"The Lackawanna Valley's history reveals how energy production and water circulation created positive feedback loops of technological and environmental change. To cope with climate change, which is water change, we need a change of mind; to survive in our warming world, we must look to history and literature as guides"--
A personal narrative, an examination of literary texts, and a history of the Lackawanna Valley region, Bill Conlogues Working Watersheds explores how water has circulated in the former anthracite capital of the world. Conlogue not only recounts waters use in anthracite mining and textile making, but also investigates its resulting pollution. He delves into the current natural gas boom, which threatens groundwater, and concludes with hopes of environmental renewal and restoration.
Offering a fresh way to think about the Anthropocene, this distinctive history of water and coal in the Lackawanna Valley discusses how both water abundance and scarcity might play out as global temperatures rise. Working Watersheds is designed to trigger debates about the nature of history, the significance of literature, and the importance of linking person, place, and planet in an era of climate change.
