazon in Graphics - an excellent set of maps, graphs, etc. from the BBC, looking at the Amazon Rainforest, deforestation, and the future.

There's also a number of articles worth looking at, including the Amazon Paradox Q&A and a lot of links on the right hand side of this page.

Yr11 - DME and Sustainable Development

The blog post I mentioned earlier, with the link to the story about the logging company using GPS technology and working with tribes in the Congo is here.

There's also a story from the BBC about the Amazon which is useful reading for those of you resitting the DME.

The website of Excellent Development - the organisation we looked at in the morning's lesson - is here and is well worth you having a look at.

Yr 11 - Revision....

I was pleased to hear today that some of you are thinking about revision!

For those of you who were asking about revision guides... Having worked very hard since the start of Yr10 and made sure all the work we've done is complete, the best revision guide is your exercise book!!

However... there are a good number of revision guides available from bookshops/WHSmiths, etc. These are general ones and are fairly useful. If you do buy one of these, remember that they cover all the material for all the different exam boards - make sure that you refer back to the specification that you were given at the start of Yr10 to prevent you a) spending time learning things you don't need to know, and b) panicking about things that you think we should have done in class!

There is also a revision guide that has been written specifically for the course that we do (OCR C - Bristol Project) - it is slightly more expensive, but covers all the topics that you need to know, with case studies, practice questions and information and advice about the DME. It is by Liz Hattersley, and published by Heinemann. We have some copies left at school - come and ask if you want one! Otherwise, if you click on the picture below it will take you to the Amazon site where you can order a copy.

Atlas Schmatlas!

Well, my intentions of doing lots of work have been thwarted yet again by the arrival of a parcel from Amazon containing Atlas Schmatlas... Only had a quick look so far, but it looks fantastic! I'm particularly liking the Climate Map of the World (we live in an "Umbrella now and again" zone) and the story of the was between the penguins and the polar bears...

Not very happy at all about the ridiculous amount of packaging it arrived with though...

World's longest river?

Not the Nile, according to new research from the National Geographical Institute of Peru!

Brazilian and Peruvian scientists claim to have found an ice-covered mountain called Mismi, in southern Peru, and, according to them, that is where the River Amazon starts - making the Amazon 6800km long, compared to the 6695km of the Nile...

Click on the picture to link to the BBC coverage of the story...

Answers to the mysteries...

I've just realised that I've posted at least two mystery questions and not answered them! So...

This place, which I discovered via Geograph in Google Earth is the remains of Farnah Hall near Duffield. It was described in White's 1857 Directory of Derbyshire as "a large elegant mansion situate in a fine park"! Have you ever been there, or do you know any more about it?

This one, which should be of particular interest to Yr 11, shows the construction of a distribution centre just outside Swansea for Amazon. The first phase is expected to be completed in October this year, and will bring 1200 full-time jobs and a further 1500 temporary jobs around Christmas time to the region. The picture will take you to the full story from the BBC.