It was all over the papers recently that a border collie named Rico recognized 200 human words. That prompted owners of other breeds to write letters to the editor in defense of their breeds. One trainer said motivation is critical. Another observed that border collies are “acutely sensitive to motion.” I think they all got […]
If dogs could talk, what would we learn?
Posted inWotr
Cheering on Mount St. Helens is a spectator sport
On a recent Saturday, with a heart heavy as concrete, I headed north, leaving my house in Portland as rain pounded the windshield. The remnants of a recent breakup cast the world in dull hues. Mount St. Helens was busy spitting ash into the sky, and what else cheers the soul like a good case […]
Posted inWotr
Spaceboys: The manly myth strikes again
On Oct. 4, SpaceShipOne blasted to the edge of space from a Mojave Desert Airport for the second time in five days, winning its design team a $10 million prize. The ship is the only privately funded manned vehicle ever to leave the atmosphere, and has already inspired the owner of Virgin Atlantic Airways to […]
Posted inWotr
Why the West gets mostly ignored in an election year
The other night we were channel-surfing and hit upon the Miss America pageant. “What year did women get the vote in the United States?” a contestant was asked. The answer, according to the pageant judges, was 1920, when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The correct answer is a little more complicated. […]
Posted inWotr
We’ve seen enough destruction from mining
On Nov.2, Montanans will vote on Initiative 147, which would repeal the state’s ban on cyanide heap-leach gold and silver mining. The ban was passed by voters for a good reason: Montana, and Indian Country in particular, will suffer for many decades from the pollution caused by mining operations. Zortman-Landusky Gold Mines, for instance, has […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
Despair not one more day
“… My heart is moved by all I cannot save: so much has been destroyed I have to cast my lot with those who age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world.” — Adrienne Rich History shows that the proverbial rock can be rolled, if not to the top of the mountain, […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
Calendar
Visit Boise, Idaho, for the U.S. Forest Service?s conference on fire and forest health. Entitled “The Next 100 Years,” the conference, from Nov. 18-19, will feature Stephen Pyne, Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, former Idaho governor Cecil D. Andrus, D, and Forest Chief Dale Bosworth.Andrus Center for Public Policy: www.andruscenter.org 208-426-4218 The American Geophysical Union?s meeting […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
How to deal with oil and gas development
As America’s thirst for petroleum and natural gas grows, energy companies are scouring the West for new sites to drill. Now, there’s a new guidebook and Web site, Oil and Gas at Your Door, that gives landowners a preparedness primer for the day that an oil and gas company man comes knocking. Produced by the […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
Kerry cares about Indians
In a recent question and answer session at a conference for minority journalists, a Native American panelist asked George Bush about his view of tribal sovereignty in the 21st century. Bush’s answer clearly showed he pays little attention to Native American issues. He babbled that sovereignty was “just that, sovereignty.” The audience laughed awkwardly at […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
I’m celebrating!
Sorry that the politically correct police have spoiled your celebration of the Lewis and Clark expedition, but they haven’t spoiled mine! I’m both commemorating and celebrating the glorious achievement of the Corps of Discovery (HCN, 8/16/04: Journey of Rediscovery). It seems like our culture is no longer permitted to celebrate the seminal events of our […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
Here’s a mosquito solution
An important ally was omitted from your article on safer ways of mosquito control (HCN, 9/13/04: Communities search for a safer way to kill mosquitoes). It’s a humble and reviled creature with considerable ability to patrol the skies between dusk and dawn: the bat. I sympathize with the interviewees in the article. Long ago, I […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
Energy industry is rigged
In your recent story about Colorado’s renewable energy initiative, representatives of the big utility companies have faithfully called upon the magic of the free market, claiming that the citizens are “artificially picking winners and losers in the energy debate” (HCN, 9/13/04: Colorado voters hold the cards on renewable energy). Missing from this story, as usual, […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
‘Green elephants’ abandon Bush
Republican conservationists pine for the
days of Roosevelt and Goldwater
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
Racetrack
Environmental groups are worried that a proposition on California’s ballot may limit their ability to sue corporations that violate state or federal environmental laws. Proposition 64 would repeal a section of the state’s Unfair Competition Law that allows state or local attorneys or members of the public to sue a business for “unlawful, unfair and […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
Follow-up
New rules that require retailers to label where fish come from have gone into effect — sort of. The new rules, which were mandated under the 2002 Farm Bill, require fish and shellfish to be labeled as “farm-raised” or “wild-caught,” as well as identified by their country of origin (HCN, 3/17/03). The only catch is […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
Heard around the West
COLORADO Mach schnell, little doggies: Thanks to a German TV reality show, five frauleins, age 20 to 61, are riding horses, flinging ropes at calves and fixing fence at a working ranch in New Raymer, in eastern Colorado. Selected from over 1,000 applicants who want to become cowgirls, the women face a daunting prospect, reports […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
Environmental issues disappear into election-season smog
If you care about the environment, and you survived the presidential debates without running out into the backyard to scream at the heavens, you’re a bigger person than I. For those of you who missed them, the three debates included just one question on that “fringe issue” of what’s in the air we breathe, and […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
In presidential politics, the West is a forgotten time zone
The other night, we were channel-surfing and hit upon the Miss America pageant. The contestants were being asked questions, and the one on the screen was “What year did women get the vote in the United States?” The answer, according to the pageant judges, was 1920, when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
As the town hollows out, one Aspen neighborhood thrives
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Part-Time Paradise.” A few years ago, it was a Superfund site. Now the Smuggler Mobile Home Park is a vibrant neighborhood, whose residents have a wide range of incomes — from police officers and ski instructors to doctors and real estate brokers — in […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
Can Vail find room for its workers?
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Part-Time Paradise.” When suspicious fires swept through a mountaintop restaurant and several chairlifts in October 1998, the resort village of Vail realized it had problems — and not just with the “ecoterrorists” of the Earth Liberation Front, who claimed responsibility for the blazes (HCN, […]