there is a difference between the first and second generation. there always has been. that is something we need to understand. [applause] >> we could probably talk for another hour but i hope you enjoyed our conversation. the authors will be autographing books immediately following this. governor castro will be right outside in the diner area right outside this store and paula fass and ishmael beah and chiquis barron will of join me in the signing area. books are available again there. last but not least, if you are enjoying the tucson festival of books i know the first session you probably got things all checked off but during the day, please consider joining us and supporting the tucson festival

of books to keep this amazing event here in tucson. thank you for being here and for your support and if you want to follow us out, i am going to head to the dining area. ..

>> the other groups were, you know, i did think that the existence of a small, but very

powerful elite was something new, and so i call that the group, and then there's a category to deal with other griewps who didn't -- groups who didn't fit the category like immigrants, for example from caribbean and africa, and also biracial americans. i thought they would fit into an umbrella group called the emergence. that's how i got that. >> i noticed you put new immigrants and biracial people together, and you're comfortable with that, grouping them under the same umbrella? >> well, i was mostly comfortable with that. it was not precise, and it didn't make for as clean of a category as the other category. however, i thought that the similarities were, the concept of emergence, groups that were

becoming more prominent and hadn't been around in larger numbers before or at least acknowledged in those numbers before and that i thought were willing to be more important in the future, so i was comfortable with that aspect of it. i kind of wish it worked out just exactly four and then -- but i didn't think they stood alone either as separate groups. >> can you tell me which of the four groups you think has expanded the most in recent years? >> has what? >> expanded the most in recent years. >> well, in strict knew mare call -- knew numerical terms i would say it has expanded depending on what you consider recent years, you know, in the middle of this

recession -- >> last decade. >> the mainstream group expanded the most in real terms, and the e -- emergent group expanded as well. >> what are the surprising findings you came upon in writing the book? >> there were tons of them. just an amazing figure from a few research center studies that showed 37% of african-americans didn't believe black americans could be thought of as a single race. i thought that was a striking figure. after a certain age, there's only -- there's something like a 40% chance that a black woman i believe in her early 20s would never marry as opposed to a 20%

chance for a white woman. i thought that was an interesting figure. there are lots of these things that i stumbled across. >> any stark comparisons to white americans in similar groups? >> well, yes, there are some. one is even if you compare middle class to middle class, there's a stark difference in wealth compared to income. it is close now, but wealth is a huge gap, and that's something that some people have been talking and thinking a lot about including bob johnson, a billionaire who has a project on it. >> do you tap into solutions for stopping the splintering? >> you know, i think it may be a process that happens. a lot of it is organic. what i do hope i identified some possible solutions for the plight of this abandoned group which is really the group that

needs our urgent attention right now, and so it calls attention to that, then i think it's been a success. >> thank you very much for your time. >> why this subject? why where about jews and money, anage-old stereotype? well, because it persists, because it's there, because it's pernicious, because it's everywhere, and that's why we

fight bigotry, fight prejudice, fight anti-semitism, and every once in awhile one has to focus on a specific aspect of the prejudices. this element, this stereotype goes back several thousand years. if you examine the roots of western anti-semitism, you will find that it is one of the two basic pillars of western anti-semitism. the first being to charge of deo side, the charge that the romans, not the jews killed jesus. that was a legitimizer to teach contempt. that was the basic foundation for so much of western anti-semitism. it was the foundation of the

inquisition. it was the foundation of expulsions. it made it reasonable and rational. well, the other pillar at that time was the pillar relating to who sold jesus out and why? so the second pillar dealt with the issue of money, jews and money. jesus was not sold out by judas for theology, philosophy, for ideology. we are told and taught seldom for 30 pieces of silver, and so throughout the western civilization, the almosts of anti-semitism were radioed in both elements and it grew and became more and more legitimate.

