What I’m Reading
September 26, 2023
Today’s What I’m Reading includes three climate-related stories that point to humanity’s interactions with nature.
Nikkei Asia reports from Vietnam, where the changing climate and actions up the river endanger the Mekong Delta.
The Los Angeles Times covers a lake that recently reclaimed its home and buried signs of civilization.
And The Washington Post brings us to a group of remote islands that humans are developing into a paradise for surfers.
The Consequences of Climate Change and Human Actions
I found the first recommendation on the pages of Nikkei Asia, a publication I haven’t had much contact with before.
But what I’ve seen so far makes me curious to read more.
Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is sinking, but innovations offer hope is part of a series about the Mekong River and how decisions by countries further up the river impact the land and people down the river.
Writer Lien Hoang, supported by a multimedia team, delivers a wonderfully written and reported story.
Climate change effects and projects by countries up the river (mainly China) put the Mekong Delta under severe pressure. The land is slowly sinking, and the once nutrient-rich soil is losing fertility.
I enjoyed the multimedia elements that emphasize important points and provide valuable background information about the challenges in Vietnam.
The article highlights local farming innovations that adapt the region to the changing environment.
But the two points that stuck with me the most are the need for international cooperation to limit the damage to the ecosystem and the general need to think about balancing human activities and environmental protections.
The Force of Nature
That’s a theme I also thought about while reading What’s in the mysterious waters of Tulare Lake? Contaminants, egrets and many unknowns.
Melissa Gomez (writing) and Robert Gauthier (photography) report on a lake that had dried up, was used as farmland, and re-flooded this spring.
The Los Angeles Times story shows how the ecosystem that was gone revived once the water had returned.
The local Sheriff calls it a “biblical moment.”
But it’s not the first time. The last time the lake returned was in the 1980s. It vanished after two years and has stayed away since then. The lake started shrinking again this summer, but only nature knows how long the lake remains.
The article provides all the relevant information about how and why the lake comes and goes. And it includes a look at the dangers of what’s below the surface, from farming chemicals and equipment to people getting stranded or eating potentially contaminated fish.
The beautiful featured picture drew me in. It puzzles me a bit upon closer inspection (likely because of the telephoto compression. I reckon). Anyway, I hope you enjoy the writing as much as the stellar photography.
I’m not necessarily thinking about climate change effects but more about how society uses the planet and the force of nature that often hides until it doesn’t.
Surfers’ Paradise
Today’s final read returns us to Southeast Asia. Writing for The Washington Post, Michael Robinson Chavez explores the changes to a small group of Indonesian islands.
The next Bali? A surfers’ paradise sees a future in resort tourism shows how the “raw undeveloped land” that Robinson Chavez experienced years ago has developed into a resort paradise that caters to the needs of traveling surfers.
Besides beautiful photography, there’s also a section of interviews that inspects the impact of the tourism boom on the Mentawai Islands and the local population.
Reading this article made me think about the beauty this planet has to offer, how humanity can enjoy it, and the fine line between using and enjoying nature on the one hand and overusing, overdeveloping, and destroying it on the other hand.
Those are all the reading recommendations for this week. Later this week, I’ll share more insights from A Journalist’s Diary. Until then, enjoy your readings.
