Elizabeth Hameeteman (Boston, MA, USA): Pipe Dreams: Desalination and the Promise of Unlimited Water and Power in the 1950s and 1960s

Zeit: 19-21 Uhr | Online

Vortrag von Elizabeth Hameeteman (Boston, MA, USA) im Berlin-Brandenburger Colloquium (BBC) für Umweltgeschichte im Wintersemester 2021/22

Veranstalter des BBC für Umweltgeschichte:
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU Berlin) in Kooperation mit dem Leibniz-Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung (ZZF Potsdam)
Organisation: Dr. Jan-Henrik Meyer (ZZF Potsdam), Dr. Astrid M. Kirchhof (HU Berlin)

Abstract:
In 1967, at the International Conference on Water for Peace, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson warned of water scarcity: “How can we awaken the world’s people and the world’s leaders to this urgent task?” he asked. “If this is the problem now, what will the future bring?” More than fifty years later, we still need answers. But at that moment, a loosely allied group of international scientists, politicians, and officials firmly believed in the potential of desalination as a localized solution to a global problem, and constituted examples of the midcentury “hydronaut”: a person who considered existing water scarcity as one of the most important impediments to future economic growth and prosperity, and approached the quest for water with a sharp sense of mission. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, hydronauts in the United States, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Chile, the United Kingdom, and within the United Nations system considered desalination as a new and innovative strategy to achieve interrelated policy objectives, all with the ultimate goal of creating a new source of fresh water free of the constraints imposed by water variability and availability, and able to compete with more conventional sources of supply. By uncovering how such hydronauts imagined the potential of desalination, and tried to jumpstart its widespread adoption, this research complicates and adds additional layers to understandings of the development era.

Short Bio:
Elizabeth Hameeteman is a doctoral candidate in History at Boston University and has recently submitted her thesis. Her research interests include sustainable development, environmental law and policy, and all things water. Originally from the Netherlands and now based in Berlin, she has a background in Law and American Studies. Elizabeth is also the Executive Editor and Founder of Environmental History Now, an online platform that showcases the environmental-related work and expertise of graduate students and early career scholars who identify as women, trans and non binary people.