In 2024, a critical water line in Calgary abruptly burst forcing the city to immediately impose water restrictions on its citizens. While eventually resolved, it drew attention to the vital importance of water to our livelihood whether to feed us, suppress fires, or enable our industries. One person who has been deeply invested in understanding the water systems in Alberta is Tricia Stadnyk, a professor and Canada research chair in Hydrological Modeling with the University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering. She is examining how climate change will impact our water systems in an effort to help us anticipate and prepare for a rapidly changing future.
[A lot of people tell me] you can’t rely on a model because there’s too much uncertainty. Well you wouldn’t have a bridge, a water crossing, or a dam or any kind of engineered water system without a model behind it. – Tricia Stadnyk
In Human Learning Ecology, we’re interested in how we, as humans, develop the ability to look ahead especially at systemic levels. So we reached out to Tricia to find out more about her work in developing models and how they help us make sense of large complex systems so we can take action. Take a listen to this timely interview between host Chris Hsiung and Tricia Stadnyk.
The Interview
Episode Outline
- How disasters bring heightened awareness to the systems we depend on and how in other regions this is more built into their culture
- What is involved in dealing with a water main break versus a drought?
- Risk calculations and social perception of risk
- Fear, urgency and time scales in emergency responses
- The role of modelling in predicting disasters and responses
- The process of design and infrastructure engineering
- Public perception of climate change, misinformation and science skepticism
- Society can only address climate change when it’s actually reflected in our deepest values about who we are and how we live, and is part of our philosophical belief system
Guest Recommendations
“Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water” by Marc Reisner; Penguin Books, 1993. It’s a classic book that gives a fascinating historical account of the development of access to water supply across the American Midwest in desert places like Las Vegas.
“Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water” by Maude Barlow; The New Press, 2005. This book opened my eyes to the fact that the root of almost all global conflict is water.
Blue Gold: World Water Wars by Samuel Vartek; Purple Turtle Films, 2010.
“Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants” by Robin Wall Kimmerer; Milkweed Editions, 2015. A book that really highlights that we are part of the environmental system and that we depend on the ecosystem for our survival.
Skeptical Science: getting skeptical about global warming skepticism. This is a website for a global non-profit organization where scientists work to debunk climate misinformation and explain the techniques of science denial.
Credits
- Guest: Tricia Stadnyk
- Producer: Chris Hsiung
- Associate Producer: Dana Penrice
- Audio Mix: Nathanael Wilsher
- Human Venture Institute (humanventure.com) 2024
Email your comments, questions and ideas to podcast@humanventure.com or Ask Me Anything on http://humanventure.supercast.com/
Follow Us
Get notified when we have new interviews, articles, or resources exploring human learning across a diversity of disciplines. Sign up for our newsletter. You can also explore our back catalog of interviews here.