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Showing posts from January, 2024

Water and carbon cycling

 Looking for a quick yet detailed overview of the water and carbon cycles? Look no more! A fantastic resource provided by the RGS to support your studies. It can be accessed  here!

A Retrospective Overview of Factors that Influence Guinea Worm Epidemic in Northern Region of Ghana

This article retrospectively examines the factors which caused Guinea Worm Disease (Dracunculiasis) to spread to epidemic levels, so as to serve as the basis for formulating a national preventive agenda to reinforce the preventive measures which have been put in place to prevent the disease from re-emerging. The hybrid conceptual framework of disease diffusion and disease ecology was used. The mixed method research design was used to collect data from a total of 11 administrative districts. Primary data was obtained from a total of 860 respondents. To achieve a representative distribution of respondents, they were proportionately selected with respect to the populations of their respective districts. A key Informant interview was conducted. Download the full article for free  here!

Why Venezuela is threatening to annex Guyana’s oil-rich province of Essequibo

  The US air force has taken the unusual step of holding joint drills   with Guyana   as the United Nations scheduled an   emergency meeting of the security council   to discuss Venezuela’s threat to annex more than two-thirds of the oil-rich South American country. Guyanese president, Irfaan Ali,  appealed to Washington and to the UN  after the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, announced that he had taken steps to formalise the incorporation of Essequibo – an oil-rich 160,000sq km region of neighbouring Guyana – as part of Venezuela. Maduro is a populist nationalist and a dictator, whose country is wracked by poverty. This has contributed to the exodus of  more than seven million citizens . Mindful of the fact that presidential elections are due in Venezuela in 2024, Maduro has turned to an issue that he hopes will lead to a rapid turn-around in his popularity. Venezuela’s territorial dispute with neighbouring Guyana is a  longstanding one . It is arguably made worse by the news t

The disagreement between two climate scientists that will decide our future

  Getting to net zero emissions by mid-century is conventionally understood as humanity’s best hope for keeping Earth’s surface temperature (already 1.2°C above its pre-industrial level) from increasing well beyond 1.5°C – potentially reaching a point at which it could cause widespread societal breakdown. At least one prominent climate scientist, however, disagrees. James Hansen of Columbia University in the US published  a paper  with colleagues in November which claims temperatures are set to rise further and faster than the predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  In his view , the 1.5°C target is dead. He also claims net zero is no longer sufficient to prevent warming of more than 2°C. To regain some control over Earth’s rising temperature, Hansen supports accelerating the retirement of fossil fuels, greater cooperation between major polluters that accommodates the needs of the developing world and, controversially, intervening in Earth’s “ radiation ba