Ruby Forshaw Geography

Evan's lecture at the Royal Geographic Society was an outlook on how half-truths and- to put it frankly- bullshit influence politics. This was a particularly topical analysis, which heavily focussed on rise of populism in 2016. The types of bullshit There are 4 types of bullshit that commonly occur in the media and politics: Bullshitting a question This is where a politician will use synonyms to reword the source of the question, instead of directly answering it. Rewording a truth A proven truth is rephrased to appear to mean something else Accrediting an unproven idea A hypothesis is treated as truth- a good example is the Chilcot Report about the Iraq invasion. It was discovered that the UK intelligence services had no proof that Saddam Hussein had the weapons of mass destruction, it was hypothetical In short, Bullshit can be defined as: "deceptive misrepresentation, short of lying, especially by pretentious word or deed, of somebody's own thoughts

A great source of lectures is the LSE website, where you can download the podcasts for free. One such talk was by Danny Dorling on the causes of different types of inequality. The key points were as follows: How to improve it Improved equality increases life expectancy fair pay allows the purchase of healthier food improved quality of life reduces the rate of suicide and stress related diseases Losing a war has the potential to restore equality When Japan lost the war against the USA, America redistributed the aristocracy land to the people. Today, the life expectancy is the highest in the world, and steadily rising In equal countries, there is a more representative democracy In the USA, Trump's wall was only accepted because the media only provided 'dumbed down' politics The UK is closing the gap fastest in Europe The 1% are taking less and less However, Gordon Brown put up wealth tax in 2010 which resulted in the richest of

Fences and Windows (FaW) is a very readable account of the globalisation debate at the turn of the millenium. Naomi reports on debates, protests, and speeches from all over the world, bringing the evaluation of the globalisation process to life. May I just add that the majority of the protests outlined below were not 'Anti Globalisation'. Instead, they protested against the current system, which only benefits the few. The Klein managed to visit the majority of the turning points in the globalisation debate: Seattle, December 1999.  Anti-WTO governance protest Washington, April 2000 Further WTO protests New York Riverside Church, July 2000 Planning the next steps of the open globalisation movement The lack of a central leader in the movement makes it harder to control, only increasing its effectiveness. Los Angeles, August 2000 Shadow convention challenging the money not ethics culture found in global trade today Prague, September 2000 Vandera Shiva: &qu

The PDF version of the book can be found here . Chapter 1- What is global warming? What determines the earth's climate? Climate is controlled by 3 things: mass, distance from the sun, and composition of the atmosphere Mass: a larger mass has more gravity and can hold an atmosphere Distance from sun: closer = warmer Composition: every gas absorbs a different wavelength of radiation. Greenhouse gases reflect longwave radiation onto the earths surface, causing it to heat up. Humans have no control of the 1st 2, but it is by changing the 3rd that global warming is triggered How do we measure past climates? What is the IPCC? Intergovernmental panel on climate change There are 3 groups and a task force Write reports verified by 400 experts from 120 countries Compare the warming potential of different gases What are the different predictions for climate change? a- linear/synchronous response Climate change is directly proportional to CO2 b- muted r

This was based on a lecture I attended titled 'Sustainable Urban Mobility', given by Nick Reed. It was primarily about automation, and about the Greenwich GATEway project The Stages of Automation We are on the cusp of an Automated Revolution. Since the Agricultural Revolution, man has been trying to do things quicker, easier, and more efficiently. The advent of automation has brought about a variety of technological advancements; from UAVs, to Roomba's, and now transport. The need for automated transport has never been greater- using less fuel per mile, they play an essential part in reducing municipal carbon emissions. Not only this, they are statistically safer than manned vehicles as 94% of car accidents are a result of human error. At a first glance, it appears automation is a fast track to a sustainable urban utopia; however, there are other consequences to be considered before removing the steering wheel. By replacing a human by a computer, you essential

The jump from GCSE to A level geography is a big one- even larger with the reformed AS levels. Where GCSE requires the memorisation of definitions and systems, AS level requires you to develop a new form of geographical thinking. The subject moves from standalone modules, to a group of interconnected concepts. Over the year, I only scratched the surface of this level of thinking and this document sums up the 4 skills required to start the development of the new mind set. The first concept that must be understood is the fundamental difference between a space and a place. Tuan (1977) described space as a geographical, physical, location- a grid reference. A space, when paired with meaning, becomes a place. Now 'meaning' is a rather vague term- meanings are perceptions, individual to the person talking. In this sense, there is no one way to define a place. Massey (1994), agreed to an extent- she agreed with the definition of place, however, she depicted space as somethi

I have gone through the old spec papers and collated the questions that relate to our new spec. You can get them here

I was informed the exam may actually specify human or physical fieldwork. My notes are only on human, so here is the procedure for physical. Aim To discover how effective the coastal management has been at reducing the impacts of coastal processes. Background reading Articles on the history of the defences Research the aims of the management program Research the processes currently occurring in Swanage Bay Direction of longshore drift Procedure Measure the height of the beach on the north and south side of the groyne every metre from the cliff to the shoreline.

