"From record-breaking droughts and catastrophic flash floods to contaminated pipelines and increasingly thirsty AI farms, water is at the nexus of the climate crisis. The life-giving liquid is both scarce and too abundant, causing half the global population to lack sustained access to fresh drinking water, while much of the world is subject to hotter, wetter weather that subsumes communities with extreme conditions."
"Her new book Lo-TEK Water, published by Taschen, highlights various Indigenous technologies and aquatic systems that could be utilized in adapting to a climate-changed world. There are the two-meter-deep canals of Xochimilco, Mexico, which delineate 55,000 square meters of raised fields called chinampas. While built by the Aztecs to clean the water and irrigate crops, this system actually originated with the Nahua people. Similar are the floating islands of Intha Myanmar, which weave together roots, leaves, sediment, and other materials to create hydroponic beds."
Water is both scarce and overly abundant, producing widespread lack of sustained access to fresh drinking water and increasingly extreme weather that floods communities. Indigenous aquatic systems demonstrate resilient methods for harvesting, cleansing, and cultivating within variable hydrological conditions. Examples include Mexico's Xochimilco canals and chinampas that clean water and irrigate crops, and Myanmar's Intha floating islands that form hydroponic beds from organic materials. Contemporary low-carbon innovations for shelter and cookware offer complementary adaptations. Framing water as an active, intelligent force supports designing regenerative, evolving aquatic infrastructure that sustains ecosystems and human settlements across climate-changed landscapes.
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