1. Weather and Climate Do they matter?

Key Facts
1. Relief
- The difference in height from the surrounding terrain
- Can lead to temperature difference
- Air temperate decreases with increasing altitude

2. Precipitation (Rain / Snow fall)
- Can be affected by distance from the sea
- Coastal city is affected more by summer monsoon, which brings moisture to the city and
promotes rain higher precipitation
- Inland city, when summer monsoon reaches inner region, it becomes dry and cannot
bring rainfall to the city lower precipitation

3. Sources of carbon dioxide
- Burning fossil fuels
- Respiration of animals and plants
- Volcanic eruptions

4. Carbon dioxide and global warming
- Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas.
- It absorbs heat from the earth.
- Therefore the greater amount of carbon dioxide, the more the heat are absorbed by the
atmosphere.
- As a result, the global mean temperature will be higher.

5. Winter monsoon
1) In winter, the temperature of Asian continent decreases.
2) Air mass above cools down and sinks.
3) High pressure centre is formed.
4) On the contrary, the temperature of ocean (Pacific Ocean) is relatively higher
5) Air is heated and rises.
6) Low pressure centre is formed.
7) Wind blows from land (high pressure) to sea (low pressure), and winter monsoon is
formed.

2. Collapsing Slopes!

Key Facts
1. Human and physical factors causing land slide
- Buildings being built on a slope, the buildings add weight to the slope and make the
slope unstable.
- Heavy rainstorms led to very high rainfall.
- Soils were saturated with rainwater. This reduced the friction between soil particles. The
soil then moved down the slope easily.

2. LPI Landslide Potential Index of a rainstorm
- Tells the relative severity of the rainstorm in comparison with the most severe rainstorm
in the past 20 years in terms of the number of landslides that the rainstorm could lead
to.
- Civic Engineering and Development Department is responsible for issuing the LPI.

3. Governments action to reduce casualties caused by landslides
- Issue the landslide warning to the public when there are continuous rainstorms
- Remind the public to stay away from slopes or retaining walls
- Residents who live close to dangerous slopes should evacuate
- Educate the public about the importance of slope maintenance, raising their awareness
so that they can take precaution measure before landslides occur.

4. Lowland of Hong Kong can come from reclamation

5. Characteristics of Chinas relief
- The relief of China is hilly
- Two-thirds of the country is made up of highland.
- The altitude decreases from the west to east.
- The relief is high in the western region.
- Most of the lands in the eastern region are lowland.


3. Too much water!

Key Facts
1. Rainfall distribution and the place of floods
- Areas with higher rainfall have higher risks of flooding.

2. Factors leading to flooding
- Amount of rainfall (More rainfall greater risk of flooding)
- The relief of the area (low and flat rainwater cannot flow away quickly)
- Nearby rivers (More rivers Rainfall increases the water level and causes flooding)

3. Three Gorges Project
- Flood control: can store huge amount of water and withstand an once-in-a-century flood
- Power generation: can generate electricity from the HEP generators and provide
electricity to the coastal region
- Navigation: The water level increases and the navigation capacity are greatly improved.
Large ships can sail to some inland cities from the Chang Jiang.

4. Influence of flooding on local residents
- Causes losses in properties and human lives
- Affect peoples daily live in the area
- Residents lose their home as they are drowned by floodwater
- Crops and livestock are drowned and causes food shortage
- Water sources are polluted and cause water shortage
- Excess water may lead to the breeding of mosquitoes and hence different kinds of
disease may spread out

5. The Water Cycle

(1) Evaporation
(2) Condensation
(3) Precipitation
(4) Transpiration


- The operation of the water cycle
I. Operated by the energy of sun
II. Sea water evaporates into water vapour when heated by the sun
III. The moisture in the vegetation also evaporates into water vapour by transpiration
IV. When water vapour rises up to the sky and cools, it condenses to form little water
droplets. Clouds are formed.
V. When the water droplets in the cloud become too heavy, they will return to the
ground again by precipitation.

- Precipitation and flooding: Excess precipitation leads to flooding /
Continuous thunderstorms elevate the water level of rivers, and cause flooding

6. Deforestation and flooding
i. After extensive deforestation, there is no vegetation covering the ground surface.
ii. Land is exposed to the erosion by wind and rain.
iii. Large amount of soil will be carried away into rivers due to increased surface
runoff.
iv. River channels will be blocked and riverbeds are raised.
v. Flooding is much easier to occur in time of rainstorm.



4. Taming the spreading deserts

Key Facts
1. Desertification and Agriculture
- Lowers soil fertility
- Sandstorms cover farmlands
- Leading to crop failure and decreases in farm production

2. Desertification in China, its influence on Hong Kong
- Affects food supply: Most food in Hong Kong are imported from mainland, so the food
supply of Hong Kong will also be affected
- Sandstorms caused by desertification lowers the air quality and visibility of Hong Kong

3. Climate, population change and desertification
- Population rises
o Rapid increase in population leads to great demand for food, firewood, housing
and farmland
o Over-cultivation and overgrazing occur because people want to increase food
supply
o These practices lower soil fertility and hinder growth of plants.
o People keep on cutting trees for firewood and building materials
o All these lead to land degradation
- Climate
o Arid climate may lead to drought
o Lands are eroded easily by land

4. Sandstorms and residents
- Lowers the visibility of the area
- Drivers have to pay more attention when driving
- The shops along the streets are closed
- People have to wear masks or cover their mouths with scarves or handkerchiefs
- Breathing in the dust affects peoples health

5. Afforestation / Planting with breaks
- Reduce the adverse effects brought by sandstorm
- Planting trees and windbreaks at the edge of deserts can block sandstorm and minimize
the impacts of sandstorms on the city.

