0.000 2.380 2.400 3.910 3.930 5.800 5.820 7.850 7.870 9.320 9.340 12.450 12.470 15.60 15.80 16.730 16.750 19.770 19.790 21.930 21.950 24.80 24.100 26.310 26.330 28.570 28.590 31.590 31.610 34.680 34.700 36.550 36.570 38.130 38.150 41.400 41.420 47.60 47.80 48.320 48.340 52.220 52.240 53.770 53.790 55.170 55.190 58.570 58.590 61.610 61.630 63.720 63.740 69.720 69.740 72.650 72.670 74.980 75.0 78.120 78.140 81.290 81.310 84.530 84.550 88.230 88.250 90.500 90.520 92.770 92.790 94.960 94.980 98.240 98.260 101.50 101.70 102.460 102.480 104.990 105.100 109.900 109.920 113.590 113.610 118.250 118.270 120.950 120.970 123.40 123.60 124.540 124.560 127.280 127.300 129.80 129.100 130.980 131.0 132.510 132.530 134.350 134.370 137.990 138.10 141.460 141.480 143.720 143.740 144.960 144.980 148.120 148.140 151.940 151.960 153.680 153.700 155.410 155.430 159.880 159.900 161.740 161.760 164.350 164.370 167.580 167.600 172.120 172.140 174.110 174.130 180.530 180.550 183.130 183.150 185.480 185.500 186.860 186.880 189.40 189.60 190.970 190.990 193.610 193.630 195.840 195.860 199.770 199.790 202.120 202.140 210.200 210.220 213.420 213.440 214.370 214.390 215.410 215.430 218.300 218.320 221.20 221.40 224.250 224.270 226.480 226.500 229.880 229.900 231.620 231.640 235.10 235.30 236.830 236.850 239.520 239.540 241.770 241.790 244.970 244.990 251.280 251.300 253.730 253.750 256.30 256.50 260.970 260.990 263.760 263.780 267.740 267.760 273.80 273.100 275.750 275.770 278.900 278.920 282.920 282.940 285.170 285.190 287.780 287.800 290.330 290.350 291.600 291.620 292.880 292.900 295.80 295.100 296.980 297.0 300.380 300.400 303.120 303.140 309.380 309.400 313.770 313.790 316.650 316.670 318.850 318.870 322.970 322.990 326.710 326.730 329.610 329.630 333.780 333.800 337.710 337.730 339.960 339.980 342.300 342.320 346.530 346.550 349.260 349.280 351.990 352.10 355.650 355.670 358.290 358.310 360.440 360.460 363.680 363.700 365.880 365.900 367.810 367.830 372.420 372.440 380.260 380.280 383.480 383.500 389.
Hello, My name is Larry Silverman. I'm an environmental attorney and a part-time professor of environmental law and policy at Johns Hopkins University here in Washington D.C.
The eBook you are about to experience, and I hope participate in, was a product of a quite extraordinary class that I had the privilege of teaching recently. It was an online class with an international scope. We had twelve students from Nepal eleven of whom participated from Kathmandu, and five Americans and one Ghanaian, who participated from all parts of the United States.
The theme of the class was comparative environmental law. How does Nepal deal with the same problems that we deal with here in the United States. Obviously the countries are incredibly different; but what I found is that the forestry and law students from Nepal had a lot in common with my master's degree students here in the U.S. And the problems they faced, whether it was global warming, or flooding, or management of watersheds, or protection of forests, were so similar and yet so different. It was very exciting to convene a dialogue of young people, young professionals from different parts of the globe, different cultures, different religions, and different points of view.
One of the exercises in the class was a requirement that each student develop a question, or a few questions, on the subject of watersheds which would be posed to one of America's greatest experts in water quality and water management, Dr. Ben Grumbles, who attempts to answer these questions.
The questions were presented to Dr. Grumbles by Deepika Shrestha, who is Nepali and who was living in the United States at the time. This is a very thoughtful dialogue about a most difficult subject. We are divided in this world in many ways. But the world itself is divided into watersheds. And sometimes our divisions, whether ethnic or political or historical, just don't measure up --- are not commensurate with -- the watersheds we live in.
And yet what happens downstream is really a function of what happens upstream. That is one of the great environmental dilemmas we face on this earth today. And it's really the central question that's addressed in the dialogue you're about to participate in.viii
In addition to the questions and the answers, we have inserted videos and references to help put some meat on the bones: to see how some of these abstract questions and notions really translate into people’s lives and to actual water systems and actual human attempts to deal with very pressing problems.
viii
This eBook grew out of a learning environment provided very generously by Johns Hopkins University But Johns Hopkins is not responsible for this book, does not own this book, does not endorse this book. But the authors are grateful the University for the conditions of learning that allowed a book like this to be created.
I am also grateful also to our publisher, KnowledgeRealm and to Ken Kenworthy, who is responsible for so much of the technical and a great deal of content of this book. The students we will recognize in the text accompanying the book. And the many contributors, the YouTube videos, and other videos that we've included, will also be acknowledged and recognized
This eBook is not meant to be a static document. I believe teachers could use the segments of this book to drive home lessons, to develop questions sets, to add materials and notes. And that's just what we want to encourage.
It's very exciting to be living in an online world. Ken Kenworthy and I have worked hard to find a technology platform that could make this book available to the widest possible audience around the globe. These young folks who have so much in common and such a passion for some of the same things would probably never have gotten together, never have exchanged ideas and views had it not been for the wonderful technology we share today.
The author of this book is a nonprofit charitable organization called Friends of Prakriti. Prakriti is the Nepalese word for nature. The mission is to empower young professionals to address emerging environmental problems and challenges, particularly in the developing world; and to foster dialogue between Americans and their counterparts, not just in Nepal, but in countries across the world that are struggling with such new circumstances, and such challenging, even frightening circumstances, when it comes to our natural environment.ix
All proceeds from the book will benefit the Friends of Prakriti. Our hope is that this book will be an important step in fostering dialogues of this sort, which I think will help us immeasurably in addressing successfully the problems we face in our generation.
Thank You.
Larry J. Silverman
Takoma Park, MD
2015