This is a chilling article for the UK’s The Independent newspaper- documented for the first time swelling seas from melting glaciers due to global warming have claimed and entire- INHABITATED island. If you have not seen Al Gore’s documentary about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth- please do- it is must see viewing.
Disappearing world: Global warming claims tropical island
For the first time, an inhabited island has disappeared beneath rising seas. Environment Editor Geoffrey Lean reports
Rising seas, caused by global warming, have for the first time washed an inhabited island off the face of the Earth. The obliteration of Lohachara island, in India’s part of the Sundarbans where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal, marks the moment when one of the most apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists and climate scientists has started coming true.
As the seas continue to swell, they will swallow whole island nations, from the Maldives to the Marshall Islands, inundate vast areas of countries from Bangladesh to Egypt, and submerge parts of scores of coastal cities.
Eight years ago, as exclusively reported in The Independent on Sunday, the first uninhabited islands - in the Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati - vanished beneath the waves. The people of low-lying islands in Vanuatu, also in the Pacific, have been evacuated as a precaution, but the land still juts above the sea. The disappearance of Lohachara, once home to 10,000 people, is unprecedented.
It has been officially recorded in a six-year study of the Sunderbans by researchers at Calcutta’s Jadavpur University. So remote is the island that the researchers first learned of its submergence, and that of an uninhabited neighbouring island, Suparibhanga, when they saw they had vanished from satellite pictures.
Two-thirds of nearby populated island Ghoramara has also been permanently inundated. Dr Sugata Hazra, director of the university’s School of Oceanographic Studies, says “it is only a matter of some years” before it is swallowed up too. Dr Hazra says there are now a dozen “vanishing islands” in India’s part of the delta. The area’s 400 tigers are also in danger.
Until now the Carteret Islands off Papua New Guinea were expected to be the first populated ones to disappear, in about eight years’ time, but Lohachara has beaten them to the dubious distinction.
Human cost of global warming: Rising seas will soon make 70,000 people homeless
Refugees from the vanished Lohachara island and the disappearing Ghoramara island have fled to Sagar, but this island has already lost 7,500 acres of land to the sea. In all, a dozen islands, home to 70,000 people, are in danger of being submerged by the rising seas.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2110651.ece
Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as General Homeschool and Unschooling, Science and Nature at 4:25 PM EST
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I know- I am posting a lot of book recommendations this week- We are in a reading frenzy at our house right now.
Another great find from om in one of my homeschool groups: The Children of Green Knowe
L. M. Boston’s thrilling and chilling tales of Green Knowe, a haunted manor deep in an overgrown garden in the English countryside, have been entertaining readers for half a century. Now the children of Green Knowe–both alive and ghostly–are back in appealing new editions.
The spooky original illustrations have been retained, but dramatic new cover art by Brett Helquist (illustrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events) gives the books a fresh, timeless appeal for today’s readers.
Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as Book Recommendations, Book Recommendations for Boys, Book Recommendations: Books for Girls, Books for 8-12 Year Olds, General Homeschool and Unschooling at 10:49 AM EST
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This is an absolutely delightful series of 8 books- I believe it is now a TV series in Australia. The The books have a very homeschool-y feel to them. They make a great read aloud books for younger kids- and are good for 9-12 year olds. REALLY exceptional!
When four siblings go on holiday in The Lake District in England they create their own world and adventures over the summer. They camp out on an island with no adults! The books were written in the 1930’s but other then the fact that they look forward to tinned tongue for lunch you would never know it!
From the publisher:
The first title in Arthur Ransome’s classic series, originally published in 1930: for children, for grownups, for anyone captivated by the world of adventure and imagination. Swallows and Amazons introduces the lovable Walker family, the camp on Wild Cat Island, the able-bodied catboat Swallow, and the two intrepid Amazons, Nancy and Peggy Blackett.
Swallows and Amazons (Godine Storyteller)
Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as Book Recommendations, Book Recommendations for Boys, Book Recommendations: Books for Girls, Books for 8-12 Year Olds, General Homeschool and Unschooling at 10:39 AM EST
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My Favourite- and one I use to “explain” what unschooling is about is School of Rock (Widescreen Edition). It shows how by appealing to a passion you can learn almost anything.
Some other favourites that appeal to homeschooling families:
The Secret of Roan Inish A wonderful movie I can watch over and over.
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill My favorite movie of the year.
The Pippi Longstocking Collection (Pippi Longstocking / Pippi Goes on Board / Pippi in the South Seas / Pippi on the Run) Always seems to come when discussing homeschooling. Lots of fun for all ages.
Uncle Buck I saw this recently- I was bit taken aback by strong language that I notice is prevalent in 80’s kids movies- they seem to have a harshennes to them. Having said that- the movie has a lot of thems that fit in with unschooling and being yourself.
Ferris Bueller\’s Day Off - Bueller Bueller Edition
Never Cry Wolf This was a favoutie book when I was a kid- and the movie really holds up well.
Whale Rider A beautiful movie on so many levels
Please feel free to post your own suggestion and recommendations 
!!!
Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as Fostering a Love of Learning, General Homeschool and Unschooling, Homeschool in the Press and Media, Movie Recommendations at 4:29 PM EST
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Yikes- what a scary list! A Radioactive science kit???!!
Anyway- according to http://www.radarmagazine.com/features/2006/12/toys.php, here are the top 10 most dangerous toys and playthings of all time:
1. Lawn Darts
2. Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab
3. Mini-Hammocks from EZ Sales
4. Snacktime Cabbage Patch Dolls- a doll that chews and chews and doesn’t stop.
5. Sky Dancers-
When spun aloft, the wings—which felt so soft and cushy in the aisles of Toys “R” Us—turned into steely-hard child manglers. In 2000, the CPSC announced that over 150 children fell prey to Sky Dancer’s helicopter-blade arms and erratic “Oh-Jesus-it’s-chasing-me!” flying patterns. Injuries included scratched corneas and temporary blindness, mild concussions, broken ribs and teeth, and facial lacerations that required stitches. Nearly nine million Sky Dancers were eventually recalled.
6.Bat Masterson Derringer Belt Gun
7. Creepy Crawlers
8. Johnny Reb Cannon
http://www.radarmagazine.com/features/2006/12/creepy_crawlers.php
9. Battlestar Galactica Missile Launcher
10. Fisher-Price Power Wheels Motorcycle
Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as General Homeschool and Unschooling at 11:09 AM EST
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