Study Note - Climate Change – Processes of Internal Forcing

Internal mechanisms can generate climate, and these range from the formation of mountain ranges over many years to the rapid deforestation of a rainforest. Changes in orography (the relief of the land) and ocean shape do have an effect on the climate, but take a lot longer to come into effect. Changes in surface features may have drastic effects on climate over shorter periods of time.

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Study Note - Climate Change – Nitrous Oxide by Sector

Nitrous Oxide (N20) is an oxide of nitrogen that is often used in surgery and dentistry for its analgesic and anaesthetic effects. Nitrous oxide also gives rise to nitric oxide (NO) on reaction with oxygen atoms, which, in turn, reacts with ozone, making nitrous oxide a major, naturally occurring regulator of stratospheric ozone. Nitrous oxide is also a major greenhouse gas as it is very effective at absorbing long-wave radiation.

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Study Note - Climate Change – Methane by Sector

Methane (CH4) is a natural atmospheric gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect, and is far more effective than carbon dioxide at absorbing long-wave radiation. The recent increase in methane concentrations in the atmosphere is causing concern as it is a by-product of both energy consumption and agricultural activity.

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Study Note - Climate Change – CO2 by Sector

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is a natural atmospheric gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect. The proportion of CO2 in the atmosphere is known to vary, but recently the concentrations of carbon dioxide have risen rapidly. This is mostly attributed to anthropomorphic internal forcing, i.e. the effects of man-made pollution, although CO2 can come from a variety of natural sources too.

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Study Note - Climate Change – Where are the Emissions Coming From?

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is not the only greenhouse gas that is emitted by industry, as methane, nitrogen oxides and halocarbons are also released. These gases are even more effective at absorbing long-wave radiation, and climate scientists believe that their increasing concentrations will have a big impact on global temperatures.

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Study Note - Climate Change – Climate Smart Agriculture

One of the biggest challenges facing the world’s food supply in the future is climate change – a warmer world, or one with more extreme weather changes could cause instability in current food-producing regions, in particular the wheat belts of the USA and the Ukraine.

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Study Note - The Restless Earth – Plate Tectonics

Plate tectonics is the theory that underpins all of modern geology – it informs our understanding of earthquakes and volcanoes. The theory states that there are tectonic plates – large segments moving around the Earth being created and destroyed at their margins. The plates are part of the lithosphere, which literally means ‘rock layer’.

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Study Note - Global Inequalities and Natural Hazards – Soufrière Hills Volcano

Natural hazards affect vulnerable populations, and one example of how the effects of a natural disaster were exacerbated by a lack of development is the Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat (not to be confused with La Soufrière on the island of Saint Vincent, or La Grande Soufrière on the island of Basse-Terre).

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Study Note - Global Inequalities and Natural Hazards – Vulnerability

The impact of natural hazards on a population is exacerbated by their vulnerability. At its most basic, ‘vulnerability’ means being prone or susceptible to damage or injury.

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Study Note - Global Inequalities and Natural Hazards – Slow or Rapid Onset?

Global inequalities are exacerbated by human and physical factors, and the impact of earthquakes, epidemics and famine have a lethal reputation in the less economically developed world.

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Study Note - The Development Gap – Using Crude Birth Rates and Death Rates

The AQA GCSE geography specification states that birth rates and death rates can be used as measures of development. So how are these calculated, and what actual use can they be in determining how well developed a country is?

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Study Note - The Development Gap – GNP per Capita

Gross National Product (GNP) per capita is often used as an indicator of development. GNP can be defined as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a nation together with any money that has been earned by investment abroad, minus the income earned by non-nationals within the nation.

This is then divided by the number of people living in that country, to provide a figure of GNP per capita. GNP and GDP are usually expressed in US dollars.

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Study Note - The Development Gap – Human Development Index (HDI)

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite indicator of economic development that includes non-economic statistics in an attempt to provide a development measure that is not purely monetary.

The HDI was established by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1990, and splits countries into four development categories: Very High Human Development, High Human Development, Medium Human Development and Low Human Development

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Study Note - The Development Gap – Indicators of Development

There are many different measures used to assess the Development Gap, and each one offers an alternate way of dividing up the world with regards to how developed it is. Here, we shall look at some of the more common indicators of development used in Geography.

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Using the eAtlas of Gender

Two of the key themes of GCSE Geography are the contrasts of development in different parts of the world, and the effects of the education of women. The World Bank has just launched a new eAtlas that can help in the comprehension of both of these themes.

The eAtlas provides interactive maps covering hundreds of indicators, split into three main sections: Economy, Voice and Human Development. The data is also available in text form, and the detail that the project goes into will be useful at all levels, from GCSE to undergraduate research.

If you are trying to comprehend the ideas suggested in parts of your course, such as AQA GCSE’s ‘The Development Gap’, this visual aid can really help in understanding the global contrasts in development and gender differences.

Study Note - The Rural-Urban Fringe

The rural-urban fringe is, quite simply, the transition zone where urban and rural areas meet, mix and sometimes clash.

It is a manmade version of the ‘edge effect’, which in the natural world is the juxtaposition of two contrasting environments or ecosystems. As there are quite a few factors that characterise the fringe well, it can be considered a landscape type in its own right, with wide open spaces interspersed by urban uses.

Here, we shall take a look at some of the more common characteristics of the rural-urban fringe which signify a movement out of the urban environment.

