Auden Schendler lives in Basalt, Colorado, where spring is usually measured by snowpack, river levels, and the return of kayak season. But after one of the driest winters in recent memory, Schendler says the rivers he and his friends depend on never truly arrived—a loss that signals far more than a bad recreation season.
Schendler argues that climate change is not only reshaping the American West’s landscape and economy, but also eroding the rituals, friendships, and sense of identity tied to home.