The iconic Southwest writer brought minimal gear but loads of reading material on the trail.
Bowden the half-mad hiker
“If there’s squash bugs in heaven, I ain’t staying” by Stacia Spragg-Braude
If there’s squash bugs in heaven, I ain’t staying Stacia Spragg-Braude, 200 pages, hardcover: $29.95 Museum of New Mexico Press, 2013 Nestled amid the orchards of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Valley is the old farming village of Corrales, where 85-year-old Evelyn Losack harvests fruit on land that has been in her family for 150 years. […]
An urban experience
Fall board meeting, a new employee, and another science writing award for HCN.
Adiós Charles Bowden
The writer passed away in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Aug. 30.
Flash flood chaser
One man’s obsession improves forecasting in southern Utah.
NASA finds methane hot spot over Four Corners
The culprit is the extensive fossil fuel industry infrastructure, not just fracking or coal mines.
For the first time in a decade, Alaskan oil heads for Asia
Amid energy boom in lower 48, Alaska looks to sell its oil overseas.
Navajo ranching in the Chuska Mountains
Keeping a tradition alive in western New Mexico.
About the price of oil
Since rig counts follow oil prices, the current slump will hurt Western economies.
The walrus detectives
What’s behind the Alaska walrus haul-outs? Everyone’s calling climate change, but the truth is, we don’t know.
Solar in the desert finally gets some scrutiny
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell came to California’s Mojave Desert this September to announce a multi-agency effort to boost renewable energy development in the desert. But first, she had to go on a hike. “We went out into the Big Morongo Preserve,” she told reporters. “Fifteen, 20 minutes from here, there are wetlands. Wetlands, and 254 […]
The 21st century’s Hoover Dam?
What a huge Wyoming wind and Utah storage project tell us about the West’s energy landscape.
Will Wyoming companies get higher fines for workplace deaths?
When a worker died on the job, the company paid a $6,700 penalty, inciting new discussion on the issue.
Don’t drink the water
Portland’s fluoridation battle shows how tricky it is to integrate science into debates that have as much to do with values as policy.
A baseball stadium showcases the beauty of old trees
Some Eugene, Oregon, residents hate their town’s dilapidated Civic Stadium. They’d like to see it torn down and replaced with a department store. Other residents love the stadium and have happy memories of watching minor league baseball with friends and family. But everyone agrees the stadium is now an eyesore. It’s one of the few […]
The Earth has half as many animals as it did in 1970
In the Western U.S., megafauna is on the rise — but amphibians are in trouble.
Climate change found to have spurred worldwide heatwaves
But floods and droughts have less certain links to planetary warming.
Watershed moment
The U.S. and Canada prepare to renegotiate the 50-year-old Columbia River Treaty.
Rants from the Hill: How to Cuss in Western
When “Airin’ the Lungs” is registered at the swear jar.
