A Great Aridness--book review

A Great Aridness.By William deBuys, Oxford University Press, 2011

 The U.S. Southwest is a canary for climate change.  Its fragile ecosystems are already stressed by rapid population growth and resource hungry suburban developments.  In A Great Aridness, William deBuys tells the story of the unfolding drama of the impact of global warming in the Southwest with the skill of a novelist writing a gripping adventure tale and the thoroughness of an investigative reporter determined to get to the root of an expose.

The book devotes one chapter each to the horsemen of the global warming apocalypse--drought, heat, fire, and insects.   He also covers the history and politics of the Spanish conquest, state and Congressional water wars, the U.S.-Mexico border and the issue of immigration.  He puts together the pieces of an ecological puzzle--e.g.   prairie dogs, mesquite, grasses, cattle, fire--to show how well intentioned actions often misfire.

He interviews many excellent authorities throughout the book, including Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Arizona.    "More than the specter of 130 degree days in Phoenix, it is the specter of megadrought that worries Overpeck," he writes.  He emphasizes that we are in the early stages of this disaster.  The risk of reservoirs running dry "skyrockets after 2026".  He argues, "Eventually, under any set of circumstances, the continuous growth of western America would push the curve of water need to the limit of what the rivers and aquifers can provide.  Climate change only accelerates the day of reckoning."

He laments, "it's hard for any of us to get seriously concerned about what might happen until it does happen."  DeBuys argues that mitigation requires "embarking on the difficult journey back to 350 ppm" of CO2 in the atmosphere.  He supports a tax and dividend plan as the most "reasonable strategy".  "Absent U.S. leadership", however, he opines, "Perhaps only catastrophe will change the current intransigence".  He adds, "Perhaps a little further into the future, . . .many of those shouting loudest about newcomers . . .may themselves be forced to pull up stakes and becomes newcomers elsewhere.  If so, their shouts will surely strike a different note."