Behind the Scenes: Publishing the Global Choke Point eBook

Reporter Andrew Maddocks explains how a months-long labor of love came to digital fruition this week.

Image © Heather Rousseau / Circle of Blue

This banner graphic introduces the Global Choke Point series overview. Click image to enlarge.

Since early this year, I have been part of a team working diligently on a four-page, impeccably designed, carefully phrased introduction to the Global Choke Point project. In case you haven’t heard of it, Global Choke Point is the all-encompassing series name for each of the Choke Point packages produced by Circle of Blue, in partnership with the Woodrow Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum in Washington, D.C.

Here’s the document, just released as an eBook published through issuu. It should answer all the (general) questions you have about Choke Point.

As Circle of Blue’s only D.C.-based team member, I’ve worked as an editor, writer, and liaison on the project, helping move drafts back and forth between the Circle of Blue team in Traverse City, Michigan, and China Environment Forum staff in D.C. Everyone who’s seen the document has put hours and hours into writing, editing, and designing. That includes my Circle of Blue colleagues Aubrey Ann Parker, Keith Schneider, J. Carl Ganter, and those at the Wilson Center: Jennifer Turner, Susan Shifflett, Tyler Gibson, and Kathy Butterfield.

It’s been a substantial task to capture the excitement that we all have about this series, laying out our vision for its growth, all while packing as much imagery and verbiage as possible into only four pages. We’re all very proud of the final product, so make sure you click through and share with anyone you think might be interested in the connections between water, food, and energy systems around the world.

Let me know what you think on Twitter via @APMaddocks, by emailing me at circleofblue.org/contact, or by commenting below.

–Andrew Maddocks
Circle of Blue reporter