Geography Current Events

Geography Current Events

Article 1

Article Date: February 12, 2020

Event date: 2019

Topic: Air pollution

Article URL: https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/indonesia-pushes-environmental-deregulation-after-deadly-floods-deforestation/

Book/class info reference: Slide 36, The Earth’s global energy balance

The article stated: Indonesia pushes environmental deregulation after deadly floods and deforestation.

The book/class info stated: Air Pollution: Hazy Asian Atmosphere, Asian Brown Cloud

Air pollution

Indonesia pushes environmental deregulation after deadly floods and deforestation

In January 2020, Jakarta experienced extreme floods and landslides that resulted in the death of 67 people and the displacement of 170,000 people from their homes. Also, the Indonesian fires in 2019 burnt off vast forests, causing a massive blanket of smoke all over Southeast Asia. Indonesians president, Joko Widodo, is putting forward over 1200 amendments to 80 laws in the Constitution to the parliament. These policies are aimed at improving the economy, however, there is a risk that they will contradict the existing policies on environmental protection.            

Environmental hazards over the past year, such as the deadly floods, deforestation, and floods, have to be addressed before the new amendments that deregulate environmental protection laws are considered in parliament, according to meteorologists. The new bills will pass, given the majority of the seats in parliament are controlled by the president’s coalition. Besides, Indonesia is already experiencing climatic disasters, which may occur again if the environmental assessments are not done soon. According to climatic scientists, the environmental destruction through deforestation by the building projects on forest lands has caused extensive disasters in the past year. Also, the Indonesian fires in 2019 produced greenhouse gases, equivalent to the total emissions by the United Kingdom for the whole year. The proposed amendments will deregulate laws that ensure companies conserve the environment instead, the changes suggest the scrapping of charges for such companies that breach environmental protection laws. Also, discarding the law that establishes that at least 30% of the forest area must be maintained, means that the country will be vulnerable to more devastating environmental flooding and landslides. Unfortunately, the source of such forest fires is from farmers who clear lands for palm cultivation, unaware of the carbon dioxide emissions to the environment that causes global warming and hazards. The increased carbon dioxide levels result in unprecedented climatic disasters, such as floods.

Slide 36, Earths energy global balance ch2

Article 2

Article Date: Feb 2020

Event date: Oct 2019

Topic: Solar energy

Article URL: https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/polish-farmers-fight-europe-largest-coal-plant-200203213634518.html

Book/class info reference: Slide 29, The Earth’s Global Energy Balance

The article stated: Polish farmers fight Europe’s largest coal plant

 

The book or class info stated: Losses of incoming solar energy are much lower, with clear skies (left) than with cloud cover (right) because clouds both reflect and absorb solar radiation.

Solar energy

Polish Farmers Fight Europe’s Largest Coal Plant

In Poland, Belchatow power station produces 20 percent of the country’s electricity and is the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the European Union. The residents have fought continuously against the motives of the powers station managers to dig lignite or “brown coal” from the farmers’ lands. Villagers now fight against the coal mines, which can destroy their livelihoods and deplete groundwater. In September 2019, Client Earth, an environmental law firm, demanded that the power station Belchatow stops burning coal and take steps to avoid carbon dioxide emissions to the environment in 26 years. Stanislaw Skibinski, a farmer in central Poland, has been the leader for the opposition to the expansion of the Belchatow coal mine. He is a green energy activist who uses solar energy in his home and believes that coal mining is destructive to the environment by causing global warming. Also, Stanislaw campaigns for the use of solar energy in the village, therefore people have started to follow the same. The group of farmers went to court to challenge the establishment of the mine, and this move slowed down PGE efforts to obtain its mining grant.

Article 3

Article Date: Oct 2019

Event date: 2019

Topic: Mapping technologies

Article URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/science/archaeology-lidar-maya.html?searchResultPosition=15

Book/class info reference: Slide 50, Discovering the Earth’s Dimensions

The article stated: Online Map Leads Archaeologist to Maya Discovery

The book or class info stated: Remote Sensing Tools; Use of technology to record observations from a distance (e.g., aerial images).

Mapping technologies

Online Map Leads Archaeologist to Maya Discovery

Light detection and ranging or lidar is used by researchers to take photographs through dense canopies and map ancient sites on the ground. These lidar maps are expensive to purchase; for instance, Takeshi Inomata spent $62,000 on a lidar map covering 35 square miles. Later, he discovered an online lidar map for free in the public domain of the internet. This lidar map was published by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography in Mexico, and it covered 4,440 square miles, including the states of Chiapas and Tabasco. Dr. Inomata used the map to unveil the ruins of 27 Maya ceremonial centers with distinct construction patterns never seen before. His discovery of the centers explains how the Maya civilization developed, and he has presented in four conferences.

