Battling Drought
Audio only

Battling Drought

By Scientific AmericanNarrated by Alex Boyles
Length10h 50m

About this audiobook

The extreme drought in the US Southwest has brought the issues of water use and management to the forefront of media attention. Historically, arguments over water rights have plagued this area since the days of John Wesley Powell, and disputes mark the relations between states, city-dwellers, farmers, and environmentalists to this day. Add to that the challenges of climate change, which is altering rainfall patterns the world over, and the imperative to rethink water management policies becomes acute. Battling Drought takes a long look at the situation in the American Southwest from the early engineering projects, such as building the Hoover and Grand Coulee dams, which were designed to tame the rivers, to the recycling and restoration efforts of today. Projects like the recycling of wastewater in Santa Rosa, CA, and the restoration of the Aral Sea in Central Asia offer both optimism and lessons for change. However, the story of the Himba in Africa—who have, so far, successfully blocked building a dam on a nearby river—illustrates that changing attitudes is often like trying to change the flow of a river. It’s an upstream battle. While successful projects like these move us toward that goal, new technologies, methods, and crops are still needed to combat diminishing water supplies. A common saying is that someone “spends money like water.” Over the last century, we’ve learned that water might be the more precious of the two.

Audiobook details

GenreScience and Nature
Length10 hrs 50 mins
Narrated byAlex Boyles
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateJul 21, 2020
LanguageEnglish

You may also like

Let There Be Water
Let There Be WaterSeth M. Siegel8h 36m4.2 (2.3K)$20 · $0.00
The Meaning of Beer
The Meaning of BeerJonny Garrett8h4.2 (294)$26 · $0.00
De Re Metallica
De Re MetallicaGeorg Agricola18h 34m4.3 (465)Free
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2025
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2025Susan Orlean, Jaime Green12h 21m4.2 (256)$29 · $0.00
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2022
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2022Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Jaime Green12h 27m4.0 (623)$29 · $0.00
Practical Forestry in the Pacific Northwest
Practical Forestry in the Pacific NorthwestE. T. Allen4h 57m$1 · $0.00
Path to Zero
Path to ZeroTucker Perkins4h 33m3.5 (13)$20
The Century of Global Cities
The Century of Global CitiesAndrea Tobia Zevi5h 31m$7
Climate Change
Climate ChangeScientific American8h 36m4.1 (32)$20
A Brief History of Forestry (Annotated)
A Brief History of Forestry (Annotated)B. E. Fernow14h 20m$0.99 · $0.00
Future History Of The Amazon
Future History Of The AmazonCarlos Araujo Carujo1h 14m$7 · $0.00
The Future of Food
The Future of FoodScientific American5h 50m$17
The Nation's River: A report on the Potomac
The Nation's River: A report on the PotomacUnited States. Department of the Interior5h 39m$2 · $0.00
Ask the Experts: Chemistry
Ask the Experts: ChemistryScientific American2h 5m$15
The Global Deal
The Global DealNicholas Stern9h 32m3.5 (79)$20
Commercial Geography
Commercial GeographyJacques W. Redway9h 52m$2 · $0.00
Amazon Brazilian
Amazon BrazilianCarlos Araujo Carujo2h 56m$7 · $0.00
An Account of the Insects Noxious to Agriculture and Plants in New Zealand
An Account of the Insects Noxious to Agriculture and Plants in New ZealandWilliam Miles Maskell5h 10m$2 · $0.00
Concerning Animals and Other Matters
Concerning Animals and Other MattersEdward Hamilton Aitken4h 30m$1 · $0.00
Offshore Energy and Jobs Act (H. R. 2231; 113th Congress)
Offshore Energy and Jobs Act (H. R. 2231; 113th Congress)Doc Hastings43m$1 · $0.00