There was one constant: Heat.
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 inDecember 1, 2021: Visions of Wildness
Paul Larmer’s 40-year ride with HCN
The one-time intern turned publisher, and now senior development officer, retires to a mic and his camera.
Posted inDecember 1, 2021: Visions of Wildness
Income inequality proliferates across the West
How history, tax policies and gentrification play into wealth inequity.
Posted inArticles
The Westiest programs in Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
The act is the New Deal redux, with a splash of ecosystem restoration.
Posted inNovember 1, 2021: The Radioactive Waste Next Door
Why reducing methane emissions matters
What you can’t see can hurt.
Posted inOctober 1, 2021: In The Graces of Grasses
Fuel for the electrical fire
Utility equipment sparks blazes, but climate change stokes them.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2021: Where Wolves May Tread
The incredible shrinking Colorado River
Climate change and rising demand are sucking the life out of the Southwest’s water supply.
Posted inArticles
How yellowcake shaped the West
The ghosts of the uranium boom continue to haunt the land, water and people.
Posted inAugust 1, 2021: A Mega-Dairy Comes to the Desert
Climate change wreaks havoc on the electricity grid
Heat and drought combined are especially harmful to the power system.
Posted inJuly 1, 2021: An Urban Greenspace Revolution
Crowds swarm the public lands
Land managers and gateway communities struggle to keep up.
Posted inArticles
Why I changed my mind about Bears Ears
The benefits of a national monument in San Juan County outweigh the costs.
Posted inJune 1, 2021: Once and Future Fires
Cannabis has a carbon problem
The burgeoning marijuana industry gobbles up electricity.
Posted inArticles
Solving the West’s housing crisis
We need to care for the priced-out average worker or something is bound to break.
Posted inMay 1, 2021: Beauty and Biodiversity in the Borderlands
Americans go on a gun-buying frenzy
Gun-related violence soars along with sales.
Posted inArticles
Mass shootings are a product of America’s violent culture
The bloodthirsty legacies of settler-colonialism and Western expansion endure today.
Posted inMarch 1, 2021: The Rough Road Ahead
Border barrier boondoggle
Trump’s promised inexpensive, impregnable wall was anything but.
Posted inApril 1, 2021: Holding Fast
This year’s deadly avalanche season
Low snowfall has led to catastrophic conditions around the West.
Posted inArticles
Put unemployed miners and drillers back to work in restoration
There’s economic development in reclaiming coal mines and plugging idled wells.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
Coal’s big breakdown
A half-century ago, the ‘Big Buildup’ transformed the West; now, it’s all coming to an end.