The
Geographer Spring 2009
The newsletter of the
Palin talk marks 100 years of Geography at University of Edinburgh
Royal Scottish Geographical Society
In This Edition... •N ick Crane Goes To School ·C ountry In Focus: Discover Greenland – Where The Weather Is Out Of Its Mind ·O n The Map: John Thomson’s Atlas Of Scotland ·O pinions On Energy: Turner Lecture, Energy Options, Biofuels ·O ff The Beaten Track: The Tuamotus And The Marquesas
“..we need more than ever to keep in touch with the rest of the world, to see how others are coping and hopefully to learn something along the way”. Michael Palin Photograph © Chris Blott
·R eader Offer: Travel Book – A Slow Guide To England ·U niversity News, SAGT News plus other news, comments, books...
RSGS – Making Connections between People, Places & the Planet
The
The
Geographer Chairman’s Introduction
W
elcome to another busy year for your Society, and welcome to a new-look newsletter (formerly GeogScot) – everyone has worked hard to bring a modern ‘feel’ to this publication, and we hope you like it. The refreshing of the newsletter is just one of a number of initiatives that we are developing this year, now that we are established in our new public-facing headquarters in Perth. Geography is perhaps more relevant and important now than it has ever been. Globally, our most pressing concerns are the well-being of our people and communities, the conservation of our landscapes and ecosystems, and the sustainability of our planet and resources. Particularly in these difficult economic times, we need to maximise awareness and understanding of geography across all sectors of society, and to increase our public profile and our appeal to a greater audience. We hope that the changes we are planning will allow the Society to thrive in the 21st century, without losing sight of our remarkable heritage. As Michael Palin has said,“Geography is the subject which holds the key to our future.” I cannot emphasise enough how much the Society both values and relies on the continuing efforts of its volunteers, and we will be providing further opportunities for members to help the Society in a number of ways. Barrie Brown
RSGS, Lord John Murray House, 15-19 North Port, Perth, PH1 5LU tel: 01738 455050 email: enquiries@rsgs.org
Palin Talk - Around the World in an Evening
M
ichael Palin was enthusiastically received at his sell-out talk in Edinburgh in March, run in conjunction with the University of Edinburgh’s Institute of Geography. Now famous for his long distance travels, he related a host of fascinating, funny and informative tales from around the globe, illustrated by some wonderful photographs from 20 years of travel. It is 100 years since RSGS helped establish the first Chair of Geography in a Scottish University, and Mr Palin was a popular choice of speaker and a highlight in the year-long series of centenary events. Lord Lindsay, the RSGS President, awarded the RSGS Livingstone Medal to Mr Palin, along with his Fellowship of the Society, for services to the promotion of geography. Our thanks are due to Professor Withers and Cathy Campbell of the University of Edinburgh who, together with the RSGS Edinburgh Committee, put so much time and effort into making the evening such a success. The event was kindly sponsored by Scottish Power.
RSGS Website We’re delighted to say that our website has recently been upgraded to better match the needs of members and other users. It is now easier to use, with a logical structure and more up-to-date content. A lot of work has also been done to ensure that the site appears as high as possible in Google rankings, to raise our profile among non-members. We will continue to develop the site, and hope that you will increasingly find it a valuable source of information about the work of the Society. Our grateful thanks go to Bruce Gittings of the University of Edinburgh and Phil Taylor of Beats Design for all their hard work in making this possible. If you haven’t already, then please take a look through the new site at www.rsgs.org
www.rsgs.org Charity registered in Scotland no SC015599 The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the RSGS.
RSGS – Making Connections between People, Places & the Planet
Geographer
1 Spring 2009
NEWS People • Places • Planet Scottish Geographical Medal The RSGS’s Scottish Geographical Medal is our most prestigious award – an equivalent of a Scottish Nobel Prize for Geography. It is awarded only for conspicuous merit and a performance of world wide repute. Professor Nigel Thrift, one of the world’s most highly regarded human geographers and one of the top five most-cited geographers in the world, received only the fortieth such award in more than a century.
in 1909 that the RSGS helped Glasgow establish its first Chair of Geography. The first recipient of the Scottish Geographical Medal (or Gold Medal as it used to be called), in 1890, was HM Stanley, the man who ‘found’ David Livingstone. Other recipients have included Captain Roald Amundsen, William Speirs Bruce, Hugh Robert Mill, Vivian Fuchs, James Geikie and many more leading contributors of their age.
“Professor Thrift is a world leading innovating geographer, and was a unanimous choice for this highly prestigious award.”
Fittingly, Professor Thrift received his Scottish Geographical Medal on 5th March at the University of Glasgow, where he has acted as an external examiner for many years. Equally fittingly, the University of Glasgow’s Geography Department celebrates its centenary this year, as it was
RSGS’s Awards Committee Chair, Professor Alison McCleery, was enthusiastic about Professor Thrift and the need for promoting geography, “Professor Thrift is a world leading innovating geographer, and was a unanimous choice for this highly prestigious award. We are delighted that he agreed to come and give this talk in Glasgow.”
Professor Nigel Thrift is currently the ViceChancellor of the University of Warwick. He was previously Head of the Division of Life and Environmental Sciences, at the University of Oxford. He is the author, co-author and editor of 36 books, and has written journal articles, essays and book chapters which number in the hundreds. Hayden Lorimer, a senior lecturer at Glasgow University, knows Professor Thrift well and explained, “It is extremely difficult to encapsulate or to circumscribe the scope of Nigel Thrift’s academic interests. Indeed, the sheer diversity and great vitality of his thinking should be regarded as defining features.”
Prof Nigel Thrift receives the Scottish Geographical Medal from RSGS ViceChair Bruce Gittings.
In The Footsteps Of Shackleton - 920 Miles To The Heart Of The Antarctic For the Edwardians, conquering the South Pole was the equivalent of being the first to walk on the surface of the moon. It seemed impossible. But on 9th January 1909 Ernest Shackleton, a former RSGS director, planted Queen Alexandra’s Union Jack at S88° 23´ E162´ - a point just 97 miles from their goal. He and his indomitable team had just completed an astonishing journey of 830 miles that had pioneered a route right to the heart of the Antarctic; but concerned only
with the welfare of his men, Shackleton took the momentous decision to stop and return back the way they had just come. Exactly 100 years later, direct descendants of the original team retraced the same journey and in the centenary year, finished off the last 97 miles and stood at the South Pole to honour the astonishing achievement of their forebears. At an RSGS talk on 16th May 2009, in Perth, Henry Worsley, leader of the Matrix Shackleton
Centenary Expedition, will describe how he and his team mates retraced the route across the Ross Ice Shelf, up the Beardmore Glacier and onto the Polar Plateau to the South Pole; a journey lasting 66 days and covering 920 miles of the Antarctic continent. His lecture will draw extensively upon Shackleton’s diary, juxtaposed with the modern day journey, and be illustrated with photographs taken on both expeditions.
Picture: Henry Worsley
Extra Talk in Perth on 16th May Please Contact RSGS HQ
The
Geographer
NEWS People • Places • Planet New RSGS HQ Geddes Film Patrick Geddes’s legacy is as potent today as it has ever been. A documentary film, exploring his contemporary relevance and message is now in production. Geddes’s ability to ’make connections‘ was and is one of his greatest strengths. He believed that our closer involvement with art and nature, in particular, greater understanding of our inner selves, our cultural “roots” and the way that we, as human beings, relate to each other and our surroundings, is essential for individuals and communities to thrive and to realise their potential in every sense. This was evident in his work as the ‘father of planning’, both in Scotland and as far afield as Palestine and India. The RSGS has contributed £500 and Edinburghbased film maker, Eric Robinson will start filming in April. If you’d like to know more about this film, and how you can support it, please contact the producer, Alastair Guild.
