Concerns over immigration and security have prompted the US government to erect more than 1,000km of fencing along the Mexican border.
But the contentious plan which cuts through private property in some areas has sparked anger among some US homeowners and farmers.
Al Jazeera's Nick Spicer reports from Brownsville, Texas, along the Mexican border.
high-powered group of senior Republicans and Democrats led two missions to
China in the final months of the Bush administration for secret backchannel
negotiations aimed at securing a deal on joint US-Chinese action on climate
change, the Guardian has learned.
[Submitted by: Paul Christmas]
"The following site has a detailed section on freshwater and many other topics. It will be useful for the options section of the IB and in future will develop sections for the core. A key highlight are some of the detailed case studies. However the site is under development and so some section are are not complete. Some food and health case studies are required and the extreme environments sections is still being written. The site will be useful for both students and teachers of IB geography but has not been written exclusively for the IB."
questions I'd like to ask:
1. How many Germans were actually inside using power during these 'midday' hours? Especially as Germans are renowned for their outdoor lifestyle/culture
2. Would this still be the case if it was a sunny winter's day?
3. If it's equivalent to 20 nuclear power stations, how come only half the country could run on it?...is it because is was only for a short period of time?
4. How can other countries engender this attitude towards the use of alternative energies?
A sushi sustainability guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Mush of it is geared to US consumers. Also has a general fish guide for ordering. I use this with an activity that has students look at local sushi restaurants.
timelapse map of recession/unemployment in the US. 2009-2011. Very effective if coupled with Forbes map on migration http://www.forbes.com/special-report/2011/migration.html
Shows how unemployment is not evenly distributed across US states
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The harmful effects of global warming are being felt "here and now and in your backyard," a groundbreaking US government report on climate change has warned.
We all know that
adapting
to climate change
is going to cost us -- but that doing nothing will
ultimately cost us even more -- however, a new report from the
International Institute for Environment and
Development
says that the real costs of adaptation are likely to be 2-3
times greater than those estimated by the
UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change
:
"Factsheet
Debt Relief Under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative
September 22, 2009
The Joint IMF-World Bank's comprehensive approach to debt reduction is
designed to ensure that no poor country faces a debt burden it cannot manage. To
date, debt reduction packages under the HIPC Initiative have been approved for
35 countries, 29 of them in Africa, providing US$51 billion in debt-service
relief over time. Five additional countries are potentially eligible for HIPC
Initiative assistance.
Debt relief key to poverty reduction
The HIPC Initiative was launched in 1996 by the IMF and World Bank, with the
aim of ensuring that no poor country faces a debt burden it cannot manage. Since
then, the international financial community, including multilateral
organizations and governments have worked together to reduce to sustainable
levels the external debt burdens of the most heavily indebted poor
countries.
In 1999, a comprehensive review of the Initiative allowed the Fund to provide
faster, deeper, and broader debt relief and strengthened the links between debt
relief, poverty reduction, and social policies.
In 2005, to help accelerate progress toward the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs)
, the HIPC Initiative was supplemented by the
Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative
(MDRI)
. The MDRI allows for 100 percent relief on eligible debts by three
multilateral institutions-the IMF, the World Bank, and the African Development
Fund (AfDF)-for countries completing the HIPC Initiative process. In 2007, the
Inter-American Development Bank (IaDB) also decided to provide additional
("beyond HIPC") debt relief to the five HIPCs in the Western Hemisphere.
Two step process
Countries must meet certain criteria, commit to poverty reduction through
policy changes and demonstrate a good track-record over time. The Fund and Bank
provide interim debt relief in the initial st
Scroll down to the "Search all indicators" section on the left hand side. It provides useful definitions and data on a whole lot of development indicators
An estimated 11.2 million undocumented immigrants live in the US, including 120,000 in Alabama, most of whom work in backbreaking agricultural jobs under the hot southern sun. In two months, the harsh new immigration law takes effect in the state, aimed in part at making life so difficult for illegal immigrants they will quit the state.
In summary- the Japanese have developed the ability to extract a new (well actually it is old, but new type of gas to us) from deep within the ocean seabed. This not unlike the recent developments with Shale Gas in the United States. The process is far from perfect yet (and still in its infancy), but given the recent developments, it is likely that the Japanese will invest more into this project in order to fully realize the potential of this energy source.
a couple of points-
This new gas (methane hydrate) would still be considered a fossil fuel, but would burn cleaner than many of Japan's current energy suppliers (coal). Japan's largest supply of energy (nuclear) is under heavy scrutiny lately after the Fukishima disaster- which could be argued as the largest, most far reaching enviornmental disaster in History. They are trying to move away from relience on nuclear energy which has resulted in a heavy increase on imported fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas)- which has had the consequence of driving up energy prices for its citizens and hurting the economy. If this energy source were to work out/pay out- this would bring much needed relief to Japan's "energy crisis" and relience on imported fossil fuels.
This extraction of this new type of energy, like Shale Oil and Gas, is likely very very risky and could have calamatious effects on the surrounding enviornment, if in the event a spill/leak where to happen (this gas is deep deep within the ocean seabed.. A leak would be very very hard to stop).
Recent developments could mean movement away from Japan's current trend of investing in (and development of) green energies such as wind, solar, and geothermal.
The exact properties of undersea hydrates and how they might affect the environment are still poorly understood, given that methane is a greenhouse gas.
So my questions are:
Should Japan pursue this course of action (developing this new type of energy)?
What happens if
human impacts of climate change - not strictly on the syllabus but interesting nonetheless
could be good to use as an example of forced migration though