Do We Still Need Hydropower? [Video]

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The Truth Behind Hydropower’s Role in Our Battle Against Climate Change

In 2022, journalist Ezra Klein posed a question to the Reddit community: “Why is it that no one seems to talk about hydropower anymore?”

It is a good question. And a handful of Redditors answered. Dams have displaced people, one said. It is too hard to build more, said another. Think of the fish, said a third.

They are not wrong. Some hydropower plants—especially the big dams of yore—disrupted rivers, wildlife, and people. Yet hydropower is also one of the most affordable, tried-and-true ways to generate clean energy. And we need clean energy, lots of clean energy, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, staunch climate change, and, ultimately, protect our rivers, wildlife, and people.

“I’m honestly not sure what I feel about it,” one Redditor wrote, in what might be the most common …