NEWS People • Places • Planet New Projects Manager
Bird of prey and related poisoning in Scotland, 1999-2008
We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff, Susan Watt, who joined the Society in January as Projects Manager. Susan will help particularly with fundraising for the Fair Maid’s House and other important educational projects, though she will also support the broad work of the small team.
The refurbishment of the Lord John Murray House, to provide the Society with a permanent headquarters, has taken rather longer than expected, and the staff have learned more than they thought they would about joinery, central heating, carpet laying and decorating! The good news is that the result is excellent and the work will be within budget. Along with the staff, our Chairman, Barrie Brown, enjoyed meeting those Members who took the time to visit our new HQ on the open days, and was delighted to have the reassurance that all of the visitors liked what had been done with the building. Fundraising continues to be crucial to letting us complete the whole project, and a special mention must go to the lady Member from Stirling who brought with her a cheque and then duly completed the first Gift Aid Form of 2009, allowing us to receive an additional 28% from HM Revenue & Customs. Other members have also generously donated towards some of the important finishing touches. In particular, there are four key pieces of furniture which will adorn the main meeting room of the new headquarters, and we are grateful to those who recently offered to pay for the sideboard and the bespoke graphic image for the wall. If anyone would like to contribute to any of the other items, please contact Susan Watt at HQ.
In preparing their report , SNH followed a set of guiding principles laid out in their Report on the proposal for a National Park in the Cairngorms (2001), including: • t he boundary should follow an easily distinguishable and
permanent natural feature; • t owns and villages and their surrounding communities should be either wholly included or excluded from the Park; •c onsideration should be given to the impact of the boundary on land management operations; • f eatures liable to change should be avoided; • r ivers and burns are unsuitable as legal boundaries because they can change their courses; • t ransport routes should have a single entrance point rather than crossing and re-crossing the boundary; • s ignificant natural features such as lochs should be wholly included or excluded. The recommended boundary
She joins us with several years fundraising experience and success behind her, most recently as Grants Manager for RSPB Scotland, where she worked for 10 years. We wish her great success with the RSGS!
Map created using DMAP, © RSPB Scotland 2009
Indicative map only.
Mapping Wildlife Crime Mapping is helping the Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime in Scotland (PAWS) to highlight the problem of illegal poisoning of Scotland’s birds of prey, and should help them better to tackle the issue. The map shows official data from the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency, and includes direct and indirect poisoning cases.
Cairngorms National Park Boundary Even before the 3,800 km2 Cairngorms National Park was opened in 2003, the decision not to include Blair Atholl and its surrounding areas in Perth and Kinross remained contentious. In 2006, John Swinney MSP introduced his Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill; a Parliamentary Committee heard evidence and concluded there was a strong case for extending the Park to cover the area proposed in the bill. In 2007, Michael Russell, my predecessor as Minister for Environment, decided to pursue the Committee’s recommendation and asked Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to consult and report on exactly where the new boundary should be.
2-3 Spring 2009
will bring within the park: the Drumochter hills and summits; the entire lengths of the River Garry, A9, railway and National Cycle Route 7 that lie between Dalnaspidal and Killiecrankie; the communities of Calvine, Blair Atholl and Killiecrankie; the Gaick and Atholl hills and foothills; and the dispersed community within upper Glen Shee. The full SNH report can be found at www.snh. org.uk/strategy/sr-adnp02.asp. These changes should add 71,000 hectares and increase the park’s area by 20%. One of Scotland’s most iconic areas looks set to become significantly bigger and we hope that Scots will reap the benefits. Work is ongoing, with the next stage in changing the boundary the amendment of the park’s Designation Order. The consultation on the National Parks Review is on-going and may result in further legislative changes once results are known. Roseanna Cunningham MSP Minister for Environment
Inverness Centre Chair
Coasting at Dundee BBC presenter and author Nick Crane paid a welcome visit to the High School of Dundee in early February. Nick, best known for his appearances on the BBC’s Coast and Map Man programmes, delivered a talk to a class of third year pupils, followed by an informal question session. The High School’s Deputy Rector, Val Vannet, said: “A media figure like Nick Crane is someone that youngsters can identify with. His programmes are informative and enjoyable, and they inspire real interest in geography, by showing that this is a subject that is not only relevant and exciting, but right on our doorsteps. We are delighted that Nick has been able to pay us a visit today, and I am sure that our pupils will get huge benefit from hearing his experiences first hand.”
Carbon neutral Maldives? The president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, has unveiled a plan to make his country carbon-neutral within a decade. The announcement came only days after scientists issued stark new warnings that rising seas caused by climate change could engulf the Maldives and other low-lying nations this century. The president formally announced the scheme – and made a plea for other countries to follow the Maldives’ lead – following the world premiere of the film The Age of Stupid, on 15th March. The Maldives is one of the
world’s lowest-lying countries, with 385,000 people living mainly on land less than two metres above sea level. The country would be rendered almost entirely uninhabitable by a rise in sea levels of one metre. Nasheed said, “Climate change is a global emergency. The world is in danger of going into cardiac arrest, yet we behave as if we’ve caught a common cold. Today, the Maldives has announced plans to become the world’s most eco-friendly country. I can only hope other nations follow suit.”
Many thanks to Douglas Willis FRSGS, who has recently stepped down as Centre Chair for Inverness. Douglas served as the Inverness Centre’s first Chair from 1998 to 2002, and again from 2006 to November 2008 - a total of six years. A graduate of the University of Aberdeen, Principal Teacher of Geography at Fortrose Academy, and author of several books on Scottish themes, he and his wife Catherine have a special interest in Malawi, to which they have paid several visits during his early retirement. We are pleased to welcome Robert Preece as the new Inverness Centre Chair.
Drive to cut rural speed limit The Government could cut the national speed limit from 60mph to 50mph on many of Britain’s roads by next year. The reduction would affect around two-thirds of the road network. Drivers will still be able to reach 70mph on motorways and dual carriageways and 60mph on the safest A roads. But if approved, the plan to reduce many roads to 50mph would be the most dramatic cut since 1978 when the speed limit was reduced from 70mph to 60mph. Roads Minister Jim Fitzpatrick said, “There will be some in the driving lobby who think this is a further attack and a restriction on people’s freedom. But when you compare that to the fact we are killing 3,000 people a year on our roads, it would be irresponsible not to do something about it.” New research by the Department for Transport has found that reducing the speed limit could save 200 to 250 lives a year and also reduce carbon emissions – a study by Oxford University in 2005 suggested as much as 25% reductions are possible from lower speed limits and other evidence suggests that a cut to 50mph can almost double road capacity, because of shorter braking distances. The 50mph proposal will be laid out in a consultation document in the early summer.
The
Geographer
NEWS People • Places • Planet Members’ Questionnaire
Scottish Arctic Club Library
A huge thank you to the 170 of you who returned the questionnaires from the last edition of GeogScot. Your responses have been invaluable in helping us understand how members view the Society and, along with more than 60 one-to-one in-depth discussions Mike Robinson has had with various members around the country, they will help shape the direction of the Society over the next few months and years. Half of respondents had email addresses, so we will ask for these in future membership correspondence, so that people who are happy to receive email updates, can. Members had on average been supporters for 18 years, two-thirds are retired, and the average age is quite high at 68, but everyone was very supportive of the need to appeal to and recruit new younger members. By far the majority of you enjoy talks and articles on travel, exploration and adventure, the environment and Scottish issues, with the environment and climate change being far and away the issues of greatest current interest. Thank you for all your support, thoughts and ideas. We will endeavour to take account of them as we develop the work of the RSGS. I hope this new-look newsletter reflects the best of that intention. Our prize draw winners who will each receive a copy of Nick Crane’s DVD ‘Britannia’ are: David Lyle, M W Henley and Ronald Malcolm.
