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In the News: Natalie Koch

Koch Quoted in DeSmog Article on Saudi Arabia’s Neom Giga Project, Sustainability Claims

“When you are looking at the Gulf countries, you see that a lot of these sustainability projects are very large, and they’re very loud about them, but they hide the fact that, in fact, the rest of society is not at all sustainable,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment.

November 6, 2024

Central Eurasian Studies Conference at Maxwell Examines Regional Challenges and Citizenship

The three-day gathering drew top experts from around the globe to explore issues such as cultural identity and regional economics. 

September 25, 2024

See related: School History

Koch Talks to AZPM About the Connections Between Arizona and the Arabian Peninsula

He [Crown Prince Saud Al Saud] had come to Arizona in 1943 and he had seen Arizona's dairy industry and really was impressed by it. So he went back to take over this government controlled farm in Saudi Arabia, the Al Khad farms, and asked the farmers in charge of that to set up their own dairy operation like what he had seen in Arizona,“ says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment.

September 4, 2024

Koch Weighs In on Trump’s Nepotism in Agence France Presse Article

“The Trump organization is a family business, but once he took office the first time, and then you could really see that he brought that into the political realm and into the White House,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment.

July 24, 2024

Koch Talks to Agence France Presse About Trump, Hero Worshipping

Such hero worship benefits both the mythologized leader and followers, says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment. “By building up that cult and joining that and being part of that, they get a sense of community.”

July 17, 2024

Koch Quoted in Newsweek Article on Saudi Arabia’s Global Sports Investments

Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment, says the Saudi monarch-in-waiting “is more concerned about selling these projects to his people than he is in selling them to the West. So, all of these big sports investments have to be carefully positioned as somehow contributing to Saudi national interests.”

July 2, 2024

Natalie Koch Speaks on ‘Arid Empire’ for Arizona State Library

The Maxwell School professor’s recent book is relevant as the state grapples with controversy over a Saudi dairy company’s farming.

April 11, 2024

Koch Speaks With Freakonomics Radio About Why Arizona Grows Feed for Cows in Saudi Arabia

"What makes Arizona special is that when you have this desert land, you can grow alfalfa at an incredibly fast rate because of the amount of sunshine. So, as long as you have plentiful water, you can just grow," says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment.

March 6, 2024

Koch Discusses Saudi Arabia’s Investment in Sports in El País Article

“These investments try to connect with as many young Arabs who have an interest in sports,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment. “It is part of the construction of a new identity, one that goes beyond the concept of being the epicenter of the Sunni Muslim world.”

February 23, 2024

Koch Weighs In on the Location of the UN’s 2024 Climate Summit in NY Times Article

While there is an unavoidable conflict in a petrostate hosting a climate summit, it may also be fitting: The country that was home to the oil industry’s beginnings may also host negotiations that could one day bring the petroleum era to an end. “It is possible to frame it as something of a closure,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment.


January 17, 2024

Koch Discusses Arizona’s Water Shortage, the Role of Saudi Agribusiness With Al-Monitor, The World

“The (Saudi) government is very aware of the unsustainable agriculture practices that lead to a situation where the groundwater is no longer really able to sustain any substantial commercial agriculture,”  says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment.

October 9, 2023

Koch Quoted in The Hill Article on Saudi Arabian Alfalfa Farms in Arizona

“If they [Saudi Arabia] want to be able to guarantee their population food security, they know that they can’t really do that domestically,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment. The Arizonan land was particularly appealing to the kingdom “because you can get more bang for your buck when you buy that farm,” says Koch.

May 10, 2023

Koch Discusses Saudi Arabian Farms Using Water From Arizona and California in KUSA Article

“If you can invest the capital to drill a deep well that can get deep into the groundwater supply, then you can really pump as much as you want,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment. “This was appealing to the Saudis as well to go [to La Paz County], where they’re not being charged for water they extract because there’s no measuring of it.”

April 29, 2023

Koch Weighs in on Western States Banning Foreign Groundwater Use in Stateline Article

“The U.S. has always been promoting and setting up this entire thing,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment. “It’s not like the Americans are passive in this. We have absolutely helped sow the seeds for that Saudi agricultural industry that has come back to us now.”

March 16, 2023

Koch Talks to KTVK About Arizona’s Outdated Water Law

Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment, argues that state lawmakers need to update the state’s 43 year old water law and create more active management areas to regulate water use across Arizona. “There needs to be some way of monitoring and regulating who is drawing what from the aquifers,” says Koch.

February 21, 2023

Koch Explores Exchange of Colonial Technologies Between the Arabian Peninsula and the US in New Book

Natalie Koch

In her recently published book, “Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia” (Verso, 2023), Maxwell School faculty member Natalie Koch explores the exchange of colonial technologies between the Arabian Peninsula and the United States over the last two centuries. 

January 24, 2023

Koch Article on Arizona Depleting its Groundwater Supply Published in New York Times

“Pumping groundwater in Arizona remains largely unregulated,” writes Natalie Koch, professor of geography. “It’s this legal failing that, in part, allows the Saudi company to draw unlimited amounts of water to grow an alfalfa crop that feeds dairy cows 8,000 miles away.”

January 10, 2023

Maxwell School Announces 2022 Faculty Promotions

The Syracuse University Board of Trustees has approved promotions for 13 faculty members at the Maxwell School.
July 27, 2022

Koch Quoted in BBC Article on Dubai, Desertification

Desertification, the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation or inappropriate agriculture, has become rampant in the United Arab Emirates. Natalie Koch, associate professor of geography and the environment, talks more about it in the BBC article, "How Dubai is pushing back its encroaching deserts."
January 27, 2022
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