TY - BOOK AU - Wohl, Ellen TI - World of rivers : : environmental change on ten of the world's great rivers SN - 9780226904788 U1 - 551.483 PY - 2011/// CY - Chicago PB - University of Chicago press KW - PL KW - Nature KW - Effect of human beings N1 - Includes bibliographical references and index; Contents : A round river -- The Amazon : rivers of blushing dolphins -- Interlude -- The Ob : killing grandmother -- Interlude -- The Nile : lifeline in the desert -- Interlude -- The Danube : remnants of beauty -- Interlude -- The Ganges : eternally pure? -- Interlude -- The Mississippi : once and future river -- Interlude -- The Murray-Darling : stumbling in the waltz -- Interlude -- The Congo : river that swallows all rivers -- Interlude -- The Chang Jiang : bridling a dragon -- Interlude -- The Mackenzie : river on the brink -- An ebbing flow N2 - Far from being the serene, natural streams of yore, modern rivers have been diverted, dammed, dumped in, and dried up, all in efforts to harness their power for human needs. But these rivers have also undergone environmental change. The old adage says you can't step in the same river twice, and Ellen Wohl would agree--natural and synthetic change are so rapid on the world's great waterways that rivers are transforming and disappearing right before our eyes. A World of Rivers explores the confluence of human and environmental change on ten of the great rivers of the world. Ranging from the Murra ER -