Livingstone Medal at Auction A 22-carat gold Livingstone Medal, presented to Viscount Allenby in 1926, was auctioned in London in March, for £5,000. The Medal was introduced in 1901 by David Livingstone’s daughter; recipients include Capt Scott, Neil Armstrong, Sir David Attenborough, and Michael Palin. Viscount Allenby played a key role in 20th century Middle East history, commanding the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the Sinai and Palestine campaigns of 1917-18. He was featured in the 1962 Oscar-winning film, Lawrence of Arabia. He died in 1936, aged 75.
Fair Maid’s House Steady progress has been made towards establishing the Fair Maid’s House as a welcoming public exhibition and interpretation space for the best of the Society’s collection of images, maps, papers and artefacts, currently safely stored in a warehouse provided at no cost by Perth & Kinross Council. We now have the agreement of Historic Scotland in respect of our revised proposals, and our architects have applied for planning permission.
by the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club (SOC). Since the sale of the SOC’s Edinburgh office, the Arctic collection has been seeking a permanent home, ideally where it could be co-located with other relevant Arctic and Polar material.
The Scottish Arctic Club (SAC) Library consists of some 400 books, including accounts of exploration, descriptions of modern Arctic life and travels, reference books on flora and fauna, and descriptions of geographical and geological features. Publication dates range from the early 19th century to the present day. A list of the books now in the Library is on the SAC website at www. scottisharcticclub.org.uk. The nucleus of the Library was formed from the collection of Arctic books belonging to George and Irene Waterston. These were bought by a group of SAC members led by Angus Erskine in 1984, and were housed in Edinburgh with the wider Waterston collection of ornithological books acquired
The Society’s Legal Status Having completed work on a new constitution as required by OSCR, the Charities Regulator, we continue to progress the application to convert the Society to a Company Limited by Guarantee. This will help us operate more efficiently, and without financial risk to our members or trustees. However, OSCR is so busy with similar applications that our timetable may slip. It is a measure of how seriously OSCR takes its responsibilities that all members of the nine-person
The SAC agreed at its 2008 AGM that the Library should be transferred to the ownership of the RSGS, for co-location with the Society’s recently acquired Erskine collection of Polar books (both Arctic and Antarctic). Mrs Kathleen Cartwright, President of the SAC, formally handed the Library over to Miss Margaret Wilkes, Convener of the RSGS’s Library & Information Committee, on 4th March 2009. The SAC Library and the Erskine collection will shortly be established in a custombuilt bookcase, one of several pieces of furniture made and installed in the main HQ meeting room by Mr Bill Macfadyen, an RSGS member and professional cabinet-maker. Mr Macfadyen volunteered a great many hours to the construction of this impressive furniture, and we would like here to register our thanks. Executive that will run the Society will be subject to background checks! Members should see little or no change as a consequence of this change in status of the Society but, inevitably, there will be some changes which may impinge on Centre Committees. We are trying to keep these changes to a minimum consistent with meeting the requirements of OSCR, and we hope that Centre Committees will recognise this and continue to give their support to the Society. We certainly welcome input from Centre Committees as to how we might simplify their role in other ways.
4-5 Spring 2009
NEWS People • Places • Planet Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement Two scientists will share the 2009 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement a $200,000 cash prize and one of the world’s most prestigious environmental awards. The prize committee recognized the two “for their scientific contributions that advanced understanding of how human activities influence global climate, and alter oceanic, glacial and atmospheric phenomena in ways that adversely affect planet Earth.”
Richard Alley, Professor of Geosciences at Penn State University, is widely credited with showing that Earth has experienced abrupt climate change in the past, and likely will again. He based his work on a meticulous study of ice cores from Greenland and West Antarctica. Veerabhadran Ram, Professor of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences in the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD, and one of the world’s leading
World Heritage for the Nation: Identifying, Protecting and Promoting our World Heritage The Department for Culture, Media and Sport ran a consultation from 2nd December 2008 until 25th February 2009, to examine the costs and benefits, rights and responsibilities of World Heritage Site status. The consultation aimed to consider what measures could be taken to clarify and/or strengthen protection for World Heritage Sites and to recommend a policy on making future nominations for World Heritage
Site status. Amongst other Scottish sites, the DCMS consultation listed two natural heritage options for consideration – the Flow Country and the Cairngorm Mountains. Scottish Natural Heritage has proposed backing the Flow Country above the Cairngorm Mountains, because it considers the Flow Country would most benefit from WHS designation at this time, and is seeking support for this, but NGO opinion is divided.
atmospheric scientists, was the first to show that ozone-depleting aerosols could aggravate the greenhouse effect and that black carbon particles in brown clouds absorb far more solar radiation than previously thought, contributing to the warming of the upper atmosphere. “I consider currently Dr. Ramanathan to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, climate researcher,” wrote Paul Crutzen, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
John Bartholomew Essay Competition 2008 An impressive range and quality of essays were submitted for the 2008 John Bartholomew Essay Competition, coordinated by the RSGS Glasgow Centre. At the prize-giving ceremony at Glasgow University in November 2008, maps and atlases donated by Harper Collins were presented by Anne Mahon of Harper Collins and Hamish Brown. The prize winners were: Greer Smith, Megan Muir, Stewart Murphy, David Munn, Emma Bathgate, Matthew Watson, Nicola McFadyen, Charlotte Walker, Rebecca Foy, Mairi Martin, Alexandra Findlay, Hannah Edmunson, Rachel Home, Laura McGarvie, Ailidh Henderson, and Amy Hillan (Ailidh and Amy not shown in the picture).
Hemispheres linked by ‘oceanic seesaw’ Abrupt climate shifts recorded across Greenland and the North Atlantic during the last Ice Age were global in extent, according to an international team of researchers led by Cardiff University’s School of Earth & Ocean Sciences. New research, published in the journal Nature, supports the idea that changes in ocean circulation within the Atlantic played a central role in abrupt climate change on a global scale. Using a sediment core taken from the seafloor in the South Atlantic, the team created a detailed reconstruction of ocean
conditions there during the final phases of the last ice age. Dr Stephen Barker, the paper’s lead author, said: “During this period very large and abrupt changes in temperature were observed across the North Atlantic region. However, evidence for the direct transmission of these shifts between the northern and southern hemispheres has so far been lacking”. The new study (Interhemispheric Atlantic seesaw response during the last deglaciation) suggests that abrupt changes in the north were accompanied by equally abrupt but opposite changes
in the south. It provides the first concrete evidence of an immediate seesaw connection between the North and South Atlantic. The study has wide implications for our understanding of abrupt climate change. Dr Ian Hall said: “While it is unlikely that an abrupt change in climate, related to changes in ocean circulation, will occur in the near future, our results suggest that if such an extreme scenario did occur, its effects could be felt globally within years to decades.” For further information please see Cardiff University’s School of Earth & Ocean Sciences website at www.cf.ac.uk/earth
“...if such an extreme scenario did occur, its effects could be felt globally within years to decades.”
