united kingdom
Where People Are: Hope and Fear
02/06/10 05:01
How do you engage ordinary people in the need to prepare for climate change? This is a problem the environmental movement has struggled with for a long time. My particular area of focus — climate change adaptation — is new enough that trying to describe what we do in this field can take more time than more people have patience for, much less trying to show how the field is relevant to their lives and their children’s lives.
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Video: UK Rivers on the Edge
01/11/09 09:06
When we think about great freshwater ecosystems globally, most people don't think about the United Kingdom. The Yangtze of China is probably closer to most visions of a great river, or perhaps from a wild perspective Lake Baikal of Russia or the Colorado river as it passes through the Grand Canyon. But there is also great beauty and wonder in small places — streams and ponds — that may lack grandeur but are no less moving or important. The chalk streams of southern England and northern France are precisely such places.
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News: Change Comes to the Thames
18/08/08 00:18
The Thames is a great world river because of its connection to England for millennia, to London and the City as agents of modern history, and to its special chalk landscape. Read More...
Devonian Time
25/07/08 12:20
The first modern geological map was pieced together early in the nineteenth century in England by William Smith almost single-handed. He also helped standardize some of the terms we use to describe geological periods, which is why some of these refer to parts of the English countryside. But in late July, I found myself in the country of Devon, thinking of Devonian time in a way that was quite different from the geological use of Devonian as I attended a countryside getaway with some friends and their network of acquaintences. Read More...
Managing Water Managers
08/08/08 12:19
In London in late July, I met a several people who represent government and private bodies that “manage”’ the river Thames. The UK government owns the water, at least in theory, and this ownership devolves onto private businesses that manage portions of the watershed, including treating river water and sewage and moving water to houses. It’s an old an complex process, and there are a lot legacy (i.e., inherited and old fashioned) components to the systems. For instance, not many homes or businesses in the UK have water meters, so usage rates are often estimated. Many much less developed countries have much better metering systems simply because they have newer water distribution systems. Also, many of the facilities and pipes themselve are well over a century old, designed for quite different times and usage levels. Read More...
The Accent of Power
23/05/08 13:07
Last month I experienced perhaps my most interesting level of policymaker access to date when I was asked to speak at an embassy in the UK. Some 13 or 15 diplomats from across a large region were in attendance. They had not asked me per se to speak but they had approached our national office in that country. Two freshwater staffers were planning on going, and I was going to be arriving that morning in London on the day of the meeting. So my colleagues asked me to come speak as well.
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Great Circles
15/06/08 18:50
On my last big trip outside of the U.S. I hit the England and India. Six weeks later is my first chance to write a little about the many adventures of this trip. Read More...
Leaving, on a Jet Plane
06/04/08 10:57
I leave for the UK and India a week from today, flying about two-thirds of the distance around the planet to work on two rivers: the Thames in Britain and Ganga (the Ganges in most of the rest of the world) on the Indian subcontinent. Much of what I’ll be doing in both places is just listening – hearing what experts in each of these basins are afraid of, what they hope for, what seems likely to happen, what is happening. Listening is good work, and comforting too. And it is very good to know and see people who really “know” things. Read More...
