World-Wise
“
Whatever befalls the Earth, befalls the son of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand of it.
Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself”
An Indian Chief of Seattle, USA
Greeting
Welcome back everyone; I hope you all had a relaxing Easter break.
While most had the chance to slow down, the World continued to work its magic, providing us with some great examples of Geography in Action.
Taiwan is a country that is well prepared for earthquakes as it lies on the Pacific Ring Of Fire, yet the earthquake that struck on April 3rd was recorded as the largest magnitude of the 21st century. The 7.2 quake caused disruption around the city of Hualien and its surrounding region and killed 9 people New York has also been shaken by a 4.8 magnitude quake, and although they are unusual around the city, little damage was sustained
The Baltimore bridge collapse of March 26th ticks many boxes including the globalisation, containerization and water pollution The clean up effort here is immense and will be a long process. The removal of the blockages to the international shipping lane is priority, and there has been over 2,400 feet of boom (temporary floating barriers used to contain marine spills, protect the environment, and assist in recovery. A boom includes a containment partition that floats on and extends above the water's surface, and a "skirt" or "curtain" that sinks into the water) deployed to contain any leaks of possible toxic materials from the ship Britain is facing a potato shortage as a result of droughts and flooding over the last 12 months. Furthermore, there is an impending global ‘crisis for those lovers of coffee and chocolate as both crops are seeing a decline in yields due to adverse weather conditions.
The weather is always a topic of conversation, but a deadly heatwave in West Africa and the Sahel region has been catching the eye of many scientists who believe the increase in temperature was "impossible" without human-induced climate change. In Mali, temperatures soared above 48C last month with one hospital linking hundreds of deaths to the extreme heat. Dubai has seen a years’ worth of rain fall in a day, causing widespread disruption.
The Geography department hope you enjoy this edition of WorldWise, and if you would like to contribute to the next edition, please email Miss Andrews.
Highlights this issue:
Year 9 Climate Change Conference
Hermit Crabs Oil
Bornean Geography
April 2024 ● Volume 17●
HABS Climate Change Conference
By Arianna & Maria Year 9
On Tuesday 6th February, fourteen of the Year 9 students were given the amazing opportunity to go to Haberdashers Aske’s School for Boys (HABS), for a climate change conference.
We kicked off the day with a talk by Dr. Ian Candy, Professor in Geography, University of London, who presented some eye-opening, as well as alarming, facts about the coming years for our planet.
This included how the weather would change and how this would further affect the planet’s climate and the occurrence of natural disasters. He also stressed this: even though the number of these natural disasters may not increase, the impact of destruction caused by them is almost certain to increase.
After the talk, we went to the Prevett Hall, for our main conference. By that time, it was around recess; just in time for delicious biscuits and shortbread with squash. There were 17 teams in our hall, out of which: three were from WGGS, three were from Parmiters School and the rest were from HABS Boys.
Every team had their own country to represent and had already been given some information and relevant research; this was used to create a resolution for that country that each team felt was the best way to move forward. After sharing our resolution with the other groups, 2-3 people from each team would come over and give our resolution a sticker of approval if they felt that they would also benefit their country. After 5 minutes each team which had all 4 stickers would give their sheet with their resolution, to some A-level geography students. These were then shortlisted down to 4 teams and -Yes!- Watford girls were one of these teams.
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The 4 shortlisted teams were then asked to elaborate on their resolutions, and people from other teams would then be able to ask them questions about their resolution. These included how they planned to implement it with specific applications to their country. Each team collectively, had to vote for the resolution they found best. We all agreed that enacting these resolutions collectively will reduce the effects of climate change for our planet. Finally, a team from HABS Boys came out victorious.
It was an amazing day; we are so glad that we participated in this inter-school event and that we made our school proud.
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Shell Shocked: Hermits adapt to new plastic homes!
By Uma Year 12
Hermit Crabs are native to areas in the Indo-Pacific region, the Western and Northern Atlantic (including the entirety of the British Isles) and the Western Caribbean. These crustaceans have sharp and tough pincers but an extremely soft exoskeleton - which they hide in shells they find on beaches that were previously inhabited by larger crustaceans. In recent years however, due to the prevalence of plastic pollution and littering, these creatures have begun taking over plastic shells.
Over the past few months, these crabs have been pictured using caps of glass and plastic bottles as well as the ends of light bulbs as shelter due to their strong and durable nature. Plastic is known to be the biggest waste product polluting our oceans and rivers - it has now been introduced to almost every type of ecosystem and habitat on earth.