The
Geographer
Country in Focus: Greenland
A Fight for
Thawed Ice
G
reenland is an island of contradictions. For a start, the world’s largest island which is about 81% ice-capped is called Greenland. Of course, with climate change occurring in the Arctic at about twice the rate as it is in the rest of the world, it may well become mainly green yet. But the juxtaposition of its desire for independence and its concern over climate change are at the root of a debate which is splitting the island’s 56,000 population and acts as a melting pot of global issues. The political leaders are conscious that they are on the front line of climate change, the local word for which is typically descriptive – silaqaraluarnaq, literally meaning “the weather is out of its mind”. In some areas, the thaw is making agriculture and trade easier, as ports free of ice and land and permafrost warm up. In others the lives and culture of many people are under
6-7 Spring 2009
Greenland Ice Sheet Research spotlight severe threat from changes in the extent and type of ice. So, in the short term at least, the people are split into winners and losers. Greenland is a poor country with almost half its income in a subsidy from Denmark, yet more than 75% of voters voted for greater autonomy in November of last year. Local government head, Hans Enoksen, said he dreams of an independent Greenland in
Petroleum, Kim Kielsen, said oil and gas exploration is one of the cornerstones of Greenland’s future economy, and Joern Skov Nielsen, Head of the Mineral & Petroleum Bureau, said the melting ice cap meant there would be more ice-free days in the region which would bring down energy production costs. Eleven prospecting and exploration licences have been attributed in the last two years between the 59th and 71st parallel, a zone that covers some 130,000 km2. In 2007, the US geological survey estimated that there may be as many as 31.4 billion barrels of oil in the northeast of the island.
© TerraMetrics, NASA, Data SIO, NOAA, US Navy, NGA, GEBCO
12 years, in time for his 65th birthday. His former foreign minister, Aleqa Hammond, would like to see the island cut its ties to Denmark in eight years, and the head of Greenland’s employees union SIK, Jess Berthelsen, wants it to happen in four. But “no” campaign leader, Jens Frederiksen, said it’s an illusion to think Greenland can spread its wings that soon. This is all contradiction enough perhaps, but it is more complex still. The only way to realistically finance independence is through revenues from oil and mining, now made more possible by the thaw. Greenland’s Minister for Minerals &
Whilst Greenland wants to see international climate curbs, and its politicians campaign against climate change, Greenland’s union groups and business union Nusuka have gone on record saying that Greenland should not be subjected to the Kyoto 2 commitments, and in fact should be allowed to emit more CO2 as it turns into an industrial nation. Yet Greenland’s premiere and politicians warn that the island cannot just opt out of Kyoto and similar international agreements. Juliane Henningsen, one of Greenland’s two representatives in the Danish Parliament, told the Danish Government,“When we live
at Ground Zero of climate change, we must also take responsibility.” This December, Denmark plays host to the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen at which the world’s governments will aim to replace the Kyoto Accord. It is ironic that Greenland will both be a leading voice for international restrictions, whilst simultaneously developing its own oil exploration and failing to meet its own targets. In a further twist, the continuous permafrost over two-thirds of the island arguably locks in far more greenhouse gases than the island’s population is ever likely to produce directly. And so its thawing is a very real concern. Some scientists have estimated that the island holds enough water in its ice sheets to raise sea level by as much as 7 metres, so what happens in Greenland should be a concern for all of us. So here is a country torn by the impacts of climate change both positive and negative in the short term, the impact on a way of life, and yet the root to the autonomy it so strongly desires is driven by the exploitation of the very causes of climate change. Greenland’s dilemmas are understandable, and whilst they are being played out now in the Arctic, they are ones nations across the world can undoubtedly relate to and would be wise to heed.
The future stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet is of fundamental importance to society - it holds enough freshwater to increase sea levels significantly and may impact on the strength of ocean thermohaline circulation. Greenland’s Ice Sheet therefore provides an important research focus.
“Climate change is not just a theory to us in the Arctic. It is a stark and dangerous reality.” Aqqaluke Lynge
Dr Peter Nienow from Edinburgh is leading a team improving the accuracy of ice surface elevation estimates derived from satellite radar altimeters to determine changes to ice sheet elevation (and mass) in response to climatic forcing. Aberdeen’s Douglas Mair and Andrew Sole, along with Edinburgh’s Andrew Shepherd have demonstrated that large volumes of surface meltwater become stored in vast lakes during summer then drain over a matter of hours or days. They are investigating the extent to which the sudden drainage of this meltwater enhances glacier flow through lubrication of the glacier bed. This is supported by a SAGES PhD student, Richard Morris, studying climatic sensitivity of refreezing of surface snow melt, and Aberdeen PhD Caroline Clason quantifying the controls on Moulin formation. In a further study, Dr Nick Hulton is modelling the future behaviour of the Greenland Ice Sheet under a variety of climate warming scenarios to determine how changes in meltwater runoff will affect ice dynamics and the likely rate of ice sheet retreat.
The
Geographer
On the Map
8-9 Spring 2009
‘From the best Authenticated Sources’: John Thomson’s Atlas of Scotland
J
ohn Thomson’s Atlas of Scotland is made up of 58 large folio map plates, and accompanied by topographical views, detailed gazetteers and text describing the ‘history of the progressive geography of Scotland’. Along with the sources for the maps themselves, it is the most magnificent of Scotland’s county atlases and a landmark work of cartography. Advertised upon publication – initially in parts, between 1820 and 1832 – as ‘one of the completest systems of Topography published’, the Atlas formed the most complete and comprehensive mapping of Scotland prior to the work of the Ordnance Survey in the 19th century. It may justifiably be regarded as the culmination of the hand-coloured engraved mapping tradition in Scotland before the development of coloured lithography and related technologies of map printing. The importance of Thomson’s Atlas of Scotland rests both in the changes then occurring in the nature of the atlas as a geographical publishing genre by the first decades of the 19th century, and upon the fact that Thomson drew together his maps from different sources: from maps based on revisions to existing county surveys, those based on other extant small-scale mapping, and maps derived from original survey. Lists of subscribers to the work give an indication of the audience of those interested in financing the project and in purchasing new geographical information about Scotland. This magnificent achievement in Scotland’s mapping and printing history is now available in a facsimile edition, printed in full colour and at the same size as the original work. Christopher Fleet and Charles W. J. Withers Christopher Fleet is Deputy Director, Map Division, National Library of Scotland. Charles Withers is Professor of Historical Geography at the University of Edinburgh.
John Thomson, The Atlas of Scotland containing Maps of Each County [with introductory essays by Charles W J Withers, Christopher Fleet and Paula Williams] Birlinn Press, Edinburgh in association with the National Library of Scotland, 2008. ISBN 978 1 84158 687 8. £150.
The
Geographer
Opinions on Energy
Building a Low Carbon Economy “...we wouldn’t want a 4ºC rise in our own body temperature and we can’t afford it in global temperatures either.”
