Final Post!

Hello all!

I finally got some pictures from my last week in the UK from Kate the Canadian. For some reason the pictures will only post in a small size.. sorry!



White cliffs of Dover! We spent the entire day hiking up and across the cliffs. Couldn't see France, but we were close!

Canterbury Cathedral, famous for being the location of Thomas Beckett's murder!

Dover Castle!

Our hostess, Renata, in London!

Sorry that's a short post, but since I'm back in Clemson things have gotten busy again! Thanks so much for reading the blog! THANK YOU AGAIN DUCKENFIELD CLAN!!!!!!

Best,

Emily

HOME SWEET HOME!

I'm back. It's SO hot here, but it's good to be home with my family for a few days. I'm still waiting for my traveling buddy Kate to get back from England.. all of the pictures from the last week are on her camera. Expect some posts when I get the pictures in!

See most of you very soon back in sunny, tropical Clemson!

Love,
Emily

Last post until Clemson

Well, tonight we had our closing dinner/ceremonies.. quite sad. I met some amazing people while here, and it's quite sad to leave them. Tomorrow I am heading off to Canterbury and Dover with Kate from Michigan. We'll end up in London couch surfing with a Hungarian girl. I'm meeting up with one of Jonathan's friends (Jamie) in London, so we'll have a pseudo-local showing us around. Should be an interesting few days!

Ahhh, I really don't want to leave, but so it goes. Expect a long post when I get home!

Love love love,
Emily

Punting! (FINALLY!)

I've got ONE DAY LEFT in Oxford. I'm up early to pack and clean, then I plan on wandering the city as I say a sad goodbye. Yesterday was an excellent day, so on a happier note, I'll share that with you all.

Most importantly, I finally went punting! It's much harder than it looks, and the Thames is full of hidden dangers: tourists, swans, stumps, stinging nettles on the shore, you name it.


Here, Jonathan and Rachel battle the evil swan. Now, it's pretty hard to maneuver these boats with a stick.. and this swan decided to swim within 2 feet of our boat. We had NO way to get away from him, so he just bobbed next to our boat staring us down. Rachel was terrified, the swan just looked confused, and I was laughing so hard I was crying. Finally, this guy swam off, but I think poor Rachel was scarred for life.



As always, these pictures aren't in any particular order. This picture is a new obsession of mine. In many old cathedrals across the UK, masons added touches of their traditional pagan beliefs to the stonework or woodcarving. I think I've mentioned this before, but these figures are known as 'Green Men.' It's made me want to learn a lot more about old Celtic and Druid practices. This guy was on the tomb of the patron saint of Oxford, St. Frideswide (a woman!).

Kari and Kelley, this is completely for you guys. Harry Potter Hall. This is the dining hall in Christ Church. Quite fine. Elizabeth I watched a play here, Charles I held PARLIAMENT here! Now thousands and thousands of tourists now wander through here thanks almost totally to Harry Potter. Christ Church also has a picture gallery which I finally visited yesterday. Saw a Leo da Vinci sketch and lots of Italian renaissance pieces. Can you imagine how wealthy this college must be to own such priceless pieces!?


Just another view of the majesty of Christ Church! This is Tom Quad. Tom is the name of the bell (Old Tom) in the tower in this picture.

I also finally saw Magdalen College (pronounced Maudlin) and wandered through its Deer Park (yes, this college has the money to maintain its very own deer park).

Though I don't have a picture, the best part of yesterday was finishing my tutorial. I am not really glad to be done with the course, because I think I have a lot more to learn from Dr. Addison. I'm not horribly burnt out either, because the relevance of global climate change keeps me going. The reason the end of the class was so great is that we were (finally, finally, finally) able to treat Dr. A to a dinner and a few pints and talk in an even more informal way than we normally do. We talked for 2/3 hours in a pub called the Kings Arms...and we finally started to answer what I think is THE question about global climate change: how can/should we adapt? This touches on OUR (the West) responsibility to repay the social costs of past emission levels. It involves imposing (or not? do we have the right?) limits on Indian and Chinese industrialization. What is our responsibility to developing economies who may have more pressing priorities than limiting carbon emissions? How do we incorporate development and a greener lifestyle? A systemic paradigm shift may be what's required, but that is VERY unlikely. An international mandate limiting carbon emissions will not be effective or likely feasible (think Kyoto) without enforceability and global participation. Waiting for consumer demand to stimulate change will take to long. So what's to be done? I still don't see a clear answer to that question, and I don't think Dr. A does either. It's a hell of a task for my generation, but I'll cling (as the hopeless idealist) to the idea that we will innovate and somehow rise to the occasion.

