World Earth Day

Forty years after the first Earth Day, the world is in greater peril than ever. While climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, it also presents the greatest opportunity – an unprecedented opportunity to build a healthy, prosperous, clean energy economy now and for the future.

Earth Day 2010 can be a turning point to advance climate policy, energy efficiency, renewable energy and green jobs. Earth Day Network is galvanizing millions who make personal commitments to sustainability. Earth Day 2010 is a pivotal opportunity for individuals, corporations and governments to join together and create a global green economy. Join the more than one billion people in 190 countries that are taking action for Earth Day.

Helsinki ---

Helsinki is spread across a number of bays and peninsulas and over a number of islands. The inner city area occupies a southern peninsula, which is rarely referred to by its actual name Vironniemi. Population density in certain parts of Helsinki's inner city area is very high, reaching 16,494 inhabitants per square kilometer (42,719/sq mi) in the district of Kallio, but as a whole Helsinki's population density of 3,050 inhabitants per square kilometer (7,899/sq mi) ranks it as quite sparsely populated in comparison to other European capital cities.^{[citation needed]} Much of Helsinki outside the inner city area consists of postwar suburbs separated from each other by patches of forests. A narrow, ten kilometre (6.2 mi) long Helsinki Central Park that stretches from the inner city to the northern border of Helsinki is an important recreational area for residents.

Some notable islands in Helsinki include Seurasaari, Lauttasaari and Korkeasaari – which is also the country's biggest zoo – as well as the fortress island of Suomenlinna (Sveaborg) and the military island of Santahamina.

The city has a temperate continental climate.^{[citation needed]} Owing to the mitigating influence of the Baltic sea and Gulf stream, temperatures in winter are much higher than the northern location might suggest, with the average in January and February around −5 °C.^[14] Temperatures below −20 °C occur normally a week or two in a year. However, because of the latitude, days lasts less than six hours in the winter solstice, and the very cloudy weather at this time of year accentuates the darkness. Conversely, Helsinki enjoys long days in summer, almost nineteen hours at the summer solstice. The average maximum temperature from June through August is around 19 to 21 °C (70 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded at city centre was 31.6 °C (89 °F) on July 18, 1945 and the lowest was −34.3 °C (−30 °F) on January 10, 1987.

My hometown ----Anyang City, Henan province , China

Anyang (simplified Chinese: 安阳; traditional Chinese: 安陽; pinyin: Ānyáng; Postal map spelling: Anyang;IPA: [án.jɑ̌ŋ]) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, People's Republic of China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces ofShanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively.

Tourism

Anyang city is an ancient city with a history of over 3,000 years and is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China. It is one of the key birthplaces of Chinese ancient culture. Here are the primitive caves of 25,000 years ago, the overlapping stratums of the Yangshao Culture, Longshan Culture and Xiaotun Culture, the memorial mausoleums of ancient Emperor Zhuanxu and Emperor Ku over 4,000 years ago, the first library of inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells, the Soul Spring Temple known as the "First Ancient Buddhist Temple in Henan", and 10,000-Buddha Ravine, as well as unique Wenfeng Pagoda, Xiuding Temple Pagoda and Mingfu Temple Pagoda. Anyang also has beautiful natural scenery—the Taihang Linlu Hill Scenic Area on the 400-kilometer Taihang Mountains and the grand 1,500-kilometer Red Flag Canal.

Tianning Temple

Tianning Si (Mansion Temple) was established during the Zhou dynasty and has recently been restored by the Protection and Research Institute of Ancient Architecture of Anyang City and opened to the public. Main structures within the temple compound include; the gate house, the 3 room (8.4m x 14m) Hall of the Heavenly King with hanging-eaves over the gables rebuilt in 2002,the slightly larger (17.8m x 11.65m) Precious Hall of the Great Hero with single-eave gabled roof originally from the Qing dynasty and rebuilt in 2001, and the Wenfeng Pagoda.

Wenfeng Pagoda

Wenfeng Ta (Literature Peak Pagoda) on the grounds of the Tianning Temple is believed to have been constructed in 925and is known, from inscriptions concerning the reconstruction of the temple, to have been in place by 952. The current pagoda was constructed during the Ming Dynasty and got its current name during the Qing Dynasty due to its proximity to the Confucian temple. The five-story dark red brick octagonal tower is 38.65m high and unusually is larger at the top than the bottom and is topped with a 10m Lamaist stupa-style dagoba steeple. The pagoda stands on two-metre-high stone pedestal and is decorated with multi-eave pent roofs and carvings of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The unique pagoda is the symbol of Anyang.

Yinxu Museum

Located about 2 km northwest of Anyang are the ruins of the Shang Dynasty capital known as Yin. This massive archaeological site was discovered in 1899, excavated in the decades that followed and first opened to the public in the 1980s as the Garden Museum of Yinxu. The current museum was opened on 16 March 2005 and includes the famous Tomb of Fu Hao. The site is inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

China's top ten geographic news in 2009

1. Influenza H1N1 influenza

China's first case of influenza H1N1 in Sichuan on May 11 confirmed, the national state of emergency vaccination. As of December, according to Chinese Ministry of Health statistics, nearly 100,000 confirmed cases, 300 cases of death.

2. Total solar eclipse

July 22, China became the world's best large-scale observations to the total solar eclipse. Total solar eclipse across almost the entire Yangtze River basin with a width of 250 km. Before and after the eclipse lasted over two hours, over two thousand years the longest time.