“I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait ‘til oil and coal run out before we tackle that.” Thomas Edison 1847-1931
R
SGS’s Chief Executive was a guest at the recent British Council hosted event ‘Building a Low Carbon Economy’, run in conjunction with Friends of the Earth Scotland and the University of Edinburgh, at which Lord Adair Turner (Chair of both the Financial Services Authority and the UK Climate Change Committee) and Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the European Environment Agency, spoke to a packed McEwan Hall, in Edinburgh. There was a real buzz about the presentation by Lord Turner, arguably the man with the two most critical current briefs of any public servant. He laid out all the facts with clarity and precision – of course climate change is happening and of course we are causing it. There is an absolute acceptance by governments of the need to cut emissions, he told us, and whilst there is a reasonable consensus of what constitutes a ‘safe’ scientific target maximum for atmospheric CO2 (450ppm), there is a great dispute about what is politically ‘digestible’ and how great a proportion of the burden different nations should shoulder. There was nothing new in it, but coming as it did from someone so versed in economics and finance it was compelling and authoritative
and gave a valuable insight into thinking leading up to the UK Climate Act last year and some helpful pointers for the Scottish Bill being debated this year. Turner’s UK committee aim was to prevent more than a 1% chance of reaching 4°C increase in global temperatures by taking a ‘fair’ UK share of world emissions reductions. As an analogy, we wouldn’t want a 4°C rise in our own body temperature and we can’t afford it in global temperatures either. But not only does this mean we are taking real risks of a 2°C and 3°C rise, it also of course hinges on the rest of the world governments playing their part too. It took Professor McGlade to inject the urgency and to provide the international perspective. Observed data is worse than all the IPCC model predictions. World governments are currently making commitments which if not improved upon at Copenhagen at the end of the year, will hit at least 650ppm (atmospheric CO2) by 2100, which would give us a 92-100% chance of exceeding 2°C, widely regarded as a dangerous threshold which will affect millions and may lead to further ‘feedbacks’. Turner remained positive and optimistic, if a little technophilic. He agreed to the need for a huge investment in insulation and efficiency drives, regulation and trading, but ultimately he had great faith in zero-carbon electricity powering lighting, heating and transport. However, he didn’t explain how and when zero-carbon electricity was going to be produced. This
solution, of using electricity to power virtually everything we do, would require enormous electrical production – probably six to ten times total current electricity. Lord Turner underlined the need to act quickly, but seemed to put much of his hope in carbon capture and storage. Almost every solution to climate change does, yet there is little research and development investment and even less proof that it is practical or safe. The US coal industry does not view it as realistic before 2020 at the earliest, so it may struggle to address the urgency. He also implied that Scotland was premature in dismissing nuclear energy as an option. The last words went to Professor McGlade. We need to go beyond GDP as a measure, she told us, because our economic valuation of things takes no account of social, environmental and climate damage, and until it does we will go on destroying the natural fabric of the planet. She also drew attention to methane as an opportunity because it has a huge greenhouse effect but only stays in the atmosphere for a relatively short period of time. If we can capture and deal with methane as a priority, she explained, we might buy ourselves five to ten years more to sort out CO2. Since many observers think we only have ten years to really begin to effect significant emissions reductions then this felt like advice worth heeding. Mike Robinson Chief Executive, RSGS
10-11 Spring 2009
Our Energy Future What energy choices does a country need to make to reduce its imports of fossil fuels and therefore make itself more secure from international uncertainty and conflict? The Westminster Government, concerned about the emission of greenhouse gases, has decided we should build more nuclear power stations; the Scottish Government has declared its opposition. Do wind farms help conservation by reducing global warming or do they simply make the landscape less appealing? Should energy be created and consumed locally? What problems loom as less developed countries strive to reach the West’s level of consumption? Energy use has transformed society and now threatens to transform the planet. In the next few years we will have to make difficult energy choices encompassing national security, aesthetics, sustainability, greenhouse gas emissions, safety, human rights, and social equitability. No single energy source will satisfy everyone. Energy provision is not just one of the major challenges to sustainability and sustainable development, it is also at the very core of our way of life. History shows that energy shortage or disruption impacts greatly
on quality of life. Countries with low energy consumption typically also have low literacy, high infant mortality and a low life expectancy. The turbulent times in which we live has given a high profile to ‘energy security’, and rightly so: countries or administrative regions that have suffered from energy shortages have invariably seen regime change. However our energy needs are to be met in the future, a diversity of supply would seem to be a sensible goal. How should that diversity be constructed? For some in Scotland, there appears to be no diversity, only an energy ‘monoculture’ of coal or wind farms. Scotland possesses 25% of the European Union’s wind power potential and it might appear foolish not to take advantage of this. However, Scotland also has a large wave and tidal energy potential, and has the opportunity to develop these technologies into an economically important export industry generating wealth and jobs. But as well as climate change and security of supply, a government must also address energy cost – particularly when also trying to reduce fuel poverty (more than 10% of a household’s income spent on heating, lighting and cooking).
We live on a planet with finite resources. The need for energy is likely to increase worldwide as a result of further industrialisation in low income countries and increased global population levels. We have already seen countries engage in resource conflicts. We can either continue with a kind of ‘energy apartheid’ and deny billions of people the quality of life we enjoy, or transform how we use, develop and supply energy to promote energy equality and support universal human rights. There is a price to be paid for using energy, and that provokes two questions: Who pays that price? and, Have we thought through all the consequences of our energy decisions? David Edwards David Edwards recently gave a very well received talk on Energy Options to several RSGS Centres. David was responsible for designing and tutoring the University of Glasgow’s ‘Energy: Options for Sustainability’ course on their environmental sustainability degree programme, and contributed to their carbon management MSc.
“But as well as climate change and security of supply, a government must also address energy cost – particularly when also trying to reduce fuel poverty (more than 10% of a household’s income spent on heating, lighting and cooking).”
Opinions on Energy
Biofuels
Environmental Breakthrough or Green Light for Greed? “...a policy of expanding biofuel production should not be rushed into without considering its effect on the environment and the consequences for developing nations.”
National targets must be achieved by member states through promoting the use of renewable energy to ensure that by 2020, it will make up at least 20% of the EU’s total energy consumption. This means that the UK must increase its target for renewable energy from 1.3% to 15% by 2020. After months of tortuous debate, the European Parliament finally approved the Climate and Energy Package in December 2008. But greed instead of care has become the defining feature of our strategy for tackling climate change with the race to produce biofuels potentially threatening millions of lives. The issue of global food security is now a reality. In the last year, many developing countries experienced riots in protest against escalating food prices. But despite an expanding world population with an extra six million people (slightly greater than the population of Scotland) being born every month, we continue to take millions of hectares out of food production every year to produce biofuels. By 2030 the world population will have expanded by such an extent that we will require a 50% increase in food production to meet anticipated demand. By 2080, global food production will need to double. Yet production is declining rather than expanding. Vast tracts of the Amazonian and Indonesian rain forests are being torn up to make way for biofuel crops like palm oil or to grow maize, to replace US maize converted to ethanol. This wanton destruction releases millions of tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere and removes, permanently, the ability of the rainforest to act as a carbon sump. In Scotland, the same destructive pattern is being pursued. Recent research by the John Muir Trust into the impacts of wind farms
The
Geographer
Off The Beaten Track
continued
has confirmed the damaging effect of constructing giant wind turbines on sensitive upland habitats and, in particular, on deep peat land. The impact of such wind developments damages the environment and adds to global warming. Like rainforests, deep peat land is a natural global sink for CO2 and disrupting these sensitive habitats with giant turbines and their associated concrete foundations, access roads, pylons, borrow pits and cabling trenches destroys the peat bog and releases vast quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere. This renders the whole development CO2 negative in terms of its impact on climate change. Such developments also prevent the peat bog from continuing to function as a carbon sump, as well as destroying important habitats for wildlife. Allowing wind farms to be built on such sites is the Scottish equivalent of cutting down rain forests in the Amazon. Scotland has a unique resource in these precious upland areas and the service they provide to the environment, both nationally and globally, should be carefully assessed before any consideration is given to allowing their disruption. By adopting the Climate and Energy Package, the EU will achieve its targets by 2020 – a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, a 20% improvement in energy efficiency and a 20% share for renewables in the EU energy mix.