Well, WHEW. I still have so much to think about. Sorry to drag you all through that long rant! I know I'm a bit biased, but this issue seems like THE fundamental issue for the coming century. Climate issues lie at the foundation of many of the key issues of our time. Not to give you all more reading than this dreadful blog, but if you have a minute, I recommend you check this out:

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2008/08/07/Sternreport.pdf

It gives you an idea of the potential impacts of climate change with varying changes in global mean surface temperature.

Ok, I am going to make myself stop. I've got some wandering and packing to do. I'll post one more time before I head off to Canterbury and Dover, and then back to HOT Clemson.

Can't wait to see you all soon!

Love,
Emily

Trip to Glastonbury, Wells, and... a PEAT BOG.

Two posts in one day - NOT BAD!

Yesterday I went on a mini field excursion. We drove through Bath, Glastonbury, walked around Wells and went too... a PEAT BOG. As always, the pictures aren't really in order... one of these days I'll figure out how Blogspot works..

Replica of a Bronze Age house. These would be built in the marsh in the surrounding areas on platforms made of logs. Pretty impressive..


Inside the Bronze Age house. Thatched roof, pagan symbols, smoking fire. You could really sense what it would have been like thousands of years ago.


Self explanatory... but hilarious. This was on a bench in Wells.


This is the Bishop's Palace in Wells. To one-up Bath and retain a powerful religious position in the UK, the city of Wells built a MASSIVE cathedral and palace for the bishop. The palace is mostly in ruins now, but beautiful nonetheless.


Wells Cathedral! One of the most impressive I've seen.


Roof in the Chapter House. There used to be gorgeous stained glass in the room, but Henry VIII's gang destroyed it all.


Doesn't look like much, but THIS is a quagmire. Beware. We were marching around the marshes near Glastonbury and nearly fell in one of these.

PEAT! Peat preserves great geological records. Peat bogs in particular are known for preserving the skin and organs of humans and animals, but dissolving the bones. This marsh has been inhabited for thousands of years. Neolithic people built miles and miles of pathways through the marsh, which are now being preserved and studied by scientists in the area.

Really great excursion... saw more of this beautiful country!

Love,
Emily

Glasgow... some pictures at least..

Hello!!

Only 3/4 more days in Oxford. I'm turning in my final essay tomorrow, giving a closing seminar, and then I'm off... :(

First, it's a SMALL world:

This was in the Kelvin Grove museum in Glasgow... I started cracking up when I saw this. Sounds like Bob Jones has a decent museum, gotta' go! Could be a richer cultural experience than going to Glasgow.


City Chambers in the middle of the city. Just behind me there was a huge market with amazing fresh cheese, pastries, meats, etc..


Again, photos are out of order, but this is the Kelvin Grove museum from the outside.


And from the inside...


Hahaha, so according to Jonathan, Glasgow is the most dangerous city in the developed world (seriously). I thought this picture of a typical Glaswegian street pretty much summed that up. (not so typical, but pretty sketchy looking)

So there are some pictures, more to come!

Love,
Emily

Home, SWEET Home

I'm back after a nine hour overnight bus ride across the UK. I know I promised pictures, but Jonathan took most of them, so I've got to wait for him to upload them all and send them my way. Anyway, Glasgow was GREAT!

First, Jonathan's family is GREAT! They were incredibly hospitable, feed me, and even took me out to a restaurant called the Roasted Bubbly Jock (sounds awful, NOT... it was a traditional Scottish restaurant...finally ate haggis, and loved it).

On day one Jonathan gave me a tour of the city. It's not as old as Oxford, more industrialized, modern.. That night we went to a party at the Glasgow Art School, which apparently is world famous... the people there were RIDICULOUSLY well-dressed.. very vintage high-fashion stuff.. and me in my jeans. I felt pretty classy anyway just to be a part of it.

