Palin talk marks 100 years of Geography at University of Edinburgh

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: [email protected]
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;
• features 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.
[email protected]
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:
[email protected]
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 [email protected] 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 [email protected]
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.
You can help us to make connections between people, places & the planet by joining the RSGS.
Please contact us at Lord John Murray House, 15-19 North Port, Perth, PH1 5LU, or visit www.rsgs.org
Printed by www.garthland.co.uk on 9Lives Offset 120gsm paper. 100% FSC certified recycled fibre using soya based inks in a 100% chemistry free process.
Towards a Sustainable Future