Why do people wanna live near rivers? O_o

 A few positive reasons of living near rivers :D

•  The water from the river provides rich soil for farming. So the people that lived around there were farmers.
• The river also provides transportation for the people that live around there. This is good for trading around the world.
• The water there also provided baths.
•  Imagine the soil. What types of plants (the ones you can eat like grapes carrots, etc.) grow there.
• Since the river provides rich farming you can see what types of food grow from the soil. Remember that a back then, they did not have all these fancy gardening tools such as gloves, etc.
• Some places that are similar to this is Mesopotamia and Egypt. Egypt has the Nile that also provides them with gifts from the Nile river. And Mesopotamia has two rivers that are the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. These places are called river valley civilizations. Because the rivers help them survive.
• The indus vally sivilization is also sometimes called Indus Ghaggar-Hakra civilization or Indus-Sarasvati civilization. Sarascati is a name of another river. Sarasvati is also a name of an Indian god. Along with Durga and Laxmi. 

 

water is necessary for life. If you are not able to get to any, you will die within three or four days. Another reason is because water in the form of an ocean or river allows an easy way for a country to trade with another. (For Example : Bolivia in South America does not have any access to any oceans or rivers leading out of the country, and they cannot import or export goods out of the country any easy way. What if a manufacturer in the center of the country wasted to ship their goods to Chile? It would be kind of hard. And, as a result, Bolivia is a very poor country.)

The effect of climate change:Poverty

I am writing about this topic as i do not want Elvin's team's effort to go to waste as they took the trouble to print this information out for us :)

The effects of climate change:Poverty

• Because the poor tend to live in a geographical and climatic regions that are naturally most vulnerable toto climate change,their capacity to adapt is easily overwhelmed by the impact of the conditions.
• They have the least assets to rely on in the event of a shock-whether it be a weather-related distaster a bad harvest or a family member falling ill.
• these factors build on each other and create a perpetuating cycle of porverty that is difficult to break.
• Safety nets like insurance are also largely unavailable to the world's poor.
• Many are subsistence farmers or fishermen,or have jobs in the tourism industry-vocations highly dependent on natural resources such as the pcean,forest or land for their livelihoods.
• Climate change compounds existing povertyby destroying livelihoods.
• Climate change is expected to reduce the earning potential of the next generation because it decreases family income and increases the number of hungry children.
• Economists estimate that every child whose physical and mental development is stunted by hungerand malnutrition stands to lose 5-10 pecent of their lifetime earnings.
• As income drops,poor families might be forced to send their children to work to bring in extra income.
• Consequently,climate change affects educational opportunities and thereby income potential of the next generation.



So,i hope you guys would read this and would understand something from these information.Thank you Elvin's groupfor providing these info :)

part 3 continued on rivers as asource of food and water... river nile...

Without the Nile, Egypt would not be here. 

There would not be any water or fertile land to grow food.  The Nile is not just the longest river in the world, no one could live in Egypt without the Nile.

Living from the Land
Egyptian farmers planted grains, beans, and vegetables in the moist soil along the edge of the Nile.  Crops grew quickly there.  The fresh dirt carried by the Nile every year was like a fertilizer.  Farmers dug ditches to spread the floods as far as possible and to keep a steady water supply to their farms.  Once the flood was over, they built machines to raise water from the land and carry it to their fields, because the Nile’s water made farming possible to people in Egypt.


The Nile Flood
Once a year, between July and October, the rains came and overflow the river banks causing the yearly flood of the Nile.  Most ancient settlements were located on high ground and most farming occurred down by the Nile.  In this way the floods would help them grow crops while not flooding their homes.  Once the Aswan Dam was built in 1968, the Nile would no longer flood.


Hunting and Fishing
The Nile also was a source of food for the people of Egypt.  The river was filled with fish and Egyptians ate many kinds of them.  Villagers also went hunting for birds in the marshes and speared fish from boats or trapped them in nets.  Sometimes they went to kill a crocodile or hippopotamus to eat.


