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Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a novel set in a dystopian society in the year 2044. In a world where chaos, poverty, and various problems resulting from climate change have taken over, most people find solace in a virtual world called OASIS. Every day, citizens all over the world log into their online lives to escape the horrible fate of their real everyday lives. While Ready Player One is not much more than a thrilling science fiction novel, its themes are incredibly prevalent to a lot of the problems we might end up facing in the real world.

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One quote from the novel that I found particularly interesting when it comes to its real world connections is when Wade Watts tells us that their current world situation is the result of problems getting so out of hand that they stopped coming up with ways to fix problems and instead started coming up with ways just to live with them. I see our own society going down a similar road. Many people seem to have the idea that they cannot have a positive impact and that it is too late for us to implement change. Unfortunately, without inspiration and action we won't be able to fix problems but it is not too late.

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In today’s society, more and more people are learning that something needs to be done to protect the fate of our planet, and fast. As a result, more and more people are stepping up to do what it takes to change the path that humans have set this planet on. However, we now know that its gonna require a lot more than a few thousand (or million) dedicated people to fix this thing. In order for real change to occur, we must all work together and do our part to build a more sustainable society.

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Basin.", ". R. (2019). Paraná-Paraguay River Basin. Retrieved July 21, 2019, from https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/parana-paraguay-river-basin

Britannica, T. E. (2019, March 14). Paraná River. Retrieved July 21, 2019, from https://www.britannica.com/place/Parana-River

Waterkeeper. (n.d.). Retrieved July 9, 2019, from https://waterkeeper.org/waterkeeper/MDAxMWEwMDAwMEV2UU92QUFO/paran--waterkeeper/

Zagare, V. (2011, January). Natural territory, urban growth and climate change in the Parana River Delta and Rio de la Plata estuarine system. Retrieved July 22, 2019, from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ffa1/e310bda05961c30aac804fe9f9889c29cb22.pdf

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When it comes to the effects of and challenges of climate change, new research shows that it is important to consider the Parana Watershed and the Plata Watershed as a whole. According to an article published by the Semantic Scholar and written by Veronica Zagare, the two watersheds are "geomorphologically related and they suffer the effects of the same natural and urban processes, so they can be considered parts of a larger system" (Zagare)

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Pollution isn’t just coming from construction projects. As agriculture expands, so does the use of fertilizers and insecticides especially in relation to “soybean production, monocultures, and intensive cattle feeding operations” (Waterkeeper). Unsustainable agricultural practices also lead to loss of vegetation, erosion, and sedimentation.

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Despite great biodiversity and natural resources, Latin America does face strong climate changes. Thanks to a system of cooling and warming phases, referred to as ENSO, the Parana Delta often floods a lot of the surrounding land. In 1983, a flood resulting from the Delta left 40,000 kilometers squared under water. Some other threats it faces are agricultural use, biomass burning, deforestation, hydrological erosion, and fluvial navigation. All of these combined are having serious, irreversible effects on this watershed and the species it provides for. (Zagare)

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The Parana watershed is located in the central eastern coast of South America. Named after the 3,000-mile-long Parana River, the Parana watershed is a part of the “largest fresh water system of wetlands on the planet” known as the Plata River Basin (Waterkeeper).

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The Parana Watershed covers about 1,980,00 square miles. It is the second largest watershed, right after the Amazon Basin which is also in South America. (Basin) The land that falls under the Parana watershed falls largely in Brazil but also covers a portion of Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and Bolivia.

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The northern part of the Parana Basin experiences a hot, humid almost year round. It is drier in the winters and rainier in the summers. The mid to lower sections of the basin has a subtropical climate with a large amount of rainfall. The land includes both forested areas and desert like areas. (Britannica)

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This wetland area provides food, shelter, and water to over twenty million creatures and supplies sustenance to over seven million humans. This area provides an immense amount of ecological, cultural, and economic resources and the impact of changes to this area is just as colossal. For starters, low income communities rely heavily on this area for fresh water and other natural resources. (Waterkeeper) The River itself is used as a transport route for agricultural products, manufactured goods, and petroleum products. The river's waters are also used to help the irrigation of farmlands in the area. (Britannica)

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The wetland area of the watershed provides a breeding ground for many species of edible fish. It also helps to alleviate floods and droughts while recharging aquifers. It is considered an epicenter for biodiversity and climatic variety all while providing an abundance of fresh water to all of the species and humans in the surrounding areas.

