SEVEN YEARS TO SAVE THE PLANET, Says Prof Bill Maguire of UCL Hazard Research Centre

[dawn hilton]

WE HAVE TO ACT NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

When such experts tell it to 'US' straight like this, surely we have a duty as artists to make a noise about it and try through our art create a difference?

I would just like you to take a moment out and read Bill Maguire's letter statement to me.

I hope I can get artists behind me and Galleries too help make a difference to our planet.


Hi Dawn,

Please find my supporting statement attached.

Sorry for the delay.

Best wishes
Bill


Climate change is here and happening now. Each and every one of us in the developed world must shoulder some of the blame for the greatest threat to our planet and civilisation, and each and every one of us must act now to do whatever we can to prevent our children and their children facing the awful reality of environmental degradation, economic breakdown and social chaos. Carbon Footprints in Art is a brilliant way of reinforcing the fact that cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the size of our carbon footprints needs to be integrated into all aspects of our lives, and as such must be part of the cultural, as well as the scientific and political, landscape. I urge all artists to join the project, and to donate a small part of their sales to green initiatives that will help to mitigate climate change, and encourage everyone else to view these wonderful works of art, put their hands in their pockets, and do their bit to ensure that our descendents inherit a world worth living in.

Professor Bill McGuire is Director of the Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre at University College London. His new book, SEVEN YEARS TO SAVE THE PLANET, is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson.


http://www.benfieldhrc.org/people/cvs/cv_bm.htm

PS My new climate change book - SEVEN YEARS TO SAVE THE PLANET - is


published today.






Home Contact us Gallery Site Map Resource Centre Search
About us People News Publications Education & Training Events
Management Staff | Disaster Studies & Management | Geological Hazards | Geotechnical Hazards | Insurance Issues | Climate Extremes | inTERRAgate
Bill McGuire


Specialisation


Volcanology, volcanic hazards, global geophysical events, geological consequences of climate change
Research interests Geodetic monitoring of active volcanoes; volcano instability and collapse; volcanoes and environmental change; volcanic hazards and their mitigation; volcanic emergency protocols and procedures; low frequency-high magnitude geophysical hazards.

Telephone
[phone]

Fax
[phone]
Email [e-mail]

Short curriculum vitae
Bill McGuire is the Director of the Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre. He is author or editor of over 400 books, papers and articles focusing on volcano instability and monitoring, volcanic hazards, natural hazards and environmental change, climate change and global geophysical events. He has worked on or visited volcanoes all over the world, including Mount Etna, Rabaul and Ulawun (PNG), Pinatubo and Ta’al (Philippines), and Soufriere Hills (Montserrat).

Bill has held the positions of UK National Correspondent of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, and Secretary of the UK Panel of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. He has been a council member of the Geological Society and in 1996 was Senior Scientist at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution and a member of the RI’s Science Media Panel. He is currently on the editorial boards of three journals: Disasters, Acta Vulcanologica and Volcanology & Seismology. Bill was a member of the Natural Hazards Working Group established by the UK Government in January 2005, in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami, to work towards an Intergovernmental Science Panel on Extreme Hazards.

Bill's recent work has focused on the instability and collapse of volcanoes, volcanic risk and insurance, the potential impact of global geophysical events – about which he has briefed the All-parliamentary Group on the Earth Sciences - and the hazard implications of climate change. His most recent academic texts are: Natural Hazards and Environmental Change published in 2002 by Arnold and the World Atlas of Natural Hazards, also published by Arnold in August 2004. At UCL, Bill is director of the unique postgraduate certificate course, Natural Hazards for Insurers and instigator and deputy course director of a Masters programme in Geophysical Hazards.

Bill is a member of the Association of British Science Writers, a regular contributor to The Guardian newspaper, New Scientist, and BBC Focus magazine, and is on the editorial board of the latter. He has also written – amongst many other publications - for the Sunday Times, the Mail on Sunday, Geographical, Prospect, and Society Today. His popular science books include Apocalypse: a natural history of global disasters, Raging Planet: earthquakes, volcanoes and the tectonic threat to life on Earth, and A Guide to the End of the World: everything you never wanted to know (re-issued as Global Catastrophes: a very short introduction). In November 2005, he gave the prestigious Natural History Museum Annual Science Lecture. Bill is a much called-upon TV and radio pundit whenever a natural catastrophe strikes. He was heavily involved and appeared in two of the most popular programmes in the BBC2 Horizon series: Supervolcano and Megatsunami, and was the focus of the Carlton First Edition programme: Disasterman. He has also presented two series on BBC Radio 4, Disasters in Waiting and Scientists under Pressure, and a series of shorts for Channel 5 and Sky News Channel on End of the World scenarios. He was Chief Consultant for the major BBC science drama, Supervolcano, and was one of the key subjects of the highly rated Channel 4 ‘docudrama’, Krakatoa, and the award-winning The Wave that Shook the World, about the Asian tsunami. His latest books are - Surviving Armageddon: solutions for a threatened planet, published in June 2005, and Global Catastrophes: a very short introduction, published in January 2006. His new book, What Everyone Should Know about the Future of Our Planet, and what we can do about it, will be published in May 2007.
Recent publications


McGuire, W. J. 2006 Global risk from extreme geophysical events: threat identification and assessment. In: Huppert, H. E. & Sparks, R. S. J. (eds) Extreme Natural Hazards. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A., 364, 1889 – 1909.

McGuire, W. J. 2006 Lateral collapse and tsunamigenic potential of marine volcanoes. In: Troise, C., De Natale, G. and Kilburn, C. R. J. (eds) Mechanisms of Activity and Unrest at Large Calderas. Special Publication of the Geological Society 269, 121 - 140

Keating, B. H. & McGuire, W. J. 2004 Instability and Structural Failure at Volcanic Ocean Islands and the Climate Change Dimension. Advances in Geophysics 47, 95 - 147.

McGuire, W. J., Burton, P., Kilburn, C. R. J. and Willetts, O. 2004 World Atlas of Natural Hazards. Hodder Arnold. London. 128 pp.

McGuire, W. J. 2003 Volcano instability and lateral collapse. Revista 1, 33-45.

McGuire, W. J., Day, S. J. & Kilburn, C. R. J. 2002 Volcanogenic landslides. In: Landslide risk mitigation and protection of cultural and natural heritage. UNESCO/Tokyo University, p691-750.

McGuire, W. J., Mason, I. M. and Kilburn, C. R. J. 2002 Natural Hazards and Environmental Change. Hodder Arnold. London. 193 pp.

Keating, B. H. & McGuire, W. J. 2000 Island edifice failure and associated tsunami hazards. Pure and Applied Geophysics 157, 899-955.

[dawn hilton]

I would just like to thank Bill for his support on my project and Online Art Gallery, with the support of people like Bill, It really does make you realise that 'WE' all Must take this project extremely Serious.

His kindness has prompted me to decide that I too want to give my life to trying to make a difference.

Bill has worked so hard in his field and without Bill's work and knowledge, we would not have his warning now.

My difference will be in my art, it is my voice, heaven knows I'm not good with words, but I can paint and I can make a noise when I have too.

Lets 'US' all Unite as one and make a noise about how 'WE' can all make a difference, lets link together and make a Strong Chain Of Hope.


May peace be with all of you and thank YOU all for participating.

Dawn.x

If anyone would like to contact me direct, please do on

[e-mail]