Giulio Boc­caletti, honorary research associate at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the Univer­sity of Oxford, combines environmental and social history as he relates the long, complex and deeply political history of water. Beginning with the earliest civ­ilizations of sedentary farmers on the banks of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates Rivers, he describes in Water: A Biography  how these societies were made possible by sea-level changes from the last glacial melt, incisively examining how this type of farming led to irrigation and multiple cropping, which, in turn, led to a population explosion and labor specialization. We see with clarity how irrigation’s structure informed social structure (inventions such as the calendar sprung from agricultural necessity); how in ancient Greece, the communal ownership of wells laid the groundwork for democracy; how the Greek and Roman experiences with water security resulted in systems of taxation; and how the modern world as we know it began with a legal framework for the development of water infrastructure.

Giulio Boccaletti talks with Anne Lagacé Dowson about Water: A Biography which richly enlarges our understanding of our relationship to—and fundamental reliance on—the most elemental substance on earth.

About this event’s guests:
Giulio Boccaletti
Anne Lagacé Dowson



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Author photo courtesy of Andrea Mattiello.

This event is part of TPL's On Civil Society: Climate series, a year-long programming initiative that explores the effects that climate change is having on the only habitat we have.  We are faced with radical and unknown effects on the world’s oceans, rivers, wildlife and diminishing biodiversity.  These new realities of a future world paint a sobering picture that disrupts the very idea of humankind and its interventions on the planet.

Each month we focus on a different facet of the topic, featuring some of the world’s most innovative thinkers, scientists, activists, journalists and artists. Critical and long-neglected voices offer new perspectives on where we went wrong and, perhaps, some solutions for a healthy, sustainable and equitable future for our planet.

We will offer tools to help you weigh in with your opinions and experience, but more than this, we aim to inspire in at least some of you the desire to get involved in any way that works for you: through panels, lectures, field trips and workshops, key organizations will help you see some of those working for our planet that we didn’t even know about.

October 2021 - Oceans, Waters, Wetlands
November 2021 - Urbanism in a Warming Planet
February 2021 - Inequalities
March 2022 - Going, Arriving, Leaving: Borders and Trade
April 2022 - Transportation and Movement
May 2022 - Indigenous Perspectives

On Civil Society: Climate is a collaborative project sponsored by Toronto Public Library, the Consulat Général de France à Toronto et Institut Français.

TPL’s On Civil Society series is generously supported in part by Chris M. Reid.

Toronto Public Library is committed to accessibility. Please call or email us if you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request accommodation to participate in this program. Please let us know as far in advance as possible and we will do our best to meet your request. At least three weeks notice is preferred. Phone 416-393-7099 or email accessibleservices@tpl.ca

Climate - Giulio Boccaletti: Water: A Biography