In this issue we update an ongoing water struggle in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, where ranchers and farmers are in a race to conserve. We check in Montana and the effects of President Trump’s trade war with China. We explain the failure of explosive devices against sea lions and highlight the curious deaths of gray whales at sea. We dive into the use of Indigenous struggles by white nationalists and other extremists, and describe the Indigenous narratives of a Maori filmmaker.
Irresponsible journalism
Is HCN a news journal or a creative writing magazine or simply fake news? As a professional educator and writer, I was deeply disturbed by the Aug. 19 issue. I use HCN as a classroom resource, as I hope others do as well. I teach critical thinking and journalistic skepticism along with the regular course…
Kudos for creative thinking
Thank you for the issue on Speculative Journalism (8/19/19). The smart and creative writing, illustrations, layout and editing express the reality of climate disruption in a more powerful, embodied way than any literal account possibly could. You have demonstrated the power of art. The various imaginings of the year 2068 bring home the real human…
Recipe for a great issue
Start with Kim Raff’s excellent cover shot (HCN, 9/2/19). Add Paige Blankenbuehler’s note on accountability, San Juan County, Utah’s Indigenous reversal of power, and a positive story on our polygamous neighbors, plus the opening up of Colorado’s state trust lands to public access. Mix in biocrust skin grafts, Wyoming’s self-dug coal-pit woes, and flying goats…
On the rock from the climber’s view
A new book is a ‘deeply beautiful survey of climbing.’
A water ‘win-win’ in Colorado? Not so fast.
A plan to export water from the San Luis Valley to the Denver Metro area is met with defiance.
Colorado farmers fight to save their water and their community’s future
‘We can either wait on Mother Nature — or we can give it a shot ourselves.’
Frontier myths crash into Trump’s border wall
A new book dives into the injustices of Manifest Destiny in the American West and its relationship to the 2016 election.
Fall brings professors, pedalers and presidential candidates
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet stops by our office, and we wish a fond farewell to a longtime staffer.
Climate change and the challenges to human happiness
It’s not too late to confront despair.
Official invocations; not dead yet; ancient tattooing
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Trump administration pushes to exempt Tongass from logging restrictions
Clearcutting of old-growth trees in the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest stopped just three years ago.
A buried history of conflict
Anna Smith’s article on the challenges the Cow Creek Band has faced in regaining and now managing forest lands in Oregon is the kind of piece that both informs and challenges readers. The challenge thrown down by some tribal members is quite provocative: Shawn Fleek’s quote — “The conservation movement began as a way for…
Trump’s trade war is draining profits for Montana wheat farmers
Today’s agricultural producers battle both environmental threats and geopolitical conflict.
Far-right extremists appropriate Indigenous struggles for violent ends
From Nazi Germany to Norway and El Paso, white nationalists use Indigenous imagery to justify racist violence.
A Maori filmmaker and the fight for proper Indigenous narratives
Hepi Mita offers a fascinating look at his mother’s life in ‘Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen.’
West Coast fishermen have few options against sea lions
The federal government continues to use explosives despite their ineffectiveness.
Scientists struggle to find reasons behind gray whale deaths
Some researchers think the whales are starving, but the cause of death may be far more complicated.