Coasts may be "abandoned to the sea"

That's according to Lord Smith, the new chairman of the Environment Agency, who says that coastal erosion is the most difficult issue that the Agency have to deal with, but that some parts of the coastline are so badly eroded that they are not worth protecting.


The picture shows part of the Holderness Coast (East Yorkshire), but large parts of Norfolk and Suffolk are under threat as well. Read the full article from the BBC here.

"Northern cities beyond revival"

That's according to a "think tank" called Policy Exchange. Apparently, the regeration that is going on in cities such as Bradford (which I have posted about on Geogtastic before) and Liverpool is not working, and there should be a mass migration of poor northerners to southern cities such as London, Cambridge and Oxford...

Doesn't seem to me like the most sensible solution... Have a read of the article from the BBC here and see what you think!

Urban Earth, Flood Sim and Online Information Resources

Several new posts on Geogtastic, which for some reason I can't copy to here as I have done before....

Urban Earth - Dan Raven-Ellison's project to walk across and photograph three major world cities... Some of the stories and photographs from Mexico City are now on the Urban Earth blog... Next week is London.

Flood Sim - simulation game produced by PlayGen and Norwich Union to raise awareness of flooding and to encourage people to take action to protect themselves and their homes from flooding.

Derbyshire County Council Online Information Resource - does what it says on the tin! And is brilliant!

Happy Yorkshire Day!

Image: Flickr user kosta.v

Happy Holidays!

Hope that work experience went well...

Enjoy your holidays - whatever you are doing... If you are going away somewhere, send us a postcard, and remember to take lots of geographical photos!

And remember to keep visiting Geogtastic and Geogtastic6!

Why dying is forbidden in the Arctic...

An interesting article from the BBC here!

Introduction to Cold Environments

We started today to have a look at some Cold Environments work ready for the North Wales visit in September (speaking of which, most of you still owe me some money!!!).

We talked about what we meant by "cold environments" - past and present. We had a brief look at the geological timescale - the sheet I gave you came from the Keele University Earth Sciences Department and you can also check out the BGS's interactive version here.

We then talked about what a glacier is, how ice forms, and the different types of glacier.

An excellent website about glaciers and glaciation to have a look at is Dr. Peter G. Knight's website. The book that he mentions on the website is also excellent, and whilst there is no obligation for you to buy this (or any other) book, it certainly wouldn't be a waste of money!

You can link to the Amazon page for the book by clicking on the picture below, although it appears not to be available from there at the moment. You might be able to find a copy on that well-known auction site, or in a bookshop, or from the Geographical Association shop (worth bearing in mind that GA members get a discount... and I am a GA member...).

Don't forget please, that for Tuesday, you need to have found out a specific example (with location) of each of the types of glacier that we talked about today.