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One of the biggest challenges the Parana watershed faces is overfishing. The central part of the Parana river is currently enduring a serious fishing crisis due to “lack of conservation practices and inadequate management plans” (Waterkeeper). Not only does this have a direct impact on food resources in the coastal towns, but it also disrupts thousands of jobs in these areas which rely a great deal on the economic benefits of fishing. As we learned in the overfishing activity in a previous lab, without conservation efforts and regulations in place, fish are not able to reproduce at the rate we are fishing. This means that each year the fish populations will continue to decline until the entire industry fails. Not only do the fish face endangerment from fishing but the impact of pollution and habitat loss also have detrimental effects to their population.

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Roads, dams, marine channels, and other large development projects not only contribute to the pollution of the water, but they also result in habitat loss and habitat degradation. Urban growth has expanded throughout the entire region, most recently in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area in Argentina. Not only to these developments have a direct impact on water quality and habitat life but they also make it harder to implement sustainable practices making the area more susceptible to the effects of climate change. (Zagare)

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Possibly, the biggest cause of pollution in this watershed is point source pollution. Tanneries, cold storage facilities, and oil producing plants are just a few of the industries that dump their waste directly into the major bodies of water that flow through this watershed. As we learned in previous chapters and case studies, pollutants end up infiltrating and affecting every part of a watershed and form chemical cocktails which can have detrimental effects on all plant and animal species causing rippling effects throughout that ecosystem. (Waterkeeper)

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There are four hydroelectric power stations located n the upper sections of the Parana River. (Zagare) The main dam on the Parana River, the Itaipu, has a power generating capacity of 12,600 megawatts. (Brittanica) Global climate change combined with the effects of erosion and sedimentation are expected to have an impact on hydropower generation in the near future due to water stress.

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Currently, all problems facing the Plata and Parana Watershed system go through a "multiplicity of jurisdictional authorities... divided not 18 local governments under 3 sub national jurisdictions and the national government" (Zagare). This setup results in conflicting visions of the role of the area and it is nearly impossible to achieve a successful and adequate design or plan for water management and land use strategies.

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The main challenge for implementing new and effective strategies is dealing with all of the shareholders and the uncertainty of climate drivers and trends. This makes it nearly impossible to apply a top down approach of regulations. In order for the area to become environmentally sustainable, it will take an analysis by all involved parties to detect problems and which areas are the most vulnerable and implement strategies to monitor their own role in the problem.

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Including the informal sectors of the market like sewage, electricity, and gas systems might help bring to light new solutions and the development of land use plans by offering a new perspective on the issue.

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Simple, but effective, another possible solution would be to raise awareness. Most people don't know much about watersheds and all that goes into protecting their resources. Simply informing residents all over this region of the kinds of activities that cause problems and what they can personally do to help and regulate their own impact.

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For this area to become environmentally sustainable, it will require the control of activities, soil management, improved crop cultivation, water provisions, groundwater protection, water recycling, aquifer management, modification of industrial practices, reduction of energy demand, and sustainable construction. (Zagare)

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If people new how bad the issues were and how much the government is struggling to take into account the viewpoint of all involved parties, everyday citizens might be more inclined to fulfill their civic duty and change their practices that have an affect on the watershed. It probably would not fix any one problem entirely but it might take some of the pressure of the government to please everyone and give room for new sustainable practices to be introduced.

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Like said in an earlier section, when water quality is poor it will have a direct effect on its ability to support hydroelectric power and its ability to provide clean fresh water to its surrounding inhabitants. While difficult to implement, it is in everyone's best interest to preserve the resources that these watersheds provide.

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Being the second largest watershed and having a direct impact on seven million people, the Parana Watershed plays a very important role in its environment and should have better laws in place to protect its resources. It is estimated that the Parana Delta offers 85% of the country's total freshwater. (Zagare)

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The Parana and Plata Basins are a complex system with many parties that stand to lose money, time, and quality of life if measures aren't taken to improve the regulation of these waters.

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There are a lot of factors relating to the quality of the water and land in the Parana Basin region. This makes it difficult to implement plans and strategies to go about fixing the problem.