Good luck to the Year 10’s. Did you catch this on Comic Relief last night?

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Thanks to Tom for highlighting another dissenting voice in the Global Warming debate,a little more low tech than the ‘Global Warming Swindle’, here are a set of videos produced by an American organisation called the Competitive Enterprise Institute, they aim to tackle some of the issues raised by Al Gore’s film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’.Here is one of the four videos, two are now unavailable, as presented by Marlo Lewis, C.E.I. Senior Fellow.

All of this is reasoned argument, with a nice little description of basal slippage.

But…

Notice how it is taken out of context, Antarctica is not focused on, or the collapse of the Larsen Ice Shelf.

Also remember that warmer temperatures doesn’t necessarily mean less ice, in Antarctica interior warming is resulting in higher precipitation, therefore increased ice sheet production and increased rate of ice streams.

When looking at any resource we need to consider the perspective, the Competitive Enterprise Institute in its own words is, ‘dedicated to advancing the principles of free enterprise and limited government’, basically it is pro-business.

One of the videos was very interesting, it’s since disappeared, it stated that Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere is not all bad, it is an indicator of economic health ( I suppose ) and it would promote vegetation growth; sadly the soil hasn’t seen an increase in Nitrogen and Potassium to realise this…

Many people have asked me my personal opinion on the topic as of late. To be honest, I’ve thought about this long and hard and will probably summarise my feelings badly below

• The Earth has always gone through intermittent periods of heating and cooling, due to a number of external influencing factors. When I start this topic I always make it clear that the Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming are natural processes, and I’m shocked when I hear other teachers intimating that they aren’t!
• But, I do believe that humans are accelerating the current trend of warming, since the onset of the Industrial Revolution; in my mind there is a clear link between Carbon Dioxide and heating. This trend of heating, is affected by natural phenomena such as solar flares and volcanoes, but overall the rate of heating is up.

But here is the contradiction

• Global Warming and cooling is a natural process, one that humans find difficult to comprehend, because our short life time and the vast span of Earth’s history.
• It is likely that this warming would have occurred anyway, as the Earth’s climate emerges form the last Ice Age to post-glacial conditions, in reality we have only accelerated it. It is inevitable.

Does this mean we should not worry or care about tackling the issue?

• No, I think there is a more important issue than the heating to tackle, which is the sustainable use of our resources and environment; in reality perhaps Global Warming can be used as a vehicle for society to make the necessary changes.
• Basically Global Warming is the ’sustainability’ wake-up call.

I watched Question Time last night and Peter Hitchens, he of ‘Mail on Sunday’ fame was a contributor, he questions the validity of the science, but he stated that this doesn’t mean he is unsustainable in his approach to life. We have to be careful not to condemn, because people do not agree with the science.

From a philosophical perspective, I also think it may be a case of humans trying to overplay our role and importance in the World. I think in terms of the Earth’s history, we are nothing, nor does the planet care for us, it has the power to rid itself of us at any moment. Global Warming perhaps acts as a moral and spiritual reminder of our need to respect Creation and our role as stewards.

Finally finished your mocks, as I expected for a Year Ten, some good and bad areas, but nothing we can’t improve upon. 

Good luck with work experience.

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I like this, courtesy of Geogtastic.

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Even before the recent announced downsizing of Saint Gobain’s operation, plans were afoot to redevelop the majority of the ironworks site.

In lesson, we discussed a number of possible schemes and their potential merits to Ilkeston, but as you already know the council has decided on a mixture of…

Parkland and open spaces.

Employment through small and medium companies.

Housing with access to open spaces, shops and a primary school.

This is the ‘futures’ part of this local issue. What would be the benefit of such a development to the Ilkeston area?

• Construction jobs during the development and new employment generated by attracted local businesses.
• Potential for locals to develop new skills, though this will depend on the businesses that relocate to the area.
• New businesses in the area may need to be supplied by local businesses, hence an increase in local trade.
• The status of the area will be raised, this may encourage further investment or in migration of new residents.
• More residents in the area, will mean more taxpayers and people spending in the local economy, hence a positive multiplier effect.
• Greater tax revenues can be spent on improving services, infrastructure and the local environment. All these aspects make the area potentially more attractive for new residents and businesses.
• Many of you thought Kirk Hallam residents needed an open place for leisure, hence improving quality of life!
• New green playing areas will be developed, again a facility that many of you thought was a good idea.

From the College’s point of view, this will be great! Birth rates are falling in the area, you’re just too expensive , so an estate of affluent families would help boost any potential recruitment drive!

But there will also be challenges to the new development…

• The cost of reclamation and decontaminating some areas of the former industrial site.
• Road access will need to be improved.
• Any development of this size will mean more traffic, which could impact on the nearby local settlements.
• In the short-term, visual and noise pollution, and diversion of traffic.
• Many of you questioned whether the development, in the context of the local area, could be successfully marketed.

Can you think of any others? Do you think this is the right decision for Ilkeston? Would you have preferred an alternative?

