Take Me to the River: Getting Rid of Deadbeat Dams

People REALLY love their impervious surfaces. Concrete structures practically permeate human-built landscapes. Rather than layering ever more concrete on top of living soils, in waterways, and all over the countryside, what if we re-established our connection with natural ecosystems and put a stop to the concrete madness? One of the most inspiring developments of environmental and cultural restoration involves the cleanup of tons and tons of concrete. We’re talking dam removal today. So grab a sledge hammer, a few sticks of dynamite, and a wrecking ball, and come along as we explore the battle between concrete placement and concrete removal. And don’t miss our interview with Tara Lohan, author of Undammed: Freeing Rivers and Bringing Communities to Life. Originally recorded on 3/17/26.

Sources/Links/Notes:

• The Reef Line
• “Underwater ‘traffic jam’ off Miami beach, CBS News, November 3, 2025
• Miami Beach’s New Traffic Jam Frolics With the Fishes, New York Times, December 1, 2025
• We Finally Know Why Ancient Roman Concrete Stood The Test of Time, Science Alert by Michelle Starr, October 29, 2025
• L“Concrete: From Ancient Origins to a Problematic Future” by Mary Soderstrom. University of Regina Press, 2020.
• “Concrete: From the Ground Up” by Larissa Theule. Candlewick Press, 2022.
• “This is the total weight of everything humans have created since 1990” World Economic Forum, December 6, 2021
• “Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass” Nature.com, December 9, 2020
• “Undammed: Freeing Rivers and Bringing Communities to Life” by Tara Lohan. Princeton University Press, 2025
• Map of U.S. Dams Removed Since 1912
• “Ten years after Oregon’s largest dam removal” Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, 2017
• “‘Salmon Everywhere’ One Year After Klamath Dam Removal” California Department of Fish and Wildlife, 2025
• Undammed: The Klamath River Story podcast
• “First Descent: Kayaking the Klamath River after the largest dam removal in U.S. history” Oregon Public Broadcasting
• Car Free Alliance
• Auto Mat
• Transportation Action Network
• “Stop this destructive, car-centric development” Hindustan Times, December 22, 2025
• Ridges to Riffles
• Rivernetwork Member Directory
• Depave.org

Related episode(s) of Crazy Town:

• Episode 48, “The Taming of the Slough: Humanity’s History of Trying to Control Water”
• Episode 123, “Mailbag: The Crazy Townies Speak!”