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Bezig met laden... Cry Me a River: The Tragedy of the Murray Darling Basindoor Margaret Simons
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. https://shawjonathan.com/2020/06/30/margaret-simonss-cry-me-a-river/ ( ) Right now, you could be forgiven for thinking that nothing else is happening in the world today, except for COVID_19. And I bet there's more than one politician who's hoping that the pandemic means this Quarterly Essay doesn't get the attention it deserves. That's not going to happen if I can do anything about it! First, a quick briefing for overseas readers. (And in case you're wondering why you should care, this issue involves the threats to numerous endangered species of international importance, not to mention Australia's food bowl, which exports to the world). The Murray–Darling basin is a large geographical area in the interior of southeastern Australia. Its name is derived from its two major rivers, the Murray River and the Darling River. The basin, which drains around one-seventh of the Australian land mass, is one of the most significant agricultural areas in Australia. It spans most of the states of New South Wales and Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, and parts of the states of Queensland (lower third) and South Australia (southeastern corner). The basin is 3,375 kilometres (2,097 mi) in length, with the Murray River being 2,508 km (1,558 mi) long. Ok, got that? It's a very large part of Australia, and it covers four states and a territory which means managing it involves six governments by the time you include the federal government. And manage it we must because we cannot go on as we are. (As Dorothea Mackellar's poem says) Australia is a land of drought and flooding rains. (And she wrote that in about 1904, before Climate Change was even thought of.) It's a bit like the situation with the Rhine in Europe, except that when we're in drought there's not enough water in the Basin to please everybody. Irrigators in Qld, NSW and Victoria (i,e. Australia's food bowl) don't have enough water for their crops; wetlands protected under the Ramsar Convention of Wetlands of International Importance dry up; tens of thousands of fish die; and the river silts up in South Australia and has to be dredged 24/7 to enable the supply of fresh sea-water into the Coorong National Park, which would be catastrophic for the bird life there. The social costs should give anyone pause for thought. As you know if you've read my reviews of her books, Margaret Simons is one of Australia's best journalists, and this essay is the best, most comprehensive explanation I've read of the troubled efforts to manage these competing interests: agriculture, business, environment, recreation and the interests of the First Nations on whose land these issues arise. To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/04/23/cry-me-a-river-by-margaret-simons-quarterly-... geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
Onderdeel van de reeks(en)Quarterly Essay (Nº 77)
The Murray-Darling Basin is the food bowl of Australia, and it's in trouble. What does this mean for the future - for water and crops, and for the people and towns that depend on it? In Cry Me a River, acclaimed journalist Margaret Simons takes a trip through the Basin, all the way from Queensland to South Australia. She shows that its plight is environmental but also economic, and enmeshed in ideology and identity. Her essay is both a portrait of the Murray-Darling Basin and an explanation of its woes. It looks at rural Australia and the failure of politics over decades to meet the needs of communities forced to bear the heaviest burden of change. Whether it is fish kills or state rivalries, drought or climate change, in the Basin our ability to plan for the future is being put to the test. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)333.91620994Social sciences Economics Economics of land & energy Hydrospheric, Atmospheric, and Biospheric Resources Hydrologic ResourcesLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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