Jennifer R. Pournelle

I am a landscape archaeologist, cultural ecologist, and anthropologist who uses satellite imagery, air photography, ethnographic studies, and environmental data to study the relationship of ancient cities to their natural environments. I am especially concerned with social and environmental processes that affect urban sustainability over thousands of years. This project will open a new chapter in my life's work: applying the lessons learned from those studies to help solve real-world problems. Cities cannot survive without the wetlands that store and filter their water supplies - for drinking, agriculture, industry, and transportation. Basra has lost most of its water supply, and what's left is highly polluted. By building new wetlands, can we help remedy that situation? We believe we can - and we'd like the opportunity to prove it.

March 2014