Just coming to the end of the extreme environments unit now and tying up some loose ends. Today we discussed who owned Antarctica, I think we discovered that though several countries make claims on the continent, the Antarctic Treaty means that these claims are not legitimate or presently recognised, hence no-one really! We had a good discussion about whether Antarctica should be owned by anyone, and the reasoning why a claim to Antarctica may be important. We considered…

Historical links and national pride, for example Scott and Shackleton.

Strategic value in the Southern Hemisphere, particularly important for the U.K. with South Atlantic dependencies.

The ability to collect scientific data which may provide a country with an economic competitive edge and also bring international prestige.

The possible future use of mineral resources, though currently banned under the Antarctic Treaty.

We also discussed, in an historical context, why the United States, Russia and China, had not laid claim to land in Antarctica; though both Russia and The United States reserve the right to do so, if they feel necessary in the future.

Finally to quote Michael Palin

‘And when you get to the end of the Earth you find it’s American.’

We discussed why the United States may have wanted a research station, the Amundsen-Scott, at the South Pole, in relation to the Cold War, get it? We also discussed why the international community may have allowed this to happen.

I have produced a worksheet (Word 134kb), map (Word 127Kb) and PowerPoint ( 2Mb) which accompany this lesson, though the presentation will also be used to support two further lessons.

On a sad note :(, I was extremely disappointed with the hand in rate for the tourism research, last week or not, the course is not a hundred metres race, but a good middle distance run. I expect the rest of the work completed for tomorrow.

With the first coursework task you have set the bar high, you can not now expect me to lower it!

Ho Ho Ho and all that!

Finally…

Who should own Antarctica?

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Posted in Extreme Environments, Lesson evaluations
Written on Mon, 11 December 2006 at 10:27 pm

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