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For decades we’ve offered an alternative to mainstream travel and tourism. Discover the rare opportunity to slow down, experience the day-to-day life of the communities we visit, and get a sense of what it is like to live somewhere else. Immerse yourself in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the United States.
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![Photos & Excerpted Reflection (from the Yak Board) by Aaron from the Spring 2021 Colorado River Basin Semester:
"Imagine standing on the edge of a lake, blue water stretching on for miles to the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, being fed by the snow melt high above. Trees litter the shores, and maybe a whirling mass of migratory birds cloud out the sun above. This is what European settlers thought was Paradise in the Californian desert, and where the indigenous Paiute people of Payahǖǖnadǖ (“place of flowing water”) lived for millennia.
This sight is what you would have seen just over one hundred years ago at Owens Lake. Now, only a desolate alien landscape filled with bitter salt and harsh dust remains. Four generations ago, the city of Los Angeles seized the land containing Owens Lake and the surrounding areas, and built an aqueduct to siphon out the water from the lake. Within a decade, Owens Lake was dry. The surrounding farms, ranches, and towns disappeared.
The destruction of Owens Lake has a greater impact on Owens Valley than just a lack of water. Soon, residents started encountering immense clouds of toxic dust blown up from the dry lake bed by winds rushing through the valley. The dust is thick, making the air look like the smoke produced by the 2020 wildfires, and is the largest source of dust pollution in the United States.
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In drought-stricken California, and much of the world, water is everything. We go to tremendous lengths to procure water, shaping our lives around it, yet we still waste it. Ecosystems, cultures, lives are destroyed for water. And it is only going to get worse, through growing utilization of resources and climate change. The solutions for our water problems exist, but we need to change our policies, our consumption, our mindsets to implement them. To protect our water, and to protect ourselves."
Read the FULL reflection at: yak.wheretherebedragons.com/2021/03/thoughts-from-owens-lake/](https://www.wheretherebedragons.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
