How does a country’s level of economic development affect its ability to defend against flooding?

Many Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs), such as Bangladesh, are at risk of flooding from rivers. Whilst most MEDCs have the resources to protect their people from flooding and take care of victims of flooding, many LEDCs do not. Now, with increased likelihood of flooding in the future, many countries do not have the defences they need:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7663716.stm

What impact did Hurricane Ike have?

There was a worry that Hurricane Ike would strike New Orleans, which is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Instead, it struck Texas, wreaking havoc along the way:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7614946.stm

How far north can hurricanes occur?

Hurricanes are most common in the tropics, but can reach much further north. An example of theis is a hurricane which damaged parts of Atlantic Canada in 2008:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7640181.stm

Canada’s National Hurricane Centre is here:

http://www.atl.ec.gc.ca/weather/hurricane/index_e.html

Should richer countries be doing more to help poorer countries prepare for the effects of climate change?

Many would argue that the “rich” world is mostly responsible for climate change (although that situation is changing). Poorer countries, which have contributed less to the problem, are less able to prepare themselves for the problems associated with climate change, such as rising sea levels, and are already suffering the effects.

The UK government is giving £75million to Bangladesh to help it develop ways of coping with climate change, but is it enough?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7606024.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7606024.stm

Could the search for resources lead to conflict in the Arctic?

As the World’s resources become more scarce, countries are beginning to press their claims to different parts of the Arctic, including the sea bed, which are new areas for resource exploration. The stakes are high and some fear that if disagreements are not ironed out, conflict could result:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7606132.stm

Here is a clip about this story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7609500.stm

Could “ecological” food labelling lead to a more sustainable future?

Some campaigners believe that food packaging should carry a record of a product’s impact on the environment, in the same way that most foods now have “traffic light” information about their nutritional value. This would help ecologically and ethically minded customers to choose products which do less damage to the environment:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7604996.stm

What’s going on in the Climate Change debate?

You could be forgiven for getting confused, worried or even bored with the climate change debate, however, it is ongoing:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/portal/climate_change/default.stm

Do we live on a Disposable Planet?

Here is a series of articles highlighting the way inwhich we treated the world in 2005. How far have we progressed?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2002/disposable_planet/default.stm

What did we learn from Hurricane Mitch?

Hurricane Mitch devastated large parts of Central America in November 1998. This archive webpage shows what happened and can be used as an example of how hurricanes were managed in the late 1990s:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/11/98/hurricane_mitch/210851.stm

Will geologists manage to map the entire globe?

A new international project to link all geological data together is underway!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7535379.stm