On Friday we did some more sight seein'.. stopped by the Museum of Transport and a great art museum. That night I went out with some of Jonathan's friends to a flat-leaving party. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, there was a guy there who studied at Clemson two years ago.. didn't know Jonathan.. the whole thing was completely random. For you Clemson folk, he was a friend of Arnaud the Belgian. Smallll world.

Saturday I experienced something magical: Scottish football (soccer). Ok, my goal was to avoid profanity in this blog, but there are some cheers I've got to share with you. The rivalry between the Glasgow Rangers (my team for the day, Protestant folk) and their main rivals the Celtics (yes, Irish, Catholic...you get the picture) goes back 400+ years. The game I went to was Rangers versus Liverpool, and apparently this team has some connections with the Celtics... So unlike back home, this rivalry includes nationality, religion, politics, and sports... which is why there have been many deaths post-game, and why there is a ban on sectarian chants in the arena. To share some of the Glaswegian chants:
(and I really apologize for this, but I think it's an incredibly interesting part of this culture...)
Song including (sorry, sorry, sorry) 'F*&% the Pope and the IRA'
and a chant of thousands screaming 'WE ARE THE PEOPLE'
Ok, there were some others, but I guess you get the idea! Sadly, the Rangers lost, but it was one heck of an experience anyway..

That evening Jonathan's family came over (aunts, uncles, gma) for a BBQ, so I got to hear some incredible Scottish accents. After that, we went to hear a band called Ratatat play downtown.. Glasgow is really famous for its music scene...and this band was beyond brilliant. They had video and lights to go with lyric-less music.

Sunday we were pretty tired, but managed to make it out to the Burell Collection, which is a museum in a park which holds the life acquisitions of Robert Burell, a rich industrialist. We saw gorgeous tapestries, Degas, Manet, ancient Chinese art.. really great place.

Now, I've just gotten back to Oxford after another 9 hr. bus ride... going to try to struggle through the day and get some work done, we'll see... :)!!

Pictures to come soon!!

Love,
Emily

Cotswolds!

Today we took a day trip around the Cotswolds, a region near Oxford. This is where Mom and Dad went when they were here.. really picturesque, with ancient houses, lots of thatched roofs, rolling hills of barley and wheat.. beautiful place. This day trip was on Medieval houses, so we visited an old castle, Broughton Castle, which is still inhabited by a noble family... in fact, Lady Saye and Sele, the lady of the house, came and talked to us as a group! Apparently she knows Dr. Addison. When we were leaving the house, her nephews were playing cricket on the lawn.. incredible that these people are living in a house made in the 1300s!

These pictures are a bit out of order, so I'll get back to Broughton Castle in a minute. This is Minster Lovell Hall. Historically, the Lords of Lovell have played important roles in British gvt. One was even referenced in Shakespeare. Unfortunately, their manor is in ruins today, but it was still neat to imagine what it would have been like.

Here it is, Minster Lovell Hall! This is about 30 min from Oxford.

More of the ruins.. this is part of an old staircase..

Hahaha, thought this guy was HILARIOUS. Mustache. I'm going to say this guy came over fresh from Normandy.


Ok, back to Broughton Castle. This is the Great Hall, and the oldest part of the castle. This is where the Lady met us and told us a bit about the castle's history. Since her husband is a lord, he is in the House of Lords, though he's pretty old, so he stays here mostly. Today we saw him out in the garden sipping tea while working on a book he's writing. Life's hard.

View from the gardens.

This felt very Jane Austen-esque... you can just imagine rich ladies sitting here reading books alllll day and drinking tea. There was a harp in the corner and tons of old books.

We were able to climb up to the roof of the castle...and THIS was the view!! Beautiful gardens!

Well, tonight around 9 I head to London and then I'm over-night busing it to Glasgow! I'm going to be exhausted tomorrow FOR SURE, but I think I'll get an adrenaline boost from being in Scotland! I'll try and limit the pictures I take, but I'm sure there will be some good ones to post!

I'll be back Monday, so expect a post then!

Love,
Emily

Procrastination... in blog form.

Tonight is going to be a loonnng night of essaying, but I thought a little pre-essay blogging would help to kick start my writing...

This is the last and most exciting essay... Essay IV (dun dun dunnnn). This is the essay where we finally get to address the geopolitical and economic aspects of global climate change. Since we're all business/econ/polysci folk back home we have been drooling over this essay since week one. The problem is that its such a broad topic that we all feel a bit overwhelmed. I've been looking at policy recommendations by the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change), as my specific topic is about the gap between the severity of the global climate change problem and what's being done.