Creatures of the Nile
The Nile River is a home to a variety of animals from tiny water snails to massive crocodiles.  Most are harmless, but a few are very dangerous to people using the river.  Mummies have been found with bones that seem to have been bitten by crocodiles.  A hippopotamus could also attack people.

Positive and Negative impact on water

The positive impacts are demonstrated in the following possible benefits and uses of the multipurpose river valley projects:

•  Provide work
• Eliminate flooding
• Provide power
• Provide water for human consumption
• Help to conserve water
• Provide water for agriculture
• Provide water for industrial use
• Provide for a fishery where one may not have existed before
• Changes the ecology of the region
• Open new areas to agriculture

Negative impact may include

• from small tribalThey lead to the displacement of human,plants,animals,chiefly  communities
• disrupt downstream fisheries
• Increase the risk of earthquake
• Submerge forest land
• Increase the spread of insect-bone diseases;and
• threaten the fragile regional ecosystem through reducing,the flow of water from the rivers into the seas.
• These projects initially devastate human lives and biodiversity by inundating thousands of acres of forest and agriculture land
• They degrade the fertile agriculture soil due the continuous irrigation(rather than the seasonal irrigation which is dependent on the monsoon),and sensitization,making the soil toxic to many plant species.

So here are some pictures of the positive effects of rivers...

Fertile soil...



Industrial uses...

Negative effects of rivers...

Increases the risk of earthquake...

 Disrupt downstream fisheries...

Thank You! ^^

Just a Few THANK YOUs!!!

This blog's information is gathered by the following people:
1. Deepthi
2. Grace
3. yu xin
4. Jamie
5. Andrea
6. Rachel l.
7. mei hui
8. navni
9. Rachel n.
10. Awadah!!!

i would like to thank them for their effort, filling this blog with information!!!  i would also like to thank jamie for helping me set this blog up!!!  and of course, the rest of the team for gathering information with their research!!! thank you!!!

continued... Part 2 of Rivers, a source of food and water

Rivers are a source of food and water not only for egypt, but many other countries.  apart from being a rich source of fish, rivers indirectly aid in the cultivation with its supply of water for the crops. 

here are some pictures!!!

polluted water.  humans pollute water by throwing dirty, undrinkable water into rivers. 

River Nile is a source of water for egyptians to grow crops and other vegetation.  it is also a important source of water as egypt is a very dry country.

Log 1: Rivers...a source of food and water

River Nile

River Nile is the longest river in the world.  it is actually 6695 km and touches Egypt,Ethiopia, Zaire, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Sudan!

How did the ancient Egyptians make use river of Nile?

Most Egyptians lived near the Nile as it provided water, food, transportation and excellent soil for growing food.

Ancient Egypt could not have existed if it wasn''t for river Nile!  as it hardly ever rains in Egypt, the floods provided the only source of moisture for crops.  heavy summer rains in the Ethiopian highlands send a torrent of water that overflows the bank of the Nile.  When the floods go down, it leaves a thick black silt (thick, rich mud) which is an excellent soil for planting seeds in after it has been ploughed.

The ancient Egyptians could grow crops only in the mud left behind when the Nile floods, hence, they all had fields along the river Nile. 

<--Pictures of River Nile-->

other information on river Nile:

• the river Nile is the longest river in the world
• the Nile flows into the Mediterranean sea.
• the largest source of the Nile is lake Victoria.
• the Nile has a length of about 6695 km (4160 miles!!!)
• its average discharge is 3.1 million litres/ second!!!
• the Nile basin is huge and includes parts of Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo(Kinshasa), and Kenya.
• the name Nile comes from the Greek "Nielos", which mean "valley".
• the ancient Egyptians called the river Ar, or Aur, which meant "black"due to do the sediments left after the river's annual flood.

thanks for the information and photos!!!
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/egypt/nile.htm (info)
http://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/river-nile-facts.html (info)
http://travelblog.viator.com/egypt-some-like-it-hot/ (photo)
http://www.sciencephoto.com/images/download_lo_res.html?id=695400330 (photo)

Please feel free to voice your thoughts and questions through the comments and i may also feature it in the next post!!!

Thank you!!!