a few development definitions:

first world:- NORMALLY DEMOCRATIC AND CAPITALIST COUNTRIES...
I.E. WESTERN EUROPE, NORTH AMERICA, JAPAN,NEW ZEALAND.

third world:- ALL OTHER COUNTRIES INCLUDING AFRICA,ASIA AND LATIN AMERICA...
-COUNTRIES THAT REMAINED NON ALIGNED
-NOT MOVING WITH CAPITALISM + NATO
I.E. COMMUNISM + SOVIET UNION


post cold war:-SOVIET UNION FELL IN 1991 , EASTERN BLOCK CEASED TO EXIST
-have now moved away from purely economic and political indicators


the Brandt line- north/south divide
   (now considered derogatory-- Indonesia and south America both above the line)

GDP-total value of products and services produced within the territorial boundary of a country
    -used to seee how the strength of a countries local economy

GNP-total value of goods and services produced by all nationals of acountry (whether living in or out the country)
   -used to see how the nationals of the country are doing economically

HDI-a measurement of gnp/capita, adult literacy, school enrolement, le at birth
   - number produced is between 0 and 1
         - 1-0.8 = high
         -0.8-0.6= medium
         - below 0.6 = low

the environment can hold hdi backwhereas economy can boost it

HPI-shows ecological efficiency
   -high levels of resource consumption do not rely produce high levels of well being



CORE PERIPHERY
- the fact that there can be variation in a country

e.g. USA-washington HDI= high.
                          - vancouver and seattle just over the border= tourists
WHEREAS
             -montana HDI=low
                           -near mountains
             -new orleans HDI=low
                            extreme weather; hurricanes etc


MDC-stable economy high GDP and HDI
NIC's- S.Korea- more than 40years
RIC's- last 40years i.e India
LDC- (see previous post)
CPE's- communist countries N.Korea, China, Kerela, Cuba, Vietnam, Burma
ORC's-oil rich countries -some developed some not

DEVELOPMENT IS A CONTINUAL PROCESS!!!!!

Millenium development goals

So I have decided that I am going to start posting summaries and clippets of A2 geography starting at the beginning of the year,

Our first topic of the year was development so this is where I will start!

LDC’s

These are defined by a few key factors,

-income below $750 per capita per year

-very weak resources

    - i.e healthcare, education, nutrition/calorie intake

-economic vulnerability

    i.e –instable exports and instable agricultural production

these are generally associated with a corruption, dictatorships and conflict.

There are currently 49 countries classified as LDC’s this is divided with 33 in Africa, 15 in Asia and 1 in Latin America (Haiti).

-          16 of these are landlocked and 12 small islands

So the question is what is being done to help these countries?  the answer is millenium development goals.   These are a set of 8 goals set up by 192 united nation members who were  hoping tgo achieve them all by 2015 however each one has their own set of deadlines.

   The first goal:

   -To halve the proportion of people whose income = below $1/day

         -this was set to start in 1990 and be achieved by 2015

  -To achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all

        -reasons? when people lose their jobs it leads to vulnerable employment where human rights are comprimised

       - Halve the proportion who suffer from hunger

                -1990-2015

Achieved by:  subsidy programmes in Malawi and Ghana for fertiliser and feeds

                        Malawi need 2.2 million tonnes for self sufficiency

UNDP- supporting national, rural employment gurantee scheme-India

                                      - Providing a minimum of 10days work a year

Goal 2:  ensuring children everywhere are able to complete primary education by 2015

                    -sub saharan africa and South asia

Being achieved by:

-fees abolished in 8 countries-- Tanzania, enrolement ratio doubled to 99.6% in 2008

-world programme-providing school meals

      -encourages parents to send the children to school

EU- basic education in Africa programme- to adopt legal frameworks guranteeing 8-10 year olds uninterrupted education

for goal 2 to be achieved goal one needs to be achieved first.

Goal number 3!

-elimintaing gender disparity in primary and secondary education
       -2015

-Giving women more time to achieve-
      -Diesel run generators burkino faso - frees up womens time.




Goal 4:

-Reduce under 5 mortality rate by 2/3rds. 1990-2015

Achieved by

   -Immunization programmes- Egypt, Vietnam and Bangladesh

  

   -Mosquito nets provided to reduce malaria

              - Republic of Congo

 Goal number...5!

Reduction of maternal mortality by 3/4

      -1990-2015

Achieved by:

- investing in mobile maternal health units

                -e.g. Pakistan

-achieve universal access to productive health care

Goal 6:

To halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015

Achieved by?

