Surrounded by a highly biodiverse desert ecosystem, the Rio Grande River creates a desert oasis. Yet the land around it is dry and vast, nationally contested and controlled, and scattered with ruins that span centuries and tell stories of the past.
![Picture of Dr. Wilbur A. Sawyer in his office, published in .](https://i0.wp.com/envhistnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/default.jpg?fit=640%2C586&ssl=1)
Surrounded by a highly biodiverse desert ecosystem, the Rio Grande River creates a desert oasis. Yet the land around it is dry and vast, nationally contested and controlled, and scattered with ruins that span centuries and tell stories of the past.
Picture a Saturday in February, a crisp walk for two on a Cape Cod salt marsh. Each step meant testing the ground in front of us, given the recent snowfall and thawing earth.
In this short piece, I share my work through the example of Bertholletia excelsa, commonly known as the Brazil nut.
When I decided to write my PhD thesis on the history of the nuclear Rhine in the summer of 2018, the front pages of the newspapers were dominated by news of the record summer and that several nuclear power plants on the Rhine had to be shut down.