The lecture was only a few hours away. Chuck Norris was pitching his new book on post at the same hour. In desperation, I turned to Facebook. “I've got just 50 minutes with the cadets at West Point today to talk water, conflict, and cooperation. What are the most compelling examples you would use to make both hard security and human security points, both threat and opportunity points? I ask in part because it is proving harder to decide what to leave out than what to put in!”

Within seconds, experts from the Departments of State and Energy, USAID, and National Geographic responded with examples, including the Tibetan plateau and glacial melt, the lower Jordan River, and more. I used these cases and others to break through to an audience that included both those skeptical of “treehugger” issues and those eager to learn. The map of Chinese current and planned hydro projects produced audible gasps and wide eyes among the class of future officers.

While at West Point, colleague Meaghan Parker and I met with geography faculty to better understand how and what they are teaching on environmental security and demographic security. The professors on the banks of the Hudson face similar challenges to their non-military brethren; today’s students have shorter attention spans and lack experience conducting in-depth research (or getting beyond Google).

But some challenges are unique to the service academies: isolation from academic peers; the need to make sure the material is relevant to future military leaders; and most of all, the physical and mental demands on cadets’ time placed by army training. I saw it as a sign of success that I only had three stand up during my lecture, the military’s sanctioned way to keep yourself awake in class. (LTC Lou Rios USAF, one of the faculty members we met with, wrote about teaching environmental security at West Point previously on New Security Beat.)

Video, blogs, and other new media seem like a way to bridge some of these gaps. We’re especially excited that the cadets in at least three courses will be using the New Security Beat as part of their classes by reading posts, commenting, and proposing a post on a topic of their choosing. We’re looking forward to a cadet joining us next summer for internship with ECSP.

All of these outreach efforts are part of our strategy to both understand how all types of actors—including future army officers—come to understand environment and security links while providing insights and analysis to that same diverse group.

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A nonbinding agreement is set to be signed today to breach four Klamath River dams by 2020 that have been messing with imperiled salmon.

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A new $5 billion hydroelectric dam now under construction on a tributary of the Amazon River in Brazil will seriously mess with the area's unique environment and wildlife and displace thousands of indigenous residents, critics say. Up to 3,000 families will be displaced when the dam's reservoir floods, and the project will also likely affect over 450 species of fish, many of which are important to the area's fishing industry. "It's extremely depressing to think that they're going to be able to build this dam," said Glenn Switkes of International Rivers. "This is an area that is one of the world's hotbeds of biodiversity." Nevertheless, the Santo Antonio dam is just one of some 70 dam projects planned for Brazil's Amazon basin region through 2030, including one that would be the world's third-largest dam. Despite heavy criticism, Brazilian officials say the country's planned hydroelectric frenzy is fueled in part by concerns about carbon emissions from power plants. "[I]f you don't do hydroelectric plants, you'll have to do thermo-electric plants with carbon and oil," said Environment Minister Carlos Minc.

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A handful of green groups filed suit Tuesday over the Bush administration's latest plan to protect salmon in the Northwest's Columbia Basin. The feds' proposal "calls for cutting several key salmon protection measures and comes with a price tag of more than half a billion dollars per year," the groups said in a statement. "While it includes some provisions for habitat, hatchery production, and predator control, it calls for no significant changes to the region's federal hydrosystem and ignores the four dams on the lower Snake River that do the most harm to the ... endangered salmon." The Clinton administration ruled in 2000 that the dams stay put for at least a decade; advocates warn that breaching them would mean losing an important source of clean power. But the litigious lot -- including Save Our Wild Salmon, Earthjustice, National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, and Institute for Fisheries Resources -- say that salmon, and the livelihoods of fisherfolk, should be prioritized.

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Next to a busy train station in Buenos Aires, not far from the chic restaurants and condos getting all the attention these days, lies another world. Behind a gate is a long metal shed, once used to store trains. This is La Casa del Afectado Social y Ambiental -- literally, "the house of the enviro-socially affected." Here, amidst the bustle of traffic and commuters, hundreds of people on the flip side of the nation's renewed glitter are taking a stand.

