Pirates of every kind

Source: http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/a/affirmative_action.asp

Source: http://www.biyokulule.com/view_content.php?articleid=3117

The dictionary defines "piracy" as a robbery committed at sea. Today we have been talking about piracy in the Indian Ocean, next to the Somali coasts. If you think in the definition of piracy and you relate it to the overexploitation of some fishing grounds and the practices of some developed countries in this area, you will reach interesting conclusions. 

Here you have some links where you can read more about the origins of present piracy in the Indian Ocean: 

http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1567/1/

http://wardheernews.com/Articles_09/Jan/Waldo/08_The_two_piracies_in_Somalia.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-you-are-being-lied-to-about-pirates-1225817.html

http://www.alternet.org/story/136481/why_we_don't_condemn_our_pirates_in_somalia/?page=entire

And this last cartoon compares Somali pirates with other land pirates: 

Source: http://www.bendib.com/black/new.html

This week's challenge

Source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:EU_fishing_agreements.png

This week the challenge is a little bit different. During class this week we discussed the topic of fishing agreements. On paper, these agreements seem like a great idea, which benefit both the EU and other countries. However, in reality it's not a perfect or fair situation.

So for this week's challenge I want you to think about the advantages and disadvantages of these fishing agreements for the countries where the EU fishes. Please comment and write your ideas about these advantages and disadvantages.

You can use these two links to help you research this topic.

http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/international/agreements/index_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/documentation/publications/cfp_brochure/partnerships_en.pdf

Record prices due to overfishing

Some days ago two Japanese sushi restaurants paid almost 300,000 € for a bluefin tuna (red tuna) of 342 kilos. This was the highest price ever paid for a fish in the world. Overfishing has almost exhausted wild red tuna and there is a real danger of extinction of this species. This is why red tuna is so expensive. Last November, the ICCTA (International Commision for the Conservation of the Atlantic Tuna) decided to reduce fishing catches of red tuna in 4%, so this fish can recover, but this is not enough for the ecologists.

Here you have more information about the record price for a bluefin tuna in Japan: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12117010

Ecologists´campaign for the reduction of tuna catches: 

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/tuna/

Where do fishers fish?

Where do fishers fish?

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Here you have the Powerpoint presentation we saw last Monday. Remember the contents: best places for fishing, the Exclusive Economic Zones or territorial waters every country has, the main problems that affect fishing, the development of aquaculture and some of the problems derived from marine aquaculture.

Challenge number 3

Types of fish

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This time you will have to research about different types of fish. You will have to answer to four questions:

Question 1

Watch the PowerPoint presentation and write the names in Spanish of the fish that appear. Here you have the list, so you can copy, paste it and don´t have to waste time writing all the names again:  

TROUT

CARP

SALMON

EEL

STURGEON

SARDINE

ANCHOVY

MACKEREL

HORSE MACKEREL

HERRING

RED MULLET

TUNA

COD

GILTHEAD BREAM

SEA BASS

HAKE

WHITING

SWORDFISH

GROUPER

TURBOT

SOLE

HALIBUT

CONGER EEL

MONKFISH

Question 2

How do we call in English a large group of fish that swim together? The following picture can give you a clue:

Source: http://www.elrincondelascuatropatas.com/2008/07/pretenden-crear-un-banco-genetico-de-peces-moluscos-y-crustaceos/

Question 3

How do we say in English “pescado blanco” and “pescado azul”? What is the difference between them?

Question 4

What kind of fish do you mostly eat at home? Name at least 3 different types of fish you eat and the way you eat it (boiled, fried, in sauce, roasted…).

I hope this time you don´t complain about the level of difficulty of the challenge. See you on Monday!

Glogster poster about fishing

Today we have discovered a new Internet tool that can be very useful to present and summarize concepts: Glogster Edu. This tool allows the users to create glogs, that is, interactive multimedia posters, that can include texts, pictures, sound, videos, graphics and data attachments. The main advantage of Glogster Edu is that it makes possible to organize the information in one only page and it´s very visual. We´ll learn to use Glogster Edu very soon (if someone is so kind to let us use the Althia room). This way you will be able to prepare your own interactive posters to study, review vocabulary or organize your ideas for an oral presentation.