   - access to treatment for thos ethat need it

   - free access to antiretrovial treatment

                   -e.g Botswana-- increase Life Expectancy by 4years

                                          -reduce new cases of HIV

Number 7:

-To halve the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation

Achieved by:

    -UNICEF- water quality survelance

                    -promote low cost sanitation

                    - promote and improve sanitation in schools

Goal 8:

-Develop an open,rule based, predictable, non-discrimintary trading and financial system

                - Deal comprehensively with debt issues

 

Achieve by?

-UN conference, south-south cooperation

           -co operation thgrough aid, trade technical assistance and investment

                              -- encourages countries of the south to advance valuable partnerships

So this is the first of the many posts to come on development, i hope reading this will start to jog your emory back to last July!!!



Iceland

So in our last post we seemed to forget the very first day just after we landed, we visited a spa which definitely had a distinct smell of rotten egg! after showering vigorously and playing with the pretty cool technology that was the lockers (yes even i think that this piece of technology was kind of trippy) we bathed in the smelly waters which were heated through geothermal means and thus were lush! during the odd occurence of swimming in such odd water (i mean if water smelt that bad in the uk and had that same bright blue/ milky appearance would you even think about putting on your bikini and taking a dip-no i didn't think so!) we then continued to smear white clayish mud all over ourselves and our faces because it is meant to be good for the skin! (my skin most certainly is not feeling any better for it but who doesn't love the excuse!) lastly even frozen pieces of volcano were being spread onto peoples faces!

  Iceland has some of the most stunning views and beautiful landscapes that i think i have seen so far, the sheer diversity and surprise in weather conditions is truly awesome!

Since i landed in iceland i have been sat on a coach driving on complete flat yet surrounded by stunning snowy mountains... the waterfalls aren't half bad either!!! We have been to see many waterfalls in the past two days one of which we got to walk behind and stand under, one of the others we were able to view from the top and see a petrified troll (what else i mean really!) i stood as close to the bottom of this particular waterfall as possible without swimming in the vast plunge pool, the power in the spray  of it was immense. The next waterfall was different and unique again with the waterfall flowing over columnar basalt-- columnar jointing caused as molten rock cools (usually basalt) and contracts.

the rest of today was spent with us walking around a lagoon coming from the glacier the lagoon contained many icebergs and seals as well, the beauty of this was outstanding, the simple contrast of blue waters and crystal clear ice.

EEEEK whilst i have been writing this blog, which happens to have now been for the past hour, i have been interrupted with people running in and shouting that the northern lights are outside-- they are stunning! so on this note the people are trying to shut up this room, it is quarter to twelve and i need some sleep before glacier walking tomorrow!

so long farewell!

The alternative geography lesson

During what would have been during todays lesson we were scrambling around a cave. A cave covered in an inch of ice, which is very slippery and very scary.

Apparently it's not supposed to be that icy and our Icelandic tour guide kept telling us it's only a "little slippery".  He was lying, it was a death trap in there. The only way forwards was to bum shuffle-fact! But to be honest it was one of the most exciting things we haver ever done and very very enjoyable. The fact that it was so icy made it more exciting and made us group together more as a team. That led us to sing most of Bohemian Rhapsody, the Bed Intruder Song and (to James' disgust) some Take That (which I refuse to link to). Eventually we made it through the cave after some tricky climbing only to be faced we a crawl through the smallest gap imaginable up some ungrippable snow...


We were actually caving through a lava tube which formed about 4000 years ago. This formed by basalt lava flows cooling on the top and sides providing insulation for the centre which can remain active for several years. Lava tubes on Hawaii are still active and they work for a long time. Lavascicles are formed when lava cools and drips down from the ceiling (just like water does).

Vicky looking as glamorous as always...

Temperate Climates

Cool Temperate Western Maritime Climates don't you just love 'em? Well if you don't then, unless you're planning on emigration, you need to get used to them.

So where are they found?

- Well between 40 and 60 degrees North/South constitutes a temperate climate
- And being on the Western edge of a continent constitutes a maritime climate
- What determines how far inland the climate extends is based upon the relief of the land

There are three types of rainfall: - Orographic Rainfall
                                                         - Convectional Rainfall
                                                         - Frontal Rainfall

So what other countries are remarkably lucky to share the same climate as the wondrous UK?

- South West New Zealand
- Chile, the Andes block the climate from extending any further within the country
- Canada, Vancouver - the Rockies block the climate from extending any further
- Western Europe, quite a few countries share our climate because the climate doesn't get blocked until the Alps

What does a Cool Temperate Western Maritime Climate mean?

- Weather is changeable with no marked seasonal differences
- Plenty of cloud and precipitation all year round
- Extremes of temperature are rare
- Low annual temperature range
- Fairly strong winds
- Warm summers
- Mild winters

- Maritime climates are unique as they are unusual to what we'd expect on similar lines of latitude. For example the UK are on a similar latitude to Moscow yet we experience a vastly different climate.
       - The reason for this is due to the high specific heat capacity of water. Water takes longer to heat up and cool down than land, this means that summers are cooler than expected and winters are milder.


