This Forest Service expert says it’s as much a sociopolitical problem as it is physical.
Growth & Sustainability
Posted inGoat
Fracking fuels the post-Recession economy and growth
Oh how a housing bust, a nasty economic downturn and a shale oil and gas boom can change things. Seven years ago this spring, the Census Bureau released a flurry of numbers about the economy and growth, which then spawned a bunch of articles about which parts of the country were growing fastest and why. […]
Posted inWotr
Does Juneau in Southeast Alaska really need this highway?
A proposed road is destructive, dangerous and bound to be ridiculously costly.
Posted inGoat
Wildfire mitigation program helps homeowners create safer communities
With years of experience bracing for wildfire along Colorado’s Front Range, it’s no surprise that Boulder County is launching a new program – Wildfire Partners – that may mean the start of a paradigm shift in wildfire mitigation. “The old approach was firefighters were responsible for saving homes from wildfire,” said Jim Webster, Wildfire Partners’ […]
Posted inMarch 3, 2014: Fallon’s deadly legacy
Silver (state) bullet
A proposed Mexico-to-Canada highway gets mixed reactions.
Posted inFebruary 17, 2014: The Gila $olution
Counterpoint: Brave New L.A.
In his essay, “Brave New L.A.,” Jon Christensen cites what he considers two pivotal and progressive moments in Los Angeles’ quest for sustainability: the July rise of former Los Angeles City Council Member Eric Garcetti to the mayor’s office and the November centenary of the Los Angeles Aqueduct (HCN, 1/20/14). Both occasions can equally be […]
Posted inFebruary 17, 2014: The Gila $olution
One man’s sustainable city is another’s environmental scourge
Usually, the lies we tell ourselves are subconscious and hard to describe. That’s why I found two items in HCN‘s recent “urban sustainability” issue so maddening (1/20/14). In “The Vegas Paradox,” Jonathan Thompson informs us that southern Nevada’s official goals would have developers building huge numbers of new “Water Smart” homes by 2035 to achieve […]
Posted inFebruary 17, 2014: The Gila $olution
Water Economics
I found your article on Las Vegas water consumption interesting and well-written (“The Vegas Paradox,” HCN, 1/20/14). Clearly, the water department’s water rates are not sufficient to incentivize conservation. Although it employs a four-tier rate system, its rates are less than half of Denver’s, which also uses Colorado River water. You would think that since Nevada […]
Posted inGoat
A wildfire forum takes radical approach to protecting wildland-urban interface
Wildfire in the West is getting more severe all the time – burning longer, hotter and more frequently, destroying more homes, stretching federal funds to the limit, endangering more firefighters. Rising temperatures are driving the trend, and there’s no indication things will change course. Faced with these dire circumstances, 20 of the West’s most influential […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2014: Building a More Sustainable West, One City at a Time
Two Angelenos debate the city’s sustainability efforts
The conversation between Jon Christensen and Emily Green begins at minute 41:29.
Posted inJanuary 20, 2014: Building a More Sustainable West, One City at a Time
How Vancouver, B.C. became North America’s smart-growth leader
It wasn’t visionary city officials; it was a movement to save the city’s ethnic Chinese neighborhoods in the ’60s.
Posted inGoat
BLM considers grassroots land use plan that would limit drilling in western Colorado
Mark Waltermire squints in the winter sunlight, craning his neck to take in the view from his vegetable farm in Hotchkiss, Colo. He jabs his finger toward a mesa: “There,” he says. “And up in there.” Palm to the sky, he makes a sweeping gesture, encompassing the flat-bottomed valley, the staggered mesas; the patchwork of […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2014: Building a More Sustainable West, One City at a Time
A (very small) room with a view
Microhousing catches on in Seattle and other Western cities.
Posted inJanuary 20, 2014: Building a More Sustainable West, One City at a Time
Brave new L.A.
Los Angeles is an unlikely model of urban sustainability for the West and the world.
Posted inJanuary 20, 2014: Building a More Sustainable West, One City at a Time
The Vegas Paradox
In Sin City, excess and efficiency walk hand-in-hand.
Posted inJanuary 20, 2014: Building a More Sustainable West, One City at a Time
Phoenix tries to rise from the flames
The Sunbelt city is one of the nation’s most sweltering urban heat islands. But simple solutions to help cool it are at hand.
Posted inGoat
Bakken oil trucks can kick up carcinogenic dust similar to asbestos
Since the oil boom in western North Dakota began several years ago, the roads in this sparsely-populated corner of the state have been taking a beating. A typical shale oil well requires 2,300 truck trips in its lifetime, driven mostly over gravel roads. With nearly 6,800 wells currently operating in the Bakken oil field, that’s a […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2014: Building a More Sustainable West, One City at a Time
Las Vegas Periphery: Views from the Edge, by Laurie Brown and Sally Denton
Las Vegas Periphery: Views from the EdgePhotographs by Laurie Brown, essay by Sally Denton, 96 pages, hardcover: $60. George F. Thompson Publishing, 2013 At the edge of cities, development and nature collide. That juxtaposition has always fascinated photographer Laurie Brown, and she explores it fully in Las Vegas Periphery. Focusing on a city that symbolizes […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2014: Building a More Sustainable West, One City at a Time
Building better homes in Indian Country
Tribes use green building to address housing shortages.
Posted inJanuary 20, 2014: Building a More Sustainable West, One City at a Time
From paradise paved to paradise saved?
Driving around in circles looking for parking is so 1935 – the year Oklahoma City installed the world’s first parking meter. Parking’s waste of gas, time and space has recently inspired a host of phone applications to help people find spots more quickly, or even sublet their empty residential spaces. Though handy, the apps are […]