How Earth Made Us

New Iain Stewart series starts this evening on BBC2, 9.00pm.

Professor Iain Stewart tells the epic story of how geology, geography and climate have influenced mankind.

What happened to global warming?

Lots of people have been asking in the past few days why it is so cold when people keep banging on about global warming... A nice little video clip here from the BBC, which emphasises the difference between weather and climate.

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.

2006 - Britain's warmest year...

According to scientists from the Met Office and the University of East Anglia, this year is likely to be the warmest on record since records began - back in 1659!

The graph on the left shows how temperatures have varied from the average since 1772. Click on the graph to link to the full story on the BBC website.

The Guardian also has a story about ski resorts in Europe being threatened because of a lack of snow - this will have serious consequences for the economies in these areas, as tourism here is worth billions of Euros. (Click on the picture for the full story.)