California’s current deluge highlights huge vulnerabilities.
Jonathan Thompson
Jonathan Thompson is a contributing editor at High Country News. He is the author of Sagebrush Empire: How a Remote Utah County Became the Battlefront of American Public Lands. Follow him @LandDesk
Posted inJanuary 1, 2023: Ripple Effects
La Niña expected to serve up a hat trick
The weather pattern hits the West for a third consecutive winter.
Posted inArticles
How the West’s public lands fared in 2022
It was a bad year for dams and a good one for ‘green’ metals.
Posted inArticles
Should we worry about 8 billion people?
Breaking down population’s role in the environmental impact equation.
Posted inDecember 1, 2022: Beyond Illusion
Mythbusting in the Mojave
The vitality in the vast desert.
Posted inDecember 1, 2022: Beyond Illusion
Carbon capture convolution
A complicated process, explained.
Posted inArticles
Western voters favor public lands
Trumpism and extremism didn’t fly during the 2022 midterms.
Posted inArticles
On its 100th birthday, the Colorado River Compact shows its age
The foundational document was flawed from the start.
Posted inArticles
Bighorn-lovers butt heads with Vail Resorts’ affordable housing
The ski industry giant wants to build workforce housing in wild sheep habitat.
Posted inArticles
The green metal mining boom is on
Now is not the time to loosen mining regulations.
Posted inArticles
Will the Supreme Court gut the Clean Water Act?
The justices could remove federal protection from 80% of the Southwest’s streams.
Posted inOctober 1, 2022: Making Refuge
Races to watch throughout the West
The midterm elections promise to be a referendum on Joe Biden — and Donald Trump.
Posted inArticles
The Green New Deal didn’t crash California’s grid
Climate change is wrecking the electricity system.
Posted inArticles
The divide over Diablo
Greens battle greens over the fate of California’s last nuke plant.
Posted inArticles
The Colorado River’s alfalfa problem
Growing less hay is the only way to keep the river’s water system from collapsing
Posted inSeptember 1, 2022: Going Under
Climate and Congress
Historic political action, but is it enough?
Posted inSeptember 1, 2022: Going Under
Can ravaged economies be healed with a restoration industry?
Cleaning up the West could be as lucrative as wrecking it.
Posted inArticles
The climate bill’s blind spot
A closer look at the good and the bad of specific provisions in the historic climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act.
Posted inArticles
Climate game changer? Or fossil fuel giveaway?
A break down of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Posted inArticles
The monsoon can’t save us
An unusually rainy Southwest summer is welcome — but much more is needed to end the water crisis.