Following on from my previous revision guide for field work. Analysing the IPSOS MORI data To analyse, we undertook the chi squared test of significance Measure the relationship between age and satisfaction with life We used the degrees of freedom, and decided to accept the alternate hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis What is Chi Squared? You will not be asked to explain chi-squared. It is a statistical test like Spearman's rank (which you DO need to know!) Null hypothesis In statistics, you assume there is no relation until one is prove n. No relation = null hypothesis We proved (using chi squared) that there WAS a relation, hence we reject the null hypothesis,

Miss Snell has made these for revision Contemporary urban environments checklist Changing places checklist Chi squared Corfe Castle data

I have filled in the gaps on the Rio and London case studies which can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/0B47PFIELgMiJRFhNZ3dMajllMk0/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=117991663462316712100&resourcekey=0-8ElsQTmTI9yBl7GeTqDOlQ&rtpof=true&sd=true Coastal systems (Swanage and Bangladesh) are here Changing places (Twickenham and Corfe) are here These are the core studies, but I will also publish other references and ideas you could name drop in a 20 marker.

I have summarised all the useful information into a table so you can compare the 2 case studies. Where there was no place specific stuff on the Google Docs, I left it blank so you can write it in yourself. Editable version is is found here PDF version is here

Cities have always been seen as hubs of economic activity; a place that attracts the best and brightest in their field. Over the past 100 years, the priorities of developed cities have changed- the focus has shifted from secondary, to quarternary industry. All major cities were affected by the decline of heavy industry in the late 20th century; however, the South continued to prosper whilst the North struggled. Some cities have changed with the national economic focus. For instance, Reading was once renowned for it's iron and steel works. However, today it is seen as a home for a Russell Group university, and the head quarters for MNCs like Microsoft. This means that it is more attractive for skilled workers- the net input of commuters is 30,000 whereas the output is only 25,000. Reading's success is mainly down to it's ability to change. We can compare this to less successful northern cities, which often have not changed from their industrial roots. Burnley is an example

These focus on the work done at Corfe Castle, and can be found here

Click here  to access the revision notes

The notes for Changing Places can be found  here . Again, they are the same format as the physical notes

Lecures this week were given by: Lena Neij, Lund University on visioning cities Another by Lena on smart sustainable cities One by Fouad Khan, from Luc Hoffman on WWF earth hour city challenge WWF delivered a short clip on the importance of sustainable food The reading on virtual cities can be found here The key points were: Lena Neij- visioning cities Strong visions are needed for a city in order to motivate groups into action The 1st step needed to set visions is to set a definition for sustainability by asking the population, and by using big data, you can come up with a tailor made approach to sustainability you do this by discussing with stakeholders Visions are also useful as they accelerate near changes e.g. a project for green roofs will be installed as they accomplish things in the reduce impacts of acid rain insulate buildings improve air quality increase bio-diversity Visions from 1 city can inspire others, encouraging development and implem

I have made revision notes for the AQA AS geography coastal systems section They can be downloaded here They are based on the spec, my class notes, and a variety of textbooks

This week looked at a relatively new theory called Urban Living Labs. An urban living lab is an experimental form of governance put in an urban area. An example would be the Boris Bikes- they were initially a temporary installation, but due to their success, they were kept in. The lectures this week were: Climate Governance and Urban Experiments, by Prof Harriet Bulkeley, Durham Uni Urban Living Labs, Dr Kes McCormick Urban Innovations, Dr James Evans, Manchester Uni Governance of Urban Transitions, Urban Europe WWF positive, the importance of connecting places through climate responses The Urban Green, part 3 The reading this week can be found here The key points were: Prof Bulkeley As cities grow, the impact of climate change becomes more serious Municipalities are now looking at their impact on the environment, and how to reduce this In the 1990s, combatting climate change was kept to the grassroots level mainly voluntary work small projects However, t

There were a couple of lectures on infrastructure this week: Kes McCormick defined the principles of infrastructure Lara Hale from Copenhagen Business School talked about sustainable business standards Dr Thomas Lindhqvist from Lund University discussed the use of light in a city ESRC video on cities and climate change A short clip by WWF about the importance of transport in a city A short clip on ICLEI Building Urban Resilience in Boulder, USA The Urban Green part 2 discussing renewable energy The key points were: Kes McCormick Infrastructure can be defines as: The physical and organizational structures necessary for society and the economy to function  The main infrastructure issue cities face now is adapting the mobility Cities were built for cars, and decarbonisation is hard to implement with this dependency A successful green city will encourage people to act sustainably, instead of enforcing it upon them. Lara Hale Sustainable building standards are th

This week looked at what a sustainable city actually is. I watched a lecture by Kes McCormick, who talked about the processes behind sustainable urban transformation. There was also a talk by James Evans, a professor at Manchester University, who talked about how cities learn to be sustainable. Dr. Jennifer Lenhart talked about the importance and characteristics on urban climate governance. A video by The Economist on efficient energy use in cities A video by WWF on housing adaptation The Urban Green Part 1 The reading this week was on Sustainable Urban Transformation and the Green Urban Economy Click here to access it The key points from this week were: Kes McCormick The 21st Century has been called the 'Urban Century' by UN-Habitat. This is because more people now live in cities that rural areas, and because of the strategic importance of cities in sustainable global development. Cities are not just a source of environmental problems, they also provide oppo

Coursera is a great app for studying things outside of the A level framework. I am currently following "Greening the economy: sustainable cities" by Lund University. It is all about how we need to balance ever-growing cities environmental sustainability with the social and economic considerations. Each week, I watch maybe 1-2 hours of lectures and read a some scholarly works and articles. I then do a 10 question test. On occasion, I do a piece of coursework which is peer assessed. It fits in very well the AQA AS Geography Contemporary Urban Environments theme. Even if you don't study geography, it works well with other interests and subjects like economics and sociology. The Coursera app is available on the App Store, Google Play, and it's also a website. Click here to access the Coursera website