On Phoenix’s fringe, a huge piece of state land could become a smart-growth playground, or the same old sprawl.
The Growth Machine is Broken
Posted inHeard Around the West
And window seats for all
Thanks to geolocators the size of a dime — small enough for a bird to bear — scientists have documented that songbirds such as thrushes can cover as many as 311 miles in a day. One female martin flew an incredible journey of 4,660 miles in only 13 days, all the way from the Amazon […]
Posted inArticles
When good times go bad
A video journey through Phoenix’s unusually busy food banks
Posted inGoat
Of Gods and Sea Kittens
How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world — the paragon of animals! ~ William Shakespeare In the Sacramento Bee today, Republican Rep. George Radanovich of California’s 19th District accused environmentalists […]
Posted inGoat
After the crash
The housing/growth boom of the last decade was a wild ride for the West, feeling a bit like a euphoric all-night meth binge. Only the drug in this case was easy credit and an unshakable belief that the good times could never end. Nearly three years after the housing bubble reached its bursting point — […]
Posted inWotr
The persistence of a golden time in the West
In the evening a strange thing happened; the 20 families became one family, the children were the children of all. The loss of a home became one loss, and the golden time in the West was one dream. — John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath Long before Tom Joad and his family set out for […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
So, this bobcat walks into a bar…
A different breed of cat starred in a barroom saga in Cottonwood, Ariz., that’s “sure to become legend,” reports the Arizona Republic. The tale begins with a woman stopping her car at 10:30 p.m., after thinking she’d hit something. She had — a bobcat — which proceeded to pounce on her and rake her face […]
Posted inGoat
“The Darth Vader of forest policy”
If you paid any attention at all to national forest issues during Bush’s tenure, you heard the name “Mark Rey” a lot. Appointed Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment, Rey oversaw the Forest Service for eight years. From the start, environmental groups were wary of Rey’s logging-friendly record, while his supporters praised Rey’s […]
Posted inApril 27, 2009: Got warriors?
Coming to blows
Tribal infighting delays Navajo wind development
Posted inApril 27, 2009: Got warriors?
Land of contradiction and mystery
I spent three summers on a research project in Wyoming’s Red Desert, capturing, marking and recapturing prairie falcons (HCN, 4/13/09). The place is heaven for desert raptors; we monitored over 70 nests. The productivity of this ecosystem, in terms of biomass, is deceiving. In order to support so many predators, there must be vast amounts […]
Posted inApril 27, 2009: Got warriors?
Let’s paint Wal-Marts
I was inspired by the report on public art in Salt Lake City (“Breaking Down Walls, With Art”), but have to ask, does not the medium — structures about to be demolished — reinforce the notion, at least subliminally, that art is worthless (HCN, 3/16 & 3/30/09)? So much of our everyday living environment is […]
Posted inApril 27, 2009: Got warriors?
The mythic Westerner
Your latest issue on “great ideas” from the West contained some instances of historical revisionism (HCN, 3/16 & 3/30/09). For one thing, far from having to “scratch out a living … competing against the likes of saber-toothed tigers, cave bears, dire wolves, mastodons, woolly mammoths and giant beavers,” the evidence suggests that “early Westerners” actually […]
Posted inGoat
The line is busy
Back in 1991 when the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment set up the call center to process people who need unemployment benefits, it seemed like a good way to increase efficiency and prevent long lines at the office. Back then, there were about 400 calls a day. Fast forward to 2009. “What we’re seeing […]
Posted inApril 27, 2009: Got warriors?
A shortage of leadership, not water
Jonathan Parkinson does not understand water management or economics (HCN, 4/13/09). It is more cost-effective to efficiently use the available resource than to develop more expensive new supplies. Urban water use is double what is necessary to maintain our lifestyle. Why? Wasteful practices and inefficient fixtures. Agricultural use is double what is needed to provide […]
Posted inApril 27, 2009: Got warriors?
Conservation before compromise
Jonathan Parkinson’s “Compromise is better than nothing” is long on provocation and short on facts (HCN, 4/13/09). He writes, “You can’t conserve your way out of a drought.” A good sound bite, but it’s flat wrong. In fact, Southern California did conserve its way out of a drought in the late ’80s and early ’90s. […]
Posted inGoat
Blue jeans and their critics
Doubtless you’ve heard of George Will, a prominent member of the chattering class. He wears a bow tie. And now this fop, with prominent sartorial affectations of his own, presumes to give us fashion advice. In a recent syndicated column, Will rants against blue jeans, also known as “Western wear.” Will borrows many of his […]
Posted inGoat
Watts or Wildfire
Here’s a new angle on fire in the west: one large southern California utility is trying to convince ratepayers that some regions of its service area are too fire-prone for uninterrupted electricity. Or at least, that’s the implication behind San Diego Gas and Electric’s proposal to unplug portions of its grid when there’s a high […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
The cat’s meow
In Spokane, Wash., Vickie Mendenhall thought she’d gotten a great deal by paying only $41 for a used couch. But then she and her boyfriend Chris Lund kept hearing a strange, high-pitched noise when they sat down on it to watch television, reports the Spokesman-Review. After a couple of days, Lund finally lifted up the […]
Posted inWotr
A tribute to a lifetime of frugality
My great-aunt Marie never had garbage to throw out. She spent her last 20 years cleaning out the barn, garage, basement and various assorted farm sheds, dispersing the wire, wood, nails, fishing poles, antique radios, and a lifetime of other valuables her husband had stockpiled. Well into her 90s, she bought groceries in bulk and […]