Many different species have been adapting to and facing the negative impacts of plastics first hand, however for a Hermit Crab to prefer a plastic bottle cap instead of its natural choice of shell is not only alarming but proves to us the real nature of these plastics. They are extremely durable and take millions of years to fully disintegrate.
According to scientists at the University of Warsaw and Poznań University in Poland, “ten out of sixteen species of land hermit crabs in the world use this type of shelter. This unusual behaviour is observed in all tropical regions of the Earth.”
Many researchers not only highlight the evident “wake-up call” this information is providing us, but also aim to understand the future genetic impacts on the Hermit Crab (including the impacts on evolution).
What are the effects of this on the environment?
Well, there are now estimated to be around 171 trillion pieces of plastic floating the world’s oceans. The increase in spotting of Hermits with plastic homes has been raising concerns to many scientists. Though the small pieces of wasted materials are being efficiently up cycled and reused by members of our ecosystem, this may pose a greater issue for our environment in the longer run.
Overtime, plastic bottle caps and pen lids become far too eroded for a hermit to continue living in. At this stage, the severely eroded plastic disintegrates further into microplastics. These microplastics can enter corals and be consumed by not only Hermits but other aquatic life - which eventually leads to the transportation of toxic pollutants throughout the ocean. This can have a significant effect on the local biome of the Hermit as well as detrimental problems for surrounding and co-existing species.
Not only will all aquatic species suffer if we do nothing, all organisms onland will too - including humans.
Why do we need oil so much?
By Kanshi Year 7
WHAT IS OIL?
Oil is a liquid made up of different elements, such as sulphur, nitrogen and oxygen. Oil is important to humans because we use oil every day such as things like transport, food and many more.
HOW IS OIL REFINED?
Oil refining is a process where crude oil is turned into oil that we use to survive. The crude oil gets heated through burning furnaces. Then, the left-over liquids /vapor are placed into Distillation units. And now the oil is ready to be used.
WHAT DAILY USES DO WE HAVE FOR OIL?
We use oil for everything from transport and cooking to Even in the shower! Everyday objects like glasses, cups and even your toothbrush contains oil, this means we use oil 24/7 without even knowing! Here are some more examples of things we use that contain oil: cosmetics, clothing, plastics, diesel, gasoline and more but it would be hard to list down all of them.
WHY
ARE WE SLOWLY MOVING AWAY FROM OIL?
Over some time, we have realised that oil can be very harmful for us humans/animals and the Earth. Even though we use oil everyday it is also sometimes can be bad as oils can be damaging to our general health, if you are not too careful Even for the world it can be dangerous, oil causes pollution as oil can release many harmful pollutants into the air and discharge unhealthy chemicals to the water which harm the creatures that live in the water. Therefore, we have started to limit oil usage because of these reasons.
HOW MUCH OIL IS LEFT?
It is quite difficult to say what the exact amount of oil is left plus there is commotion about how much oil is left and how much we consume but it is predicted that around 47 years of oil will be left. I think this is quite bad because the predicted years is actually less than 50 years which means we should start using less oil for a change.
IS OIL RENEWABLE?
Oil is non-renewable as if oil is released anywhere in the environment it can lead to unfortunate things plus oil takes hundred to a million years to form. Oil is extracted from deep into the ground and it is a non-renewable resource so once it is extracted from the ground it cannot be replaced. This is why oil is non-renewable, but I only have listed a few reasons why.
The Geography of a non-Geography trip
By Miss Andrews
I was lucky enough to spend Easter in Borneo with a group of year 10 students. I had originally planned to include (and written) an article about deforestation here; the causes and the impacts that it is having on the local area.
However, even though the trip was a World Challenge expedition, and not a Geography trip, it was hard to ignore the links between what we were seeing, and talking about, and the geographical issues we discuss here at WGGS. For those in the group who have taken GCSE Geography, I’m pretty sure they got bored of me calling out which theme things linked to in the specification. Based on these calls, I have decided to change the focus of this article to give a brief overview of the Geography of our expedition.
The Sabah earthquake of June 2015 was the largest instrumental event in the province, registering at Mw 6.0. Days before the earthquake, local media reported that a group of climbers from the West had gone naked at the peak of Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in southeast Asia, sacred to the local people. Some believe that this was nature’s response to the act of disregard. (Themes 3 & 4).
Sabah's tourism sector has experienced significant growth in recent years. In 2019, the state welcomed over 4 million international and domestic tourists, contributing to its thriving economy. The tourism revenue of Sabah reached approximately USD 2.27 billion in 2019, showcasing the economic importance and potential of the industry. This growth is seeing inward investment into the region of Sabah, creating a positive multiplier effect. (Themes 1 & 6).
