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Cracked

The Future of Dams in a Hot, Chaotic World

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Cracked

By: Steven Hawley
Narrated by: Steven Hawley, Danny Campbell
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About this listen

 The ugly truth about dams is about to be revealed.

During the first two decades of the twenty-first century, the whole messy truth about the legacy of last century’s big dam building binge has come to light. What started out as an arguably good government project has drifted oceans away from that original virtuous intent. Governments plugged the nation’s rivers in a misguided attempt to turn them into revenue streams. Water control projects’ main legacy will be one of needless ecological destruction, fostering a host of unnecessary injustices.

The estimated 800,000 dams in the world can’t be blamed for destroying the earth’s entire biological inheritance, but they play an outsized role in that destruction. Cracked: The Future of Dams in a Hot, Crazy World is a kind of speed date with the history of water control -- its dams, diversions and canals, and just as importantly, the politics and power that evolved with them. Examples from the American West reveal that the costs of building and maintaining a sprawling water storage and delivery complex in an arid world—growing increasingly arid under the ravages of climate chaos—is well beyond the benefits furnished. Success stories from Patagonia and the Blue Heart of Europe point to a possible future where rivers run free and the earth restores itself.


* This audiobook edition contains a downloadable PDF that includes definitions and illustrations from the book. Earth Sciences Ecosystems & Habitats Environment Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Politics & Government Science Conservation Inspiring Government Ecosystem

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All stars
Most relevant
Required reading for anyone interested in restoring and protecting what wild nature we have left. Came to it out of interest as an angler, but this is a topic that affects us all

Great book, really insightful and balanced

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Such a missed opportunity! A small and rushed section on dam failures followed by a series of one sided rants. I can accept the thesis that dams aren’t all they’re ‘cracked’ up to be but this book is ultimately a diatribe!

One sided, verging on ranty

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