>> what i tried to do is link together letters from people from the civil war to the war in iraq, and as i said from dusty plantations to the white house. the correspondents of unsung slaves, soldiers, lovers, fathers, mothers, artist, activists are woven together with those of historical giants from phyllis, langston hiewdges, so jowrner truth, wbdubois, and colin powell. the likely misses of the

extraordinary are watched by the letters of the ordinary who pen in hand share their joy and pain, ecstasy, and heart ache. >> this letter is from hannah to her son, cato. it was written june 3, 1805. my dear son, cato. i long to see you in my old age. i live in caldwell with mr. grover, the minister of that place. now, dear son, i pray you come to see your dear old mother or send me 20 dollar and i will come see you in philadelphia, and if you can't come to see your old mother, please send me a letter and tell me where you live, what family you have, and what you do for a living. i am a poor old servant. i long for freedom and my master will free me if anybody will

engage to maintain me so i don't come upon him. i love you, cato. you love your mother? you are my only son. this from your affectionate mother, hannah grover. ps: my dear son, i have not seen you since i saw you at stanton island about 20 years ago. if you send any money, send it to dr. bonner, and he will give it to me. if you have any love for your mother, pray, come, or send to me. my dear son, i love you with all my heart. hannah. >> this is a letter from a --

september 19th, 1858. i take the pleasure of writing you these few words with much regret to inform you that i am being sold to a man by the name of pierson, a trader who stays in new orleans: i am here yet, but i expect to go long. when i do go, i want to send you some things, but i don't know who to send them by, but i will try to send them to you and my children. give my love to my father and my mother, and tell them good-bye from me, and if we shall not meet in this world, i hope to meet them in heaven, my dear

wife, for you and my children, this pen cannot express the grief that i feel to be parted from you all. >> we're taken behind the public's facade of scholars and activists. martin luther king, j.r.'s letter is here and to his wife when writing from prison. >> this is a letter to his wife. on october 26, 1960. hello, darling. today i find myself a long way from you and the children. i'm at the state prison in reedsville, about 230 miles away from atlanta. they picked me up around 4:30 this morning. i know this whole experience is

very difficult for you, especially in the conditions of your pregnancy, but as i said to you yesterday, this is the cross that we must bear for the freedom of our people, so i urge you to be strong in faith and this will in turn strengthen me. i can assure you that it is extremely difficult to think of being away from you, my little yokie and marty for four months, but i ask god hourly for the power of endurance. i have the faith to believe that this excessive suffering which has now come to our family will in some little way serve to make atlanta a better city, georgia a better state, and america a better country. just how?

i do not yet know, but i have the faith to believe it will, and if i am right, then our suffering is not in vain. >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. here are a few upcoming book fairs and festivals from around the country. this weekend, we are live at the tucson festival of books. visit booktv.org for the schedule of events. book tv is airing several events live online on thursday the 17th and friday the 18th. simply visit booktv.org and click the watch icon to view the event. for the schedule of programs that'll be live on book tv, check the program section of the page. in march, the patchwork tales

story telling festivals happens in rockville, skiers. it begins march 17. is there a book festival near you? e-mail the name, date, and website of the event to booktv@c-span.org. >> why are white people called caucasian? have any of you asked yourself that? do you know why? no, and this was when the russian was still happening. the caucuses were having tremendous struggles, so why are white americans called

chetcens? the answer took me to germany in the 18th century. now, the idea of race was invented in the 18th century. it doesn't go back to antiquity. there were not white people in antiquity, but sense so many people thought that, i thought i should address it, so my book actually starts with the greeks and the romans, and their commentary on the people who became europeans, and what the greeks and the romans discovered were people who lived in various ways. for the greeks, they talked about what we call culture, and for the romans who ward in various ways because the romans were imperialists and was interested in who was a good fighter and who would help.

i followed this german idea into the united states via a madam who was a french intellectual and thomas carlyle who was a british intellectual, and ralph waldo emerson, so i spent a long time with ralph waldo emerson who was the kind of genius of 19th century white race theory. ralph waldo emerson didn't have a great deal to say about black people, but he had a lot to say about white people. now, in the 19th century, the idea prevailed that there were many white races, so there were people who were considered white. no one could question their whiteness. very clearly, the irish were white. very clearly, people descended

from english people or scottish people or german people. they belonged to different races. they were white, but they belonged to different races, so, for instance, the irish-catholics were thought to be belong to the celtic race, and people descended from english people descended from the saxon race, and the saxons were better than the celtics. it was not until the middle of the 20th century which many of us remember vividly that the idea of one big white race came into being in which everybody was who was white was the same as everybody else, and it's not an accident that that happened through politics. it happened through the national

