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The aim of this lesson: To examine the environmental and human factors affecting patterns and trends in physical water scarcity and economic water scarcity. Updated Jan 2012

Aims of this lesson: To examine the global patterns and trends in the production and consumption of oil. Redeveloped Feb 2012

'Brown Clouds' Are World's Newest Environmental Threat By TINI TRAN AND JOHN HEILPRIN / AP WRITER Friday, November 14, 2008 BEIJING - A dirty brown haze sometimes more than a mile thick is darkening skies not only over vast areas of Asia, but also in the Middle East, southern Africa and the Amazon Basin, changing weather patterns and threatening health and food supplies, the UN reported. The huge smog-like plumes, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and firewood, are known as "atmospheric brown clouds." Cars drive through thick smog on a street in Beijing in September 2008. Enormous brown clouds of pollution hanging over Asia are killing hundreds of thousands of people, melting glaciers, changing weather patterns and damaging crops, the United Nations said. (Photo: AFP) When mixed with emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for warming the earth's atmosphere like a greenhouse, they are the newest threat to the global environment, according to a report commissioned by the UN Environment Program and released Thursday. "All of these points to an even greater and urgent need to look at emissions across the planet," said Achim Steiner, head of Kenya-based UNEP, which funded the report with backing from Italy, Sweden and the United States. Brown clouds are caused by an unhealthy mix of particles, ozone and other chemicals that come from cars, coal-fired power plants, burning fields and wood-burning stoves. First identified by the report's lead researcher in 1990, the clouds were depicted Thursday as being more widespread and causing more environmental damage than previously known. Perhaps most widely recognized as the haze this past summer over Beijing's Olympics, the clouds have been found to be more than a mile (kilometer) thick around glaciers in the Himalaya and Hindu Kush mountain ranges. They hide the sun and absorb radiation, leading to new worries not only about global climate change but also about extreme weather conditions. "All t

[Submitted by: Rory Galvin]

"China: a decade of change - interactive timeline As the communist party prepares for a changing of the guard, we look at the key events in the last 10 years that have shaped the world's most populous country. A next generation of politicians will be facing entirely new challenges across all sectors, from the economy to civil unrest. Scroll through the timeline to explore the defining moments of the first decade of the 21st century"

allows users to create animated visualizations of development data. To use Better World Flux (no registration required) all you have to do is select a data set from the menu provided and select a country or countries from the menu provided. From there Better World Flux creates an animated data visualization for you. The visualization will change as the years on the timeline at the bottom of the visualization change. This way users can see growth and recession of a statistic over time.

Aims of this lesson: To examine the changing importance of other energy sources. Redeveloped March 2012

[Submitted by Troy Bajardi]

Updated Dec 2011

Updated Dec 2011

The aim of this lesson: To be able to identify [provide an answer from a number of possibilities] the ways in which water is utilized at the regional scale. Added Jan 2012

The aim of this lesson: To be able to explain the causes of soil degradation To be able to discuss the environmental and socio-economic consequences of soil degradation To be able to discuss soil degradation management strategies Updated Dec 2011

The aim of this lesson: To examine the factors affecting access to safe drinking water.