An environmental justice activist responds to HCN’s coverage
Letter to the editor
Posted inMarch 15, 2010: Mobile Nation
‘Tyranny of the turbine’
I am a farmer in southwest Minnesota, and live very near an intersection of the Northern Border natural gas pipeline and a major electricity transmission line. Three hundred megawatts’-worth of wind turbines have already been installed here, and at least 300 MW more are in the permitting and development stage (HCN, 12/21/09 & 1/4/10). I […]
Posted inMarch 15, 2010: Mobile Nation
War on people
Prohibition is a sickening horror and the ocean of human wreckage it has left in its wake is almost endless (HCN, 3/1/10). Based on the unalterable proviso that drug use is essentially an unstoppable and ongoing human behavior that has been with us since the dawn of time, any serious reading on the subject of […]
Posted inMarch 15, 2010: Mobile Nation
Will the wolf survive?
My joy at reading of the wolf’s likely return to Colorado is tempered by the knowledge that the future does not bode well for wildlife in the Southwest: the fastest-growing region of the world’s fourth-fastest-growing nation (HCN, 2/15/10). I remember the melancholy autumn howls of some of the last wolves in Colorado when I was […]
Posted inMarch 15, 2010: Mobile Nation
More DNA debunking
Kevin Jones was certainly the first person with any kind of authority to step forward and dispute the claim that Everett Ruess’ bones had been found, but Paul Leatherbury should get a bit of credit, too, for locating Ruess’ dental records, which David Roberts of National Geographic Adventure overlooked at the University of Utah special […]
Posted inMarch 15, 2010: Mobile Nation
Nano-scale activism
Regarding Ray Ring’s article about executive change at large environmental organizations, I understand the “frustration with boards of directors, low pay and constant fund-raising pressure” (HCN, 3/1/10). That’s why I started Community for Sustainable Energy (www.cforse.org) in 2006. I worked with Clean Water Action and an affiliated national network for six years. I started CFORSE […]
Posted inMarch 1, 2010: The War Next Door
‘Rage against the machine’
Thank you for writing about the Mountain View Neighborhood in Bernalillo County, N.M. (HCN, 2/01/10). It is rare that communities suffering from the injustice of disproportionate levels of environmental degradation are given attention in the media. I cringed to read about our deficiencies as activists and community organizers. Nevertheless, you captured the challenges that face […]
Posted inMarch 1, 2010: The War Next Door
Letter of intent
This comment originally posted on hcn.org. Many environmentalists mischaracterize the intent of the letters that were written to the Group of 10 and other environmental groups (HCN, 2/01/10). They would say that people of color wanted to be included in the environmental movement and be part of their agenda. In fact, that was not the […]
Posted inMarch 1, 2010: The War Next Door
Meditation in stone
Rock art is a unique cultural legacy in our region that deserves attention as we lose sites rapidly to vandalism. Unfortunately, the article “Ancient Conversations” misses this very important point (HCN, 2/01/10). It also left me with many questions about the seemingly Eurocentric interpretations of symbols. Meaningful collaboration with Native Americans is past due, and […]
Posted inMarch 1, 2010: The War Next Door
Reporting facts, even when it hurts
I have read your recent feature stories on environmental justice, and as much as I want to appreciate the coverage of the stories that have built this movement and continue to push the fundamental changes necessary to clean up and restore the well-being of our planet and people, I find myself outraged at your portrayal […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 2010: Prodigal Dogs
Water is for fighting
The article on the Westlands Water District is on the whole a good review of the problems arising from conflicting demands on a limited resource (HCN, 1/18/10). However, the balance between viewpoints is skewed in favor of agricultural interests by omitting the role of the Bureau of Reclamation, which encouraged agribusiness by failing to enforce […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 2010: Prodigal Dogs
Fast and loose with facts
Ed Marston’s piece on Douglas Brinkley’s The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America can hardly be called a “review” (HCN, 1/18/10). Marston’s article simply rehearses — much more succinctly than Brinkley’s 900-plus pages — the life and political accomplishments of an amazing American leader. What Marston fails to do, is to evaluate […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 2010: Prodigal Dogs
Quicksilver questions
The subject of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants and cement plants has always been fraught with uncertainties (HCN, 1/18/10). Industry influence at the congressional level often got transferred down as pressure on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Stephen Johnson, Bush’s administrator of the EPA, and his deputy, Marcus Peacock, seemed intent on reducing EPA’s […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 2010: Prodigal Dogs
The road to community
My husband came in this morning and gave me our latest copy of HCN and said “read this article (‘Ending Hunger’)” (HCN, 1/18/10). I read about Silver City, the backpack program to end hunger and how it evolved, and just marveled at it all. “Yes” to standing at our local food bank and packing bags […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 2010: 'The environment ... is where we live'
Fire and brimstone
Can it really be 20 years since Kierán Suckling, Gina Trott, Todd Schulke and Dan Moore descended on Albuquerque like a chapter out of the Old Testament? I remember them showing up, then marching out of, the slow-boat Wolf Coalition meetings. They looked like wild-eyed college kids. But their hastily assembled Wolf Action Group soon […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 2010: 'The environment ... is where we live'
Sticks, stones, and enviros
The term “environmentalist,” or its more derogatory abbreviation “enviros” (HCN, 11/09/09), and — most derogatory of all — “en-varmint-alist” (HCN, 11/23/09) is used far too often in HCN without a counterpoint term for those who would place their own economic gain over the good of all. So I’d like to introduce a term for those […]
Posted inJanuary 11, 2010: Breakdown
If only he could have …
Regarding Paul Larmer’s editor’s note about Cedar Hill and cell towers, cell coverage is forever (HCN, 12/21/09 & 1/4/10). I think it’s valid to ask why we need it everywhere, why it is inevitable, and whether in landscapes of beauty and integrity we should swallow the whole safety argument. Is the illusory cocoon of convenience […]
Posted inJanuary 11, 2010: Breakdown
Blinded by the wind
I find Jonathan Thompson’s love affair with wind turbines hard to comprehend (HCN, 12/21/09 & 1/4/10). Perhaps he has been mesmerized by the slowly rotating turbines. Or is his dislike of the oil and gas industry such that he is willing to see the great vistas of the West destroyed in the name of renewable […]
Posted inJanuary 11, 2010: Breakdown
Solidarity, not suits
After reading the recent interview with Kieran Suckling, it occurs to me the one reason we’re having so much trouble advancing meaningful conservation opportunities is we’re spending too much time, energy and money fighting each other (HCN, 12/21/09 & 1/4/10). The litigation and lawsuits advanced by the Center for Biological Diversity are having the exact […]
Posted inJanuary 11, 2010: Breakdown
Thanks for the memories
As one of the original members of the Mexican Wolf Coalition, I read with amusement Kieran Suckling’s self-serving statements about the circumstances leading up to the Mexican gray wolf being released back into the wild (HCN, 12/21/09 & 1/4/10). I have a different recollection. Indeed, some members of the Mexican Wolf Coalition were more cautious […]