Article Review - 8 Summer Miseries made worse by Global Warming

Some of the year 12 Students will be improving the breadth and depth of their reading in coming months. Some of them will also be sharing their reviews of it to try and help other Geographers engage with interesting material. Jack's review of a National Geographic article on potentially negative effects of global warming is below:

Review of ‘8 Summer Miseries Made

Worse by Global Warming’ - Jack.L

As you would expect from the title, this article published on the National Geographic website explains the worsening of many of the bad parts of summer ranging from decreasing air quality to the increased danger to swimming in rivers.

The author Brian Howard goes into detail about the following eight topics; heat waves, bad air, biting insects, poison ivy, hay fever, food-borne illnesses, dangerous swimming and the risk to national parks and landmarks. Howard goes into basic details about each of the items stated about how they would be made worse in the future due to the global warming. For example he states that global temperatures are likely to increase by up to 5°C by 2100, if emissions are not reduced. Also that increased temperatures will lead to increased ground-level ozone pollution; which will lead to increased respiratory diseases, such as asthma and currently 27 million people in the US suffer from asthma.

All in all, I found Brian Howard’s article interesting and would recommend it to anyone that is interested in the effects of global warming.

Here is a link to the article:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140701-global-warming-summer-climate-change-science/?rptregcta=reg_free_np&rptregcampaign=20131016_rw_membership_n1p_intl_se_w#

Tourists overlook Navajo Canyon in 1948 at Mesa Verde National Park, which is now vulnerable to increased flooding and more frequent wildfires.

PHOTOGRAPH BY WILLARD CULVER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Oklahoma Tornadoes

There has been a huge tornado in Oklahoma, part of a series of large twisters this month. Though relative to a tropical storm the area covered is more narrow, the damage from the hazard of strong winds is very severe with winds thought to have reached 200mph. At least 2 people died and 21 were injured on Sunday. The storm has been classified as EF-4 on the enhanced fujita scale. You can see how tornadoes form and 2 storify versions of the event below:

Animated guide to Tornadoes

Bedford Flooding Today

Follow NOAA Expedition to Ring of Fire Live

There is an excellent site set up where you can watch a live expedition to an undersea area of the ring of fire. There is plenty of video available and maps of the area.

There is a live video feed of the expedition as well.

Click the link below to see the video:

http://trap.it/#!traps/id/e4e03aa0-beef-4216-b937-2a304adec440/jump/6ArT7ibRd0064csiZaZs

Social Good Summit - get involved

The UN Social Good Summit starts today. There are some excellent ways to follow whats going on:

1) You can follow and watch it live online here:

2) You can follow it on twitter with the hashtag: #sgsGlobal

3) We have also set up a live twitter feed on this site, just click on 'Live News' to the right of this post to watch it update:

The video below is an excellent rundown of what it is about and how you could get involved.....

Earthquake close to Costa Rica

There was an earthquake close to Costa Rica this afternoon. See what information you can find out about the event using some of the internet sources in this presentation and under the latest news tab to the right:

The fearless ferrymen of Dhaka's Buriganga river

The article extract below is from the BBC news website. Follow this link: http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19349949 to read the full article which gives an excellent insight into the scale of poverty and hardship for some people in Bangladesh:

25 August 2012 Last updated at 01:30

Rush hour in the Bangladeshi capital sees thousands of Dhaka's commuters boarding small wooden boats to cross the busy waters of the Buriganga river, one of the most dangerous waterways on Earth, especially for the ferrymen.

"To do this you need all your strength and courage. If you lose your bravery then you are finished."

Ferryman Muhammed Abdul Loteef takes passengers and goods across a quarter-mile (400m) stretch of the Buriganga river every day.

It is hard physical work in temperatures of up to 40C - especially for a 70-year-old.

There are few bridges across the Buriganga river. For the 25,000 people who commute every day between the city centre and the residential areas on the other side, the sampans - small wooden boats, powered and steered by one oar - are a lifeline.

The ferrymen must negotiate huge gravel barges, cargo ships and passenger boats, which dominate the river.

"Every day here one or two boats capsize," says Loteef.

"Sometimes small boats go under the big boats and people die."

There are no emergency services here. If there is an accident, it is up to the other boatmen to come to the rescue.

One of Loteef's friend's boats was hit by a launch a few months ago, when it was fullly laden with nine passengers.

"Of them, I rescued eight," he said. "They found the (other) body three days later," he says.

"It is our duty to save our passengers. Sometimes we risk our lives to save passengers."

For that dedication, there is not much financial reward. It costs two taka (just over £0.01 or under $0.02) to cross the river.

To make enough money to support his family, Loteef has to make the crossing more than 60 times a day, and sometimes works into the night.



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Another Earthquake in Northern Italy...