
Science Be Dammed
How Ignoring Inconvenient Science Drained the Colorado River
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Joel Richards
-
By:
-
Eric Kuhn
-
John Fleck
Science Be Dammed is an alarming reminder of the high stakes in the management - and perils in the mismanagement - of water in the Western United States. It seems deceptively simple: Even when clear evidence was available that the Colorado River could not sustain ambitious dreaming and planning by decision-makers throughout the 20th century, river planners and political operatives irresponsibly made the least sustainable and most dangerous long-term decisions.
Eric Kuhn and John Fleck delve into rarely reported early studies, showing that scientists warned as early as the 1920s that there was not enough water for the farms and cities boosters wanted to build. Contrary to a common myth that the authors of the Colorado River Compact did the best they could with limited information, Kuhn and Fleck show that development boosters selectively chose the information needed to support their dreams, ignoring inconvenient science that suggested a more cautious approach.
Focused on both science and policy, Kuhn and Fleck unravel the tangled web that has constructed the current crisis. Understanding how mistakes were made is crucial to understanding our contemporary problems. Science Be Dammed offers important lessons in the age of climate change about the necessity of seeking out the best science to support the decisions we make.
©2019 The Arizona Board of Regents (P)2022 TantorListeners also enjoyed...




















People who viewed this also viewed...


How politicians failed us
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Colorado river is mighty in the scale of desert rivers, but's a small on the scale of water flow - compared to eastern rivers. It would be like Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin trying to live from the flow of the Illinois River without the Mississippi or Missouri. Indeed the Illinois and Colorado have the same discharge rate and with far less consistency.
Great intro to Hydrology. Loved this.
The power of understanding statistical variation
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.