How sustainable are Chinese cities?

Chinese cities are growing very quickly. The Chinese government has been much criticised for encouraging economic and urban growth over sustainability and the environment.
Below are a series of articles about urban areas in China to help write the essay.

How green are Chinese cities? 

Dongtan: the eco-city that never was

Met Office to build £97m supercomputer

As our climate warms up the importance of accurate forecasting is becoming more of an issue.

"We can tell you that the global average temperature is going to increase by 3C or 4C if we carry on as we are - but the critical question is what is that going to mean for London?  What is it going to mean for Scotland? What is it going to mean for my back garden?"

The Met office is building a new supercomputer to make forecasting more accurate and reliable.

 

Read more here... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29789208

IPCC latest report - 'fossil fuels must go...'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29855884

'Fossil fuels should be phased out by 2100 says IPCC'

This very dramatic headline sets out what the latest IPCC report says. Read the BBC article to get an overview of what the IPCC is saying.

If you open the main report it sets out a lot more detail the detail behind the headline.

What do you think; is getting rid of fossil fuels the way to go?

Feeding the world - a five step plan to sustainable food supplies.

It has been estimated that by 2050 there will be 9 billion people living in the world. How will we feed them all?
In the May 2014 National Geographic magazine an article was written entitled 'A five step plan to feed the world' by Jonathan Foley.
It does what it says on the tin, it sets out a five step plan which will enable the world to produce enough food to reads the worlds population without totally destroying (my words) the environment.
A link to the article can be found at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/feeding-9-billion/. You will need to scroll down to read the article.

Cloud seeding - how do people manage weather and climate

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8587725.stm

'Thought you'd find this article intersting about cloud seeding in Russia, in which they apprently use chemicals to prevent rainfall on national holidays
Brad Smith'

Cloud seeding is a way of trying to make it rain. It is not a new adea but is usually used to make it rain over a specific location; arid farmland for instance; rather than stopping it rain elsewhere. If you search it online there are links to cloud seeding in China, the USA and the UAE to name a few

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wxfacts/Cloud-seeding.htm 

This link takes you a page about 'Operation Stormfury'; an attempt to use cloudseeding to stop hurricanes. http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryfaqs/f/stormfury.htm 

Happy reading

New America: Expanded Boundaries and Hidden Treasures

In the November 2013 edition of the National Geographic magazine an artical was published entitled 'New America'. (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/11/new-america-map/ballard-text)
With the world poplation already exceeding 7 billion people the rush to find new resources is ever increasing. This artical describes how the US has being exploring its 'Exclusive Economic Zone' and what new resources it has discovered.
What it fails to address is how this and other nations rush to find new resources on and under the bed of the oceans may bring them into conflict in the future.
It links in with your work on sustainability and the work we will be doing about China later this year.
P.s. Creating a National Gographic account is something you really ought to do.

'The Great Deluge' - the story of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast

More of a historical document then a geography text book The Great Deluge tells the story of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Much of the work we do in lessons really just scratches the surface of what went wrong? Yes, there was a storm surge of up to 28 feet (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/outreach/history/#katrina) but a lot more went wrong. What should have been a natural disaster became a human disaster!
Douglas Brinkley explores what went wrong before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans but also then addresses what compounded the problems following the event; how could one of the richest, most developed countries in the world get it so wrong and fail so many people.
The book is long but well worth reading.