Southern Rivers

Restoring America's Freshwater Biodiversity

De: R. Scot Duncan

Narrado por: Danny Hughes

Southern Rivers is a thoroughly crafted exploration of the perilous state of the Southeast's rivers and the urgent need to safeguard their vitality. The region's rivers are the epicenter of North American freshwater biodiversity and are the top global hotspot for important aquatic animals, including mussels, turtles, snails, crayfish, and fish.

Centuries of commercial development have impaired the region's river systems, sacrificing biodiversity and compromising the rivers' ability to provide resources essential to human life: drinking water, waste disposal, irrigation, navigation, recreation, power production, and more. Now, increased heat and drought caused by climate change are lowering water levels. As such threats increase, it may seem necessary to choose between nature conservation and human needs, but Duncan persuasively demonstrates that this is a false choice. Conservation enhances human life.

Duncan explains the task of managing southeastern rivers and how river water quality affects the daily lives of the millions who hold these historic waterways dear. He shows how managing rivers wisely can meet the needs of biodiversity and humanity both. With Americans increasingly anxious about the onset of climate change and the accelerating extinction crisis, Southern Rivers illuminates actionable solutions.

©2024 The University of Alabama Press (P)2024 Tantor

Thought-provoking and covers a wide array of issues

A lot of information presented and tackled from different angles. Narration was good but there was the occasional choppiness (and occasional mispronunciation of Mobile 😉). Overall a good book that was interesting to someone from Nebraska, allowing me to find parallels but also get a sense of new issues in such a fascinating and important region. Also inspires a desire to follow up and seek even more information on some of the issues and solutions, and how I may apply that knowledge back home.