3. Demarcation Vietnam

Sino-Vietnamese land border through the joint efforts of both sides for 10 years across the board have been demarcated. November 18, the border demarcation document signing ceremony in Beijing. Initially, each side claims the boundary line proposed by some 300 disputes.

4. July 5 events

The evening of July 5, Urumqi serious fire vandalism occurred violent crimes. Urumqi up to 260 vehicles were destroyed, damaged 217 houses, many set fire to the city a total of 220 points.Killed 140 people, 800 people were injured.

5. Typhoon "Morakot"

The night of August 7, entitled "Morakot" The typhoon landed in Hualien, Taiwan, the maximum wind near the center up to 13, with a time 9 hours across central Taiwan. Caused 400 deaths, agriculture, forestry, fishery and livestock losses of more than NT 14.5 billion.

6. Three rivers new source

July 14, "Three Rivers first results of scientific investigation" by experts. The results of this study the source of the Yangtze and Yellow proposed new location, the new source for the Yangtze River is Dangqu , the new source for the

Yellow River is Kariqu.

7. Southern autumn drought

1 August to 10 November, the South China earlier than normal rainfall in most areas is obviously decreasing, severe autumn drought led some hills Kong to reservoirs, ponds and dry, living water and agricultural production have also been seriously affected.

8. Western Han Dynasty Bamboo

Collection of a group of Peking University, return from overseas rescue the precious Book of the Western Han Dynasty, a total of more than 3300 pieces, is seen in the Han and Qin bamboo slips the largest number of ancient books category, save a group of best quality.

9. Copenhagen

United Nations Climate Change Conference on December 7, held in Copenhagen, Denmark. A view to developing the world's 2012 greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 the new scheme. As the largest one of the two carbon emissions reduction efforts made to boost the process of the meeting.

10. New World Heritage

At the 33rd meeting of the World Heritage Committee, passed the Wutai Mountain as a World Heritage project. So far, China has 38 world heritage.

Global warming

Earth's atmosphere contains certain gases called greenhouse gases (mostly water vapor and carbon dioxide) which act to keep the lower layers of the atmosphere warmer that they otherwise would be without those gases. “Global Warming” is the expected slow, gradual warming of the lower layers of the Earth’s lower atmosphere by the slowly increasing concentrations of man-made greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, and to a lesser extent methane. These gases trap infrared radiation, which is the “heat radiation” that cools the Earth. (In order for the Earth to remain at a constant temperature, the Earth must lose as much energy through infrared radiation as it gains from the sun. This concept is called energy balance.) The burning of fossil fuels, mainly petroleum and coal, produces carbon dioxide as one of the by-products. As of 2003, the concentration of carbon dioxide is over 50% higher than it was before the start of the industrial revolution in the late 1800's—-which is when the burning of fossil fuels really took off.

How serious will global warming be? We don't know for sure, and there is much debate in the climate research community over this very question. The consensus of opinion is that a warming of about 0.2 degrees Celsius (about 0.4 deg. F) every 10 years is expected for the next 100 years or so. The reason why there is so much uncertainty, though, is because weather acts to rid the surface of the earth of excess heat. The processes by which this happens are very complex, and usually involve water. For instance, clouds (on a whole) act to cool the Earth. How clouds will change with global warming will be critical, as they could either amplify the warming, or reduce it. The evaporation of water removes a huge amount of heat from the Earth’s surface, and this heat is deposited high in the atmosphere when rain clouds form. It is expected that “global warming” will be accompanied by small changes in rain systems. If those rain systems become more efficient at converting water vapor into precipitation, this would act to offset global warming. This is just one of the uncertainties in predicting how much global warming there will be. There are other uncertainties relating to possible changes in sea ice, snow cover, vegetation amount and type, and how much of the extra carbon dioxide will be absorbed by vegetation or by the ocean.

How much warming has there been so far? There seems to be pretty good evidence that globally-averaged temperatures have risen about 0.5 degrees Celsius (about 1 deg. F) in the last 100 years. But it is not known how much of this is due to man-made greenhouse gases, or to natural processes. The Earth goes through natural climate fluctuations without any help from mankind. It is reasonable to assume, however, that some portion of the warming in the last century is man-made.

Geography of Singapore

Singapore is an island of 646 sq. km, about the size of Chicago. It is located at one of the
crossroads of the world. Singapore's stategic position has healped it grow into a major
center for trade , communications, and tourism. Its geographical location is 96km north
of the equator, between longitude 103 degrees 36' East and 104 degree 25' East . Singapore
is often touted as a concreate jungle with close to 90% of the population living in flats and an
ever-changing skyline of monumental buildings. Government and private enterprises also
conduct an orchestra of automation that makes Singapore one of the world's most efficient
societies. Yet Singapore has also been known as green city. There is a wealth of flora and
fauna here that is beyond our own imagination.

Two causeway bridges link Malaysia, which is just north of Singapore. The key islands of
the Riau Archipelago of Indonisia are also just a quick ferry trip away, whereas Thailand
and the Philippines are a short plane journey away. Singapore, with an airport served by
more than 69 airlines, is very much the gateway to Southeast Asia.

Singapore's climate is warm and humid, with temperatures ranging from 23 degree Celsius
to 31 degree Celsius. This makes it ideal for those whp enjoy sunbathing, swimming, sailing,
and other water sports. For those who do not enjoy the tropical climate, Singapore is sheltered
from the worst effects of the sun with air-conditioning in almost all of its buildings, including
resturants. Rain falls throughout the year with more consistent rain during the monsoon season
from November to January. Showers are usually sudden and heavy, but brief and refreshing.

Singapore is 8 hours ahead from GMT.