What happens when a heavily populated country's ecosystems collapse - in this case the waterways of Bangladesh? I predict death, mayhem and increased suffering. The environment is not an aesthetic nicety - it is a requirement for human survival. No matter how far removed one may presume themselves to be from nature, real ecological limits are always present. Is it possible for humanity to engineer a biosphere?

Yahoo! News - Last Gasp for Bangladesh's Rivers

More than 170 of Bangladesh's 230 large and medium rivers are being choked by dams, pollution, encroachment and poor water management, which experts say could make this impoverished country of 130 million people an agricultural wasteland.