It may have seemed like a good idea at the time: in 1983, on the Paraná River that forms part of the border between Argentina and Paraguay, the World Bank-funded Yacyretá Dam broke ground. One of the largest dams in the world, the Yacyretá eventually flooded 100,000 hectares of wilderness, displacing more than 80,000 people in both countries. It is still unfinished, and has cost more than $12 billion -- well over its original $2.4 billion budget -- while producing far less power than projected. While he was still president of Argentina, Carlos Menem dubbed the 70-kilometer long dam a "monument to corruption." Patrick McCully, executive director of International Rivers, calls Yacyretá "one of the world's most absurdly destructive dams."

Those displaced by the resulting reservoir -- which reached its full extent in 1998 -- were promised resettlement, but this often amounted to unsuitable housing far from anywhere they could practice their livelihoods. The affected joined a sad international brotherhood: the World Bank has funded more than 500 large dams in nearly 100 countries since its inception in 1944, displacing an estimated 10 million people -- the majority of whom, according to the Bank itself, never regain their standard of living.

In 1996, communities displaced by the Yacyretá project filed a complaint with the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. Three years later, 1,200 affected families filed a case in Argentina's Federal Court against the Entidad Binacional Yacyretá, the body that operates the dam.

The cases have, predictably, dragged on. Last year, hundreds of displaced people from the north traveled more than 500 miles to Buenos Aires to make their voices heard in protest. Around 400 of them took up residence as squatters in this abandoned shed. With no options at home -- and no homes -- they are eking out a living picking up the pieces in the booming urban economy: working as freelance "cartineras" (cardboard collectors) while they wait, and wait, and wait for justice.

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Sea lions all set to gobble their last salmon supper at a Northwest dam have been granted a stay of execution by a U.S. appeals court. Judges granted an injunction, requested by the Humane Society, that a lower court had denied last week. It's only a partial victory for the Humane Society, however, as the court did OK the transfer of the whiskery rascals to zoos and aquariums; state officials planned to nab and relocate eight sea lions on Thursday.

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Some of the world's largest banks and construction firms gathered with seven African governments Monday to chat about plans for an $80 billion hydroelectric dam on the Congo River. The proposed Grand Inga dam could generate twice the electricity of China's controversial Three Gorges Dam and greatly increase the amount of cheap and clean power currently available in Africa, according to supporters. "It is the greatest sustainable development project, offering Africa a unique chance for interdependence and prosperity," says Gerald Doucet of the World Energy Council. But critics say electricity generated by the dam would be exported to urban centers as far away as Europe and Israel, while rural, poor areas in the Congo and surrounding countries see none of the benefit. Backers of the dam say they'll be mindful of the social and environmental implications of the project. If Grand Inga gets the green light, it could be operating by 2022.

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Denying an injunction sought by the Humane Society, a federal judge has given the go-ahead to Oregon and Washington state officials to trap and kill salmon-gobbling sea lions near the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam. The animal-rights group sued after the National Marine Fisheries Service OK'd sea-lion culling last month. An official hearing on the Humane Society lawsuit could be held as early as mid-May, although sea-lion trapping, which could start next week, will likely be over by then.

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Oregon and Washington state officials will have the authority to trap and, if necessary, kill up to 85 of the sea lions that gobble up threatened salmon at the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced Tuesday. Sea lions, which enjoy a robust population but are nonetheless protected under the 1972 Marine Mammals Protection Act, have been visiting the dam to feast on salmon for years. State officials first must try to trap the animals and see whether an aquarium, zoo, or marine park will take them; if no facilities are available, or if the animals avoid entrapment, the sea lions can be killed. Critics of the plan say that not enough attention has been paid to the threats posed to salmon by fisherfolk, habitat loss, birds, water pollution, and dams.

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Concerned about climate-caused drought, officials in at least six Western states are looking into building new dams to create rain-capturing reservoirs -- even as dams across the country are being torn down over environmental concerns.

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The company that owns China's problem-stricken Three Gorges Dam is expected to sign a pact with The Nature Conservancy to conduct a feasibility study on flood risk and floodplain management within the Three Gorges Dam reservoir. The Three Gorges Dam Company and the green group have also agreed to cooperate on researching eco-minded management of four more dams that are planned to be built upstream on the Yangtze River. These four dams have the potential to increase output of ecologically sustainable hydropower and generate more money from electricity generation, which could then be put toward warning systems, flood insurance, and floodplain protection downstream, says The Nature Conservancy. The Conservancy says it doesn't support dams, but nonetheless, "These dams will be built," says the group's Yangtze River project manager. "We must use our experience and knowledge to reduce their ecological impact."

