Social education on extreme natural events in view of extreme floods and landslides in Poland

The contents of geography textbooks and school atlases have become the basis to elaborate on preparations of our society for contact with natural hazards. Leaving aside the causes of more frequent inflow of information about natural disasters, the question comes up on the effectiveness of education in view of raising education level intended in the reform of education system of 1999. This research was conducted in post middle schools in Warsaw in 2006/07. The debate on the need for broad geography education about natural hazards in the schooling period was started. It was pointed out that it is necessary to develop the ability to understand and recognize the hazard and the attitude which allows to take responsible decisions prior to, in the face of and following an extreme natural event

The ENSO spatial diversity

The paper offers information about the spatial diversity of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in such aspects as the spatial range of the phenomenon and its varying impacts on agriculture, i.e. plant cultivation and fishery. The author discusses both positive and negative consequences of the El Niño and La Niña phases. The nature of the phenomenon underpins the author's analysis of the region. Theoretically, the criterion for the differentiation of an impact region is the existence, within its territory, of a relationship between specific phenomena (in this case, natural phenomena and human agricultural activity), and the relevance of a given criterion is crucial for a problem at hand. Such a condition is fulfilled by areas with anthropogenic activity which are significantly subject to the ENSO influence. This approach is related to the research concept proposed by regional geography (Dumanowski 1981), which revolves around the relationships between the environment and man