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Just finished  completing some weather symbols work for Year 11, I think I’ve blogged about this before, but never get fed up of seeing it. Paxman my hero! :)  Really cheers me up.

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Great lesson today, despite several others off doing exams and various bits. I’m going to break this review into two sections, because it is near my self-appointed work cut off line.

To finish our discussion of Multi-Nationals, we discussed some generalisations of their impact on the countries they invest in, using some different supporting characters.

Remember this type of economic activity is called inward investment. Again we illustrated these points with some well-known examples.

On the positive side

• access to employment and the development of new skills.
• the population will have more money to spend in the economy, including the paying of having taxes.
• this will mean more income for improving infrastructure and services.
• generally quality of life could be improved.
• we used the term positive multiplier effect.
• The company may invest in local infrastructure, or support educational services, so that is has a good supply of workers.
• the status of an area would be raised, this may encourage investment by other big name Multi-Nationals.
• Other local companies would benefit from increased orders associated with the new development.
• Valuable export revenues will be earned.
• The population of the country may gain access to cheaper consumer goods.
• We didn’t discuss the benefit of cultural exchanges, i.e. Toyota-Derbyshire School Exchange.

On the negative side

• In LEDCs much of the employment is low paid, low skill,l ong hours, hence ‘screwdriver’ work.
• There has been much negative press about poor working conditions, including lack of ventilation, lack of safety requirements and the intimidation of workers. Multi-Nationals like low overheads, so enjoy business where there is less red tape with regards to safety and environmental protection legalisation.
• Management positions may go to foreign employees.
• Use of child labour, knowing or unknowingly.
• Much of the profit generated is exported, or ‘leaks’ back aboard.
• They aren’t particularly impressed by Trade Unions.
• They have no specific loyalty to a nation, so are willing to export production to low cost locations.
• Sometimes grants and subsidies are used to attract such companies, which could have been used to invest in native industry.
• Native industry may not be able to compete with the investing company.
• Sometimes workers in the country, may not be able to afford the consumer goods they manufacture.

Any points that I’ve missed?

We’ll come back to the issue of Multi-Nationals later in the course.

In the second half of the lesson we discussed some potential futures for the Stanton site, which generated an excellent heated discussion. I’ll summarise these viewpoints tomorrow, reveal the actual plan and draw a final point from this local issue.

Then stop shopping!

For those who were away, homework has been set. You must catch up on missing notes. Good luck with work experience everyone!

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This is the documentary that was shown on Channel 4 last Thursday evening, that I missed thanks to my television blowing up! It provides an alternative account of mainstream Global Warming theory. For some reason it has found itself onto Google Video/You Tube. I’ll watch it and respond to some of the points hopefully at the weekend. Feel free to post your own comments about the programme.

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NCT City CentreMap, originally uploaded by tony cassidy.

Map 2-Another transport map showing the CBD

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Just a brief introduction to Mutli-Nationals, linked to our Saint Gabion and Stanton work.

We started with a bit of a teaser.

Some of us were not surprised to learn that Coca-Cola is worth more than Ethiopia!

Points to remember

• A Multi-National is a company based in more than one country, it may have factories and offices in several different locations. Also called a Trans-National Corporation. The terms are used interchangeably, though in reality a Corporation is a legal person, a bit complex, so I won’t go there…

Why base yourself in more than one country?

• Larger markets, more people, more profit.
• To find the lowest overheads in order to produce your products and maximise profits.
• To avoid import taxes and quotas.
• To raise the status of your brand/product.

Remember McDonalds serves 53 million customers daily, in over 120 different countries.

How do you know if it is a Multi-National?

All Multi-Nationals seem to have some, or all of the following common characteristics.

• Headquarters are found in MEDC countries.
• Means of production tend to be found in LEDC countries, where overheads are lower.
• Well-known brands, some endorsed by celebrities.
• High product turn overs and profits.

So what’s the issue?

Some people have concerns about Multi-Nationals for a number of reasons.

(At this point I did provide some examples, but I’m avoiding putting them into print, in case I am took to court. )

• Some believe they are too powerful, effectively buying local and national decision-making.
• People are worried that such companies are developing a globalised culture, resulting in the loss of localised tradition.
• There is concern at their poor record of environmental management and labour relations.
• Some are so powerful, they effectively have a monopoly, squeezing out competition, this is bad for the consumer, as they have less choice and higher prices.

To balance this, we started to look at different viewpoints with regards to Multi-National inward investment.

So, what has this all got to do with Stanton? This slide sums it up nicely.

One of the criticism labelled at Multi-National companies, is that they have no country loyalty, like an octopus, they have no problem with losing an arm, to ensure the profitability of the company.

Made the link?

Tomorrow, we need to finish up the positive and negative viewpoints of Multi-Nationals investing in a country.

We’re also going to be doing a little decision-making on the future of the Stanton site.

A two-part homework this week can be found under work set.

Now got your mocks and will begin marking them during my commute to College each day, should be done by Monday.

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What are conditions like working for some Multi-Nationals?

Write your comments below.

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