How can we solve the world’s water crisis? – with Tim Smedley

From The Royal Institution.

A true global water crisis could be on our horizon. But what can we do about it?

Buy Tim’s book ‘The Last Drop: Solving the World’s Water Crisis’ here: https://geni.us/Qt3f
Watch the Q&A here (exclusively for our Science Supporters): https://youtu.be/XW_AflpVYzI

This livestream talk was recorded at the Ri on 4 October 2023.

Join acclaimed environmental journalist Tim Smedley for an exploration into this impending situation, and understand the consequence for the 4 billion people already facing severe water scarcity.

Tim unveils the alarming consequences of human mismanagement and the added impact of the climate crisis on the water cycle, resulting in longer droughts and more intense flooding. Journey across the world from Jordan to Ghana, the USA and England and witness the effects of this crisis. And as the world’s population continues to grow, learn how urgent changes are required in water usage and management to ensure ecological and human survival.

Tim will offer us a glimmer of hope in this seemingly bleak situation, exploring a multitude of solutions, including groundwater replenishment, regenerative agriculture, wastewater recycling, sustainable urban drainage systems, and more. These remedies require not only technological advancements but also good governance and sustained political will.

We may be standing on the brink of crisis, but this timely and thought-provoking talk will help shed light on what we can do in the face of water scarcity and the changes we need to make for our future.

Tim Smedley is an award-winning environmental journalist who has written extensively for The Guardian, the BBC, The Sunday Times and the Financial Times. Following a decade working in London as a business journalist-turned-freelance environmental writer, Tim relocated to Oxfordshire and directed his focus to air pollution after witnessing the effects firsthand. His first book, ‘Clearing the Air’, about the global effects of air pollution, published in March 2019, was shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize.

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