U316 The Environmental Web
Block 1: Environmental Changes: Global Challenges
Contents
Chapter 1 Shrinking worlds: islands and environmental change
Introducing The Environmental Web
Connected planet, divided world
Troubled waters: the predicament of islands
Global environmental change: substantiating the charges
Sustainability in a dynamic world
Chapter 2 Island life: adventures in isolation and openness
Introduction
Tropical island Edens
Threats to island life
Lessons from small islands
Environmentalism and the idea of 'Eden'
Islands and the origin of species
The vulnerability of island life
Island ecosystems and island social systems
Coevolutikon of ecosystems and social systems
Chapter 3 Weathering extremes: the challenge of dynamic systems
Steering through stormy weather
Reef wars: catastrophe and the coral-seaweed competition
Sustainability and ecosystem dynamics
Heavy weather: agriculture and climatic variability
Global governance: obligations in a connected world
Chapter 4 Island Antarctica
Introduction
Early 'discoveries' of Antarctica
The discovery of 'real' Antarctica
Antarctic geography
A short interlude - using the Internet for research
Antarctic climate
How Antarctica became ice covered
Conclusions
Chapter 5 Perception and reality - the 'invisible' ecosystem
Introduction
The Southern Ocean
Antarctic habitats
Ecosystems from top to bottom: leopards and leopard seals
The 'grass of the sea'
Krill - an 'invisible' herbivore
The blue whale - a marine anteater?
Production and biomass - putting some numbers into the ecosystem
The ice-ocean ecosystem
Planet engineering with plankton
Chapter 6 Exploitation to the endgame: Antarctic governance
Introduction
Exploitation continues apace
Understanding the impacts of unsustainable developments: The Discovery Investigations
The International Whaling Commission
A modern land rush: territorial conflicts in Antarctica
The post-war human invasion
Antarctic tempers rise
Peace breaks out: The International Geophysical Year of 1957-58
The Antarctic Treaty
The failure of the Convention on the Regulation of Antractic Mineral Resource Activities (CRAMRA)
Antarctica today
Links
The World Factbook 2004
The World Factbook 2004 (Antarctica)
Alliance of Small Island States
Small Island Developing States
US Department of State: Handbook of the Antarctic Treaty System
The Antarctic Treaty
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
British Antarctic Survey
CCAMLR (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources)
CDIAC (Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center)
Greenpeace International
International Whaling Commission
Round Earth: Flat Maps
UNEP Islands Web Site: Biodiversity resources in small island developing states
World Wildlife Fund
All Routes Block 1 Links
Back to OU
| Block 2 Biodiversity and Ecosystems | Block 3 Climate Change: From Science to Sustainability |
| Block 4 Sustainability and Water Management | Back to U316 |
16th January
Decided to do a BLOG.
15th January 2005
It is impossible to get 'ahead' with this course, as the student website doesn't open until 27th - therefore, we cannot do the 'Activities'. However, until the website is 'unlocked' for students, there is a 'taster version' available to all - and it's possible to do the first Activity from there.
Activity 1.1
Part A
Task 1
(1) Find:
the population of the Maldives
the total length of the coastline
We are told that we could first take a look at the OU ROUTES page and do a search for "island". OK. (This is kind of babying - but perhaps there are some students who aren't all that familiar with surfing the web and using search engines). Alright. As forecast, the search results include:
the United Nations Sustainable Development site
the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) site, which provides basic data on islands, including the Maldives
and
the World Factbook site, published by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as a reference source for the US Government, which provides fairly detailed statistics and information about every nation in the world
Choose the most promising. Mmm - I'll try the SIDS site first.
OK, Population = 244,989
Total length of coastline = 644 km
Now, I should tap these figures into the boxes - but as this is a 'taster', perhaps I'll wait until the 'actual' website opens - maybe you get points or something.
(Of course, it's not all going to be as easy as this! :))
Task 2
(Now using a search engine)
| a site promoting the Maldives as a tourist destination | VisitMaldives.Com |
| an intergovernmental site (e.g. an international organization that offers information on the Maldives) | World Factbook (Maldives) |
| an activist or non-governmental organization (NGO) site that offers information on the Maldives | Bluepeace Maldives.org |
| a news database. Try to find one that contains at least one article on environmental problems in the Maldives | Topix.net (link to: Low Elevation Helps Maldives in Tsunami (at Kansas.com!!) |