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James Cheshire, UCL Southern Water was handed a record fine of £90 million in July 2021 after pleading guilty to illegally discharging sewage along the rivers and coastline of Kent, Hampshire and Sussex. More than a year later, the headlines have not improved for Britain’s embattled water companies who have recently discharged more sewage close...
over a year ago

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More from James Cheshire

COVID inquiry heard Boris Johnson ‘struggled’ with graphs – if you do too, here are some tips

James Cheshire, UCL and Rob Davidson, UCL In March 2020, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, presented to the nation a graph showing “the shape of an epidemic”. The red line depicting the number of predicted COVID cases rose to a steep peak before falling again. Vallance explained that delaying and reducing the...

a year ago 114 votes
The era of the megalopolis: how the world’s cities are merging

James Cheshire, UCL and Michael Batty, UCL On November 15 2022, a baby girl named Vinice Mabansag, born at Dr Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila, Philippines, became – symbolically – the eight billionth person in the world. Of those 8 billion people, 60% live in a town or city. By the end of the...

over a year ago 84 votes
The Scarred Landscape of the Climate Crisis

I’ve been obsessively checking satellite imagery to witness the UK turn from green to yellow, thanks to the period of extreme heat and lack of rain Europe has been enduring. The parched landscape is unlike anything I’ve seen before and a cloud free day today (10th August) has revealed the true extent of the drought....

over a year ago 104 votes
Newspapers and the 1976 Drought

With each new temperature record that tumbles the UK, climate skeptics have a standard stock phrase: ‘it was this hot in 1976’. Of course it wasn’t, and crucially the planet overall was not as hot then as it is now. Parts of the UK media have had their part to play in fueling skepticism about...

over a year ago 79 votes

More in cartography

Italian Map Rot
7 hours ago 1 votes
Ontario, Day 2 (Downtime)

Well, we made it to Canada and we decided to settle down for our first full day. I promised the family I’d take it easier and try to avoid over-scheduling them for once. But I’m not someone who can ever stop moving entirely so “easier” meant no activities further away than an hour. Plus, anyone […] The post Ontario, Day 2 (Downtime) appeared first on Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places.

3 days ago 2 votes
Part 2 of “The Myth of Continents Revisisited” Video Posted on YouTube

The second half of my lecture on continents has been posted on YouTube and can be found here. It begins with the geological conception of the terms “continent” and “continental,” and then pivots to show why the continental scheme is of little if any use for understating either biogeography or human geography. The next section […] The post Part 2 of “The Myth of Continents Revisisited” Video Posted on YouTube appeared first on GeoCurrents.

3 days ago 5 votes
Red Dots for Dialysis Decline
3 days ago 3 votes
The Myth of Continents Revisited: GeoCurrents YouTube Video

As it has been more than a quarter century since the publication of my book The Myth of Continents (co-written with my wife, Kären Wigen), I have long thought that the topic deserved reconsideration. An opportunity came in May 2025, when I was invited to give a talk in Stanford’s Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series, associated […] The post The Myth of Continents Revisited: GeoCurrents YouTube Video appeared first on GeoCurrents.

5 days ago 6 votes