Geographical articles from July 2008

Geographical archives from July 2008

The future of wine.(Editorial)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... I love wine. I spend a large proportion of my spare time learning about it and a disturbingly large proportion of my pay packet buying it. And although I have a soft spot for the wines of my home country, Australia, I've been having a great...

Where in the world?(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Identify this country using the following clues: * It didn't become a unified kingdom until 1861 * Its birth rate is among the world's lowest * It has the world's highest per capita level of car ownership * Two other countries...

Earthquake changes shape of Sichuan.(WORLDWATCH)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The earthquake that devastated Sichuan in southwestern China in May, killing as many as 80,000 people and destroying 15 million homes, has also significantly rearranged the region's geography. Close to the epicenter...

World's most powerful dam planned for Congo River.(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Plans have been rekindled for the construction of a 40billion [pounds sterling] hydropower dam on the Congo River, which could generate twice as much electricity as China's controversial Three Gorges Dam. First proposed during the 1980s,...

Return for Chagossians could boost islands' biodiversity.(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Allowing the displaced inhabitants of the Chagos Islands to return home some 50 years after being evicted to make way for a US military base could bring unexpected benefits to the British Indian Ocean Territory's fragile environment, according...

Rainforest mapping reveals hundreds of villages.(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Conservation charity the Rainforest Foundation has enlisted the inhabitants of 100 villages in remote and war-torn parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), many of which don't appear on existing maps, to...

How did the Cornish bat cross the road?(bridge in Cornwall)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... A new bypass under construction around the village of Dobwalls in Cornwall is to incorporate a series of measures to reduce its overall environmental impact--including a 'bridge' to help local bats cross the new road safely. Ecological...

Top 10 fastest-shrinking populations.(WORLDWATCH)(Table)
July 1, 2008... TOP 10 FASTEST-SHRINKING POPULATIONS (AVERAGE ANNUAL PERCENTAGE CHANGE, 2005) 1 MOLDOVA -0.90 2 GEORGIA -0.79 3 UKRAINE -0.76 4 BULGARIA -0.72 5 BELARUS -0.55 6 LITHUANIA -0.53 7...

The government of Spain has approved a 180million [euro] plan to build a water pipeline between the River Ebro and Barcelona, which is suffering under the worst drought in decades.(SPAIN)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... The government of Spain has approved a 180million [euro] plan to build a water pipeline between the River Ebro and Barcelona, which is suffering under the worst drought in decades. The plan calls for an existing pipeline between the Ebro and...

Bill Bryson, travel author and president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, has announced the launch of a new drive against litter called Stop the Drop.(UK)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Bill Bryson, travel author and president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, has announced the launch of a new drive against litter called Stop the Drop. The campaign calls for the government and local councils to crack down harder on...

Scientists in Sweden have discovered a spruce tree that they believe to be almost 10,000 years old, which would make it the world's oldest known tree.(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Scientists in Sweden have discovered a spruce tree that they believe to be almost 10,000 years old, which would make it the world's oldest known tree. A team from Umea University made the discovery in a remote part of the Drevfjallet nature...

An area containing a plethora of geographical wonders including volcanoes, glaciers, waterfalls, canyons, sand flats, rivers and lakes has become Europe's largest national park.(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... An area containing a plethora of geographical wonders including volcanoes, glaciers, waterfalls, canyons, sand fiats, rivers and lakes has become Europe's largest national park. Iceland's Vatnajokull National Park encompasses 13,000 square...

Campaigners on the Greek island of Lesbos (Lesvos) have launched a legal battle to prevent a Greek gay rights organisation from using the term 'lesbian'.(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Campaigners on the Greek island of Lesbos (Lesvos) have launched a legal battle to prevent a Greek gay rights organisation from using the term 'lesbian'. They claim that the term should only be ascribed to the 100,000 natives of the island and...

Mangrove destruction exacerbated effects of Burmese cyclone.(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Destruction of mangrove swamps along the southern coast of Myanmar may have exacerbated the impact of the cyclone that struck in early May, causing 15,000 deaths in the immediate aftermath and the displacement of...

