Between extremes of climate farther north and south, the 38th North parallel line marks a temperate, middle latitude where human societies have thrived since the beginning of civilization. It divides North and South Korea, passes through Athens and San Francisco, and bisects Mono Lake in the eastern Sierra Nevada, where authors David and Janet Carle make their home. Former park rangers, the authors set out on an around-the-world journey in search of water-related environmental and cultural intersections along the 38th parallel. This book is a chronicle of their adventures as they meet people confronting challenges in water supply, pollution, wetlands loss, and habitat protection. At the heart of the narrative are the riveting stories of the passionate individuals-scientists, educators, and local activists-who are struggling to preserve some of the world's most amazing, yet threatened, landscapes.

Traveling largely outside of cities, away from well-beaten tourist tracks, the authors cross Japan, Korea, China, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Greece, Sicily, Spain, Portugal, the Azores Islands, and the United States-from Chesapeake Bay to San Francisco Bay. The stories they gather provide stark contrasts as well as reaffirming similarities across diverse cultures. Generously illustrated with maps and photos, Traveling the 38th Parallel documents devastating environmental losses but also inspiring gains made through the efforts of dedicated individuals working against the odds to protect these fragile places.

Autorentext

David and Janet Carle were state park rangers at Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve for twenty years and have taught at Cerro Coso Community College in Mammoth Lakes. Janet is the editor of the California State Park Rangers Association journal, The Wave. David is the author of numerous books including Introduction to Earth, Soil and Land in California, Introduction to Water in California, Introduction to Fire in California, and Introduction to Air in California (all by UC Press).

Inhalt

Introduction: Parallel Universe 38° North

Part I. Asia

The Four Rivers "Restoration" Project
Ecological Recovery behind Barbed Wire
China's Yellow River Delta
The South-North Water Transfer Project
National Parks of Ningxia
Up the Yellow River to Lanzhou's Green Camel Bell
Qinghai-Blue Lake of the Tibetan Plateau
Hotan to Kashgar on the Southern Silk Road
The Edge of China and Turkmenistan
Hasankeyf in Peril on the Tigris River
Fairy Chimneys, Tuz Golu, Travertine, and a City That Lost Its Port

Part II. Europe

Greek Islands, Athens, and the "Navel of the Earth"
Saving Raptors and Water in Sicily
Spain's Coastal Lagoons, Water for Growth, and Iberian Lynx
Portugal's Transported Town, a Solar Donkey, and the Azores

Part III. United States

Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education
The Rappahannock River and Mattawoman Creek
Mountaintop Removal Coal Mines in West Virginia
Midwestern Rivers and the Population Center of the United States
Seagulls in Kansas and the Santa Fe Trail
Mining the Ogallala Aquifer
Colorado, the Headwaters State
Colorado River Cleanup and Groundwater for Las Vegas

Part IV. California: A Water Line to the Pacific

Mono Lake to the Sierra Crest
Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne to Hetch Hetchy
Friends of the River and the New Melones Reservoir
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Strait to the Bay
Point Reyes and the Pacific Coast

Part V. Renewal and Recovery

Recovery on the Tsunami Coast
It Takes a Village to Save the Toki
We Are Bodies of Water

Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index