Word: atchafalaya
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...unknown, to prove by deft reportage that anything can be interesting if it is presented well. He has written arrestingly about subjects as mundane as oranges and as momentous as high-energy physics and the geologic forces that shape our planet. The three pieces that constitute his 20th book, Atchafalaya, Cooling the Lava and Los Angeles Against the Mountains, deal with the power of determined people to tame water, fire and earth...
Along a broad expanse of southern Louisiana, between the Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers, a million acres of wetlands have disappeared since 1900. ^ Scientists now estimate that an additional 60 sq. mi. are vanishing every year -- a rate that could double by 1995. "It's a catastrophe that's happening to the wetlands. You're looking at the genocide of an entire ecosystem," says Oliver Houck, a Louisiana environmental lawyer. Indeed, the loss of the state's marshes affects more than just local residents: the area provides almost 30% of the nation's fish harvest and 40% of the fur catch...