Food & Climate 

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Worksheet 3: Major historical climate events

You should have read the text about history (chapter 1: Past and Present) carefully to answer these questions and do the following exercises.

Exercise 1: The Irish Famine

Try to fill this flow chart with keywords (used in the text) to show the major characteristics of the Irish Famine:

flow chart on the Irish famine by Florian Schäfer

Exercise 2: The Bengal Famine

Not only diseases are contributing to a famine.

The example of Bengal shows you more important factors and how the cooccurrences of these create a famine.

Try to create an extended flow chart about the 1943 Famine in Bengal.

Use the information provided in the text.

What are the major differences to the Irish famine?

Exercise 3: Internet search

Use the internet and search for pages concerning one of the two famines mentioned in the text and try to get more detailed information abut their outbreak, course, and consequences.

Compare the results: Which of the two is underrepresented in the internet and why?

Exercise 4: Future planning

You have heard about the consequences, the diseases in Bengal and Ireland and the flood and drought in the US have had:

What would happen, if these events occurred again in the near future?

What would be the effects then, and what different measures have people nowadays to reduce or prevent such catastrophic consequences?

Exercise 5: Transfer to your home country

Have such events like droughts, floods or diseases also occurred in your home country or in even your local area?

What were the consequences of these events?

Try to get some information by using different sources, e.g. the internet, the ministry of agriculture, farmers or older people from your area, etc.

Author: F. Schäfer , University of Nürnberg / Germany
1. Scientific reviewer:
2. Scientific reviewer:
Educational reviewer: Prof. Schrettenbrunner, Dr. Schleicher, J. Heres
Last update: 07/01/2004