Sunday essential water

1. Mixed reviews for Rivers of Power

A new book exploring the human history of major rivers gets mixed reviews in the likes of the FT Weekend. The author is Laurence Smith of Brown University.

Here’s the Amazon blurb:

In Rivers of Power, geographer Laurence C. Smith explores the timeless yet underappreciated relationship between rivers and civilization as we know it. Rivers are of course important in many practical ways (water supply, transportation, sanitation, etc). But the full breadth of their influence on the way we live is less obvious. Rivers define and transcend international borders, forcing cooperation between nations. Huge volumes of river water are used to produce energy, raw commodities, and food. Wars, politics, and demography are transformed by their devastating floods. The territorial claims of nations, their cultural and economic ties to each other, and the migrations and histories of their peoples trace back to rivers, river valleys, and the topographic divides they carve upon the world. And as climate change, technology, and cities transform our relationship with nature, new opportunities are arising to protect the waters that sustain us.

2. Awesome river meander viz

Thank you Robert Hodgin for sharing this. No idea how this is modeled, but look forward to seeing the details soon.