American conflicts of history

perseus

Active member
Anyone see this? Schama argues America's big challenge for the future is neither Oil or Terrorism but Water shortage

Simon Schama travels through America to dig deep into the conflicts of its history as a way to understand the country's contemporary political situation.

In American Plenty, Simon explores how American optimism about the infinite possibilities of its land and resources is in danger of coming to a grinding halt. Nowhere is it more evident than in the American West, which has always been a symbol of opportunity and freedom. Oil at 4 dollars a gallon may be dominating the headlines, but here it is the lack of water that is an even bigger threat to the American future. The West is in the grip of a years-long drought.

America's optimism about its natural resources has always been spiced with clashes over conservation going back to the first man to navigate the Colorado river, John Wesley Powell. American ingenuity made farming on an industrial scale possible in the early years of the 20th century but at the cost of making Oklahoma a dust bowl. The Hoover Dam, a modern American miracle which used to provide essential irrigation for farming and for the new city of Las Vegas, is not able to cope with the demand for water anymore.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan's optimism about American plenty defeated Jimmy Carter's campaign for self-restraint. But in the 2008 election, neither candidate can ignore the challenges facing America as it enters an era of limits.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00dygkw/b00dyfjf/The_American_Future_A_History_by_Simon_Schama_American_Plenty/
 
We Americans are a very wasteful people when the cost of something goes up we stop using so much, there are a million ways to save water. If any of you were on a ship when the evap or RO went down you know what I mean.

We don't have to use as much of anything as we do and we can cut a lot out of useage out.

There is not going to be a water shortage with RO technology today we will always have plenty of water around.
 
Topmaul have you seen the programme and the measures being taken in the Vegas and the surrounding district? There is a drought there. Water could be the defining issue for the world with climate change, it is this that may lead to conflict.

Regarding waste, all the Western world are wasteful I estimate we grow twice as much food as we need given our present diet through overeating and throwing food away. If we could eat less meat then the food required to sustain us would be far less still. Human's are wasteful in nearly ever sphere. An oilwell was left deliberately uncapped in the early Texas days to provide the image of plenty!
 
I didn't see it but do they really say that there is a drought in Las Vagas? The city is in the middle of a desert so there really was never an abundance of water. To use Las Vegas as a typical example the use of water in a typical American city would be a stretch so say the least. That being said, most Americans would probably agree that conservation and intelligent allocation of resources (including water) is vital to the survival of the planet.
 
Dtop, you can watch it on the link I gave. It is Lake Mead that is shrinking, this not only feeds Las Vegas but a number of states in the US SW including some of the richest areas of California. I actually toured around there in August 2003 and flew over the Hoover dam in a helicopter.
 
perseus
With all the water in the oceans and the fact that RO technology is getting better all the time we are not going to have a critical water shortage. As far as people living in the desert and complaining they don't have enough water perhaps long term habibility of desert communities for millions of poeple was not sustainable in the first place. Especially if they are wastefull of the resourses they have.

Most of the problems involve man screwing around with nature and not being smart about it.
 
!

http://www.water-technology.net/projects/perth/

This plant is powered by wind energy! You have to love this! RO is getting better,

On my last ship we used waste heat form the Genorators to make fresh water via a heat exchanger in an evaporator, a fairly simple system we had to disipate the heat anyway why not put it to use making fresh water. There is a lot of heat being produced that is simply wasted. Our system had 4 sections using vacuum and heat to keep the sea water flashing. The operator had to maintain each stage flow, vacuum, and tempature in optimum range to make max acceptible water or the automatic diverter will send it overboard. On that ship we would have a competition between watch standers who could make the most fresh water in a 4 hour watch. We put an RO system in and replaced the evap our new system required no baby sitting and made a lot more water.

There were some growing pains but the RO is super superior to our old evap. Still city planners should look at capturing waste heat
 
I saw the programme. It has been a long held view that water rather than oil would be the big area of conflict in, for example, the middle east. Long, long before global warming was introduced into the equation.

As Jackson advised, the people should go to water, rather than taking the water to the people. True in Africa now, for instance. As for America, times of trouble trigger American ingenuity, and this will serve them well in the face of the current financial, political and environmental problems.

Britain, of course, has created its own drought and water supply problems by selling its water companies to foreign control. Just as with its power and nuclear industries.
 
We don't even have to go to extremes in terms of changing the way we eat to accomodate more vegetables and less meat.
Just being smarter about our water is good enough.
And seriously, some drink cans are way too big. Those Arizona tea cans are ridiculous. You can shrink those. Save water.
 
