Letter from the Editor: Spring 2008

Three Ways of Looking at the Future

Most of us know that drought has descended on the Southwest. The symptoms include wildfires, thirsty crops, meager snow accumulations, dry streambeds, and the threat of water shortages in some of the region’s booming metropolises, including Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, and San Diego. There is much talk of climate change. The Colorado River figures prominently in this unfolding story: its diminishing waters sustain seven states, 25 million people, billions of dollars in commerce, and a half-million acres of farmland. So it occurred to us that this story should be told from the perspective of the river. We asked TIM FOLGER to take a journey along the Colorado—from its trickling headwaters in the Rockies, to the irrigation canals of California’s Imperial Valley, to the river’s ignoble demise just across the border in Baja California. After months of talking to farmers, politicians, scientists, and water managers, Folger delivered not merely one story but an intricate tapestry of people and places that foretells the future of the American West.

In a more distant and obscure part of the world, Transylvania, the future is also bearing down. We sent BRUCE STUTZ to this land out of time, where a predominantly agrarian culture has remained largely unchanged since the Middle Ages. Yet, paradoxically, Transylvania represents an intriguing vision for the twenty-first century: an economy based on small, family-run farms situated in a landscape that knits villages, farmland, pastures, and ancient forests into a sort of rugged harmony. The European Union, however, recently admitted Romania as a new member, and E.U. regulations are pushing Transylvania to enter the brave new global economy. Can it survive modernity?

Our cover story, by contributing editor SHARON LEVY, offers yet another glimpse of the future, one that can be summed up rather simply: more trees on the planet, less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Sounds pretty obvious, but new data gathered from forests all over the world, using an array of cool, high-tech gizmos, demonstrate that trees continue to absorb prodigious amounts of CO2 at a more advanced age than was previously thought. This dovetails beautifully with the world’s emerging carbon economy. Governments and industries are working to establish a trade system that places limits on carbon emissions, and as they do the monetary value of carbon is beginning to increase. Old-growth forests that store carbon in trees and soil could someday be worth as much—or more—for their carbon as for their timber.

Once you've glimpsed these alternative futures, let us know what you think. You can comment on these and other stories posted on our Web site: www.onearth.org. While you’re there, check out our blogs, slide shows, and podcasts, including companion pieces to many articles from this and past issues, as well as our growing audio library of OnEarth poets reading and discussing their work. Of course, you can always just e-mail us or send us a letter. We’ll be here, waiting to hear from you, eyes fixed on the horizon.

Douglas S. Barasch