An edition of The Rhine (2002)

The Rhine

An Eco-biography, 18152000 (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books)

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Last edited by MARC Bot
August 18, 2024 | History
An edition of The Rhine (2002)

The Rhine

An Eco-biography, 18152000 (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books)

  • 1 Want to read

"The Rhine River is Europe's most important commercial waterway, channeling the flow of trade among Switzerland, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. In this innovative study, Mark Cioc focuses on the river from the moment when the Congress of Vienna established a multinational commission charged with making the river more efficient for purposes of trade and commerce.

He examines the engineering and administrative decisions of the next century and a half that resulted in rapid industrial growth as well as profound environmental degradation, and highlights the partially successful restoration efforts undertaken from the 1970s to the present.".

"Two centuries of nonstop hydraulic tinkering have resulted in a Rhine with a sleek and slender profile. In their quest for a perfect canal-like river, engineers have modified it more than any other large river in the world. As a consequence, between 1815 and 1975, the river lost most of its natural floodplain, riverside vegetation, migratory fish, and biodiversity.

Recent efforts to restore that biodiversity, though heartening, can have only limited success because so many of the structural changes to the river are irreversible." "The Rhine: An Eco-Biography 1815-2000 makes clear just how central the river has been to all aspects of European political, economic, and environmental life for the past two hundred years."--BOOK JACKET.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
263

Buy this book

Edition Availability
Cover of: Rhine
Rhine: An Eco-Biography, 1815–2000
2015, University of Washington Press
in English
Cover of: Rhine
Rhine: An Eco-Biography, 1815-2000
2009, University of Washington Press
in English
Cover of: The Rhine
The Rhine: An Eco-biography, 18152000 (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books)
January 30, 2006, University of Washington Press
Paperback in English
Cover of: The Rhine
The Rhine: An Eco-Biography, 1815-2000 (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books)
November 2002, University of Washington Press
Hardcover in English

Add another edition?

Book Details


First Sentence

"The modern Rhine"Europe's romantic sewer"is an offspring of the French and industrial revolutions."

Classifications

Library of Congress
GF540.C56 2005, WEB, GF540 .C56 2002

The Physical Object

Format
Paperback
Number of pages
263
Dimensions
8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
Weight
12.3 ounces

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL9317801M
ISBN 10
0295985003
ISBN 13
9780295985008
LCCN
2002072694
OCLC/WorldCat
61129201, 50041291
Library Thing
3315877

Work Description

From Goodreads: "The Rhine River is Europe's most important commercial waterway, channeling the flow of trade among Switzerland, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. In this innovative study, Mark Cioc focuses on the river from the moment when the Congress of Vienna established a multinational commission charged with making the river more efficient for purposes of trade and commerce in 1815. He examines the engineering and administrative decisions of the next century and a half that resulted in rapid industrial growth as well as profound environmental degradation, and highlights the partially successful restoration efforts undertaken from the 1970s to the present.

The Rhine is a classic example of a "multipurpose" river -- used simultaneously for transportation, for industry and agriculture, for urban drinking and sanitation needs, for hydroelectric production, and for recreation. It thus invites comparison with similarly over-burdened rivers such as the Mississippi, Hudson, Colorado, and Columbia. The Rhine's environmental problems are, however, even greater than those of other rivers because it is so densely populated (50 million people live along its borders), so highly industrialized (10% of global chemical production), and so short (775 miles in length).

Two centuries of nonstop hydraulic tinkering have resulted in a Rhine with a sleek and slender profile. In their quest for a perfect canal-like river, engineers have modified it more than any other large river in the world. As a consequence, between 1815 and 1975, the river lost most of its natural floodplain, riverside vegetation, migratory fish, and biodiversity. Recent efforts to restore that biodiversity, though heartening, can have only limited success because so many of the structural changes to the river are irreversible.

The Rhine: An Eco-Biography, 1815-2000 makes clear just how central the river has been to all aspects of European political, economic, and environmental life for the past two hundred years.

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
August 18, 2024 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
November 15, 2023 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
April 7, 2022 Edited by Shay Simmons Edited without comment.
December 5, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
December 10, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page