Running Out - In Search of Water on the High Plains (Paperback)

Finalist for the National Book Award An intimate reckoning with aquifer depletion in America's heartland The Ogallala aquifer has nourished life on the American Great Plains for millennia. But less than a century of unsustainable irrigation farming has taxed much of the aquifer beyond repair. The imminent depletion of the Ogallala and other aquifers around the world is a defining planetary crisis of our times. Running Out offers a uniquely personal account of aquifer depletion and the deeper layers through which it gains meaning and force. Anthropologist Lucas Bessire journeyed back to western Kansas, where five generations of his family lived as irrigation farmers and ranchers, to try to make sense of this vital resource and its loss. His search for water across the drying High Plains brings the reader face to face with the stark realities of industrial agriculture, eroding democratic norms, and surreal interpretations of a looming disaster. Yet the destination is far from predictable, as the book seeks to move beyond the words and genres through which destruction is often known. Instead, this journey into the morass of eradication offers a series of unexpected discoveries about what it means to inherit the troubled legacies of the past and how we can take responsibility for a more inclusive, sustainable future. An urgent and unsettling meditation on environmental change, Running Out is a revelatory account of family, complicity, loss, and what it means to find your way back home.

General

Imprint:	Princeton University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	September 2022
First published:	2021
Authors:	Lucas Bessire
Dimensions:	216 x 140 x 20mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	264
ISBN-13:	978-0-691-21643-0
Categories:	Books > Professional & Technical > Agriculture & farming > General Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Area / regional studies > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Anthropology > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social groups & communities > Rural communities Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Applied ecology > General Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Conservation of the environment > General Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Environmental economics > Sustainability Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Social impact of environmental issues > General Books > Professional & Technical > Environmental engineering & technology > Sanitary & municipal engineering > Water supply & treatment > General Promotions
LSN:	0-691-21643-6
Barcode:	9780691216430

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