In a year when headlines are dominated by drought and news of Lake Mead water levels falling to historic lows, John Fleck's Water is for Fighting Over offers a refreshingly hopeful perspective about the state of the Colorado River and our ability to do more with less water. Is the outdoorsperson in your life all dressed up in boots, parka, and backpack with nowhere to go? Yet the fact that reporters looking for a story of doom kept returning to this one town suggested something important – most communities weren’t running out of water. -Charles Eley, Design Professional’s Guide to Zero Net Energy Buildings, I would push for the next President to try again (yes, again!) After it, they wanted to know everything about it. And, how are blowflies important to skunk cabbage? Read our Fortunately, the most valuable agricultural production is about half of agricultural water use. 8) Ending the federal ban on distilling spirits at home. A minority provide thoughtful and reasonably balanced insights.

You can always update your selection by clicking Cookie Preferences at the bottom of the page. I like this book very much. Policies that are local and statewide as well as national can make a difference with these. This book is a gift of hope for the New Year. Even if you care only enough to skim the headlines about the shrinking Salton Sea or Lake Mead’s burgeoning bathtub ring, Fleck’s book overall is a clear-eyed look at both the systemic inefficiencies in how water is used in the West and the smart ways they can be addressed.

Dear Future POTUS,

Preparing for a future of water change is essential regardless of how successful we are in reducing our greenhouse gas footprint. and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors and contributors. Specifically, we can comment publicly on proposed policies that affect the environment and vote accordingly. Some fundamental dilemmas remain for western water management. Bugs and germs are big problems—and they’re evolving. The highlighted importance of social capital is valuable. The cat lovers in your life will lose themselves in An Indomitable Beast, an illuminating story about the journey of the jaguar.

For the HISTORY BUFF in your life: The Past and Future City: How Historic Preservation is Reviving America's Communities by Stephanie Meeks with Kevin C. Murphy

Simply collecting and providing good data runs the risk of what David Cash et al.

For journalists, though, this is a tricky business—we equate such framing with marketing and advocacy, not journalism. News about water in the West seems to be pretty dire but you are hopeful in the book.
Using USGS dataRetrieval interface, create joyplot of arbitrary USGS streamgauge daily discharge. That is what I hope this book provides. I'd urge the President to act on every possible opportunity to reduce the influence of money in the political process, because until that happens it will be increasingly difficult to make progress on anything else. He is author of Water is for Fighting Over...and Other Myths about Water in the West. You write in the book that you want to dispel myths about water in the West. (2019). I finally finished it and appreciated for how readable it was; nothing like the sleep-inducing intellectual banter of many rivaling texts. Your first paragraph says it all, I look forward to reading a fresh perspective on the challenges of water management in the west. On the current course, no real progress toward environmental or social sustainability is possible. ( Log Out /  For a time, I even listened to hockey. Having covered environmental issues in the West for a quarter century, Fleck would be the last writer to discount the serious problems posed by a dwindling Colorado River. How will we manage this climate migration? al Also consider: Communication Skills for Conservation Professionals by Susan Jacobson, Communicating Nature by Julia Corbett But more than any town as you head up the Colorado River until perhaps Moab in Utah, Yuma has embraced its river. To start, policymakers should embrace and champion policies that encourage walkable, urban places and associated density—particularly in suburbs. Such as, why do leaves die?

At the university where I spoke there are only washable dishes, cups, silverware in the cafeteria and break rooms. Click…. (Alas, risk-averse state and federal agencies often fail to undertake these network-fostering roles thoughtfully or proactively. Planting diverse native species and perhaps using seed or stock from an area where temperatures are more similar to those predicted over next several decades can help these forests to be resilient to climate change and other disturbances that come with changing climate. If you continue to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies. While some problems on the Colorado River are the result of drought and climate change, Congress set the course for serious trouble in the watershed decades ago by authorizing the Central Arizona Project.over 2 years ago, More than hot talk and small steps are needed to resolve chronic problems on the Colorado River.almost 5 years ago. He took the words right out of my mouth. Written in an easily read style, the book is timely and informative. [email protected]. Mexico, with no big reservoirs of its own, gets the right to continue storing its water in Lake Mead.

Although there will be pain, we are not doomed.

Thus I am of a mixed mind about the usefulness of what Charles asks for: Congress and President Obama should pass updated legislation creating inside the United States Geological Survey a vigorous water data agency with the explicit charge to gather and quickly release water data of every kind — what utilities provide, what fracking companies and strawberry growers use, what comes from rivers and reservoirs, the state of aquifers. 6) Ending federal policies that promote food waste. What do pine cones have to do with the shape of a bird’s beak? Larger numbers are needed to highlight highly variable systems. Revealing how knowledge of our food has been lost and how it might now be regained, Kitchen Literacy promises to make us think differently about what we eat. Salmon finding a home in my backyard – Could it be? While I started off with my description of Water is For Fighting Over to our California and Southwest reps, we ended with a discussion of successes they’ve seen personally in water conservation in their communities. The light was fading (it was darker than this picture looks, thank you Adobe photo modification products), but the people were still out at their river.

When we decide what we think about climate, we rarely make up our minds based on a dispassionate evaluation of the scientific evidence. This Book is a Paradox: An Accessible Book About Water Policy in the West, Revisado en los Estados Unidos el 12 de octubre de 2016.

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download the GitHub extension for Visual Studio. -Charles Chester, Climate and Conservation.

There was still sunlight left when I dumped my stuff at the motel, so I did what I always do, wherever I go. Castle, Anne, and John Fleck.


Island Press' Associate Director of Marketing. My experience working with Western water data thus leaves me enormously sympathetic to the argument Charles Fishman made recently in the New York Times about the need for better US water data: Water may be the most important item in our lives, our economy and our landscape about which we know the least. --Robert Glennon, author of "Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It" "An insightful, behind-the-scenes look into water management in the West. As one commentator noted: "You can set up a wall to try to contain 10,000 and 20,000 and one million people, but not 10 million." Recognize the fact that you are governing, just as Lincoln did, during a period of history that will resonate for centuries to come. Instead, we take our clues from the broader culture, because climate has become a powerful cultural signifier. full Privacy Policy. One would think the great coniferous forests of the Northwest could withstand just about anything nature had to throw at them. John Fleck is director of the University of New Mexico's Water Resources Program. -Alan Kolok, Modern Poisons, “I would urge the President to take strong action to pass climate change legislation in Congress. -Cristina Eisenberg, The Carnivore Way, 1) Do that which only you can do and at least some of what everyone must do. With climate change impacting our cities in unpredictable ways, the big question is: how do we design with these new risks? What are your top Island Press reads? Droughts, earthquakes, and lawsuits are both problems and opportunities to make progress. But I as I sit here in the midst of putting together a lecture for the students next week on the role of science in politics and policymaking, I am less clear than Charles about the direction the data<->policy arrows run.