Unintended Carbon Consequences

What is it about?

Before the Colorado River was dammed, trillions of clams lived at the mouth of the river. Today, the clam population has declined considerably and so have emissions of carbon dioxide produced by the clams. Even so, the use of Colorado River water throughout the basin (e.g., pumping water to Tucson, Phoenix, Las Vegas) produces orders of magnitude more carbon today that the clams created in the past. Overall, we argue that we need a better accounting of carbon consequences of water management to understand all of the implications, not just the obvious ones.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

We, in the United States and globally, do not understand how our water management decisions impact carbon cycling.

Perspectives