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The Klamath River near the California-Oregon border has been a hotspot in the clash over endangered salmon runs and the irrigation needs of area farmers, but a formal deal reached yesterday suggests a way out of the long-standing disagreements. The plan -- agreed to by a diverse group of stakeholders in the region including Indian tribes, government agencies, farmers, fishers, and a number of conservation groups -- advocates for removal of four dams on the Klamath and outlines clear water-sharing guidelines. It would open up some 300 miles of river that's been inaccessible to imperiled salmon, and restore 60 miles of current reservoir to unblocked river. While the deal is a major development, it still needs approval from several federal agencies and also from the company that owns the dams, the utility PacifiCorp. The plan also hinges on the approval of about $400 million in new funds from Congress. Then there's the small matter of locating another $180 million to actually remove the dams. However, if the deal goes as planned, the dams could be removed as early as 2015.

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If Alaska's proposed Pebble Gold Mine goes forward, it could be North America's largest mine. It would necessitate the construction of the biggest dam in the world -- right at the headwaters of the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery. Environmentalists and commercial fishers are up in arms about the project; mining companies Northern Dynasty Minerals and Anglo-American are beginning exploratory drilling and preparing environmental impact statements. The mining companies are also trying to woo local native Alaskans, who may have the final say over whether the mine goes forward. Which will be stronger: traditional subsistence-hunting values, or the call of the dollar?

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Since a landslide killed 31 people near China's Three Gorges Dam last week, officials have been rushing to cover their bums. While acknowledging that the massive energy project's effect on geologic activity must be monitored, a project bigwig pledged that "there will not be any major damage to the life and property of the people along the Yangtze River." Said another expert, "right now, everything is under control." The spin certainly is.

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Attempting to curb fresh criticism of the country's massive Three Gorges Dam spurred by a landslide that killed over 30 people, China announced a set of vague initiatives to improve the environmental problems caused by the world's largest dam. While no one has directly tied the landslide that killed a construction worker and a bus full of people to the Three Gorges Dam, the slide is consistent with the dam's effects in the area, including increased seismic activity thought to be caused by water penetrating porous, formerly dry rock. Other environmental problems associated with the dam and its 410-mile-long reservoir include water pollution, massive algal blooms, and soil erosion. The Three Gorges Dam has already officially displaced some 1.3 million people and plans have been announced to relocate up to about 4 million more. The director of the Three Gorges Project Committee, Wang Xiaofeng, said that treating the geological hazards posed by the mega-dam was important "to ensure the lives and property of the people in the reservoir region." Well, those who are left anyway.

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The third draft of a federal plan for protecting endangered salmon and steelhead in the Northwest's Columbia and Snake Rivers does not propose breaching the four hydroelectric dams that block the waterways, frustrating activists who have long lobbied for the dams' removal. The National Marine Fisheries Service says the plan for helping the salmon is significantly improved over the previous version, which was found to violate the Endangered Species Act, but environmental groups aren't so sure. "It's the same pig in a different tutu, but it still can't dance," says Todd True of green group Earthjustice. The salmon recovery plan will go through a comment process and require a judge's approval. Dilly-dallying isn't recommended: Northwest wild salmon populations are at 5 percent of historic levels.

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The largest dam in Iraq "is judged to have an unacceptable annual failure probability," according to assessments by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In other words, the "most dangerous dam in the world" could potentially collapse in the near future, sending a trillion-gallon wave of water into the cities of Mosul and Baghdad and possibly killing hundreds of thousands of people. At the same time, Iraqi officials and a U.S. oversight agency say that a U.S. project to help temporarily gird the dam has been marred by incompetence and mismanagement. Microcosm, anyone?

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China may force another 2 million to 4 million people out of their homes over the next 10 to 15 years to make room for the reservoir building up behind the Three Gorges Dam -- and that's in addition to the 1.4 million citizens who have already been relocated. The "world's biggest hydropower project" is quickly becoming a big pain in the neck, and not just for the poor, rural folks being uprooted. Recently, top government officials have spoken publicly about the serious environmental problems associated with the dam, which include polluted waters and possible landslides. Even the official Chinese news agency reported last month on a conference where experts concluded, "If no preventive measures are taken, the project could lead to catastrophe."

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