2022 IN WATER

Sharpening the Shark’s Teeth

Dear John —

If climate change is a shark then water is the shark’s teeth. In this telling, when higher temperatures bite, victims are likely to suffer a hydrologic trauma: too much water or too little.

Each year delivers tales of the largest, driest, and worst. In many ways the superlatives are derived from a fevered atmosphere. But the consequences are due not only to powerful storms. They are also a result of poor decisions about where to build, what to subsidize, or how to allocate land and water.

The strength of the shark’s teeth and the breadth of the bite were on full display in 2022.

But, "There are ways, if not to tame the shark, then at least to blunt the teeth."

That's how Circle of Blue's Brett Walton sums up the Year in Water.

Today, your support for water journalism goes further and will be matched by two donors. And with your help, we can raise up to $30,000 from NewsMatch to keep Brett on the frontlines for you.

Be sure to have a look at the Big Stories this year. Among them, we revealed how families in rural Nebraska are working with researchers to understand why their children are dying of cancer, and we dug into the impacts of drought and conflict on the world's food supplies. We're also proud to be winners of the U.S. Water Prize as part of the Great Lakes News Collaborative.

Thanks so much for supporting Circle of Blue and giving water a voice. Know someone else who cares about water? Hit the forward button below!