'The West Without Water' Event Set for May 7
April 22, 2015
UC Berkeley geography professors Lynn Ingram and Frances Malamud-Roam will give a talk based on their book “The West Without Water,” which contextualizes California’s water concerns in its overall climate history, in an event hosted by UC Merced's Sierra Nevada Research Institute and Center for Climate Communication.
"The West Without Water: What Past Floods, Droughts and Other Climatic Clues Tell Us About Tomorrow" will be held from 7-9 p.m. May 7 at the Merced Theater, 301 W. Main St.
The book is this year’s Common Read. Ingram and Malamud-Roam tell the story of the American West’s “climate detectives,” punctuating their survey with accounts of the region’s great droughts, floods and other challenges its people have faced over thousands of years.
In questioning what constitutes “normal” climate in the West, the authors show that while we might have temporarily buffered ourselves from harsh climatic swings by building dams and reservoirs and making other changes to the natural landscape, we might be unprepared for the effects of climate changes occurring now, which could continue for hundreds of years.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the event, which is free and open to the public. For information, contact Tom Hothem at thothem@ucmerced.edu.