On that note, one of the VP's of BP (British Petroleum, Beyond Petroleum, or as Dr. A says, Beyond Prayer) came to talk to us today about the company's innovation strategies. If any of you have seen 'Thank You for Smoking,' that's how this guy was. I swear that guy could sell ANYTHING. He was uber-charming, and somehow avoided answering all of the controversial questions we threw at him while making everyone laugh. A true politician. It was a VERY interesting presentation, especially because I was able to witness a smaller scale of a FUNDAMENTAL debate which needs to take place globally: green left-wing intellectual vs. oil exec. Perfect. To be fair, BP is doing a bit to invest in green energies, but this guy was saying it's just not cost effective for them to do so until oil prices hit around $120 a barrel. Makes you think...higher oil prices might be just what we need to make people STOP consuming at such high levels and to kick these giant companies in the butt to get them to start investing in greener energy sources. Something I didn't realize was that the 'big six' oil companies (Exxon, Shell, BP, etc..) only make up 13% of the global oil industry. Pretty much everything else comes from OPEC... The BP guy was saying how the new economic stimulus package which Bush so kindly gave to the American public has ended up in the hands of the Saudis (we spend money on their fuel)... that's 1.2 TRILLION (with a T, TRILLION) dollars.. Something is wrong here. Dr. Addison pointed out that we are brilliantly letting HUGE reserves in Canada sit, so that if and when things get politically heated up, we can access resources on our doorstep. With the cornbelt moving into Canada and Canada's access to the North West passage (soon to open b/c of melting ice), Ol' Canada may be the next super power.. anything is possible, huh?

So another overwhelming day... the more we dig into global climate issues, the more we realize how interdependent everything is.. and how its impossible to fix. As Dr. A says, its no longer a question of IF global climate change is happening, its a question of WHEN, WHERE, and by HOW MUCH. Hopefully the political lag wont be so long that it costs millions of lives and billions of dollars...

On that happy note, I'm off to write.

Love,
Emily

HELLO PRINCE!

Haha, OK, ok, I said no more posts, but I have to mention last night's dinner. On Monday nights we have formal in-hall dinner. Normally we see some sort of presentation before dinner (we've had Hautbois musicians, an old prof who studied wildlife in Africa, Shakespeare in film prof, etc...). LAST NIGHT we had two of the Shakespeare tutors for the summer school put on a little play about life as an acting troupe back in Shakespeare's time. They had a guest actor who specialized in stage fighting. GUESS WHO THAT ACTOR WAS!? Ok, this probably won't be a big deal for most of you...sigh... but for the Burchfield family, the magnificent films he acted in are fundamental parts of our lives.. in fact, I couldn't imagine my childhood without them. HE WAS THE ORIGINAL PRICE CASPIAN in the old BBC Narnia series. Ok, for me that was big. When they announced who he was, 98% of the people were like, OK, get on with it... but myself and one other girl started flipping out. Hahaha, just had to share that! OK, essay time.

Essays galore...

Well. looks like I will be writing essays until Wednesday, which is when I'll head to Glasgow. I hope to make a post next Wed...

Love,
E

More Excursion Pics...

Pictures from the excursion have been flooding in on Facebook, and there were some pretty good ones I thought I'd share. It's a nice break from studying... on that note, if anyone knows where I can find information on storm surges in the Outer Banks, LET ME KNOW!! :)



Here I am coming out of the Bronze Age Copper Mines... I'm not claustrophobic but I had a few moments down here. We were a line of 20 people marching through narrow, low tunnels carved by BONES and ROCKS 4,000 years ago.. so the minimum amount of space possible was carved out here. The tunnels are literally where the veins of malachite used to run. My mind was blown... first, how the heck did they dig these tunnels (some were so small, clearly 4-5 year olds had to dig them), and second, how the heck did they figure out that they could grind up the malachite they found and burn it using charcoal to make copper. !?!


On a lighter, more SPACIOUS note... this is the Great Hall of Caerffili Castle! My friend tagged this on facebook as Emilia Regina...ER, like Elizabeth I... CLEVER. I'll take it.


Here's a group shot so you can see some of the faces I've been talking about. Most of these students are from Michigan (hear that gpa?? :) ) The two next to me (Kevin in blue, Curtis in green) are Environmental students. It's really a great group.


