Group items tagged

Very useful website for the migration`s section of the new syllabus. Highly recommendable for students`use! Submitted by Carina Zabaleta

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

In English - very useful for a case study country that isn't often used!

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.

Brilliant interactive tool to be used with the core unit - 2012 data

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