Making the Rio Grande Great Again
has an alternative vision for the Rio Grande, the river marking the border between the United States and Mexico. He writes that the United States and Mexico have shared their current international border for nearly 170 years. Today they cooperate at multiple levels on issues that affect the border region. President Trump’s focus on building a border wall threatens to undermine many binational initiatives, as well as our shared natural environment.
A scholar focusing on urban planning and design in the border region, Diaz has worked with communities in both countries to restore deteriorated urban and natural environments. He sees great potential for green infrastructure – projects that use live natural systems to deliver benefits to people and the local environment. This approach can help mitigate air and water pollution, restore soils and habitats and regenerate plant, animal and human communities.
He also sees see an opportunity for Mexico and the United States to work together on a much larger scale. Rather than spending billions of dollars on a border wall, here is an alternative vision: regenerating the Rio Grande, which forms more than half of the border, to form the core of a binational park that showcases our spectacular shared landscape.
KJ