mobilization of the great depression, the second world war, and the federal policies crafted after the second world war, so one big white race is an idea based in politics. >> to watch this program in its entirety, go to booktv.org. simply type the title or author's name at the top left of the screen and click search. >> tell us why you chose

football as a way to show the way of racial tension in georgia? >> well, thanks to you and c-span for taking the time to talk to me today. this book has been out a few years, but one of the important components of it is i interviewed the first black player who played on the all-white football team in the mid-60s. this particular player and another black player decided to go to the football camp, and the football camp in that point was in the middle of the woods, along the creek, the muckily creek. bad things would happen out there. the first night, one the black players didn't make it and went home. the one who survived is brady caldwell. this book is important to help us understand how football in the deep south helped further

integration. that's what appealed to him about it, and he says that in the forward. i introdeered caldwell and other blacks after him and whites who made adjustments in that period, coaches like harold cook and others. football helped further integration in the deep south in our country. >> you played on the team later. what was the mood like on the team? did people talk about integration? did they talk about other black players? what was it like? >> no, and that's a great question. i played in 1972, and by that point, our team was probably 65% or 60% white, the rest black, but it was not discussed that just a few years earlier that

there was an all-white football team and the color barrier was broken in terms of that particular school. it wasn't discussed by the players that i played there, and the interviews i think in this book will help the readers understand that many of the white players and black players who got through that camp, and it was a hell of a camp by the mid early 70s just wanted to be a part of that team, and race didn't matter. >> you write about how brutal the camp was. how much do you think the social challenges played into the physical challenges they had to go through at camp? >> the social challenges for blacks? >> yeah. >> there's no question about it. grady, tomorrow night, he's speaking at the civil white institute, he told me about the intimidation, the name calling, and threats from white players. they admitted it, and i record

them in the back. earnest jenkins was the other black, earnest didn't make it. the mood was to run them off. >> did they see the integration of one high school football team helping the state of georgia sort of move forward during integration? >> i think there's no question about it the people who saw that were the same people that marched with dr. martin luther king when he came here in 61-62. people were involved president albany movement. later, larry wilson, excuse me, larry west, his family, ronny nelson, back guys who played in that period, whose family and mothers understood if you could integrate that football team and not have white fans on one side and black stands on the other

side in this big stadium, if you can integrate that team, then you can further integration in the community. >> was there a lot of push back or tension from the community when grady played? there>> there was tension from his own team. they later regretted that, and in the same season they realized that grady was a fellow with strong character. they recognized that. there was early resistance, yes. the high school coach at that period who just recently passed away made a point, he would -- the cafeteria on camp, he would sit by grady and all the other white players would not accept him early on, but the coach cook did that. the other thing he did at night when he felt there were problems, grady slept by him in his bunk.

there were people who stepped forward like cook to help grady. >> tell us about the title. >> i got the title from research for the book. i relied on my own memory which was a hellish camp. got up before daylight, no water, the hazing, the water moccasins. i went through old stories, and this camp was built in the 30s during the great depression and closed in the early 80s. there was one story that came out of 62-63. of course, this is the deep south. football is it. it's king. there's one story written by a local sports writer, and he's talking about the upcoming season, and albany has great camps. he uses that phrase, made or broken.

the coach will take the kids out of camp and they will be made or broken. when i saw that, that was it. >> what other books are you working on? >> well, i've written two previous books. one, a bit about the first two. one is about a sharecropper, cotten picking boy at a mill worker and that's called "mill daddy, the life and times of roy davis." i wrote another called "a mother's dream." it was a dream about my father my mother had. it's about their love and baseball. it's more than that though. i have begun working on a book about grady caldwell and because of what happened to him, he fell into the pit of drug use and

addiction. i interviewed him in prison, as a matter of fact for this book, but are other themes in his life, redemption, his family stuck with him, and now he's a minister in georgia. i started work on this and interviews him this week, as a matter of fact. >> thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. >> we're back live from the gallager theater. starting shortly, a panel on climate change, hot times,. mitch tobin is author of "endangered". this is coverage of the 2011 tucson festival of books. >> good morning. welcome to the third annual tucson festival of books.