Cloud cover linked to earthquake activity.(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Chinese scientists think they may have discovered a link between cloud formations and seismic activity, which may help in the prediction of earthquakes. According to research published in the International Journal of Remote Sensing,...

Concerns about the world's water cooling system.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Scientists studying the Southern Ocean have found that it's becoming less salty, which could have a big effect on the world's climate and ocean currents. 'Our preliminary results from the voyage suggest the dense...

Carbon dioxide high.(CLIMATEWATCH)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have hit a record high, according to a new US report. Figures collected by the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii suggest that levels are now 387 parts per million (ppm)--the highest they've been for 650,000...

Glaciers releasing chemical cocktails.(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Frozen stores of the pesticide DDT are leaking from melting Antarctic glaciers, according to a new study. Marine biologist Heidi Geisz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in the USA, led a team that sampled DDT levels in penguins. A...

Fewer caribou calves are being born in Greenland and more of them are dying, say researchers, who are placing the blame on global warming.(GREENLAND)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Fewer caribou calves are being born in Greenland and more of them are dying, say researchers, who are placing the blame on global warming. The birth of calves used to coincide with a plentiful supply of plant food for their mothers; however,...

Four fatal shark attacks in the first four months of this year (compared to just one in the whole of last year) has led shark experts to look for the cause of the sudden surge.(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Four fatal shark attacks in the first four months of this year (compared to just one in the whole of last year) has led shark experts to look for the cause of the sudden surge. Some think global warming is causing sharks to move into new areas,...

Norway is donating US $100million to Tanzania to help the African nation fight climate change and stop deforestation.(TANZANIA)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Norway is donating US $100million to Tanzania to help the African nation fight climate change and stop deforestation. The money, which will be paid over a five-year period, will be used to fund research, training and the development of new...

The company behind a new search engine has pledged to plant two trees for every 1,000 searches carried out through the site.(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... The company behind a new search engine has pledged to plant two trees for every 1,000 searches carried out through the site. The search engine, called Ecocho, is powered by Yahoo, and the company hopes to use funds generated through advertising...

Nepal.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As one of the world's poorest countries, and surrounded by the two most populous nations, Nepal has had a difficult political history. With a land area of more than 140,000 square kilometres and a population of 28...

Isle of Wight: Natalie Hoare heads to the Isle of Wight, which, along with its two heritage coasts, includes some of the most spectacular land- and seascapes in England.(AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Standing with my back to the English Channel at St Catherine's Point, gazing up at the tumble-down landscape before me, I can almost sense the silent force of gravity drawing this irregular terrain ever closer to the...

Get away for a real Indian summer.
July 1, 2008... Summer, glorious summer: at its best, a round of picnics, barbecues and soft ice creams on the beach. Wouldn't it be great to have just a couple more months of blue skies and sunny days before the days draw in and the nip in the air becomes a...

Going for gold.(Royal Geographical Society)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... With food security, oil prices, the Olympics and climate change rarely out of the headlines, geography and geographical issues are on the agenda as never before. It's unsurprising, then, that the Society's annual presentation of its medals and...

A selection of July's events.(IN SOCIETY)(Calendar)
July 1, 2008... For further information, please visit www.rgs.org/whatson, email events@rgs.org or call 020 7591 3100 1-17 July Seeing China (EXHIBITION, LONDON) The third in the Society's Crossing Continents series, supported by the...

Can of roast beef from HMS Resolute: left in the Canadian Arctic by the ship's crew after they abandoned their search for the missing Franklin expedition.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] During the autumn of 1855, the American whaling ship George Henry was being swept along by an Arctic ice floe when its crew spotted a strange ship near the horizon. For six days, it moved closer, until the...

Seeds of change.(Oualata, Mauritania)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Nine hundred years ago, the village of Oualata in southeastern Mauritania was a thriving stop-off on the caravan route across the Sahara Desert. Passing traders not only brought in camels loaded with salt, ivory,...

Some like hot: as the rest of the world braces itself for the impact of global climate change, in a small corner of Austria, the local winemakers are quietly celebrating its arrival. In Western Styria, the warmer temperatures are enabling the grapes to ripen fully, bringing about a revolution in centuries-old winemaking practices.
July 1, 2008... Franz Strohmeier pulls a small blue grape from the vine, sucks out the pips and squeezes a drop of juice onto his refractometer. Snapping down a clear plastic screen, he lifts the device towards the early evening sky and peers into it with one...

