Reverse the River!

03/01/24 • 19 min

The Chicago River pops up in the news every March when it's dyed green. Have you ever wondered why Lake Michigan isn't subsequently green? You'd be forgiven for thinking that the Chicago River emptied in Lake Michigan, but that's not the case anymore. In this episode, I discuss how a group of politicians and engineers got together to pull off the ultimate reverse Uno card on Mother Nature by reversing the Chicago River to solve their sewage woes.

Previous Episode

The Gallstone in Omaha's Gut

Borders are one of mankind's enduring geographic obsessions. Sometimes, natural features lend a hand to form them...until they decide to switch places overnight like the Missouri River did in 1877, stranding a little part of Iowa on the wrong side of the river. This anomaly eventually landed at the center of three Supreme Court cases, each one attempting to untangle tricky ideas such as avulsion and diversity of citizenship. Welcome to Carter Lake!

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The Bonapartes in America

The name Napoléon evokes France instantly. But what if he had closer ties to the United States...? While Napoléon never came to the US (he thought about it for a hot second), his family did. Two brothers, Joseph and Jérôme, would spend some time here, dazzling American society. Achille Murat, a nephew, would renounce his titles and move to Florida. Join me on this wild ride to discover the impact of the Bonapartes in America!

The Nifty Fifty Show - Reverse the River!

Transcript

00:00:11.762

Hi, everybody. Welcome to episode six of the nifty 50 show. Now after last week's riverine drama between Iowa and Nebraska. We're going to talk about a, another river today, the Chicago river. However, this does not involve any legal battles necessarily. But rather it is a question of health and safety. So the Chicago river is very famous today. Obviously Chicago sits on it. And it's famous because it gets died every March.

00:00:43.012

Which is ano