Rashid's Blog: A Place for Inquisitive Souls

Earth Watch Report  –  Flooding

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27.12.2012

Flash Flood

Iraq

Capital City, Baghdad

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Flash Flood in Iraq on Thursday, 27 December, 2012 at 03:42 (03:42 AM) UTC.

Decades of deforestation had decimated arable lands, reduced water tables and threatened the survival of communities totally depending on agriculture. 30 years ago in Nepal, nobody bothered about the forests. People used to cut trees to heat themselves and cook. And forests became more and more scattered. But in the 70’s, the Nepal government which had no mean to fight illegal deforestation started giving a sense of responsibility to the local populations so they preserve the forests themselves. Then, natives started planting trees and stopped to cut them.

30 years later, about 2.000.000 acres of forests are thriving under the control of rural communities. Most of the trees being acacias and pines, they absorb a lot of carbon dioxide contributing to reduce the climate warming in a country where climate change is already a reality. Because of the rise of the temperatures, Himalayan glaciers are melting at an alarming speed, involving the…

A very impressive ‘Sound Globus’ was developed by Yuri Suzuki, sound artist. He is mapping sound – pieces of typical music found on those places – on a ‘3D globus disk’: Sound of the Earth Project

The Sound of the Earth is a content of Yuri Suzuki`s spherical record project, the grooves representing
the outlines of the geographic land mass. Each country on the disc is engraved with a different sound, as the needle passes over it plays field recordings collected by Yuri Suzuki from around the world over the course of four years; traditional folk music, national anthems, popular music and spoken word broadcasts.
An aural journey around the world in 30 minutes.

From thisbigcity:

… sustainable urbanism doesn’t just happen, it needs to be encouraged through the design of our cities. And though formal education isn’t a critical component of being a good urban designer, it is the path that many people follow before entering the profession. So as our cities and planet experience unprecedented change, how are universities responding with their urban design education options? Are we seeing an influx of new courses that proactively address the transformation of our cities? Are existing courses radically altering their teaching to prepare students for the difficult task of creating sustainable cities? Er, no.

In fact, whilst more of the same is the last thing our cities are promising us, more of the same is exactly what we’re getting in universities. Into decorating? That’s Interior Design. Want to design buildings? That’s Architecture. Cities? That’s Urban Planning. Green space? That’s Landscape Architecture. Though the reality of each…