#Desertcities

Las Vegas is famous for glittering lights, world-class shows, and a relentlessly optimistic motto: what happens here, stays here. Yet a wave of recent research is turning that narrative on its head, warning that the city’s tourism-fueled economy sits on a fragile balance in a desert ecosystem already stretched by drought, heat, and growing demand. The latest findings portray a city reinventing itself as a test case for sustainable desert living—if it can translate ambition into action before the environment, workers, and water supply push back.