R. Edward Grumbine

R. Edward Grumbine has been involved in integrating conservation science into resource management planning and policy since the 1980s. Currently on leave from Prescott College in Arizona, he is serving as a senior international scientist at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yunnan Province. His current work includes dam development impacts in the Mekong River, hydropower issues in the India Himalaya, and defining environmental security on China's western borders. He is the author of numerous academic papers and several books, including Where the Dragon Meets the Angry River: Nature and Power in the People's Republic of China, Ghost Bears: Exploring the Biodiversity Crisis, and editor of Environmental Policy and Biodiversity.

Dams on the Wild Nujiang

By R. Edward Grumbine / On February 14th, 2011

The central government’s seven-year moratorium on dam building in the Nujiang (“Angry River”) watershed is soon to be lifted and China’s last wild river will be wild no more. Last week, the Chinese National Energy Administration announced that hydropower development was now ready to move forward on the Nu. The river that brought me to Yunnan six years ago is no ordinary river: It is big, wild, and, because of its incredibly steep drop off the southeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, features the most raucous rapids that I have ever seen.

From Temples to Office Towers in Kunming

By R. Edward Grumbine / On November 3rd, 2010

The Bamboo Temple is one of the major Buddhist shrines in Kunming. Built in the 13th century, restored in 1890, and is set high above the city surrounded by native forest and plantation. The temple is well cared for unlike some I have visited in China. Like all such sites, it is heavily visited by tourists as well as active religious practitioners. Two ancient cypress trees (said to be 450 years old) guard the entrance and carefully manicured magnolias and pear trees grace the inner courtyard.

In the Mountains of Yunnan

By R. Edward Grumbine / On October 25th, 2010

Living in Kunming has its benefits:-great food; friendly people; helpful colleagues; and stimulating work. But for a city of its size, there is precious little public open space and I have yet to discover any place where one can walk on dirt or grass more than a few meters at a stretch. After two months in town, it was time to get out into the mountains. I had been finalizing a paper on Yunnan’s experiment with national parks; what better idea than to visit one of these areas for a hike?

Counting People and Cars in China's Capital

By R. Edward Grumbine / On October 8th, 2010

Before I left for my year in China, I took a few minutes one afternoon to fill out the federal census form that was delivered to my house. Many Americans may complain about such an “onerous” exercise, but most citizens understand the importance of being counted. Election districts, political representation in the Congress, and federal subsidies are but three of the reasons to support the census. America is not the only country that counts its citizens every ten years; China, too, is in the midst of its own census.

Load Shedding or Load Sharing?

By R. Edward Grumbine / On September 28th, 2010

During a trip last week to Nepal to attend a workshop on climate change adaptation strategies across the Himalaya, I experienced darkness within darkness for several hours every night. I am not talking about visiting one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, though poverty and political dysfunction are part of the darkness I mean to describe.

The Spirits of the Dead Meet Big Hydropower

By R. Edward Grumbine / On September 7th, 2010

This is the next post in a year-long series written by Ed Grumbine, professor of environmental studies at Prescott College and author of Where the Dragon Meets the Angry River. You don’t need hydroelectric dams, coal-fired power plants, or even solar-cells and wind farms to produce energy for some of the most important tasks that humans engage in.