h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks! Did you look at the site I suggested?

It's http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/360

Sorry: it's http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/360/360

Hi friendly,

I took a look, and I would just have a few points to make at the moment, which hopefully might help. Are you looking at saving the world from the point of view of issues, or solutions? It seems a bit mixed at the moment, as "waste" & "consumerism/shopping" are issues, certainly, but "media" and "activism" could be seen as solutions. Some of the others, ie "energy" and "water" are somewhat neutral. Do you mean "energy conservation", or "energy waste"?

I suppose that when working on a topic such as "saving the planet", you might need to be somewhat more specific. In reality the Earth will go on irrespective of anything we could possibly conceive of doing to it. It's a big block of rock, and even life on it is fairly resistant to anything we could throw at it, including a full-scale nuclear war. However, if the question is more "saving life as we know it on the planet", or "saving the future of mankind on the planet", then you are getting a bit more specific about it. Some of the issues that I can see if you limit it to this would include:- Global Warming, Destruction of the Ozone Layer, Destruction of Biodiversity, Destruction of Natural Resources, Pollution, Poverty, Overpopulation, War, Disease, Protecting against Natural Disasters.

I'll be interested in seeing how your project unfolds, and if I can, I will add some points where possible.

Best of luck!

Woodpigeon

Hey Woodpigeon.

Any idea why the Living Earth page has been moderated?

turvy

Some of the links appear to be breaching copyright. They didn't tell me *which* links though. (All of them perhaps? ) Although I didn't think that linking would be a breach of copyright... I am trying to find out with the PTB at the moment....

And just as I was posting the last message, I got a response back. It was a bad link, not a copyright breach . The page is back!

turvy

The aim of the project is to find ten easy ways to help the planet.

Each issue [all of which have yet to materialise ] will briefly describe the problem, and then possible solutions. The focus is on what the people reading the site can do to help: so things like alleviating poverty and war are inappropriate, because there is not a lot that the average joe can do [though you'll undoubtedly disagree ]

The titles will be easier to understand once I have some articles: at the moment I have a lot of ideas but not a lot of facts to back them up!

FwT

I am probably coming at it from a different perspective, you are right, although perhaps war and poverty really are related to the same problem overall, which is the instinct in humans to exploit all scarce resources in order to achieve competitive advantage, irrespective of the long term consequences of doing so. Solving it comes down to greater awareness of the problem, and enforcement of a solution. No matter which way you look at it, it's a tough nut to crack!

Best of luck!

Woodpigeon

It won't be easy: but I'm going to enjoy writing it! [When I get round to starting it ]

I have just updated the Living Earth page after the Christmas break. Some interesting stuff on dinosaurs and climate change, and Stromboli has been evacuated after a piece of the volcano the size of a 60 story tower block fell into the sea. Also a very large earthquake in Mexico just yesterday.

Woodpigeon

Hiya! No one seems to have joined for a long time, but I would love to! I'm a Geography undergraduate wannabe (in a year hopefully) and I run and organise events at my school about Fairtrade, Recycling and other environmental issues. Please let me join!

Lots of love
Lou

Hi Princess.

Your post made me look at the page for the first time in a while.

Thanks

I found the earth as art page from NASA has moved to

http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/earthasart/

They seem to be having problems cos lots of people are downloading lots of their pics and the servers can't keep up

Have a and while we're waiting for your membership to come through

Ive seen that site before - it's brilliant
I'm interested in working with LandSat for a while before going into teaching... I'm just trying to think of some other great geography sites that I know!
http://www.geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk/keywords.html - thats a pretty handy resource/geography dictionary thing!

Great space, great idea

Lou

Many thanks Lou : welcome on board and apologies regarding the "quietness" of this space. I moved jobs recently and I have much less time to maintain the page since. I will try to update it now, because I am very interested in natural phenomena, and how they have shaped our history.

Good to talk to you!

PS - Tom - thanks for the updated link - I have made the change to the site.

Woodpigeon

Hello! I would like to join! My name is Willem, I'm in South Africa, and I'm really into environmentalism and conservation of the biodiversity of Earth!

Willem, you are enrolled! I have never been to your beautiful country, but one day I would love to go there.

Woodpigeon

Hi Woodpidgeon (a fellow bird) I would love to join, we have just been missed by hurricane Isabel in the last few days, just had the surge from it (15 ft waves) eating away our small island. Having seen the destruction that hurricane Floyd did in
1999 I am thankfull that we were spared this time
Tropicbird

Hi there Tropicbird! Wow - it sounds as if you are in a very nice location, far away from the muddy clouds of the UK and Ireland! One of the things I do on my page is to collect experiences of people who have been affected by a natural event such as a hurricane. If you have an account, let me know!

Great to hear from you. I'll add your name to the list!

Best wishes

Woodpigeon

I would love to join!!!

.. says the girl from Hawaii, who is a geology dork...:D