Group shot! 23 (maybe?) of us went on the excursion, but I think like 32 are in the program.


Typical me and Dr. Addision interaction.. he definitely uses the Socratic method to painfully pull information out of us. He always says we know a hell of a lot more than we admit too.. much of what we are studying involves a bit of background knowledge and then lots of logic and common sense... sigh... unfortunately, we all still leave class feeling like we need to read another 20 books before next class. This site was really interesting.. we are standing in a valley filled with these big boulders. Surrounding the valley are rolling hills with no boulders. How did the boulders get there? There's no river or water source present to move the boulders...

Turns out melting permafrost slid the boulders into their present location... that in combo with farmers attempting to roll them out of their pastures. Anyway, that gives you an idea of the type of sites we were looking at and the approach we were taking...

Ok, that about sums up the excursion. This week I have to finish two essays, because I am heading to Glasgow for 5 days over the weekend (ok, I am stretching out the weekend a bit). Next week is our last week... which is pretty darn sad. I'll think about that all later..

Love,
E

Wales!

Hey all!

Just got back from a 5-day field excursion in Wales. We were studying the development of British landscapes. VERY interesting... we saw and learned a lot. I figure the best way to share it all is pictures, so:So these are a bit out of order (historically and in terms of the trip), BUT this is the first IRON bridge built in the world (1779). It's become the symbol of the start of the Industrial Rev. Interestingly enough, we also visited (and went waaayyy underground) a BRONZE AGE copper mine where ancient people carved elaborate tunnels (miles) with animal bones (!!) to mine and smelt iron. With increasing evidence of mines like this one, historians are beginning to re-think human innovation and its impact on the environment. The charcoal required to smelt iron/copper comes from forests... millions of trees. Human impact may be far more extensive than post-Industrial Revolution after all...


This is the famous Caernarfon Castle!!! It was built by Edward I around 1283. Since around that time the Prince of Wales (today, it's Charles) has been crowned in this castle.

Hah, ok two things here. First, the Welsh flag. The people of Wales are very proud.. they speak a different language, have a distinct history, and a successful Rugby team (apparently this keeps anti-English hostility alive). Second, we stayed in an inn called the 'Black Boy Inn.' Ok, as a southerner, I am taught that this isn't done... BUT apparently, this 'black boy' was the first African to make it to Wales back in the 1400s.


Might as well put the best first... we spent 2-3 hours climbing a mountain in Snowdonia. This valley was carved by glaciers... It was covered in giant boulders dropped by the sliding ice, and the remnants of the ice can still be seen (lake!). Darwin came here before and after his Beagle voyage. Before he studied the flora and fauna, noted the boulders and some strange lines in the mountain-side, but made nothing of it. After the Beagle voyage, after he had seen glaciers and glacial valleys, he came back and pieced together the history of this valley.

This is part of a dune system on the coast of Wales (near Barmouth). The dunes are fairly new. Part of our assignment was to date the dunes... We actually used this ancient church which had gravestones partially covered by the dunes to guess their arrival (c. 1350) Geologically, the dunes are fairly new and are absolutely essential to the new tourist industry which has developed in this part of Wales. Ironically, this tourist industry is slowly eroding the dunes... Dr. A estimates that soon, between the anthropogenic erosion and rising sea levels, this area will be underwater.

View of Barmoth Harbor, which opens into the Irish Sea!

One of many Edward I castles we saw in Wales. To control rebels in the mountains of Snowdonia and to access grain supplies, Edward I built 9 (maybe more?) castles around the coast of Wales. This is Caerffili Castle. The name of the castle, Caerffili, give you a taste of how bizarre Welsh is. It's a Celtic language... and actually is related to Catalan in Spain.



Avesbury Stones. A bit like Stonehenge, only a MILE in circumference. The landscape is chalk (you can see the white color on the path). Just like Stonehenge, the purpose of these stones is unknown. A town is actually INSIDE of this henge.

This was taken INSIDE (!?!?) of a Bronze Age burial mound. It's on the top of a hill in the middle of farmland... there's a small entrance behind a boulder and a few chambers where bodies used to be.


