Vice Chancellor, Professor Bill Wakeham of the Uni of Southampton gave an excellent presentation at the Eco Island Conference last week, Simon caught up with him during the first coffee break.
It was interesting to see that almost 25% of the Island’s carbon footprint relates directly to transportation.
Much of this is made up by ferry crossings, so Simon posed the question “Is there a more efficient way to cross the Solent?”
Sailing to the Island
Professor Wakeham’s reply was simply “By sail”. So perhaps there is a prospect of producing rather large sailing devices in the future, and as Prof Wakeham agreed, it would be a wonderfully relaxing form of transport.
Another area touched on during the Professor’s presentation was that of Intelligent Transportation Systems.
He felt it was important to use modern technology, suiting transportation to people’s needs. As an example, bus services are traditionally driven by timetables and a predefined route. He suggested that if a passenger were off the prescribed route and able to put a call into the bus and divert it pick up that passenger, it’s possible that this may be more efficient than just going down prescribed route.
Professor Wakeham finished by touching briefly on the subject of coastal management and how important he felt it was for the Island to tackle this problem.
Water levels on the Island in 2080
During his presentation, one slide showed the estimation of the water levels on the Island in 2080. It was amazing to see the prediction that the Island will become split into three Islands (as seen in the County Press last year) and huge chunks of the coast along the Military Road completely disappeared.
He explained that as sea levels rise, there will be a need to conserve the coastline and take immediate action long in advance of it becoming a problem.
To listen to the short interview click on the play button below:
[audio:http://otw-audio.s3.amazonaws.com/prof-bill-wakeham-eco-island-conf.mp3]
Many thanks to Julian Winslow for use of his photo of Prof Wakeham taken at the Eco Island Conference – copyright remains with the photographer.