i'm george at kinson, and i'm moderating this interesting session today called hot times: can nature survive us? we like to begin by thanking the designed modelers for having this session, and i'd like to remind everybody that he with refortunate today to have this session broadcast live on c-span, so you're relatives are watching. the entire presentation and discussion including questions will last about approximately 1 hour. we'll begin with 10 minute summaries of their works by each of the authors, and in some cases, these summaries include brief powerpoint presentations. i'd like to ask the audience to please hold questions until all three authors finished. i'll provide brief introductions

before each author begins their presentation. i'd also like to request that the audience consider presenting their questions very concisely. primarily so we can preserve as much time as possible to listen to the authors' responses. perhaps in some cases we can follow-up with additional questions depending upon how this group is. we can meet the authors and have a more detailed discussion after the session, and when they proceed to the signing area where they sign their books. obviously, copies of the authors' books will be available for sale at that signing area. by way of introduction, i'd like to say that today there's three very distinguished and accomplished authors who've written excellent accounts concerning the most important environmental and ecological issues of our time. not only are these books highly

authoritative and credible, but they, in my view, are accessible to the nonexpert, and in fact, quite enjoyable to read. these issues, of course, transcend their technical descriptions which are often times the focus of many books including some of these. i think it's valid to anticipate that each of these issues addressed in the books by these authors will have significant and perhaps even profound everyone -- imp my cations for the decisions we all face, both immediately and over the long term. let's begin. we've chosen by collective decision to begin with mitch tobin whose book is entitled "endangered".

mr. tobin had diverse experience with environmental issues. he's covered questions affecting the southwest and especially arizona. he is the recipient of the john oaks award for distinguished environmental journalism. his work has been honored by a number of groups incoming best of the -- including best of the west competition with other authors, and by the arizona association press management editors. he continues his interest in environmental issues as a consultant and resides in denver, colorado. i was referring to your brother mark a moment ago. i apologize. it is, in fact, mitch tobin. mitch, i invite you to come to the podium. [applause] >> thank you, everybody.

thanks so much for coming out on a beautiful day. it's great to be here in tucson, although i forgot summer begins in early march here. [laughter] i'll begin by giving you a quick overview of the book and explain how climate change affects by yo diversity in general and specifically some species here in the southwest. i want to explain why my book focuses on the american southwest, and why i think it's a really critical area to look at in order to understand climate change and a number of other issues. i'm going to use one mountain as a microkosm, and that mountain is mt. gram, not too far from us here in tucson. one effect of climate change is the esklator effect where plants and animals move uphill as the temperature continues to rise and then talk about wild fires

and the impact of our water supply. a big reason is i was a reporter here in tucson for almost eight years and was very frequently covering endangered species issues, and that's because the endangered species agent is such a powerful and polarizing law. it turned out this was an important place to look at the issue of endangered species because we have so many in the southwest. i'm basically referring to arizona, new mexico, and the adjourning portions of colorado, utah, nevada, california, and i guess the west texas deserts. here in the southwest, we have a very large number of endangered species. this shows you county by county how many threatened species there are. there's a clear con concentration in the united states as well as florida and the appalachian mountains.

the southwest has been one the fastest growing areas of the country and the population here has been increasing dramatically in all of the southwestern states. we are leading the area with the population to be close to 11 million in 2030, and other states are growing as well, just not as fast. here in the southwest there's a an nexus with a diverse region and a variety of species and the most quickest growing regions of the country. that generated a lot of conflict over the endangered species act. why is a state like arizona so bilogically diverse? a lot of people who don't live here don't realize that because of the deserts. a lot has to do with elevation. this map shows you the state and the colors are shaded according to the elevation above sea level.

