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Kaden Call

Period 4
Journal:A Semi-desert With a Desert Heart

1. The author of the work is Marc Reisner.

2. The title of the work is A Semi-desert With a Desert Heart. The significance of this title is

that the west at heart is a desert but through humans and irrigation, parts have become

more of a semidesert.

3. The work was written in 1986. The important background of the work is that

environmentalism was gaining popularity and more people were beginning to care about

the planet.

4. The intended audience may have been people who carelessly used water when they live

in a desert region.

5. Marc Reisner begins A Semi-desert With a Desert Heart by describing his view of Utah

from an airplane. He describes the barrenness of the land that suddenly turns into large

cities then just back to being barren suddenly. Reisner explains early irrigation

techniques of the mormon pioneers and how they were able to turn a desert into arable

land. He then describes how these techniques have allowed the settlement in the desert

lands of the west. After Reisner explains the negative effects that this is causing. He first

describes the negative effects on the Colorado River. The Colorado River is becoming

incredibly salty because of the use of it for farming and waste. Reisner then begins to

discuss the effects on California. In California they have used much of the groundwater

that is nonrenewable. Reisner then explains that at some point we will not be able to

sustain what we have let alone expand on it. (156)

6. The main point of this piece is that we cannot continue to use water the way that we are

currently using it. Although we have currently been able to settle the west we will not be

able to continue. The way in which we use the water from rivers increases the salt

content to a point where it is unuseable. (60)


Kaden Call
Period 4
Journal:A Semi-desert With a Desert Heart

7. I thought that the work was interesting and brought up some very good points. One of

the things that interested me was when he discussed how people love the desert but

we don't want to leave our modern comforts to actually explore it. It reminded me of the

passage that we read on industrial tourism; we say we like something but are too

unwilling to leave our modern comforts to actually experience what it is like. I also

thought it was cool how it brought up some things that I have learned about in my Utah

history classes.

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