The False Promise of Hydroelectric Dams

In part two of a series on dams, reservoirs and catastrophic failures displace and destroy whole communities and ecosystems.

By David A. J. Reynolds | April 3, 2019 | Energy, Environment, Health | Arundhati Roy, Balbina Dam, Banqiao Dam, Bargi Dam, Big Bend Dam, Bureau of Reclamation, China, Collapse, Cost Overruns, Dams, Deltas, Destruction, Diminishing Returns, Displacement, Earthquakes, Economic Return, Estuaries, Failure Cascade, Flood Control Act, Floods, Fort Randall Dam, Garrison Dam, Geology, Ghana, Hydroelectric Power, Hydrology, India, Industry, Instability, International Rivers, Iroquois, Jabalpur, Kinzua Dam, Mark Twain, Methane, Mississippi River, Monteynard Dam, Native Americans, Oahe Dam, Oroville Dam, Pakistan, Power Generation, Reservoirs, Rivers, Sediment, Seneca, Settlements, Soviet Union, Stalin, The World Bank, Three Gorges Dam, Ukai Dam, US Army Corps of Engineers, Vajont Dam, Volga, Water

Voyage of the Dammed

Hydroelectric power is often thought of as “green” energy, but dams have devastated river ecology and the creatures it supports—including us.

By David A. J. Reynolds | February 13, 2019 | Energy, Environment, Health | Bonneville Dam, Canals, Civilization, Colorado River, Columbia River, Dams, Danube River, Deltas, Dneprostroi Dam, Dnieper River, Drinking Water, Ecology, Energy, Erosion, Estuaries, Extinction, Fish, Fish Ladders, Glen Canyon Dam, Grand Coulee Dam, Green Energy, Groundwater, Hatcheries, Heiddeger, Hoover Dam, Hydroelectric Power, Ian Nairn, Industry, International Rivers, Iron Gate Dam, Mills, Pollution, Reservoirs, Riverbank, Riverbed, Rivers, Salmon, Sediment, Snake River, Soviet Union, Sturgeon, Trees, Tributaries, Water, Water Table, Watershed

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous, part two

European communist states were, perhaps, the ultimate manifestation of the modern conflation of technological development with progress. But with such [...]

By David A. J. Reynolds | November 9, 2016 | Culture, Economics, Philosophy, Religion, Society | Christianity, Communism, Distraction, Empire, Happiness, Heidegger, Industry, Knowledge, Materialism, Michael Sacasas, Narcissism, Progress, Russia, Science, Secularism, Soviet Union, Space Race, Stalin, Steel, Sublime, Technological Determinism, The Frailest Thing, Transcendence

Utopia: New and Improved

The most legendary public clash between the Cold War’s competing sides did not delve into philosophical or economic theory; it [...]

By David A. J. Reynolds | May 11, 2016 | Economics, Politics, Prediction, Society, Well-Being | Capitalism, Cold War, Communism, Democracy, Eric Schmidt, Evgeny Morozov, Google, Henri Vogt, Howard Segal, Jared Cohen, Jerzy Szacki, John Lane, Kentaro Toyama, Mor Jokai, Nicholas Negorponte, Nikita Khrushchev, Orville Wright, Peace, Richard Nixon, Soviet Union, Utopianism, Vaclav Havel

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