Word: basin
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Could it really be that simple? It appears to have been for the original inhabitants of the Amazon basin. In the 16th century, Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana wrote home describing the remarkably fertile lands he had discovered there. In the 19th century, American and Canadian geologists uncovered the reason: bands of terra preta (dark earth), which locals continued to cultivate successfully. Research revealed that the original inhabitants of the region had added charred wood and leaves - biochar - to their lands...
...grip of the worst drought in its recorded history. In Melbourne, you're no longer allowed to fill your swimming pool, and in bone-dry Brisbane, residents aren't allowed any external water use without a permit. But the real pain has been borne in the Murray-Darling River Basin in southern Australia, the heart of the country's $30 billion agricultural economy. Even in good times, Murray-Darling receives as little as 10 in. of rain a year, but 70% of the country's irrigation resources flow to the basin, creating a fertile desert able to produce 1.2 million...
...good times, however, are gone. Last year the government allocated zero irrigation to the basin's farmers, and they produced just 18,000 metric tons of rice, the lowest yield since 1927. "No one around here has ever seen conditions like this," says rice grower Les Gordon, standing on the cracked ground of his 4,000-acre farm near the town of Barham...
Shortly after the 6 a.m. shift change, drilling crews start pouring into the Base Camp Café in Rifle, Colo. Business has been booming at the diner for much of the past few years as rising energy prices have increased exploration activity at the nearby natural-gas-rich Piceance Basin. Four years ago, the café moved to a new, 100-seat location to accommodate the crowds...
...places seem to be hit as hard as northwestern Colorado. New drilling technology and rising energy prices caused exploration to flourish in the region in the past few years. The Piceance Basin alone drew dozens of exploration firms, including large companies like Chevron. Now those firms are pulling back. Harpole expects the number of rigs in the Piceance Basin, which energy experts say is one of the largest natural-gas reserves in North America, to drop 40% in the coming months. "There is a systematic change in thinking among energy companies that you could not have guessed just six months...