Water – The People & Environment Blog

8 June 2016

World Oceans Day, 8 June 2016

It is hard not to be impressed by giant clams. In the wild, their size and unique color patterns make them one of the most captivating of sea creatures. Even the shells from dead clams have a powerful impact, one that speaks to their prominent place in the popular imagination about our oceans and the place of humans in them. Sadly, the beauty and cultural power inherent in these animals has helped bring them...

Climate change/Science/Uncategorised/Water

13 January 2016

Cool it! The Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change, Hong Kong

The first thing I noticed about the Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change was the noise. When I arrived, a class of school students had just been released from formal proceedings for some “unstructured time” in the exhibition space, which prompted laughter, squealing and generally excitable tones from otherwise impeccably behaved students. My host and one of the creators of the museum, Dr Matthew Pang, paused at the cacophony. “That is...

Climate change/Museum practice/Science/Water

5 June 2015

Utilitarian to spiritual

While it’s usually dangerous to make claims about universality, making them about water is relatively safe. The first way in which water is universal is its utility to human beings. The second is that almost every version of spirituality or religion references water, either by actually using it within its rites or by employing imagery of it. This page explores the

Uncategorised/Water

11 May 2015

Moving to still

One characteristic of water is that it is always moving, albeit at very different rates. Even ice moves. Alice Outwater in her book Water: A Natural History, says that ‘A single water molecule making its way through a stream and forest ecosystem is on a biological Ferris wheel. A raindrop may hit a leaf, trickle down to the bark of a branch, evaporate to come back down again as rain...

Uncategorised/Water

21 April 2015

Seeing seaweed

I’ve never really been all that keen on seaweed. At least, not until recently, when a nineteenth century album of pressed seaweed specimens began to open my eyes to the wonderful world of marine macroalgae. Now I find seaweed changing how I see and think about Australia.

Climate change/Landscapes/Museum practice/Plants/Seaweed/Uncategorised/Water

7 April 2015

A tale of extremes

There are few substances on the planet more changeable than water. As ice, water, and gas, water impacts almost every aspect of our lives. This blog post looks at places in Australia which have very distinct climates because of water’s ability to change form, from gas, to water, to ice. In particular, it looks at places where the extremes are reached. Welcome to the watery edge.

Water

Category: Water