Biofuels, electricity and hydrogen should account for at least 10% of the EU’s total fuel consumption in all forms of transport. Fuel suppliers must reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by extraction or cultivation, including land use changes, transport and distribution, processing and combustion of transport fuels (ie fossil fuels like petrol, diesel, gas oil and biofuels) of up to 10% by 2020. This package of proposals must be welcomed since any decision to move towards renewable energy must be sustainable. But a policy of expanding biofuel production should not be rushed into without considering its effect on the environment and the consequences for developing nations. Practical solutions should be sought to meet the world’s needs rather than responding to unworkable targets. A value must be placed on the world’s rainforests and peat bogs. They are our global airconditioning systems. Greedy power companies should not think the EU strategy is a green light for amassing profits at the expense of the environment. Struan Stevenson, MEP Struan Stevenson is a Conservative MEP for Scotland. He is Vice President of the ruling EPP-ED Group and President of the Climate Change & Biodiversity Intergroup in the European Parliament.
The Tuamotus and
L
ost in the Pacific between the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn, east and north east of Tahiti, these islands were discovered first by 16th century Spaniards, then by Captain Cook, and in the late 18th century were claimed by the French as part of French Polynesia. The Tuamotus are an archipelago of hundreds of atolls, just peeping above sea level. The Marquesas are, in stark contrast, volcanic peaks towering out of the ocean. Nowadays I can forget why I went upstairs, but I remembered clearly from 1960 that some characters in Nevil Shute’s book Trustee from the Toolroom ended up on the Tuamotus. How they got there fascinated me. I could not believe it when I learned that a New Zealand Travel Company was organising a trip in 2007. I didn’t travel as the Nevil Shute characters did, but instead flew to Los Angeles, then by Air Tahiti Nui to Papeete, Tahiti’s capital. There we boarded the Aranui 3, a working ship taking c120 passengers, and all the supplies needed to live on these remote islands.
12-13 Spring 2009
the Marquesas
where we went ashore in landing craft or barges, taking essential supplies with us. There were palm trees, flowers, free ranging hens, and coral beaches with stone fish to be avoided when snorkelling. On to the Marquesas, 1,000km to the north, to the island of Ua Pau, where we watched fascinated as the two enormous cranes on the Aranui transferred everything imaginable to the pier – motor bikes, refrigerated containers, 4-wheel drives, Coca Cola, fencing, gravel, sewage pipes... The Marquesas consist of 7 inhabited islands with a population of c10,000. Not all islands had piers, so goods had to be taken ashore by landing craft, often in rough seas, and people had to be bodily lifted by the splendid tattooed Polynesian seamen on to the narrow landing ledges. By the time we had visited or revisited all 7 islands, we had transported goats, cows, horses, and people, and we had brought on board for delivery to Tahiti and onwards bananas, mangoes, breadfruit, coconuts, sisal and the noni fruit, used in pharmaceuticals.
had escaped being bitten by mosquitos and the vicious nono fly. On the second last day of the 14-day trip, we were back in the Tuamotus on the atoll of Rangiroa, where we supplied the Japanese-owned hotel with fruit and visited a pearl farm. Our guide, explaining the process, said he had been there for 15 years, sinking all the time, and he expected the farm to be under water in another 20 years! Back at Papeete, the Aranui 3 unloaded its cargo of goods and satisfied passengers, and prepared to set off again for the Tuamotus and the Marquesas. These Polynesian islands are spectacular, a haven for yachtsmen and a magnet for people wanting to experience the exotic, where the children invite you to swim with them in the sea, their natural environment. Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, jumped ship on Nuku Hiva and wrote a perfect description of the landscape in his adventure story Taipei. Robert Louis Stevenson, uncle of the lighthouse engineer and RSGS Council member A L Stevenson, stopped there on his Pacific travels, and Paul Gauguin and Jacques Brel are buried there.
“Nowadays I can forget why I went upstairs, but I remembered clearly from 1960 that some characters in Nevil Shute’s book ‘Trustee from the Toolroom’ ended up on the Tuamotus.”
Archipel des Tuamotu Îles des Marquises First to the atoll of Fakarava,
Also, we had been warmly welcomed with singing and dancing, we had seen the largest tikis outside Easter Island, and beautiful churches (mainly Catholic) of local wood and stone, and we
Betty Huntly
RSGS Stirling Centre
The
Geographer
Education
The purpose of the recently introduced Science Baccalaureate is to encourage more teenagers to study science in S5-S6 and beyond, which is why RSGS and SAGT are so disturbed at the exclusion of geography.
Baccalaureates announced last year. Government and Scottish Qualifications Authority officials listened to the case made, but insisted they could not revisit the decision to leave the subject off the list.
RSGS’s Mike Robinson was recently invited to a meeting at Victoria Quay in Edinburgh, along with John Briggs and Trevor Hoey of University of Glasgow, and Malcolm MacDonald, Chair of SAGT, to discuss the Government’s failure to include geography in the list of Science
On the positive side, they were keen to engage in interdisciplinary project proposals, and offered to ensure geography’s consideration in future social science baccalaureates. We welcome the establishment of lines of communication and are
Talk for Glasgow Students
Geographers, TV presenters and authors, Vanessa Collingridge and Nick Crane visited the University of Glasgow in early February, to talk with a group of schoolchildren who are considering studying geography at the University. The talk was organised by students Alyson Meek and Emma Culley, as part of the RSGS’s GLOBAL initiative. GLOBAL aims to bridge the gap between school-level and universitylevel geography, and to introduce school pupils to some exciting areas of geography that they may not yet have encountered. The University of Glasgow is piloting the project, and the intention is to extend it to other universities across Scotland, so that more young people can be encouraged to learn more about global geographical issues such as the sustainability of our planet and resources, and the well-being of people and communities.
SGJ Grant RSGS is pleased to have received a grant from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), towards a University of Edinburgh Centenary special edition of the Scottish Geographical Journal. This will be a themed issue, based on papers arising from a “Mapping and Meaning” seminar held in 2008, and the grant will allow us to include relevant photographs of images.
There is clearly still a need for geography to raise its political profile and value.
Science in schools Apparently, most children now leave primary school without an acceptable understanding of science. In 2007-08, the Scottish Survey of Achievement examined science, with nearly 40,000 pupils (P3 to S2) from c1,100 schools taking part in a series of tests. The results revealed that although almost 55% of P3 pupils achieved the required standard, that dropped to just 6% in P7, before rising to 17% of pupils in S2.
Photo courtesy of Glasgow University
happy now to be involved in the discussions. However, whilst we welcome a guarantee of the inclusion of geography in social sciences, the majority of university geography is based firmly within science, so all representatives were cautious of the potential of this earlier omission to constrain the subject in the future.
In 2003, the Scottish Science Advisory Committee had highlighted a need to reinvigorate the teaching and learning of science in schools.
The project, Why Science Education Matters, made wideranging recommendations. In an attempt to tackle the problem, the Scottish Government has invested in science centres in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen. New draft guidance on how science should be taught from age 3 to 18 has been published as part of the new Curriculum for Excellence, which aims to make science more relevant to children’s lives and update it to include more recent scientific discoveries. A final version of the guidance is expected soon.
