Climate Change 'unreversible'

The recent meeting of Scientists and politicians in Japan have produced a report which has a bleak outlook for our future climate;

1. Our weather is set to be more extreme with flooding, droughts, heat waves and 'big freezes';

2. Global temperatures will continue to rise 

3. Permanent ice in glaciers and at the poles is melting 

4. Sea Levels will rise increasing flood risks for low lying areas such as Bangladesh

5. Crop yields will decrease whilst population continues to increase. This will lead to conflict in poorer countries and changes on crops in others: GM might be the answer.

6. There will be more wildfires in the US, the Mediterranean Coast and Australia

We have set in motion change for the next 30 years and we cannot undo it..we need to change the way in which we use our resources and our planet if we are to start healing the change after that.

Read the article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26824943

Scholars: Air Pollution on the horizon

Read the story below (and watch the news video clip too). Then answers the questions beneath:

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26844425

1. What are the main causes of today's air pollution? (3)

2. What warning has been issued by the government ... and what does it mean ? (5)

3. What steps can people take to avoid being affected by this pollution cloud? (2)

4. Winchester style question:

If harm is done by this pollution cloud, who should pay the compensation? (20)

Just as a thought, try to link this last one to the problems caused by the transnational impact of Acid Rain.

Chile Quake: Learning from the past

Huge Earthquake hits Chile: 8.2 on the Richter Scale

Tsunami evacuation route sign in Chile

During our nighttime there was a massive earthquake off the coast of Chile. When you read the story below you become aware that lessons have been learned from the Boxing Day tsunami of 2010 and the more recent disaster on Japan. 

The government were expecting a big quake on this destructive boundary and an evacuation plan was in place: people knew what to do. One of the photos shows a sign with an evacuation route on it. 

Admittedly the epicentre is quite a way from any major concentration  of population and the tsunami seems to have been small (<2.5m) compared to the disasters in Indonesia and Japan , BUT, had this quake happened 5 years ago would they have been so well prepared? Would the death toll have been higher?

Read the story and the background information from the BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-26846984