Can oil and wildlife mix? For 40 years, the African republic of Gabon has been reliant on remote onshore oilfields that sit slap bang in the middle of pristine rainforest. And while logic would suggest that oil exploitation must be having a detrimental effect on the local wildlife, an innovative collaboration between the global oil company Shell and the Smithsonian Institution has proved otherwise.
July 1, 2008... I saw my first elephant soon after touching down at Gamba airport in Gabon, on a runway that's little more than a strip of red earth slicing through the forest. A bandsome male, with the straight tannin-stained tusks typical of the African...

Holy hills and sacred stones: Silbury Hill, one of the largest man-made mounds in the world, has puzzled British archaeologists for centuries. But recent investigations have shed new light on the significance and function of both the hill itself and Wiltshire's other famous ancient sites: the stone circles at Stonehenqe and Avebury.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 'How grand! How wonderful! How incomprehensible!' exclaimed Richard Colt Hoare, the early 19th century aristocrat and antiquarian, of Stonehenge. Another, more famous and earlier antiquarian, William Stukeley,...

Pushing the boats out: the boat builders of Salaya on the coast of Gujarat, India, have been shifting cargo around the Arabian Sea for centuries. And business is booming: these wooden vessels are being built bigger, in greater numbers and at higher costs than in any time in living memory.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Just a few hours after leaving the shelter of the Iranian coast, Haroon Sanghar, captain, or tindal, of the Faize Makdumi, gives the order to hoist the sail. 'Fare ha kar,' he yells and squints forward, watching the...

Take the Lao road: one of the world's poorest countries, Laos has opened up to the economic rewards of tourism following years of Communist-inspired isolation. Now, a UNESCO-supported ecotourism project--in which visitors trek through lush landscapes to experience the biodiversity and cultural traditions of the country's far north--is benefitting the region's broad mix of ethnic peoples.(Laos trekking)
July 1, 2008... At dusk, one of our group comes rushing outside to announce that there's a snake curled up by his bed. The two guides dash inside the lodge, then one runs to fetch the village headman. He appears with a bamboo stick, spears the unlucky...

Seeing China.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The constant threat of invasion from nomadic peoples in the north resulted in China leading a fairly insular existence for hundreds of years. During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), this isolation was further reinforced...

Warnings from an earlier warming.(The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations by Brian Fagan Bloomsbury, hb, pp 282, US$26.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] So, have we really been here before? Is the current blight of global warming...

Fixing Climate: The Story of Climate Science and How to Stop Global Warming.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... Fixing Climate: The Story of Climate Science and How to Stop Global Warming by Robert Kunzig and Wallace S Broecker Profile, pb, pp288, 9.99 [pounds sterling] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The star of this absorbing book--part...

Great Photographic Journeys in the Footsteps of 19th Century British Photographers.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... Great Photographic Journeys in the Footsteps of 19th Century British Photographers by John Hannavy Dewi Lewis Publishing, hb, pp256, 25 pounds sterling] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When history fails to repeat itself, someone else,...

A Corkscrew is Most Useful: The Travellers of Empire.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... A Corkscrew is Most Useful: The Travellers of Empire by Nicholas Murray Little Brown, hb, pp532, 25 [pounds sterling] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 'To the majority of readers, in these days of universal travelling, it will be...

Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives by Carolyn Steel Chatto & Windus, pb, pp352, 12.99 [pounds sterling] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Few things in the world are new (the streets of Ur were lined with takeaways), but this book is...

Top 10 writer's reads.
July 1, 2008... Tudor Parfitt is a British academic who has spent a large part of his life trying to track down the ark supposedly built to hold the stone tablets on which the ten commandments were carved. His latest book, The Lost Ark of the Covenant, is out...

Dan Cruickshank's Adventures in Architecture.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... Dan Cruickshank's Adventures in Architecture by Dan Cruickshank Weidenfeld & Nicolson, hb, pp288, 20 [pounds sterling] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Dan Cruickshank has an eye for a paradox--that in Brasilia, for example, the local...

