Whether you live in Tahoe, visit, or just admire the Lake from afar, it’s easy to feel connected to the Sierra Nevada’s deep blue, freshwater marvel. But did you know your favorite lake has a big sibling half the world away? It’s pretty cool too.
Russia’s Lake Baikal is the world’s largest, deepest and oldest freshwater Lake. If you think Tahoe is big, you should sit down. Lake Baikal contains about 155 times more water than Tahoe, or a quarter of the Earth’s total freshwater. And it has roughly the same footprint as Belgium.
Sadly, environmental pressures run in the big lake family. Sewage dumping, unregulated development, and climate change threaten Baikal, just like Tahoe. The similarities between the two Lakes were a motivator for the creation of the Tahoe Baikal Institute (TBI) – an international exchange program for young leaders from both countries to learn about the ecological and economic issues impacting the lakes.
View over Lake Baikal. Siberia, 2019.
The League helped form and shepherd the TBI from its founding just before the fall of the Soviet Union, through its 20-year life. Today, the League continues to build partnerships with organizations near and far that will lead to more effective environmental preservation and advocacy – by sharing our successes and learning from others.
Big, beautiful lakes around the world will continue to be threatened. Together, we can Keep Tahoe – and places like Baikal – Blue.
