Photographer Peter McBride traveled along the Colorado River from its source high in the Rocky Mountains to its historic mouth at the Sea of Cortez. In this Yale Environment 360 video, he follows the natural course of the Colorado by raft, on foot, and overhead in a small plane, telling the story of a river whose water is siphoned off at every turn, leaving it high and dry 80 miles from the sea.
In the video, McBride, a Colorado native, documents how increasing water demands have transformed the river that is the lifeblood for an arid Southwest.
More From E360
-
Interview
For Your Phone and EV, a Cobalt Supply Chain to a Hell on Earth
-
RETROSPECTIVE
Unheralded Environmentalist: Jimmy Carter’s Green Legacy
-
Pollution
As Enforcement Lags, Toxic Coal Ash Keeps Polluting U.S. Water
-
NATIVE LANDS
Lauded as Green Model, Costa Rica Faces Unrest in Its Forests
-
Energy
Averting Crisis, Europe Learns to Live Without Russian Energy
-
Solutions
How Indigenous People Are Restoring Brazil’s Atlantic Forest
-
Oceans
The East Coast Whale Die-Offs: Unraveling the Causes
-
Biodiversity
In Cambodia, a Battered Mekong Defies Doomsday Predictions
-
Solutions
As Millions of Solar Panels Age Out, Recyclers Hope to Cash In
-
WATER
How Weather Forecasts Can Help Dams Supply More Water
-
Biodiversity
As Fatal Fungus Takes Its Toll, Can We Save Frog Species on the Brink?
-
Energy
In Scramble for Clean Energy, Europe Is Turning to North Africa