6. Farming activity by more developed countries in deserts
- Applying advanced farming technology
- Rearing a lot of livestock, mainly cattle and sheep
- Growing fruits and vegetables
- Planting trees as windbreaks


5. The unstable earth

Key Facts
1. Plate movement and Earthquake
- When plates collide with each other, the friction along the plate margins create great
pressure
- Huge amount of energy are released in the form of seismic waves, causing earthquakes

2. Earthquake and casualties
- Buildings collapsed and roads are broken.
- Fires are easily caused by broken gas pipes
- Severe earthquakes may even cause landslide and tsunami
- The poor hygiene condition after the earthquakes may cause the outbreak of diseases
and more casualties are caused

3. Earthquake in the mid-night
- If earthquakes happen in mid-night, people are in sleep and cannot escape immediately.
- If earthquakes happen in daytime, people are more alert and casualties will be lower.

4. Mt. Fuji
- The reasons for residents to live nearby
o The relief around Mt. Fuji is flat, it is suitable for people to live
o Soils are fertile for farming
o Areas around Mt. Fuji have very long history of development, some families have
been living there for several generation
- The Impacts of eruption on Japanese economy
o The number of tourist will greatly decrease
o Seriously affect the tourism of Japan
o Infrastructures and buildings around Mt. Fuji will be damaged by lava and fires
o Economic activities will also be affected

5. Volcanic Eruptions
- Formation of a Volcanic Eruption

o When two plates collide with each other, great pressure creates cracks within the
crust / Magma rises up along these cracks and forms volcanic eruption.

- Effect on agricultural activities
Volcanic ashes and lava are rich in minerals. They can enrich soils and make the
land more suitable for farming.
Lava erupted during volcanic eruptions burns crops and farmlands, causing crop
failure


6. Farming the wrong way?

Key Facts
1. Farming System
- Example of rice cultivation

o Common areas to cultivate rice
South China:
The relief is flat
The climate is warm
It has sufficient rainfall
It is densely populated, so there is enough labour for production

2. Chemical fertilizers
- To improve the fertility of soil and increase output
Overuse of fertilizer will pollute the environment
Excess chemical fertilizers will be washed into rivers, lakes or sea by rain
It will pollute the water sources and kill organisms living in the water
These chemical fertilizers will penetrate into the soil and pollute the ground water
Sprinkling chemical fertilizers will pollute the air
- Alternatives to chemical fertilizers
o Constructing irrigation facilities in different scales
o Practising dry farming and crop rotation
o Use farm machines like tractor and combine harvester
o Improve crop and livestock quality by using genetic engineering methods

3. Fallowed land
- A piece of farmland without cultivation, which helps recover the fertility of farmland

4. Windbreaks in the farm
- To prevent the farmland from wind erosion and sandstorm

5. Genetic Modifications
- To add new genes from other species
- The modified crops will then have new characteristics that it does not have originally
- This can improve the breeds and increase their productivity
May affect our health and upset ecological balance






7. Too many and too few

Key Facts
1. Over-population
- The problems of over-population
o The farm production cannot satisfy the needs of huge population and cause
serious food shortage.
o Many people are unemployed, resulting in poverty and increased crime rate.
o The living environment is overcrowded and basic facilities are inadequate.
o High population density causes shortage of housing, traffic congestion,
environmental pollutions and different social problems.

- Possible solutions to alleviate over-population
o Promote family planning, birth control and late marriage
o Implement One-child Policy, encourage couples to have only one child in order
to lower the birth rate

2. Undeveloped economy
- Possible solutions to alleviate undeveloped economy
o Provide assistance to the enterprises which are willing to develop in the West
o Build railways and highways to improve the transport network
o Increase the number of infrastructure

3. Opening up the West Policy
- Pros and Cons
More factories will be set up / Increase job opportunities
More population in the east will be attracted to the West / Overpopulation in the
East will be alleviated
It boosts the economic development of the Northwest region.
Exploitation will lead to land degradation / The amount of vegetation decreases
and affects herding
The natural environment in the Northwest region is very fragile and several major
rivers are originated from it / Opening up the west will cause several damage to
the natural environment

4. One-child Policy
- Problems with One-child Policy
o Decreasing birth rate causes a decrease in the number of young people. This
leads to population aging.
o Chinese people believe in male supremacy, which leads to an increasing number
of newborn baby girls being abandoned.
o The only child is easily spoiled by parents. Some of them may be self-centred.
o The number of newborn baby boys is larger than baby girls, which leads to an
imbalance of sex ratio in the society.