Section II
Water
Thales, considered the first philosopher in Ancient Greece, identified water
as the basic element on Earth and in the universe. In most religions, water
embodies purity and performs an important role in purification, though
its transmogrifications and malleability render it far from unilateral, far
from absolutely catharising. Being at the mercy of water, encompassed in it,
tossed by it, or drowned beneath it, evokes a primal fear.
Existing as liquid, gas, and solid, water’s forms and capacities are defined
through its constitution with other elements and processes. Air-borne condensed water may refract sunlight producing rainbows, when high density
of water vapour meets a cool surface dew forms, suspended and mobile
droplets cluster as clouds, and falling in a flurry, intricate, and divisible
flakes congregate as layers, drifts, and plumes of snow.
The cycling of water through precipitation, evaporation, transpiration,
and runoff is essential to life on earth. This cyclical processing has dictated
the distribution of settlements large and small, the distribution and maintenance of arable lands, the boundaries and shift of ecosystems, and the
creation of landscapes through erosion and deposition.
Domesticated, we dive, fish, surf, and swim in it and boil, simmer, steam,
and pressure cook with it. From the tap or bottle, we imbibe it alone, mixed,
melting, or carbonated. But unleashed – even on the micro-scale of a dripping household tap – it threatens homelife and liveability and can wreak
environmental, financial, and material havoc. Water has instigated what
many see as the most costly, and certainly the most researched form of
insurance – flood insurance (Lucas et al. 2021).
While lightning is said never to strike the same place twice, once a place
is flooded, it will almost inevitably be so again. Relative to other extreme
weather events, topography and water flows are calculable and predictable, leading to a quantitative approach in much of the research on flood
insurance. The methodologies of the majority of the research literature discursively frame insurance as a risk management tool that is benign in its
constitution and useful if properly and rationally applied (Lucas et al. 2021).
There is concern for how premium prices and risk perceptions influence
uptake rates, and the relationship between insurance uptake and mitigation
DOI: 10.4324/9781003157571-6
Water
Thales, considered the first philosopher in Ancient Greece, identified water
as the basic element on Earth and in the universe. In most religions, water
embodies purity and performs an important role in purification, though
its transmogrifications and malleability render it far from unilateral, far
from absolutely catharising. Being at the mercy of water, encompassed in it,
tossed by it, or drowned beneath it, evokes a primal fear.
Existing as liquid, gas, and solid, water’s forms and capacities are defined
through its constitution with other elements and processes. Air-borne condensed water may refract sunlight producing rainbows, when high density
of water vapour meets a cool surface dew forms, suspended and mobile
droplets cluster as clouds, and falling in a flurry, intricate, and divisible
flakes congregate as layers, drifts, and plumes of snow.
The cycling of water through precipitation, evaporation, transpiration,
and runoff is essential to life on earth. This cyclical processing has dictated
the distribution of settlements large and small, the distribution and maintenance of arable lands, the boundaries and shift of ecosystems, and the
creation of landscapes through erosion and deposition.
Domesticated, we dive, fish, surf, and swim in it and boil, simmer, steam,
and pressure cook with it. From the tap or bottle, we imbibe it alone, mixed,
melting, or carbonated. But unleashed – even on the micro-scale of a dripping household tap – it threatens homelife and liveability and can wreak
environmental, financial, and material havoc. Water has instigated what
many see as the most costly, and certainly the most researched form of
insurance – flood insurance (Lucas et al. 2021).
While lightning is said never to strike the same place twice, once a place
is flooded, it will almost inevitably be so again. Relative to other extreme
weather events, topography and water flows are calculable and predictable, leading to a quantitative approach in much of the research on flood
insurance. The methodologies of the majority of the research literature discursively frame insurance as a risk management tool that is benign in its
constitution and useful if properly and rationally applied (Lucas et al. 2021).
There is concern for how premium prices and risk perceptions influence
uptake rates, and the relationship between insurance uptake and mitigation
DOI: 10.4324/9781003157571-6