SGJ Change of Editors In 2004, when we took over as editors of the Scottish Geographical Journal, one of our aims was that the editorial function should rotate through all of the Scottish Geography departments on a four-yearly cycle. With the compilation of Volume 125 (2009) the first step in this strategy has begun to roll out and a new editorial team has taken over. The editors are now Dr Lorna Philip and Dr Tim Mighall of the University of Aberdeen, ably assisted by Dr Andrea Nightingale (University of Edinburgh) as book review editor and Dr Dave Evans (University of Durham) as editor of SLEx, the Scottish Landform Examples
series. Needless to say, we wish them every success in extending and developing SGJ into new and exciting areas. The move of SGJ to Taylor and Francis has been a great success, with the journal reaching a much wider international audience as well as now being on a sound financial footing, with editorial expenses grant-funded from part of the royalties paid by Taylor and Francis to RSGS. SGJ has had a long and distinguished past and we wish the new team well in guiding the journal into an exciting future. Jim Hansom Jo Sharp University of Glasgow
Research concerning the effects of coastal erosion, changing sea level and its impact on landform, habitat and human use of the coast is ongoing at the Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences at the University of Glasgow. This work has both pure and applied aspects, and ranges from modelling the impact of extreme storm waves on cliffed and rocky coasts along the western seaboard of Europe, to understanding the mechanisms that drive coastal change and then quantifying the volumes of change occurring on the sandy and duneadorned coasts of Scotland. This includes the machair lands of the western isles (under threat from natural change) and the spectacular unvegetated dune systems of the Aberdeenshire coast (under threat from unfettered human development). In partnership with agencies including Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Government and local authorities, this research has real relevance in allowing society to better plan ahead to mitigate the worst effects of climate change on the coast. For more information contact jim. hansom@ges.gla.ac.uk
University of Stirling We are engaged in a series of environmental history research projects in Sri Lanka, including The Anurdahapura Hinterland project (AHRC funded and in collaboration with Durham and Kelaniya Universities) which is undertaking the first scientific analyses of the irrigation systems that supported this early capital city. Analysis of soils and sediments from the regions is now ongoing to offer a view on early land use and practices. Also, at two key rockshelter sites in Sri Lanka, Kitulgala Beli-lena and Batadomba-lena, spanning the critical period c36000–7880 BP,
site formation processes; to identify sedimentary proxies of millennial- to submillenialscale change in the surrounding landscape triggered by fluctuations in intensity of the Asian Monsoon; and to investigate interactions between shifting environments and cultural, including technological, change in Pleistocene huntergatherer societies (www.antiquity. ac.uk/ProjGall/kourampas/index. html). Contact Professor Ian Simpson for further details: i.a.simpson@stirling.ac.uk
University of Aberdeen Aberdeen’s Dr Lorna Philip and Dr Aileen Stockdale of Queen’s University, Belfast, have been awarded a £266,500 grant by the ESRC over two years to study mobility trends and migrant and community well-being. They will test for the existence of a so-called retirement transition, ie behavioural changes affecting 50-64 year olds, in the UK, as past research has noted that migration by this pre-retirement age group is among the most dynamic, and that these migrants favour peripheral and environmentally attractive areas. Relating this to debate about an ageing society, migrant and rural well-being, Lorna and Aileen will explore the 2001 Census to seek evidence for a retirement transition, conduct a household survey in three rural case study areas (in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) to study the decision-making process underlying such transition, and carry out in-depth interviews with household respondents, local service providers and policy-makers to relate this to issues of migrant and community well-being.
University of Edinburgh Research concerning disappearance of Norse settlers from Greenland In AD 986 Norse settlers from Iceland, led by Eric the Red, settled western Greenland and formed a successful community which lasted until the middle of the 15th century, but their disappearance has always posed interesting questions. Professor Andrew Dugmore’s research team have revealed that the Norse did indeed adapt from mixing farming with exploitation of marine resources such as seals. The Norse also seem to have hunted caribou herds, but sustainably, as there appears to have been no significant decline in caribou numbers during their 500 year presence. As well as working with archaeologists, the group is developing computer models as a means of understanding the interaction between the climate, vegetation and people. Dr Eva Panagiotakopulu, also from Edinburgh, runs a group using fossil insect records to investigate the Norse settlement. As many insects inhabit very particular types of environments, studying their remains can help establish details on climate and farming practices. Health and housing conditions can also be assessed from studying the insect remains inside archaeological sites. It now appears that the collapse of the Greenlandic Norse population in the mid 15th century was probably the result of limited resilience to changing environmental conditions and the complex interplay of cultural, economic and environmental changes at a local, regional and continental (European) scale. There is also evidence of increased hostile interaction with the Inuit.
14-15 Spring 2009
University News
University of Glasgow
New Science Baccalaureate still to exclude geography
we are combining environmental and stone tool typology analyses to establish high-resolution microstratigraphies to interpret
These reports are part of a rolling programme that will capture other areas of research in forthcoming issues.
Drumlin special edition Students in the Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences at the University of Glasgow are currently working on a special edition of their geographical journal Drumlin, in celebration of the department’s centenary this year. The centenary Drumlin will
include a range of articles, special features and photographs, with subjects ranging from worldwide issues to personal memoirs from the past 100 years. The content will be set out as Past, Present and Future, and will relate not only to the University of Glasgow, but to
the city itself and further worldwide themes. The students are seeking funding from the National Lottery ‘Awards for All’ programme, to enable them to print the journal, which would then be available for purchase at the Centenary Celebrations this summer.
University of Glasgow
Making Connections
The
Geographer
Obituaries
Scottish Association of Geography Teachers (SAGT) Annual Conference SAGT’s Annual Conference in October attracted almost 300 Geography teachers from across Scotland to a very wet and windy Edinburgh. The main speakers Dr Iain Stewart and Mark Beaumont were excellent. The workshops provided a wide range of useful inputs for teaching and learning… so much so that some delegates decided to forego lunch in favour of an extra session!
Forthcoming Field Trip Each year SAGT organises a field excursion normally somewhere in Scotland. This year Val Vannet’s
exciting fieldwork trip will take about 40 Geography teachers to Iceland for some fascinating excursions into the ‘fire and ice’ of this land at the parting of the European and North American tectonic plates!
SQA Consultation The outcomes of the consultation on the next generation of National Qualifications in Scotland (SQA exams) have been published, but the way forward for updating the examinations we know as Standard Grade, Higher and Advanced Higher to reflect the values and principles of
Curriculum for Excellence are still unclear. The timescale for their development and implementation has already been delayed. The early enthusiasm for Curriculum for Excellence as a vehicle for rejuvenating the qualifications may well have been dissipated by its widely varying interpretation, by the time these qualification changes actually come into practice. Erica M Caldwell Honorary President, SAGT
What Geography Means To Me
I
graduated with a An insight Geography MA into the from the University life of a of Aberdeen and then completed a Masters working geographer in Geography (Spatial
Analysis Methods) at the Ohio State University, USA, which entailed much playing with satellite images, Geographic Information Systems and large UNIX workstations which had as much memory as a modern mobile phone.
Since graduating I have striven to provide a robust data and information resource to support decision makers across a number of sectors. I currently work for Stagecoach and am responsible for geodemographic analysis to support customer insight and marketing work and am also involved in supporting Neil Mackinnon geographic elements of bus RSGS Member and Data scheduling software: not quite & Market Analyst, Customer Insight Team, BusNav, but along those lines. Stagecoach UK Bus What enthuses me about
geography is the ability to bring a lateral slant to business decisions that many other disciplines overlook. For example, in a former position at Communities Scotland (Scotland’s previous housing agency) my team took the register of house sales from the General Register Office (Scotland) – a product that is often used to produce more economic based tabular information on house price rises (or falls!) at a national or regional level – and used databases and GIS developed software to analyse migration patterns from street level up. This enabled planners to gauge the type of people moving in and out of a geographic area while also assessing an appropriate geographic level for determining a Housing Market Area (an area within which a majority of house movers move). To me this use of data nuts and bolts to help build information upon which planning policies can be generated is indicative of geography’s strength: the
ability to integrate disparate pieces of information (often only related by their location). The really fascinating thing is that these methods can be applied to just about anything! Whether it be correlating chemical isotopes extracted from ice-cores across space (and time), analysing house prices, interpolating household income, estimating household carbon footprints or modelling propensity to use public transport, GIS can be an excellent tool for supporting business or policy decisions. The fact that GIS can output this information in a very visual way – such as thematic maps, time lapse maps, or 3D viewsheds / fly throughs – helps decision makers absorb the information and buy into the analysis process (partly because it looks cool). Geography: it might be all around you, but it gets inside as well.