Ancient lidars were used by early geographers, such as Dr. Chase, in which he used it to map Caracol, a Maya city in Belize. Dr. Inomata was concerned with the rise of Maya culture, and the artifacts he could use were not available at that time. Later, he and his wife began the excavation at the ancient city of Ceibal in Guatemala and discovered the earliest buildings of the Maya community. The 27 sites he discovered have large rectangular platforms and low to the ground. Dr. Inomata now used the free lidar map from the internet to start excavations at the largest center, where he more about the practices of the Maya culture. His work on internet maps has inspired other researchers to discover forests and settlements in Mexico. An extension of the internet maps is the use of a drone-based lidar system that captures more data and provides detailed images of the actual ground.

Article 4

Article Date: Feb 2020

Event date: February 6, 2020

Topic: Ozone depletion

Article URL: https://www.insider.com/photos-antarctica-ice-melting-highest-temperature-climate-change-2020-2

Book/class info reference: Slide 41, Air Temperature

The article stated: Photos show ice melting in Antarctica as it records its highest temperature ever.

The book or class info stated: Consequences of Global Warming: IPCC have projected that global temperatures will warm between 1.8°C (3.2°F) and 4.0°C (7.2°F) by the year 2100, Melting sea ice, Changes in the Greenland Ice.

Ozone depletion

Photos show ice melting in Antarctica as it records its highest temperature ever

On February 6, Antarctica recorded the highest temperature ever, 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.3 degrees Celsius), to the north of the Antarctic Peninsula. According to Reuters, the melting of ice on the continent has become a major concern. Clare Nullis, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) spokesperson, reported that the Antarctic Peninsula has continued to record higher temperatures of all other regions of the Arctic. There have been rising concerns over global warming, which has caused the melting of ice sheets around the South Pole. About a six-fold increase in the amount of ice lost annually from the Antarctic ice sheet has been recorded between 1979 and 2017.  The temperatures were recorded at Esperanza Base, in Hope Bay at the northern end of the Antarctic Peninsula. Melting ice at this rate meant a rise in the sea levels by about 240 feet if all the ice would melt in Antarctica. Also, the devastating effects of ice melting in the region would include submergence of coastal cities, such as Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong, and Mumbai, underwater.

Tourism continues to increase gradually as the continent has become warmer. On average, there has been an increase of about 53% of the number of tourists between the 2014-2015 and 2018-2019 seasons. Tourism has been limited to Antarctica due to the time, distance, and the costs involved, however more people tend to enjoy the place traveling by ship. Global warming is attributed to this rate of ice melting, mostly due to the destruction of the ozone layer. Human activities are to blame for air pollution, such as industrial emission of harmful gases or dust particles. In the past, ozone depletion was caused by natural factors, such as volcanic eruptions. Still, recently emission of gases that destroy the ozone layer has been the primary source of pollution.

In conclusion, the geographical data, especially concerning the earth’s dynamic changes in climate and energy, provides a practical application of the principles. The use of renewable energy has contributed to the disruption of climate and the immediate environment that humans rely on. Current news on climate also reflects the position of human activities and the mitigation procedures to curb the harmful effects of destroying the environment. Individuals and organizations also apply technologies used in the study of geographical phenomena.

 

 

References

Timothy Foresman & Alan Strahler (2012). Visualizing Physical Geography [Slide 36].             https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/indonesia-pushes-environmental-deregulation-after-         deadly-            floods-deforestation/. In Feb 2020, Indonesia pushes environmental deregulation   after deadly floods and deforestation.

Timothy Foresman & Alan Strahler (2012). Visualizing Physical Geography [Slide 29].             https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/polish-farmers-fight-europe-largest-coal-plant-            200203213634518.html. In Feb 2020, Polish farmers fight Europe’s largest coal plant.

Timothy Foresman & Alan Strahler (2012). Visualizing Physical Geography [Slide 50].             https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/science/archaeology-lidar-     maya.html?searchResultPosition=15. Oct 2019, Online Map Leads Archaeologist to     Maya   Discovery.

Timothy Foresman & Alan Strahler (2012). Visualizing Physical Geography [Slide 41].             https://www.insider.com/photos-antarctica-ice-melting-highest-temperature-climate-          change-2020-2. Feb 2020, Photos show ice melting in Antarctica as it records its highest     temperature ever.