A Year in Tibet.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... A Year in Tibet by Sun Shuyun Harper, hb, pp242, 20 [pounds sterling] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 'Tibet had always called to me,' says Sun Shuyun, the Chinese writer and film-maker, at the start of her book. It didn't, however,...

The Lost Ark of the Covenant.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... The Lost Ark of the Covenant by Tudor Parfitt HarperElement, hb, pp388, 18.99 [pounds sterling] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As befits someone once described by the Wall Street Journal as the 'British Indiana Jones', Professor Tudor...

Tropic of Capricorn: Circling the World on a Southern Adventure.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... Tropic of Capricorn: Circling the World on a Southern Adventure by Simon Reeve BBC Books, hb, pp376, 17.99 [pounds sterling] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The shortest distance between two points is universally acknowledged to be a...

Shackleton.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... Shackleton by Margery and James Fisher First published in 1957. Currently out of print [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In 1907, while Ernest Shackleton was planning his British Imperial Antarctic Expedition Nimrod, he made a...

Climbing Kilimanjaro: giving those without technical mountaineering skills the opportunity to climb a 'real' mountain, Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest peak, attracts large numbers of tourists every year. But the trek to the summit is no walk in the park and requires some clever gear selection.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I arrived at the first night's campsite ten minutes behind the porters and just ahead of the main group of trekkers. It was raining heavily and the ground was rapidly turning into a quagmire. Only the large dining...

Ten of the best.(Buyers guide)
July 1, 2008... From tropical heat at its base to blizzards on its summit via rain storms on its slopes, Kilimanjaro confronts those who try to reach Africa's highest point with a wide range of weather conditions--and you'll need the right kit to cope with all...

For peat's sake: havens for wildlife and enormous storehouses of carbon, the world's peat bogs are under increasing threat. The culprits? Humble gardeners and their thirst for commercial potting mix and compost. But there are plenty of alternatives out there for green gardeners, from peat-free potting mix to do-it-yourself composting.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] According to legendary gardener the late Geoff Hamilton, 'gardeners buy peat because of brain conditioning not soil conditioning'. Indeed, prior to the 1960s, its use wasn't common, as the green-fingered relied on...

Balancing act: the automatic settings on modern cameras have taken a lot of the guesswork out of photography, but they're far from infallible. Keith Wilson offers some tips on getting to grips with the vagaries of exposure, white balance and ISO settings.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Geo photo Modern cameras have a range of programmed exposure modes; indeed, some have nothing else: they automatically set the shutter speed and aperture depending on the exposure reading made by the camera's...

Lost on Everest.(LETTER OF THE MONTH)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Having looked closely at the images published in the piece about Sir Edmund Hillary in the May issue of Geographical (The man who climbed Everest), I think there is an error relating to the location of the photograph...

Lust and chaos.(MAILBAG)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The cover photo of Mexico City sprawl (April 2008) gets the message across immediately: the importance of reproduction. The seemingly inexorable rise of the megacity surely demonstrates that our vaunted intelligence...

Conurbation conundrum.(MAILBAG)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2008... In the table on page 10 of the April issue of Geographical (Worldwatch), Mexico City, New York City and Shanghai are shown to have populations of 19.4 million, 18.7 million and 14.5 million respectively. On page 40 of the same issue (Boom...

The price of paternalism.(MAILBAG)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2008... The editorial in the June Geographical (Editor's letter) deplores the 'rather paternalistic attitudes of those living in developed societies to reserve traditional ways of life [of indigenous people]'. To an extent, this is true. But equally...

Wrong turn.(MAILBAG)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2008... I enjoyed the June Dossier about the right to roam (Access all areas). It was definitely a step in the right direction. However, in setting out to answer the question posed in its first paragraph--'While ramblers in Europe enjoy great freedom...

Sun Shuyun.(Chinese writer)(Interview)
July 1, 2008... Sun Shuyun, 44, is a Chinese writer and documentary film-maker who divides her time between London and Beijing. Brought up in China, she attended Beijing University before winning a scholarship to Oxford University. For her recent BBC series...