A parlance you often hear in the middle east is: we don't need oil, we have water. Water shortage will be the major problem of the coming times. Since de-salination of sea water is so very expensive, we will start doing that when all other water has gone. By that time most effects will be irreversible. Desertification, salination of the top layer of our earth or the accumulation of chemicals in the top layer because of replenishment with polluted water. No matter how you spin this, the problem is much much more than just expensive water!
 
The second episode

The American Future: A History, by Simon Schama
Season 1 Episode 2 of 4
American War With its forces continuing to fight the `war on terror' on several fronts, the historian explores the United States' internal debate over the country's military strategy. Going back to the founding fathers, who disagreed over whether to have a professional army at all, America has been split over its assumed role as an overseer of global affairs, and the divide remains as pronounced as ever
Category Documentary
Director Sam Hobkinson
Producer Sam Hobkinson
Series Producer Nick Kent
BBC2 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Fri 17 Oct

This will probably be also available on BBC iplayer after the broadcast
 
Sorry Monty, didn't realise they weren't available.

All I can find is this trailer on Youtube in which viewers are reporting the same problem

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UW3fVMXg8ns

I think there are ways around this if you are desperate, some involve using a UK proxy IP but I don't think it works consistently for everyone


http://www.tyresmoke.net/forum/technology-corner/107667-watching-bbc-iplayer-abroad.html

In view of certain countries intending to monitor internet browsing perhaps this may be of interest anyway

http://www.intl-alliance.com/
 
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For those who can receive it

The American Future: A History, by Simon Schama
Season 1 Episode 3 of 4
American Fervour An exploration of how religion has shaped the United States from its early days. To foreign eyes, faith has seemed a largely conservative force in America, but the historian finds it has always been at the forefront of establishing fundamental freedoms - first for white protestants and then in the abolition of slavery during the 19th century and in the civil rights movement of the 1960s
Category Documentary
Director Ricardo Pollack
Producer Ricardo Pollack
Series Producer Nick Kent
BBC2 9:00pm-10:00pm BST (1 hour ) Fri 24 Oct
 
What do you think Perseus ? I think this series is very good. Straightened out my questions re. Jefferson. Very interesting. I would be pleased to learn the names of the fifteen Jewish families who arrived in Rhode Island in 1658 and over i100 years later placed themselves on the side of Americans in the War of Independence, and on request where happily granted equal citizenship as Americans.
 
Yes it seems like a good overview, although I'm probably not qualified to judge, those who are cannot see it! He has a slightly elitist 'Oxford' style that I find irritating at times . I didn't like his personal history of Britain very much with the exception of the Churchill v Orwell (The two Winston's) which was fantastic.
 
Well , Schama has the right credentials; despite his Cambridge, Oxford, Columbia and Harvard connections, he remains a London/Essex boy!


Simon Michael Schama, CBE (born 13 February 1945) is a British professor of history and art history at Columbia University. His many works on history and art include Landscape and Memory, Dead Certainties, Rembrandt's Eyes, and his history of the French Revolution, Citizens. He is best known for writing and hosting the 15-part BBC documentary series A History of Britain. He was an art and cultural critic for the New Yorker. In 1980 Schama accepted a chair at Harvard.

The BBC

The year 2000 saw Schama finally return to the UK, having been commissioned by the BBC to produce a series of television documentary programmes on British history as part of their Millennium celebrations, under the title A History of Britain (Schama was insistent on the title beginning with "A" rather than "The", so as to underline that his was a personal subjective view rather than an academic, didactic standard). Schama wrote and presented the episodes himself, in a friendly and often jocular style with his highly characteristic delivery, and was rewarded with excellent reviews and unexpectedly high ratings..
In 2001 Schama received the CBE. In 2003 he signed a lucrative new contract with the BBC and HarperCollins to produce three new books and two accompanying TV series. Worth £3 million (around $5.3m), it represents the biggest advance deal ever for a TV historian. The first result of the deal was a book and TV show entitled Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution, dealing in particular with the proclamation issued during the Revolutionary War by Lord Dunmore offering slaves from rebel plantations freedom in return for service to the crown.
 
Season 1 Episode 4 of 4
What Is an American? The historian investigates race, discovering how a determinedly white Protestant nation became the multi-ethnic United States of today. Despite the image of identikit Americans, the annexation of parts of Mexico in 1848, and mass immigration from China and eastern Europe have ruined these historic claims - which face their final defeat in the potential election of Barack Obama as the country's first black president. Last in the series
Category Documentary
Director Ricardo Pollack
Producer Ricardo Pollack
Series Producer Nick Kent
BBC2 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Fri 31 Oct
 
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