Geography Newsletter, by Amrita (Geography Captain, Year 13)

We had a fantastic first Geography Club session which involved a highly competitive Kahoot quiz. Year 8s took the no.1 spot, with 9s in second place and 7s in third place

Our next session will be on Thursday 26 September, with lots of ways to get involved.

The headlines from this week:

Effects of climate change on Somalia: Climate change is exacerbating pre-existing struggles in Somalia such as civil war. It has even been described as a “chaos multiplier”. However, the country has emitted as much CO2 from fossil fuel usage since around the 1950s as the US does in the span of 3 days. Climate change has affected agriculture which is not good for the economy as approximately two thirds of the population rely on animal faming for a living. The worst drought for 40 years was experienced in 2022. Climate change alters rain patterns which make living as a small-scale farmer, a real challenge as people can’t grow enough crops to sustain their herds of livestock. Troubles over land ownership leads to gun crime, having a disastrous effect on the mental health of farmers. Floods in Somalia were made twice as intense due to anthropogenic climate change.

Solar farm plans in Norfolk: Five sites are planned to have solar panels built on them with enough energy to power 363,000 homes, with the project known as the High Grove Solar Farm. These five sites are dispersed throughout the entirety of Norfolk. Stakeholders express varying concerns about the scale of the project. Some people are worried about the effects on wildlife and also about how the beautiful views in Norfolk may be scarred by the presence of solar panels.

Drought in the Amazon basin: Water levels are at an all time low in the Amazon basin according to the Brazilian Geological Service. For example, the water level of the Madeira river (a tributary to the Amazon river) has fallen by 284cm and the Solimoes river has also hit an all time low. According to Cemaden (the natural disaster monitoring agency for Brazil), the current drought is the most intense it has been. The Amazon rainforest is currently in a dry period but water levels fell relatively quickly compared to previous years. The cause for drought is due to the Amazon basin receiving less rainfall and hotter temperatures increasing the rate of evaporation from plants/soil, exacerbating water loss rates. Furthermore, drought is also made worse by El Nino, a natural weather pattern. Deforestation also makes the Amazon more vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to less moisture release.

Stay tuned for the next edition!