Further problems of Combating Climate Change (Y13) and Problems with Bi-Cameral Government (Y12)

In the news today a story about the problems for individual governments trying to stop carbon emissions. Paul Rudd, the Australian PM was elected with a mandate to tackle climate change, but he does not have a mandate in the Senate (the 2nd chamber) and they have blocked his plans to bring in a carbon emissions trading scheme.

Year 13s should read the article (particular interest given to the table of the highest carbon emissions per capita) and Y12s should be aware, linking to the Reform of House of Lords section of Parliament, that having 2 equal chambers can cause gridlock – a problem that we do not currently experience

(Environment, Parliament)

Effect of Icelandic Volcano on Kenyan Economy (Y13)

As Tom mentioned in class today, here is the story about the lack of flights into Europe causing havoc for the Kenyan economy. Horticulture is now Kenya’s largest export, and 97% of Kenyan flowers are sold to the EU. This demonstrates how a focus on a small number of exports leaves the developing world open to problems caused by the environment or financial markets.

(Poverty & Development)

“Humans are too stupid to tackle climate change” (Y13)

James Lovelock is the world respected authority on the climate of the Earth and the above quote is from him. There are a couple of links to this interview with the Guardian, firstly a short piece explaining why he feels that our inertia at governmental level means that we will not be able to change anything. 

The second story involves some direct quotes, for those too lazy to read the whole thing! The second half of the story involves some ideas that are really important for any international politics student

(The environment)

Global Climate Conferences (Y13)

A couple of links that may be useful for the essay relating to the “achievements” of Kyoto and Copenhagen

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/factfile-on-unfccc-kyoto-protocol-copenhagen-talks-1831331.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bush-declares-he-wont-sign-kyotos-landmark-treaty-on-global-warming-689360.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/18/copenhagen-deal

(Environment)

Lesser known Environmental problem (Y13)

A story from the BBC about an issue highlighted by Hilary Benn – the acidification of the oceans and the subsequent problems this could cause.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8411135.stm

(Environment)

History of Climate Change (Y13)

Good overview of the history of the problems that led to our next unit: The Environment

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8285247.stm

(Environment)

Obama & Climate Change TV Doc (Y13)

Available on iPlayer until 9th December is the BBC2 This World programme on President Obama’s attempts to fulfill his policy promises on climate change. This could be interesting to link to our Environment Unit, to show how difficult it is for governments to make policy in this area (think short term economics against long term potential ecological benefits)

http://bbc.co.uk/i/p69np/

(Environment)

Climate Change Causes Conflict (Y13)

A link to an interesting story arising from a journal article from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which cites a potential link between climate change and the numbers of civil wars in Africa over the next 20 years.

This is a good example of how two units on the course can cross over and could be linked very well in an essay

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123152224.htm

(Culture, War & Terrorism, Environment, Poverty & Development)

Fantastic Documentary Website (Y13) (& Y12?)

I have just come across this excellent web resource that will be of interest for those of you who are really getting into this stuff. You can stream a whole range of documentaries from across the world for free. Just looking over this briefly I have looked at some good docs on the aftremath of Rwanda in 1994, the impact of world terrorism and the effects of 3rd world poverty, as well as the effects of anti-terror legislation in the UK

Please let me know if you watch any of these and you think they would be worthwhile

http://freedocumentaries.org/index.php?ct=13

Problems of Global Warming (Y13)

The problems of global warming and the subsequent rising sea levels are a problem for us all – but nowhere more than the Maldives where 80% of the land is no more than 1m above sea level. The whole country could be wiped out within 50 years if current emissions are not reduced. The government have gone as far as saving money to potential buy land from another nearby country (possibly Sri Lanka or Australia) to home their 330,000 population. The following two BBC stories link to a recent publicity stunt to highlight the problems caused by global warming

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8311838.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8312320.stm

(Environment)