By mober079 The PulseNovember 26, 2019

Mapping the benefits of the world’s largest lakes

A lift bridge in Duluth is shown from a low angle aerial, showing the lake in the distance and the city on the near shore. — Mapping the benefits of the world's largest lakes. https://smartwatermagazine.com/news/university-minnesota/mapping-benefits-worlds-largest-lakes.

Fresh water is the most important substance on Earth, but it isn’t equally distributed across the planet. How many benefits do the world’s largest lakes provide? Interdisciplinary research begins to explore this complex question.

Tags

Biological Sciences Geosciences International Research

About the Author(s)

Issue Contents

Introduction

Introduction to Issue 25 | Rivers & Borders

On a map, the defined line of a river makes a compelling case for becoming a border. The line crisply delineates one space from...

By Laurie Moberg, Editor

Feature (Peer Review)

Socio-Ecological System of Flooding in Bucksport, South Carolina

There is growing awareness that climate change has the potential to deepen inequalities, especially regarding the threat of riverine flooding. For example, the United...

By Geoffrey Habron and John Roper

Feature (Peer Review)

A Fluid Border: The River Tamar and Constructed Difference in Travel Writing of Cornwall

The Tamar is a relatively modest river. With a length of just 61 miles, and an average discharge at the upper tidal limit of...

By Tim Hannigan

Feature (Peer Review)

The Backbone of America: A New River with the Same Ol’ Bones

The Mississippi River, among many names, is known as “The Backbone of America,” and has played a major role in shaping the lives of...

By Michael O. Johnston

Feature (Peer Review)

Not a Border, But a Path: Swimming Across the Rio Grande

On a cool November day, I floated in the middle of Amistad Reservoir, a lake formed by a dam on the Rio Grande. I...

By Melinda J. Menzer

Geographies

When the Border is a River: A Journey Along the Salween River-Border

Rivers might appear to be a natural or even an expedient way to demarcate political borders. Yet rivers are always in flux as flows...

By Zali Fung and Vanessa Lamb

In Review

The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration by Jake Bittle

Abandoned homes with boarded up windows. Mold growing up the walls of houses flooded under five feet of water. The charred remnants of entire...

By Julia Oschwald Tilton

Perspectives

A Small but Ultimate Presence

This year the heat of the desert grew, and the absence of water only became more stark against that rapidly rising contrast. Tucson, my...

By Isaac Espósto

Primary Sources

How much is the world’s most productive river worth?

How much is the world’s most productive river worth? Here’s how experts estimate the value of nature: Southeast Asia’s Mekong may be the most important...

By Stefan Lovgren

Teaching and Practice

Creative Connections with Rivers: A Toolkit for Learning and Collaboration

We are three people who draw on research and practice to create arts-based learning, engagement materials, and interventions with and for diverse audiences. We...

By Stephanie Januchowski-Hartley, Ioanna (Daphne) Giannoulatou, and Merryn Thomas

More Stories

highly detailed true-color image shows the stark eastern edge of the Zambezi floodplain. To the left of the edge, water covers everything. Deep blue channels wind among green, shallowly flooded plains. To the right of the edge, the land is dry. The city of Kasane is perched confidently along the edge of the flood plain.

Grasping Water Summer Institute Reading List

The following bibliography of book chapters and articles is the reading list that circulated to participants in the 2016 Grasping Water Summer Institute. Each participant read as many of these items as possible before the Institute.