You can use the "Fishing" glog to review the definitions and the new vocabulary we have learned today. Click on "View full size", if you want to observe the pictures with more detail. See you on Friday!

Risks of intensive animal farming

Source: http://www.animanaturalis.org/p/1236/jaulas_en_las_granjas_de_huevos

Raising animals in an intensive way means that the animals have to grow quickly, so that the farmers can use their products as soon as they can. In order to reduce costs and increase profit margins, the animals live in small spaces and they eat fodder provided by the farmers. Despite the sanitary and quality controls, there have been some scandals related to the way of feeding the animals raised in intensive farms:

-    The “mad cow disease” of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE):  This disease affected cows and it passed on humans through beef meat. The cows were infected because they ate feed made with carcasses of different animals (infected sheep, birds, dogs, cats, other cows…). Ruminant vegetarian cows were fed with feed made with meat and bone meal coming from other animals.

You can read more about this disease on the following link:

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/mcd.html

-    The most recent scandal related to intensive animal farming is the “dioxin affair” in Germany: some feed producers used industrial oils to include fats (proteins) in the feed chicken, hens and pigs eat. These industrial oils contained dioxins, which are carcinogenic. The proportion of dioxins found in the feed was 79 times higher than the allowed. Around 5,000 farms had to close in Germany last week, but the problem is far to be solved: many eggs were exported to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom and they were used to make different products (cakes mainly).

You can get more information on the following links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12133361

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1344914/Dioxin-scandal-Food-containing-contaminated-eggs-Germany-shops-3-WEEKS.html

Organic farming

Source: http://organicfarming2008.blogspot.com/

Commercial agriculture has reached the objective of producing a lot of products at a low price. We can choose between a big number of products and we can eat vegetables and fruits all year round. But in order to grow the crops faster, farmers use a lot of pesticides and chemical fertilizers many times.

There is an alternative way of cultivating the land: organic agriculture. Organic agriculture is a type of farming that consists in cultivating the land ecologically. This means taking care of the soil by  using natural fertilizers (manure), natural methods to control the plagues and respecting the natural cycle of plants. The four principles of organic agriculture are Elath, ecology, fairness and care.

As people are more and more worried about health, organic agriculture has increased considerably in the most developed countries. Here you have some maps and graphs where you can observe the evolution of organic agriculture in Europe and Spain:

Source: http://www.organic-world.net/graphs.html#c2239

Source: http://www.fibl.org/en/themen/themen-statistiken.html

Evolution of organic agriculture in Spain in the last 20 years:

http://www.mapa.es/notas/documentos/Presentaci%C3%B3n%20Datos%20AE%20Ministra.pdf

More information about organic farming in the world on the following links: 

- Global Organic Farming Statistics and News:

http://www.organic-world.net/graphs.html#c2239

-  International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM)

http://www.ifoam.org/

Organic farmers need a certification to start selling their products as organic. These are the labels that certify organic products in Spain and in Europe.  

 Source: http://www.mapa.es/es/alimentacion/pags/ecologica/introduccion.htm

The following report refutes the idea that organic agriculture can´t produce enough food to feed people. Researchers of the Universite of Michigan have shown that organic agriculture can yield up to three times more than convencional agriculture on the same plot of land:

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Organic_Farming_Can_Feed_the_World_999.html

And finally, the reasons why organic food  is more expensive than conventional food:

  

http://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-faq/oa-faq5/en/

Source: http://www.zazzle.es/amo_la_aduana_del_corazon_de_la_agricultura_biolog_pegatina-217156918613326211

Agrarian landscapes

This is a Powerpoint presentation to review all the concepts we learned about agrarian landscapes last Friday. Pay special attention to irrigation techniques. See you next Friday.

Agrarian Landscapes

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