over here in yuma in the southwestern state you're at sea level, and here in flagstaff, the san fransisco peaks and big mountains, they are at 11,000 feet high. there's a big difference in elevation. you also see that with precipitation. this map shows you how much rain is expected to fall in an average year. over in the western deserts in yuma the average rainfall is 3 inches a year. here on mt. gram, it's over 36 inches a year, much of that falling as snow in the winter. a big difference in elevation and diverse climate. that translates into a very incredible array of ecosystems and has habitat. this is a simplification of the ecosystems we have in the southwest, and i've had to collapse a number of categories

because there are so many of them in order to make it more legible. there's four deserts here. in the higher eel visions which are shaded in green here, we have pine forests, and lower down is woodlands. because we have such a tremendous diversity of habitats, not surprisingly, there's the big diversity of species. the southwest is a hot spot for diversity. so this graphic shows you what a typical mountain in southern arizona right around here looks like, and on the mountains you see the diversity in habitat exceptionally well. here in tucson, of course, as you are familiar with, there's palaverdes. at the top there's spruce fir forests that represent southern

canada even though you are close to the mexican border. on a single mountain range there's a tremendous variety of has habitats and therefore species. this is one of the mountains, mountain gram, not to far from here, and i'm going to show you some of the different habitats. this at the base where there's prickly pears and agaves. this is about mid elevation, a white oak woodland, and these are spruce and fir trees along with aspen at the top of the mountain which is about 11,000 fetal. this is an overview and you probably have noticed this little box here, and those of you who have been around tucson for awhile, you are familiar with that. it's one the most powerful observatories in the world. it was put up that not without a huge fight, a lot happening here

on campus with civil diso obedience and other stuff. there was a sub species of red squirrel living on top of the mountain. the mountain squirrel is basically marooned on the top of this sky island. it's found nowhere else and it's been living there in isolation for 10,000 years or so. 10,000 years prior the earth's climate was different than it is today, and here in the southwest it was much cooler and wetter, and so you had spruce and fir forests at the bottom of the mountains, not just the tops. as the planet warmed up and emerged from the ice age, the trees and squirrels went to the top of the mountain. since then, the squirrel has been on top of the mountain and found nowhere else and evolved in isolation like many other species have. this is just a schematic to show

you what the different types of layers of vegetation are like on the mountain. climate changes such a threat to species like the red squirrel because this layer cake of life stones as i call them is not going to remain static if we continue to warm up the climate. today there's ponderosa pines between 8500 feet. if the planet warms up because of gas emissions, that layer is found between 85,000 and 10 -- 8500 and 10,000 feet. you can nix the spruce forests from the mountain. i don't think i've been on a mountain that's reverse. there's less surface area and habitat up there. as the layers are pushed up, it's troubling for the squirrel. this is a pica that some refer to as a boulder bunny. they are common in colorado

where i live and on the top of mountains and sensitive to temperature. they can die if it's greater than 80 degrees, and that's why they live high in the boulder fields in 13,000 and 14,000 foot mountains. on the left is where in orange where the pica is found today. on the right is what the projection is for 2100 what is suitable habitat. you can see it's a dramatic reduction in the range, and therefore it's potentially very, very dangerous for the species fate. just to sum up the global warming threat is, of course, involving warmer temperatures, but it also involves altered precipitation, and that's important in a place like the southwest. because of changes, we're seeing big shifts in vegetation and habitat because naturally they are in such close proximity.

we're going to have a thinner snow pack because of warmer temperatures and higher evaporation rates, and higher insect rates. that all leads to wild fires. wild fires are a natural part of the southwest, this was the beginning of the 2004 ned l fire on mt. gram and nearly took out the telescopes, but they were savedment the fire did destroy quite a bit of the squirrels' habitat, and there wasn't much there to begin with. another species affected by wild fires is the mexican spotted owl. you are probably familiar with the northern american spotted owl in northern california. we have our species here in the southwest. when this bird was listed, the primary threat to it was considered to be logging. now, really the primary threat is considered to be unnatural wild fires because fuel

accumulated in the forest, and when a big blaze breaks out, it's an infern know. it takes a dry year, and we had that in 2002. in the first half of 2002, arizona, utah, and colorado all experienced their driest six months in the history of recordkeeping that stretches back 108 years. this is another view from the u.s. drought monitor of 2002 showing drought conditions. we had big fires break out in 2002. it was the best known because it was 460 some odd acres, the biggest fire in arizona's history. it was two separate fires set by humans and they eventually merged. this is a color enhanced image from space, but just how big the fires how when you look at the landscape.

