Comenius:1st Newsletter Oct 2009 LdV
Dear Comenius friends:
this 1st newsletter contains brief descriptions of the work initiated by the 12 groups formed by 51 students from the two assisting terms of grade 10. We have started using our Wiki applying Benjamin Franklin´s saying: "Tell me and I forget · Teach me and I remember · Involve me and I learn"
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Contents |
Getting water
E.S.O. 4B: Patricia, Fernando, Alba, Lea: We are preparing the topic of Water Catchment. It's about how each country obtains fresh water for human consumption, depending on the resources according to the geographical nature of their environment: rivers, lakes, aquifers, ice reservoirs, snow, etc... Analyse at the same time which are infrastructures for water capture and storage: dams, swamps, ditches, cisterns, etc... They have to develop by these countries to make viable the use of water obtained from these rivers, lakes, aquifers.
Water management policy
E.S.O. 4B: Romy, Juan José, Iris, Carlos, Luis: We're going to talk about water management. Which politics apply the different countries for the water's management regarding the abundant possibilities of water-consumption: domestic use, agriculture, tourism, energy, etc. We also are going to investigate if these politics are sustainable or not. Our targets are to find out:
- How international organizations, like UNESCO, solve water management problems.
- What are the economic, social, political and geographic consequences of water management.
- International agreements about water catchment and river basins; so which countries are self supporting and which countries depend on others. So, analyse the importance of cooperation between governments, private companies and civil organizations.
Population increase
E.S.O. 4A: Laura, Claudia, Mari Nieves, Angelina: We talk about how gradual increase of population leads to greater demand for food, water and other natural resources. Another effect is increased industrial activity, which requires more fuel that may cause higher CO2 emission into the atmosphere and improper water management. Help us solve this problem that concerns us all.
Deforestation
E.S.O. 4A: Jaume, María, Mónica, Andoni: Deforestation doesn't mean only loosing trees. It also has a great impact on the environment. Many living creatures depend on trees, so when these disappear, animals will also disappear. Unfortunately, many developing countries in the tropical regions are trying to improve their economies with the inadequate use of there forests. In this project we are going to work about the reasons and consequences of the deforestation, and how we can collaborate to reduce it.
Desertification
E.S.O. 4B: Daniel Jaime, Valle, María RM, Davinia: Our topic is the desertification. This topic is very interesting, because it's one of the principal environmental problems in the world. Eventually it carries to environmental disasters. His principal symptom is the degradation of the soil. The most important reasons are: the changes in the climate and human activities. There are two types of deserts, a natural desert and other desert formed by human activity. The desert has nothing to do with the heat, but the lack of water.
Drought
E.S.O. 4A: Rafael, Sonia, Vicente, Marcelo: Droughts must not be considered like "unusual" events and all the countries should be prepared to get them. During past decades higher deterioration rates of natural resources could be observed which in turn have created conditions for increased vulnerability of the population to natural phenomena as droughts. Warmer temperatures could also increase the probabilities of drought. The increase in evaporation during the summer and autumn could increase drought conditions and the risk of destructive fires. Global warming is expected to make floods and droughts worse, threatening the availability of water for drinking and irrigation. We are going to analyse the impacts of industry, agriculture and mining in countries that modify the origins of rivers, exhaust fertile soils, and modify many of landforms, causing drought and damage to ecosystems. Nowadays the industry uses 22 % of water consumed in the world: we must compare rich and poor countries. Perform complementary studies of global areas developing drought, induceced by human activities and increased by global warming. Which are the most important consequences of the drought: Loss of agricultural production? Shortage of food? Illness due to poor sanitation? Others?
Human health
E.S.O. 4B: Érika, Shane, Judith, Noelia, María Carolina: It is expected that global warming worsen floods and droughts, threatening the availability of water for drinking and irrigation. Droughts reduce the variety, nutritional content and quantity of food, all of which can contribute to malnutrition, infectious diseases and famine.
Greenhouse effect
E.S.O. 4B: Angélica, José Antonio, Celia, Yolanda: Our group's topic is the Greenhouse effect and various existing energy alternatives which can help to stop the mentioned emission and allow industrialized countries a sustainable development. Of course, the indiscriminate use of fossil fuels is a very important point, since it contributes to the increase of the mentioned toxic gases in the atmosphere. All this changes have social, political, economic, and environmental consequences, about which we are going to talk in this project.
Acid rain
E.S.O. 4A: Vicent, María Dolores, Nuria, Annemijn Corjanne: We are going to talk about the acid rain and this is a little introduction. The man, through its activities disturbs the environment and interferes with the precipitation in two fundamental ways: with the building of cities and the discharge of pollutants into the atmosphere. Regarding air pollution, one of its most destructive effects is acid rain called so due to the high acidity of the water precipitated. The phenomenon of acid rain has a negative impact on the environment because it not only affects water quality but also soils, ecosystems, and particularly vegetation, decreasing diversity and increasing the effect of global warming. In this first phase we will find out what is acid rain, why it produces this effect, in which countries it occurs and how it affects the environment and people.
Melting of glaciers and poles
| E.S.O. 4A: Mar Patricia, Carmen, Yelena Paloma, Pedro & |
| BAC 1 Ciencias del Colegio Almadrava, Marta M, Marta +, Nevada, Claudia |
Altered water cycle
E.S.O. 4A: Francisco, Carla, Patricia, Alicia: According to the geographical characteristics of the various regions of the world, there are natural phenomena related to the water cycle, such as ocean currents, hurricanes, periods of drought and fires. Sometimes these become a problem for humans because they may cause unexpected situations that interfere with the availability of water and hence our daily activities. A few points for a start:
- Based on the natural water cycle: find out how the different natural resources used for water supply are generated.
- How does the water cycle work on the different continents? Analyse important changes of these water cycles.
- Analyse major atmospheric phenomena such as: tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, cyclones ...
Water as the greatest geopolitical conflict of the XXI century
E.S.O. 4B: Roland, Jaime, Sonia, José Ricardo, Aitana: At present water management has become a key concern. Water management in water catchment areas is a must, and it is supported by the academics and recognized in multiple international statements in the legislations of many states. It is necessary to know how the management of water takes place in different countries which are decentralized politically, as is to know what the situation is like in Canada, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Italy, India and others. Paying special attention to the role of hydrographic basins in these and many other places and the water community law as an example of approach to global water management which has an almost undeniable universal validity. The geopolitical dispute to control the hydrological sectors offered by the world market goes far beyond which is triggered from any of its particular uses. It is also noted for the territorial control of the hydrological sources that articulate many of the existing productive and reproductive processes, especially in the strategic task that the market holds to make out of the crisis of exhaustion and lack of drinking water a new source of business that goes above the interests of thousands of millions of people on the planet.