Any questions?

The Atmosphere

I am unbelievably bored, have nothing else to do and seeing as the blog hasn't been updated in a while I thought I'd explain the atmosphere in greater detail. They're in stratigraphical (is that a word?) order starting from sea level.

The Troposphere

Oh what a glorious place it is... This is the first layer of our atmosphere and it is heated via infrared radiation being radiated from the Earth, this means that as altitude increases temperature falls. Atmospheric pressure also decreases with altitude, there's a simple reason for this. The higher you go the less there is above you so the pressure decreases. Wind speeds increase with altitude in the troposphere as at higher altitudes there is less to act as a wind break.

Stratosphere

Once you get through the troposphere everything starts getting a bit warmer until temperatures reach a toasty -3 degrees Celsius. The reason the temperatures increase with altitude is because the stratosphere is heated by the absorption of  UV radiation by Ozone (so from above, not below).
When ozone absorbs UV it gets split up into Diatomic Oxygen and Atomic Oxygen, in the normal process this would then bond again to form Ozone. The ozone layer should remain in dynamic equilibrium (constantly changing, but overall staying the same), however when CFCs are emitted into the atmosphere they also get broken down. The Chlorine atom then bonds with an Atomic oxygen atom to form ClO preventing the atomic oxygen bonding with diatomic oxygen to replenish the ozone layer. So in reality CFCs don't destroy the ozone layer but rather prevent it from replenishing itself.

Mesosphere
Not much really goes on here to be fair, temperature decreases with altitude for reasons I can't accurately find out but I do know that the mesopause house the coldest temperature on Earth. The only other thing interesting to know is that the mesosphere is where most meteors burn up upon entering the atmosphere.

Thermosphere
I understand even less of this stratigraphical layer, for a confusing reason the temperature increases with altitude although not for the same reason as in the stratosphere. It's something to do with there being so few particles, I don't know google it.

Exosphere
There's like nothing here, at all. The number of particles (mainly hydrogen and helium) are so few that they can travel hundreds of kilometres without colliding with each other, this also means that the atmosphere stops behaving like a liquid. "Why are you even telling us this then?" You may be wondering... Well it sort of answers a question raised in class the other day about whether atoms in Space join Earth's atmosphere. It is actually the opposite, Earth experiences a net loss of hydrogen and helium at about 3 kg and 50 g respectively a second. That's a relatively tiny amount though so don't start worrying that we're running out of atmosphere.

The human race will have likely imploded before we ever lose our atmosphere.

volcanoes

We are now back to volcanoes (: and although todays lessons was not thrilling it was definately a vast improvement upon that of Belfast. We have also been set an essay, nothing like ensuring we don't relax-- it hadnt even been 24 hours after the exam! oh well such as life.

Today was a lesson running through what we were doing before christmas:

There are 2 key types of magma Basaltic and Rhyolitic this is judged upon how much silica (SiO2) is found within the magma, see the table below.

Summary Table
Magma Type	Solidified Rock	Chemical Composition	Temperature	Viscosity	Gas Content
Basaltic	Basalt	45-55 SiO2 %, high in Fe, Mg, Ca, low in K, Na	1000 - 1200 oC	Low	Low

Rhyolitic

Rhyolite

65-75 SiO2 %, low in Fe, Mg, Ca, high in K, Na.

650 - 800 oC

High

High

 

• Hawaiian - These are eruptions of low viscosity basaltic magma. Hawaiian Eruptions are considered non-explosive eruptions.  Very little pyroclastic material is produced.

Strombolian - These eruptions are characterized by distinct blasts of basaltic to andesitic magma from the vent. Strombolian eruptions are considered mildly explosive. Vulcanian - These eruptions are characterized by sustained explosions of solidified or highly viscous andesite or rhyolite magma from a the vent.  Eruption columns can reach several km above the vent, and often collapse to produce pyroclastic flows.  Widespread tephra falls are common.  Vulcanian eruptions are considered very explosive. Pelean - These eruptions result from the collapse of an andesitic or rhyolitic  lava dome. Pelean eruptions are considered violently explosive. Plinian - These eruptions result from a sustained ejection of andesitic to rhyolitic magma into eruption columns that may extend up to 45 km above the vent.  Eruption columns produce wide-spread fall deposits with thickness decreasing away from the vent, and may exhibit eruption column collapse to produce pyroclastic flows.  Plinian ash clouds can circle the Earth in a matter of days. Plinian eruptions are considered violently explosive.

i feel there is a good chance i may add to it soon!