this is one of the 400 houses destroyed. this is the entire map of arizona, and you can see the fire took out a big portion of the high country forests. i just want to talk just a minute about another big effect on our water supply. this is glen canyon dam and any aquatic species in the southwest was in difficult circumstances because of dams like this and all we do to modify the water systems here in the southwest. this is the hump back chub, one of many species in payroll. these two maps show you two different scenarios of what global warm can do to our water supply in terms of precipitation. there's going to be a dramatic decrease in precipitation, and we're talking about 40% less rain of the that's going to translate into a lot less rahnoff for rivers like the colorado. you can see in the dark marine

red shape, we are expecting decreases of 20 or 40% because of global warming. any species in the southwest already in difficult circumstances if they were dependent on our water supply because there's so much competition, and global warming is only making that more of an issue. to wrap up, i think the endangered species act is an important law, but really it's helpless to protect species if clit change is bad enough. we have to attack that real problem. thanks. [applause] >> thank you very much, mitch. your brother, mark, would be very proud of you. [laughter] i'm sure that mitch's comments will stimulate many questions. turning to the second author. i'd like to introduce dr. laura lopez-hoffman.

she has her degree from stanford university in environmental sciences. she was and bachelor of science degree candidate and one of the most distinguished schools historically in the united states for policy issues. she currently is an assistant professor and research policy at the udal center here at the university of arizona. she worked not only in the united states, but in the amazon region and south pacific, and she is a fan of bats which we're about to find out. her book is entitle "conservation of shared environments." she brings us an edited working and this book was prepared by editing with emily mcgovern robert, and carl. [applause]

we have a request to lower the lights, but i bet c-span is too interested in that. do you want to lower the lights? yes, i think laura will solve that problem by not using slides this time. [laughter] thank you for the comment. laura? [applause] >> good afternoon. thank you so much for being here. i'm really surprised it's such a gorgeous day outside that i appreciate you all coming inside on such a beautiful day. i'd like to tell you to begin telling you about the book. interestingly enough by telling you how we finish the book. often, the last, one of the last things that you do when you finish an edited book like this is you write the introduction and you develop the title. just before the book was finished, the other editors and i, emily mcgovern back in the back with a 1-year-old son, robert varity and carl and i

finished the text, but we were searching for a way to begin the opening paragraphs of the book. it was early may, and i decided to pass time by watching a white house press conference celebrating cinco de mayo. his words touched on the culture and gastronomic connections between our two countries. speaking of economic and security challenges shared by our nations, he remarked good neighbors work together when faced with common challenges. it was like an ah-ha moment. i found a way to open the book. in the mission of trial's discussed, we faced another trial not even mentioned or widely discussed in mexico city or washington, d.c.. it's a challenge that has the

potential to fundamentally alter the well-being of people in boast countries. the common challenge is to protect and conserve the environment shared by the united states and mexico in the face of the hot issues of climate change which are drought, water scarsty, or bonnization, deforest station, and climate change. we have to protect the well-being of people in both countries. this is why we wrote the book, to address these issues and provide people in both countries with a blueprint for better collaborative efforts to manage our shared environments. now, before i go on and tell you about how we came up with a title, i'd like to note that when i say "we," i obviously mean the other editors, arizona university press, and to all the authors who contributed chapters to this book. the authors came from the united

states, mexico, universities, government agencies, and nonprofit groups. now on to the title. it is conservation of shared environments: learning from the united states of mexico. we took a lot of time to develop the title and careful thinking to make sure that it delivered the right message. the three key words or phrases in the title are one, conservation, two shared environments, and three, learning. by conservation we meant maintaining the quarters and habitats in two countries for the mig story species that fly over the border. when you talk about those species and protecting them, it's not just habitat in one country, but two countries, and that's complicated. we also had the range across the border like black bears and lizards. we have to protect water flows

and water sheds under draught and meant preserving the integrity of border land spaces in the face of security and undocumented immigration, and finally, by conservation we meant protecting the ecosystem services which benefits the well-being of people in both countries. now, what are ecosystem services? by that, i mean such things that control the crop pests and crop pollination services of bats and insects. the soil erosion, the shading and cooling services provided by trees and mesquite trees here in the summer. i'd like to talk to you about margaritas. [laughter] i mean margaritas. as many of you know, tequila is the most important ingredient in

