If I lived in this part of Utah and was unemployed, I’d jump at this opportunity. Spending the summer here sure beats flipping burgers. Given the country’s dismal economic situation (and our underfunded parks, forests and wildlife refuges), seems like a perfect time to reprise one of the best programs to come out of the…Continue Reading…
Every energy boom leaves its mark on the land–and, as we’re starting to see out West with the recent gas boom, on people too. This toxic imprint is not going away anytime soon. In fact, I’d wager that we’ll be hearing a lot more about hydraulic fracturing in the months and years ahead, particularly as…Continue Reading…
This story in the L.A. Times really bugs me. In an interview, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu predicts, or at least was paraphrased as predicting, that California’s farms and vineyards could vanish by the end of the century, and its major cities could be in jeopardy, if Americans do not act to slow the advance…Continue Reading…
If the animal rights crowd thought they could skulk around the Utah wilds and sterilize the big game, they better think twice, because the hunters there are on to them: According to the AP: Some sportsmen have expressed worry that animal rights groups will begin giving birth control to deer so their population levels will…Continue Reading…
To archaeologists and environmentalists in the Southwest, this decision probably marks the first real day of the Obama Administration. I’ve covered the rancorous archaeology/energy/public lands debate extensively over the last few years, most recently here, here, and here. Those days look over. Hey guys, what am I going to write about now?
It’s back. This, from Jonathon Porritt, the British government’s environmental advisor: “I am unapologetic about asking people to connect up their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how they decide to procreate and how many children they think are appropriate.” He says that “that having more than two children is irresponsible. It is…Continue Reading…
Journalists love it when scientists cut right to the chase in a journal paper. It means we don’t have to read the abstract. Just kidding. But we will pounce when your title is, Irreversible climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions.” Predictably, we will “go all doomsday” in our interpretation, as the good scientists at…Continue Reading…
Last Friday, Californians woke up to this cheery news on their climate front: “State officials reported a Sierra Nevada snowpack smaller than normal on Thursday and said California may be at the beginning of its worst drought in modern history. Residents were immediately urged to conserve water.” Okay, I realize this sounds bad enough, but…Continue Reading…
It seems that all that frantic fence-building along the U.S.-Mexican border is proving no match for determined drug cartels. The wildlife, on the other hand, may be having a tougher time. To document and chronicle this largely ignored story (it’s been two years since Congress, at the height of illegal immigrant hysteria, enacted the Secure…Continue Reading…