The $80 Million Acre (from “How We Survive”)

The Uncertain Hour

Marketplace

Government, News

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, we’re dropping into your feeds to tell you about another podcast we make here at Marketplace that we think Uncertain Hour listeners will like. It’s called “How We Survive.” And it’s about how people are navigating solutions to a changing climate. We’re excited to bring you the first episode of the new season.

Buckeye, Arizona is a small city with dreams of becoming “the next Phoenix.” It’s one of the fastest growing cities in the country. In the past few decades, its population has ballooned more than 20-fold and the city plans to add more than 100,000 new homes in coming years.

The only catch? Growth requires water. And Buckeye doesn’t have enough. So what’s a small city with big dreams to do? Part of the answer lies in one scrubby acre of land way out in the desert that’s owned by a group of investors who are banking on water scarcity.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey uncertain hour friends and listeners, Amy Scott here,
0:03.7	senior correspondent and host at Marketplace.
0:07.3	We're dropping into your ears today
0:09.1	to tell you about another podcast we make
0:11.6	that we think uncertain hour fans will really like.
0:15.1	It's called how we survive and it's about how people are navigating solutions to a changing climate.
0:22.1	We have a whole new season out now about water scarcity in the
0:25.6	American West. So here's the first episode of the new season. Let us know what
0:30.3	you think. In a quarter mile, turn left.
0:35.0	Not a person in sight.
0:37.8	It's late July and I'm way out in the Arizona desert. Now there's some more green. About 70 miles west of Phoenix in the
0:47.1	Harquahala Valley. Just sort of went through a little speck of town basically and now back in the middle of the desert. It's a
0:54.8	108 degrees the kind of blazing hot day where you just pray your car
1:00.0	doesn't break down. Your destination is on the right. This may be the weirdest
1:07.0	place I've ever Google mapped to my destination being a field.
1:14.6	I drove all the way out here to look at a one acre plot of land.
1:21.3	Well, here it is.
1:23.0	Because this dusty field is about to be sold for a staggering amount of money.
1:30.0	This acre of grass and dirt surrounded by not much is apparently worth
1:41.0	$80 million. I've toured some pricey properties,
1:46.0	and at $1,800 per square foot,
1:50.0	this one costs far more than a plot of land in Miami's billionaire bunker.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Marketplace, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Marketplace and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.