Even though it’s been a couple weeks since the midterm election, I’m can’t seem to stop wincing. Apparently I’m one of the few Arizonans to have this reaction to both the national and statewide races. My fellow citizens (who, let’s face it, were “tea party” before tea party was cool) displayed their outrage with our […]
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Buying “green” in the rural West
I recently took a little unscientific field trip to a Walmart Supercenter near my home in Mesa, Arizona. I chose Walmart partly because of its prices but also because it is widely available in rural areas in the West, where shopping choices are often limited. My “research” questions: Would the prices for ‘greener’ products be […]
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Mining in the modern West
As I began writing this blog post, headlines were proclaiming the triumphant rescue of the thirty three Chilean miners who were trapped in the San Jose mine for seventy days. While the men are sure to experience after-effects of their traumatic ordeal in the weeks and months to come, they are far luckier than the […]
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Feline justice
Life is full of many painful decisions, but ending a beloved pet’s life has got to be right up there among the worst. Last Saturday morning saw us staring at x-rays on a monitor in our vet’s office, dutifully listening to her description of the effects of fluid on the lungs and dreading where all […]
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Radioactive Justice
Lately I’ve been trying to keep up with the debate about uranium mining in the Grand Canyon region. I’m sorry to admit that like many people I’m not well-versed in the physical properties of uranium or radioactivity in general, so my first impulse when approaching this subject is a sort of vague, knee-jerk fear. As […]
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Adopt-a-gelding?
I’ve been thinking about horses lately. Actually, I think about horses a lot, often when I should be thinking about something else, like work. Usually my thoughts involve my eccentric gelding, Rex, and other horses that I know. However, some recent coverage of the wild horse roundups in Nevada and California has reminded me of […]
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Loving an (artificial) lake
I’m a longtime resident of Arizona. Your reception of this bit of information is likely affected by recent news coverage of my state’s new immigration legislation, isn’t it? Every now and then, the Grand Canyon State wants to reassure the rest of the country that its flaming red-state status is secure, thank you very much. […]