"Geo-Environmental Disconnection and the Colorado River Delta: Technology, Culture, and the Political Ecology of Paradise"

Ward, Evan R. “Geo-Environmental Disconnection and the Colorado River Delta: Technology, Culture, and the Political Ecology of Paradise.” Environment and History 7, no. 2, “Beyond Local, Natural Ecosystems” special issue (May, 2001): 219–46. doi:10.3197/096734001129342478. This article examines the alienation of water users in the lower Colorado River Basin from the river and its delta during the twentieth century. The author posits technological advances, affluence, geographic distance from the river itself, and prevalent Newtonian attitudes towards the landscape as the principal reasons for these geo-environmental disconnections. Politically, the competition between municipal, agricultural, and tourist-related activities contributed to the severing of ecological linkages between the urban and irrigated oases and the delta. All rights reserved. © 2001 The White Horse Press