This is still in the area near Avesbury and the burial mound. This is actually a GIANT mound which is the largest Neolithic structure in Europe. Because this landscape is chalk, when the mound was originally made, it was bright white, and could be seen for 600 km in all directions. Dr. A was saying it was a bit like an ancient version of a neon sign.


This is Tintern Abbey, founded by Cistercian monks in the 1200s. The Cistercian monks (google these guys) owned absurd amounts of land before Henry VIII destroyed them all. This abbey is in ruins, but honestly, that made it incredibly dramatic. It is in a valley with a huge river flowing through. I was telling Dr. A how it looked a bit like the Appalachian mountains back home and he told me that this part of Wales used to be attached to the Appalachian mtns (a few billion years ago) so the rocks, landscapes, and even plants are very similar!

Sorry these pics are a bit out of order, but that BRIEFLY sums up the field excursion. Seeing how human-impact has fundamentally changed this landscape was eye-opening. Unlike back home, the hills and mountains (as you may have noticed in the pics) are not covered in trees. This is NOT natural. This is because of centuries (millenia?) of deforestation and grazing (3/1 sheep human ratio here). It's definitely making me think.......

I've got two essays to work on this weekend, so I wont be posting much/at all... The essays are getting pretty exciting.. we are dealing with international mitigation to ATTEMPT to lessen the impacts of climate change. It's a bit terrifying... it's going to be a huge problem for my generation.. but older politicians are still ignoring it. Political rants aside, I am so glad I chose to study this. It's making me re-think economics and development, and honestly, my high-impact lifestyle.

Whew, sorry about these loopy rants.. It's been a long and incredible 5 days.. but I've got to attempt to sleep tonight for a Bodleian-filled tomorrow.

LOVE,
E

The other place ain't that bad.

Ok. OOOOK. Cambridge was gorgeous. The students from the US there are staying in Kings College, which is like the BIG DEAL college there...like Christs Church at Oxford. BEAUTIFUL!!! But, mwahaha, they don't have Bodleian library cards.. So I think the Oxbridge competition is silly-- both places are absurdly gorgeous, fulllll of history, and dripping with intelligence. We had an amazing time there.. we stayed in the room of an American student in Paris for the weekend. A lot of the students there are living IN Kings College (WOW) in ancient rooms.. IN FACT (emotional, all of you Econ people will love this) we had a party under the room where KEYNES lived while he was at Kings. I had a moment. I went and touched the door...thought about fiscal policy. WOW...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Other famous Cambridge grads are Isaac Newton (the descendant of the original apple tree is said to still be in Trinity), Francis Bacon, NINE prime ministers, and THIRTY ONE Nobel Prize winners. Crazy.


This is a Trinity College, founded by the infamous Henry VIII (the statue above the door)! He is supposed to have a scepter in his hand, but students replaced it with a table leg in the early 1900s and no one changed it back.



This, THIS, is Kings College...this cathedral was phenomenal inside (see pic below)...the Americans live to the other side of the cathedral.


This is the front of Kings College, where you enter the quad. Since we were staying with people inside, we could walk past the tourists and hang out INSIDE the college. At night, we went to the Kings College bar, with all these well-dressed Kings College-ians sipping Pimms and fine wine.

WOOO!! Since Chris (in black) was studying at Kings for the summer, we were able to sit on our own private river bank and watch the punters go by. Probably one of the best-spent afternoons of my life.

Bachelorette punt. Why not?


Hahahaha, this was the best part...watching all of the tourists crash into one another... the later in the afternoon/evening it got, the drunker all of the punters got... so by 7/8 we saw some great collisions.

Yes, watching punting was goood fun. :) This guy was a pro.

The Round Church, built by the Knights Templars in the 1200s..ooooh


Wow, this is the inside of the Kings College Cathedral. GASP. At night when we were walking through the quad we heard angelic (not an exaggeration) music floating out of the cathedral. The Cambridge Orchestra was performing Brahms. We sat for an hour or so just listening to this incredibly beautiful music drift out of this ancient building with a view of the Kings College Quad. Again, one of the best moments of my life.

Well, Cambridge was good to us, but it's good to be back. Tonight we have a BBQ on our quad, and then I've gotta start on the essay I've been avoiding. This one is about coastal sea level rise and its impacts on Bangladesh, San Fran, the Thames, and the Outerbanks of the Carolinas (interesting since we go to the beach near there every year).

I'll let you know what I discover!
Love,
Emily