margaritas, but we don't know that tequila is the result of the pollination ecoservices of bats. the long nose bat is the principal poll nay tore of the blue agave, the one and only ingredient in tequila. they spend their summers in united states and mexico and winter in central mexico. what happens here in this country to that habitat affects pollination services a thousand miles away and eventually affect our ability to enjoy cool margaritas margaritas here in tucson in the hot summer. the story of the mexican bat is just the opposite. instead of providing services in mexico, they provide services in the united states. in texas, arizona, they help cotten producers by consuming the pests that plague their crops. it's just the opposite. what happens to that habitat in central mexico effects services

in the u.s., and when it comes to the services, the two countries need to work together to make sure we can have cotten crops and tequila. now, back to the title. the other key phrase was shared environments. what do we mean? we chose to talk about environments because the notion of environment is far reaching enough to consider these continent-wide ceo ecological and social connections between the countries as the bad examples illustrate, it's not just in the border lands, but expands far beyond the political line as may be the consequences, causes, and solutions to our shared problems. finally, the last word in the title, learning. why learning? well, the goal of the book is to provide a blue print for how people in mexico and the u.s. can work together to save and conserve our shared environment. in each of the chapters of the

book, the authors reviewed key aspects of shared environments and discuss what has worked and not worked in cross border collaborations. from those things that have worked, we can draw lessons for a way forward. here's what we learned. first, the scope of cross border collaboration and conservation needs to extend often way beyond the political line. second, we learned that formal government institutions such as agencies, treaty, and agreements are crucial for establishing binational responsibilities, but third, we learned that inform mall, collaborative grass root efforts by nonprofit citizens and universities are where things really get done because environmental work groups and university researchers can be more flexible and sometimes more creative than governments, and then finally we learned that these environmental groups and nonprofits can encourage governments to formally redefine speedometers if necessary.

so, to illustrate the power of nonprofits and university researchers to really push and promote cross border conservation and promote action, i want to tell you a story near and dear to my heart. it's the story of the colorado river and its delta. the river starts in the rocky mountains of my home state of colorado and ends at its delta in mexico. the delta is one of the most important stopovers in the united states and western north america for birds and provides critical habitat to the species. under 1944 treaty, the u.s. gets 90% of the colorado's water and mexico gets 10%, and no water left over for the delta. as a result, the mighty colorado no longer flows to california. the delta that once covered 2 million acres is reduced to 10% of the original size, less than 1%, a tenth of a percent of the

water that reached the delta reaches it today, and that water is by accident. it comes from incidental flows, mostly waste water that runs off the agriculture fields near yuma. as a long term drought in this region continues, we expect that agriculture and cities will become more efficient with their use of water. that's a good thing, but it's also a bad thing for the delta because as agriculture and cities become efficient, in other words, cutting down the waste water that is vie that to the delta. when groups and scientists realize what's happening, they began publicizing the importance of the delta as providing critical habitat to areas in this country and provided services to people in both countries. not only that, but these grass roots efforted succeeded in engaging the u.s. and mexico

governments to rethink their formal responsibilities. they convinced the country's government to add minutes to the treaty, similar to amendments, that acknowledge the importance of how decisions over water, allocations affectioned the delta and its species. this encouraged the governments to sit at one table through the colorado joint cooperative process and work together to find dedicated nonaccidental flows, dedicated flows of water to the delta. while still meeting urban needs, to me, this is absolutely amazing. in the safest climate change and massive drought, nonprofit groups and university scientists encourage our governments to work together. in summary, i'd like to say that i recognize and that i know that often times we can sound depressing pointing out environmental problems but i hope through the example of the colorado and its delta, i have

illustrated how the public in concert with nonprofits and university scientists can work together and when needed, engage our government to find solutions to the challenges that face our sharoned environment. at this moment with climate change and loss, it's crucial for us to remember that our environment units us. the rivers and plants and animals, ecosystems and services we have in common transform the differences between us, and that is neighbors, we can and should work together on the environmental challenges we share. thank you very much. [applause] >> obviously a topic that will generate many questions. it's amazing what an audience will do at the sound of tequila. [laughter] it's my pleasure to introduce