Review of the book “Rebellion against Drought”

It basically explains how “flying rivers” transport water, how forests produce their own rain, how swamps work, and how carbon can be sequestered back – in great detail and in a technically sound way. The authors comprehensively present the very numerous projects combating water shortages in Germany but also around the world, where the ideas have been implemented, which ones help and how they work. Forest conversion in the Elbe Elster region, beaver settlement, small urban forests, Indonesian small farmers planting thousands of Singon trees on their land, a farmer on the edge of the Spreewald planting rows of trees between traditional farming, the first European sponge city in Copenhagen, and the floodplain forests of Havel And many more.

Sometimes it seems as if the authors go into a frenzy as they list all the projects one by one. This may be a bit tiring, but it also shows that there are a lot of them. However, they are often just very small local businesses. Success may not always be as the authors hope. Although some streets in Berlin are becoming green and car-free, and beavers are becoming established elsewhere, there is often successful resistance on the part of politicians and farmers against such measures.

Schoep and Schwarzer succeeded in conducting a comprehensive analysis of the political situation, environment mechanisms and countermeasures. Beautiful photographs and a creative mix of texts such as interviews, a drop of water’s imaginary journey around the world and boxes of information make the book refreshing.