

Antarctica stores enough frozen water to raise global sea levels by 58 metres. Why wait for this to melt when it could provide much needed water to drought-ridden areas and save lives? This is a question doctor-turned-author Paul Stidolph asks in his new book Forests in the Sahara. On this episode Paul talks harvesting ice, surviving mudslides in Nepal, the Japanese Hiroshima survivor he worked with in the monsoon, Cape Town, Australia, Sri Lanka, Uganda and singing sweet nothings on a schooner in the Seychelles.
On this episode we cover:
Why drought in Africa and the disappearing ice caps inspired his book, Forests in the Sahara
The sheer waste of drinking water from the ice
Harvesting water from the ice caps
Plants that can purify water like the drought resistant Moringa Oleifera
Taking ice from Alaska to India
Whether the idea is commercially viable
Pulling ice bergs from Antarctica to Cape Town or the Arabian Gulf
The vast amount of ice on ‘ice islands’ over 20km across
Ice islands off Greenland
How they would transport and store ice bergs
Salvage master Nick Sloane
The Costa Concordia
Why money is the wrong focus
How nation states need to get involved
How a sustainable loss should be an acceptable outcome
The ice bergs, pure drinking water, is disappearing
Rising ocean levels
Oil rigs and their work
How a huge plastic apron could keep the water safe
How has these resources
How tankers could take sections of ice
Working in a mission hospital in Nepal as a medical student
The Nepalese monsoons
How monsoons don’t mean drinking water
Storing water in caverns beneath the earth
The Japanese minister who was the closest survivor to Hiroshima who survived at the bottom of an ammunition depot
Walking through landslides in Nepal
How all hospital equipment had been carried on the back of porters on foot
The unbelievable floods of the monsoon
Surviving on one bucket of water a day
How water can become contaminated
His time in wildlife conservation at an animal ecology unit in a game part in Uganda
Studying elephants, warthogs, and Egyptian geese
President Obote and European colonial civil servants in Uganda
How travel can change you
How living in a different culture can enlighten
His round-the world trip taking in Australia, USA and Canada
Arriving in Florida in the middle of hurricane Wilma
Loving Europe and travelling around Greece
How Australians have a different view on life
Surviving white water kayaking in Australia
Bill Bryson and all the things that can kill you in Australia
Crossing active mudslides in wiped out villages in Nepal
Losing his fear in Nepal and changing his perspective on life
Sherry and snails in Jerez in Spain
How to pronounce Cadiz and Jerez like a Brit
Five year olds knocking back a cup of snails
Sri Lanka’s tea growing areas
How the coast has recovered from the Tsunami
Sri Lanka’s palaces and hot curries
Sri Lankan’s terrifying driving and tuk tuks
Serenading a schooner in the Seychelles