Traveling the 38th parallel: a water line around the world

311 Pages·2013·16.67 MB·English

by  David Carle

Traveling the 38th Parallel
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Gordon E. and
Betty I. Moore as members of the Publisher’s Circle of the University of
California Press Foundation.

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the General
Endowment Fund of the University of California Press Foundation.

Traveling the
38th Parallel

A W A T E R L I N E A R O U N D T H E W O R L D

D A V I D C A R L E A N D J A N E T C A R L E

U N I V E R S I T Y O F C A L I F O R N I A P R E S S
Berkeley Los Angeles London
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© 2013 by The Regents of the University of California

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carle, David, 1950-
Traveling the 38th Parallel : a water line around the
world / David Carle, Janet Carle.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-520-26654-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
eISBN 9780520954557
1. Oceanography. 2. Hydrology. 3. Human
geography. I. Carle, Janet, 1953-II. Title.
GC28.C37 2013
551.48—dc232012030001

Manufactured in the United States of America

22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In keeping with a commitment to support
environmentally responsible and sustainable printing
practices, UC Press has printed this book on Rolland
Enviro100, a 100% post-consumer fiber paper that is
FSC certified, deinked, processed chlorine-free, and
manufactured with renewable biogas energy. It is acid-
free and EcoLogo certified.
This book is for Nick and Ryan, our sons,
and for the world they inherit,
and in memory of Larry Gibson,
Keeper of the Mountain, 1946–2012.
If nature can heal an injured land, it can heal our . . .
souls as well. That’s why saving Mono Lake is a matter
of saving, and healing, ourselves. Let’s not change the
planet. Let the planet change us.
David Gaines, 1986
Contents
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