Water Talks

Water: too much, too dirty, too unequal and … too little. That’s what this podcast is about. During the UN Water conference, the first one in nearly 50 years, I spoke to a wide range of people in New York and the Netherlands – artists, activists, academics, engineers, policy makers – about how we can and should move forward in order to save ourselves and our planet from the water crisis.

Too little water directly affects our survival as a species. That’s why the Dutch artist René van Engelenburg (photo left) built the Water Arch, a carnival ride that shows, in the most fun way possible, just how much water we waste. But too little water, taking it for granted and turning it into a commodity, is how we got into this predicament in the first place. Just ask Native-American tribal leader Austin Nuñez (photo middle) from Arizona, or Palestinian water engineer Reeta Samamqa (photo right). For them too little water is their everyday reality. And with her ‘durational performances’ during an entire tidal cycle, American environmental performance artist Sarah Cameron Sunde reconnects us with water… literally!

Listen to it here:

Water Talks: a podcast about too little water, too dirty, too unequal and … too much. That is what this second episode is about. It was the water that made Manhattan a desirable place already for the Dutch in the 17th century. Writer and historian Russell Shorto brings that story to life during a walk through what was once New Amsterdam. It was that same water that almost drowned the city when Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012. In a twist of history, Sandy brought the Dutch back.

Special envoy for international water affairs Henk Ovink was instrumental in bringing about the UN Conference on water, hosted by the Netherlands and Tajikistan. And architect and urban designer Matthijs Bouw of One Architecture (his design for the Big U is the artwork of this podcast) is designing new infrastructure to repair and prepare New York for the next storm. Flood protection the Dutch way, with not just concrete walls but with green public spaces and parks and promenades, all built with American go-get-it-ness.

During the UN Water conference, the first one in nearly 50 years, I spoke to a wide range of people in New York and the Netherlands – artists, activists, academics, engineers, policy makers – about how we can and should move forward in order to save ourselves and our planet from the water crisis.

Listen to it here:

Water Talks is my new podcast about water: too much, too little, too dirty and … too unequal. During the UN Water conference, the first one in 47 years, and the New York Water Week, I spoke to a diverse group of people in New York and the Netherlands – a diverse group of people in New York and the Netherlands – artists, activists, academics, engineers, policy makers – about how we can and should move forward in order to save ourselves and our planet from the water crisis.

In this first episode, called Too Close for Comfort, I speak with Henk Ovink, the Netherlands’ Special Envoy for International Water Affairs – nicknamed ’the water guy’ by President Obama -, the Dutch King Willem Alexander, chief climate officer of New York Rohit Aggarwala, and David Erdman, head of the climate adaptation center at Pratt Institute.

As part of the UN conference, Pratt organized a workshop where I also spoke with three of the students: Erik Paez from Mexico, Anne Oerlemans, intern at Arcadis and student of International water management and Patrick Rutan who facilitated the design workshop by using three different kinds of artificial intelligence to reimagine communities in Brooklyn and Queens. When AI was asked ‘What would Manhattan look like if it had to retain its own water and grow its own food?’ part of the surprising answer was: a big lake on the Upper West Side and wheatfields in Haarlem.

Water Talks consists of 5 thematic episodes, followed by 5 one-on-one longer interviews.