What if all the Poles went home?

A couple of weeks ago I added a post with the title 'The Poles are coming and Going' . Here are a couple of further resources which explore the implications for Britain if the Polish migrant workers who are currently here in Britain were lured back to Poland...

Firstly an article on the BBC news website from 27 March . It begins...
Builders. Nannies. Engineers. Fruit pickers. Hard working Poles have been earning pounds and providing extra labour since 2004. What if they all decide to leave?

And secondly, here is a BBC podcast which you download to listen to. Again it looks at the consequences for businesses if the Poles went home.

Microsoft versus Malaria

Click on the headline above to link to an excellent article about clinical trials of a malaria vaccine.

However, REMEMBER that if the question of ways of controlling malaria crops up in the exam, do NOT say that a vaccine esists!!

I'm liking this article.....!

There is a good article about ageing populations in the current edition of Time magazine on-line. Click banner below to link to it.

Instead of the usual doom and gloom stuff about the ageing population being a burden on society and requiring investment in the form of old folks homes, geriatric wards and research into Alzheimers, here is an article which outlines the positive contribution which the over 60s are making - not only now but increasingly in the future. For example..

One in three Japanese aged 60 or over is still part of the labor force.

By 2050, nearly a third of the developed world's labor force will be aged 50 or older

Britons over 50 years of age control 75% of the country's wealth

As the article states " with people living longer and continuing to contribute productively to society, we need to recalibrate just what we mean by old. "

Future impacts of melting glaciers

This is the last year when pupils studying Higher Geography will only have to be able to discuss the CAUSES of climate change. From August 2008, a long overdue change to the exam specifications means that from next year we will also be looking at the impact of climate change and at ways of tackling global warming. The following, therefore, is not strictly relevant to this year's exam BUT it makes good reading and it illustrates why the syllabus changes are very necessary.

There is an excellent article in today's Guardian which explores the implications of melting glaciers. part of the introduction states "as they retreat, glacial lakes will burst, debris and ice will fall in avalanches, rivers will flood and then dry up, and sea levels will rise even further, say the climate experts. Communities will be deprived of essential water, crops will be ruined and power stations which rely on river flows paralysed." It then goes on to explore these ideas in detail.

In the last 25 years I have been able to track the melting on one glacier in The Alps. here are some pics from my own photo archives of the Glacier du Trient which is located on the French/Swiss border.....

The first two were taken in Summer 1983

Above, a close up of the snout and below a view from further down valley.. Twelve years later in 1995 the glacier was a shadow of its former self....And here, just eight years later is all that was left of the glacier in in 2003.

Shrinking glaciers in the European Alps will certainly have an effect on populations and economies on that region but, as the article in today's Guardian points out, the impact of glacial melting will be far more serious for communities in LEDCs.

SAGT Higher Geography Pupil Conference

Hopefully some of you reading the HigherGeogBlog today have found your way here after following the link I gave you yesterday at the conference in Dalkeith. Indeed, you might be here.......or here.....So, if you are a first time visitor, welcome to the blog and please do come back in the run up to your exam. As well as new postings, there is plenty of relevance to your revision in the archives which you can access from the labels in the sidebar.

And a wee reminder of some of yesterday's presentations...

Firstly, global temperature variations in the last 150 years which formed part of the Atmosphere presentation and below, some very good advice which you would do well to take on board when you are sitting your exam in May. This presenter knows what he is talking about -as a member of the examining team for Higher Geography, he might well be scrutinising your paper!

"The Poles are coming and going!"

There was a great documentary on BBC2 last night called 'The Poles are coming". If you missed it, you could still catch it on iPlayer.

Click on the image above to link to the BBC webpage about the programme, view a clip and listen to an interview with the producer. There are also a couple of good newspaper reviews of the programme which you can read here and here.

It is therefore interesting to find that the BBC news website is today carrying a story of how and why Polish immigrants are now returning to Poland....

Here is a clue ... When Poland joined the EU, the pound was worth almost seven zloty, that has now fallen to just 4.5 zloty, making UK wages less alluring.

Link to the article by clicking the image on the left.