What happens when the Rio Grande dries up? The river is often overshadowed, at least in the US, by the Colorado River. But the Rio Grande creates the border between US and Mexico, and the water that flows through it is at the center of a looming geopolitical crisis. So what happens when towns, farms and cities on both sides of the border start to run out of water?

Guests:

Naveena Sadasivam: staff writer at the Texas Observer covering the environment, energy and climate and co-author on the series Shallow Waters

Zoë Schlanger: staff writer at Quartz covering the environment, and co-author on the series Shallow Waters

Flavio Lehner: Climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research

J. Alfredo Rodríguez-Pineda: Water program coordinator at the WWF

Sponsors:

Bombas (use code FLASH at checkout)

Papers mentioned in the ad: Deranged Socks, Sock Matching exercise, Sock sorting

→ → → Links to sources and further reading available here ← ← ←

Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.

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