We found Nemo while snorkeling around coral reefs. Coral reefs are not only home to some of the most enchanting marine life, but they also act to effectively serve as a natural breakwater, protecting coasts from erosion and flooding by absorbing wave energy as waves come in contact with, and move across, the physical structure of the reef. (Theme 4).
We visited two cooperatives, one producing coffee, the other pineapples.
Mount Kinabalu Coffee is a social enterprise that produces premium Arabica coffee, while empowering the local community. They encourage local farmers to work together for a larger yield and therefore income, while maintaining local and traditional processes in both harvesting and preparing the coffee beans. (Theme 6).
We also saw the empowerment of women through the Everything Pineapple project. This is a socio-economic development project for women from Kg Kiau Nuluh, Kota Belud. The project was introduced to the pineapple producing community as part of a trauma-recovery effort by Good Shepherd Services after the 2015 Sabah earthquake with the aim of enabling women to contribute, and therefore increase, their household income. The project which started with 11 women was incorporated as a cooperative in 2019, with more than 60 women members. (Theme 6).
Many of the issues with deforestation across Borneo stem from the growth of monoculture agriculture. This is basically when one plant species is favoured for economic growth. In the case of Borneo, it is Palm (but that’s a story for another day!). Part of the knock-on effect of the destruction of environments is pushing native wildlife in to smaller and smaller areas. This can be detrimental for numerous reasons, but mainly due to dwindling food sources, and a loss of genetic diversity which has been shown to affect individual fitness, reduced litter size, increased juvenile mortality, and increased susceptibility to disease and parasites; all of which will endanger species further. (Theme 5).
To help reduce these impacts, the development of wildlife corridors has become commonplace. Wildlife corridors help to bridge the gap between habitats which otherwise would be small and isolated and join them together. Linking core wildlife habitats helps to restore and preserve biodiversity, allowing movement between important habitats to maintain genetic diversity in wildlife populations. They also support the spread of seeds and pollen, which enhances biodiversity and strengthens ecosystem resilience. The benefits they bring to humans include improved crop pollination, prevention of soil erosion and increased opportunities to observe wildlife up close. (Theme 5)
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were interweaved within our trip from the start as World Challenge refer to them throughout their objectives. We also saw them throughout Borneo, showing positive signs of growth towards them. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to transform our world. They are a call to action to end poverty and inequality, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy health, justice and prosperity. It is critical that no one is left behind. Following on from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), they were created with the aim of "peace and prosperity for people and the planet..." –while tackling climate change and working to preserve oceans and forests. (Themes 6 & 7).
One of the most obvious geographical themes we witnessed was the impact of climate change. Even for a team that had not been to the region before, prior to departure and an itinerary change made the issue of drought apparent. In some parts of the Sabah region, it has not rained since January. Let’s just think about that – there’s a drought in the rainforest…?! (Theme 5).
One way that the Bornean government are looking to counteract this is through the process of cloud seeding. Since the futuristic-sounding weather modification technique was introduced in the 1940s, it has been used regularly across the world, from the UAE to China to the United States. Cloud seeding basically works by artificially recreating the process by which rain and snow naturally occur: In normal clouds, microscopic droplets of water vapor are attracted to atmospheric aerosols like dust or pollen or salt from the sea. When enough water droplets converge around these nuclei, they form ice crystals and fall. Clouds are seeded, typically by specially equipped aircraft but also by ground-based generators, by implanting particles, commonly silver iodide, in and around selected clouds to act as nuclei and trigger the precipitation process. An expensive method to help break the drought, but we can confirm that on two days it did work. (Theme 7).
Revealing Reads: Rewilding the Sea: How to save our oceans
by Charles Clover
In this indispensable follow up to his acclaimed The End of the Line: How Overfishing is Changing the World, Charles Clover chronicles how determined individuals are proving that the crisis in our oceans can be reversed, with benefits for both local communities and entire ecosystems. Rewilding the Sea celebrates what happens when we step aside and let nature repair the damage: whether it is the overfishing of bluefin tuna across the Atlantic, the destruction of coral gardens by dredgers in Lyme Bay or the restoration of oysters on the East Coast of America.
The latest scientific research shows that trawling and dredging create more CO2 than the aviation industry and damage vast areas of our continental shelves, stopping them soaking up carbon. We need to fish in different ways, where we fish at all. We can store carbon and have more fish by stepping aside more often and trusting nature.
Essential and revelatory, Rewilding the Sea propels us to rethink our relationship with nature and reveals that saving our oceans is easier than we think.