Lord Wemyss (1912-2008) Members of the RSGS, together with a host of people across the spectrum of life in Scotland, mourned the death of Francis David Charteris, the 12th Earl of Wemyss and 8th of March, KT, on 12th December 2008, aged 96. It must be doubtful if there will ever again be such a long and distinguished record of public and voluntary service as was his. The Society was indeed fortunate that he numbered it among his active interests. In one particular aspect he embodied the close relationship between the RSGS and the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) since the creation of the latter body, for which the Council of RSGS had lobbied. In 1946 the Rt Hon The Earl of Wemyss was elected as a Vice-President of RSGS and in the same year he was elected to the Council of NTS, which he chaired until 1958. In that year he was elected as President of RSGS and proved an active and effective Chairman of its Council, 1958-62, during a period of growth and change for the Society. Perhaps it was his service during the Second World War in Basutoland and in the Middle East which stimulated his wider geographical interests. However, his interests in conservation, in the economy, and in the natural environment in Scotland readily echoed those of RSGS and so through the years Council did not hesitate to turn to him for advice and counsel. He actively participated in the celebration of the Centenary of the Society in 1984 marked by the visit of H M The Queen. My most vivid and happy memories of Lord Wemyss were when, as Keeper of the Signet, he permitted the Society to hold its award ceremonies and dinners in the magnificent setting of the Signet Library. Alistair Cruickshank
Prof Richard Prentice (1952 – 2008) Richard Prentice, Professor of Tourism at the University of
Strathclyde, was a leading figure in the field of tourism research, and was described by colleagues as an ‘unassuming intellectual giant’. An historical geographer by background, he was an active Member and Associate of RSGS, serving on both the Research Committee and the RSGS Council. With a first class honours degree in geography and a PhD in planning, he became a lecturer in social policy at University College of Swansea in 1978, and in 1995 he joined the then-Queen Margaret College as senior lecturer and later as professor of tourism management. QMC was the backdrop to two of the great highlights of his personal and professional life: he met and worked with his wife, fellow tourism lecturer Vivien Andersen; and he established a research school, of which he was immensely proud. He joined the University of Strathclyde in October 2006, and during his career he published more than 200 papers, including five in the Scottish Geographical Journal between 1988-98, and a number of book reviews. Prof Prentice was a great enthusiast of train travel, and an accomplished photographer. He also loved the countryside and enjoyed escaping from his home in Edinburgh to his cottage in the Durham Dales. Mike Robinson
Roger H Fairclough (1933-2009) An RSGS member for over 50 years from the time of his first job in Glasgow University Library (1957-58), Roger spent most of his professional career as a librarian and map specialist in Cambridge University Library in charge of its vast map collections, and managed these with far-seeing and astute tactics melded with a good touch of pragmatism. In later years he took on the headship of its vast Accessions Division too. Roger’s father was a surveyor, and interest in maps therefore came early. His own expertise, notably from 1970 onwards, was put to important effect on the national and international map collections stage where his name became a by-word for
good sense, great shrewdness, a direct, often blunt, manner, and a strongly independent viewpoint. After retirement in 1997 he and his wife, Eleanor, moved to Inverness. Despite failing health, Roger took an active part in the RSGS Inverness Centre and its Committee. He was a larger than life character in all senses and his long-honed specialist knowledge contributed greatly to the building up, care and furthering of UK map collections including those in RSGS. Margaret Wilkes
Allan C M Rodger (1928-2008) Scottish Geography has lost one of its unsung heroes. Allan Rodger was a very modest man, whose ambition in life was to imbue generations of pupils with an interest in and enthusiasm for our subject. Allan followed in his grandfather’s footsteps to the University of Edinburgh’s Institute of Geography, achieving first class honours in 1950. Then from 1958 until his retirement in 1989, Allan was principal teacher of geography at Inverurie Academy. Allan was both a traditionalist, in the best sense of the word, and an innovator, taking school geography parties to the Continent in the 1970’s. His classroom was always superbly organised and his use of the blackboard was an art form. He also played a full role with the Scottish Examination Board over many years. Allan was an active member of the RSGS in Aberdeen, along with his wife Marion, also a geography teacher. He served as a most efficient secretary on the Society’s Aberdeen Committee for over a decade, and made important contributions to the development of the Aberdeen branch. Outside geography, he enjoyed a full and well-rounded family life. He was a kirk elder, a keen gardener, and a talented watercolourist. It is geographers such as Allan Rodger who are the bedrock of our subject, of the RSGS and of the wider community. Dick Jennings
16-17 Spring 2009
Book Club
Planet Guernsey
Recommendations
edited by Dr Andrew Casebow
This fascinating and beautifully-illustrated book is recommended by Dr Donald McQueen, who writes as follows.
“Those who seek a clearer understanding of global warming and its causes would do well to examine the evidence brought together in this attractive and authoritative compendium directed and edited by Dr Andrew Casebow, a geographer and member of Magdalene College, Cambridge. Andrew Casebow has been working for many years in Guernsey where he is currently the States Agricultural and Environment Adviser. It is no accident that his work there has resulted in this impressive review of the scientific facts, for island communities are among the most vulnerable to the effects of global warming – notably, but not solely, because of the associated rise in sea levels. The narrowly parochial title of this work should not dissuade. Nearly all of the brightly illustrated text has universal relevance.” The book is not on general sale but, unusually, the whole of it is available for free download from the website of La Société Guernesiaise, at www.societe.org.gg/planetguernsey. Dr Casebow has also offered a small number of printed copies; if you would like one, please contact enquiries@rsgs.org or RSGS HQ in Perth.
F
or each edition of The Geographer, we will ask a member to name any book they would recommend to other members – books that have a relevant geographical scope and which have been either hugely educational, or inspirational, or just plain enjoyable. We would like to ask members to read these and send us their reviews – we will print the best in the next edition. Last Recommended Book.
The Red Queen I thoroughly enjoyed this book – not quite laugh out loud, but several “oh, so that’s why!” moments. A fascinating insight into human and organisational behaviour, it is at once shocking, exciting and educational. From the purpose of Lent, to why babies look like their fathers, to why women think men dress badly; it links parasitology to modern society and convention, and explains why invertebrate species that have to cross-fertilise have been more successful than ones that can self-fertilise. It is the best popular science book I’ve read. Lucy Clement
Next Recommended Book.
Fixing Climate
In this edition, Dr Tim Mighall of the University of Aberdeen, and one of the new editors of the Scottish Geographical Journal, has recommended the book that has made the biggest impact on him recently. It is Fixing Climate: The story of climate science and how to stop global warming by Robert Kunzig and Wallace S Broecker, ISBN 978-1-84668-860-7. Please send your reviews of this book to enquiries@rsgs.org or to the RSGS HQ in Perth, marked “Book Review”.
Reader Offer - save over 30% Alastair Sawday Publishing is offering RSGS a special price on its new book of special places to stay, slow travel and slow food in England. Readers of The Geographer can buy Go Slow England for £10.00 (RRP £19.99) plus £2.99 p&p in the UK by using the special offer code RSGS when ordering online at www.sawdays.co.uk/bookshop or by phoning 01275 395431 during office hours. Offer ends 31 July 2009.
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Towards a Sustainable Future