In 2023, the complexity of the environmental issues that impact Native communities took center stage. The unique legal, political and economic hurdles tribal nations face in protecting their land, water, air — and people — became vividly apparent.
In southwestern Pennsylvania, eight locks and dams that for decades helped barges move goods along the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers will in a few years also generate enough power for 75,000 homes.
A major conference on Colorado River water issues last week in Las Vegas revealed signs of progress in protecting the West’s dwindling water supply, notably a new agreement between Nevada, Arizona and California that will ease the burden on Lake Mead.
Peter Dykstra joins Host Bobby Bascomb to talk about a plan by Indigenous groups in Peru and Ecuador to protect 80% of the Amazon in those nations; a hidden gem in the $1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure bill that will help salmon swim free; and in history, a look back to a deadly fog in London.
The argument against major hydropower projects — ravaged ecosystems and large-scale displacement of people — is well known. But dam critics now say that climate change should spell the end of big hydropower.