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Study Note - The Green Revolution

Between the 1940s and 1970s there was a series of technological breakthroughs and transfers that were the result of years of research and development. Most of the initiatives that were introduced began in the late 1960s in poorer, densely-populated parts of the world.

The Green Revolution spread modern agricultural technologies around the world, changed the amount of food that could be produced, improved food security and, in some cases, turned previously-food-scarce countries into exporters of staple crops.

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Study Note - Energy Crops

If a plant is grown with the sole purpose of being used as a biofuel, or to be combusted to provide energy or heat, it is known as an energy crop. These plants are generally woody or grassy, and are low cost and low maintenance. Different types of energy crops are used in different situations: solid biomass, gas biomass, liquid biomass and green waste (by-products).

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Study Note - Characteristics and Causes of Commuter Towns

If the populace of a mostly-residential town tends to commute out of the town to earn money, then the town is known as a commuter town.

Sometimes suburbs can be confused with commuter towns, as the two are very similar. The main difference is that suburbs tend to be built adjacent to centres of economic or industrial activity, whereas commuting is the main economic function of a commuter town.

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Study Note - Cash Crops

‘Cash Crop’ is the term given to the cultivation of crops for profit, and not for the subsistence of the grower’s family. Traditionally cash crops have only been a smaller, but necessary, part of a yield, in order to raise funds to invest in next year’s crop, and to meet the other life needs of the farmer.

In developed countries almost all crops are grown for profit, in contrast to developing countries where subsistence is still a necessity. Cash crops grown in developing countries do have an export value, however, and therefore attract attention and demand from more economically developed countries.

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Study Note - Urban Agriculture in Sustainable Cities

Sustainable cities, or eco-cities, are designed or managed to reduce their carbon footprint. The use of urban agriculture has recently become an increasingly important way of achieving this goal, as growing food in a city reduces the distance the food has to travel to reach the consumer. It can also be a good use of abandoned land in the heart of cities, or a useful way to increase awareness of environmental issues.

Here, we look at some examples of cities and towns that have embraced urban agriculture in an attempt to achieve sustainability.

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Study Note - Transport in Sustainable Cities

Sustainable cities, or eco-cities, are designed or managed to reduce their carbon footprint. Policies surrounding public transport and the regulation of private transport are designed specifically for this purpose, and initiatives can range from implementing a Congestion Charge, such as in London, to a full-blown integrated transport policy that makes public transport and bicycles ubiquitous, and all but eliminates the personal car from the city centre.

Here are some examples of different schemes being implemented across the world in attempts to reduce the carbon footprint of a city.

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Study Note - Renewable Energy in Sustainable Cities

Sustainable cities, or eco-cities, are designed or managed to reduce their carbon footprint. The use of renewable energy technologies are one of the most viable ways of contributing to that goal. Here, we will look at some examples of cities that are implementing large-scale changes to their energy supplies in an attempt to reach sustainability.

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Study Note - Green Roofs for Sustainable Cities

Many cities around the world suffer from the urban heat island effect, which is an area significantly hotter than its surroundings. One of the reasons for this is that there are lots of buildings with dark-coloured surfaces, which have a low albedo and therefore do not reflect heat well. This is particularly the case in cities that have used lots of concrete and asphalt in construction. During the summer the increased heat leads to overheating, which in turn makes more people turn on their air-conditioning, leading to more energy use and greater air pollution.

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Study Note - Creating an Eco-city from Scratch

There are several policy routes that have been explored that help existing cities move towards sustainability. These include regulating the use of private vehicles, promoting green technologies such as solar and wind power, incentivising businesses to plant green roofs, and growing food within city boundaries. There are now several projects across the world which aim to build eco-cities from scratch integrating all these policies, while regulating recycling and private travel in an attempt to create a carbon-neutral, waste-free environment.

Here, we will look at three separate examples with different overall goals with regards to sustainability.

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Study Note - Characteristics of a Sustainable City

Sustainable cities, sometimes known as ecological or ‘eco’ cities, are settlements designed to have as little impact on the environment as possible. These can be pre-existing cities that feature management directed towards reducing the inputs of energy, water and food and reducing the outputs of heat, water and air pollution, or they can be cities designed from scratch with these concerns in mind.

Here is a summary of the various techniques through which the aims of an eco-city can be achieved:

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Study Note - How does the education of women affect population?

Literacy and education are important tools in the emancipation of women, which spreads the knowledge of contraception methods.

The global youth female literacy rate, which is classified as the percentage of those between the ages of 15 and 24 who can, with understanding, read and write a short, simple statement of their everyday life, has increased steadily across the past few decades, and correlates with a direct decrease in the number of female children who are not in primary education. The two graphs are shown below (data from the World Bank):

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Study Note - Agricultural changes – how do they affect population?

Here is a graph from the World Bank showing the decline in the percentage of the world’s population living in rural areas:

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Study Note - Push and Pull Factors behind Migration

There are many economic, social and physical reasons why people emigrate, and they can usually be classified into push and pull factors. Push factors are those associated with the area of origin, while pull factors are those that are associated with the area of destination.

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Study Note - Classifying Population Movement

An important aspect of population studies is the movement of people from place to place, not something that is necessarily covered in the Demographic Transition Model, or studies based purely on Birth and Death rates.

Population movements are responsible for the diffusion of culture, perhaps even a basic form of globalisation that doesn’t involve trade or the internet. Migrations of people, particularly if they are large-scale or prolonged, can lead to the extinction of cultures or the transformation of other cultural groups. As there are many different types of movement, it can help, to begin with, to categorise the different types of movement.

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