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

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.