In 2008, California voters granted egg-laying hens the right to enough space to lie down, stand up, and stretch their wings. Egg farmers warned that the measure would increase costs, forcing them to leave the state to compete. And Idaho hastened to woo the would-be émigrés. “(Poultry is) a really great industry to have around,” […]
Stephanie Paige Ogburn
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A civil disobedient for the modern era?
Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them?Or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded?Or shall we transgress them at once? In 1849, Henry David Thoreau posed these questions in his essay, “Civil Disobedience.” Yesterday, a civil insurgent from the climate-change generation, Tim DeChristopher, was sentenced to […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2011: The Global West
Can YOU carry a concealed weapon in Wyoming? A guide
When President Obama took office, state lawmakers started loosening firearms restrictions, fearing the administration would try to toughen gun laws. It hasn’t, but states continue to relax their own. On July 1, Wyoming became one of four states to allow residents to carry concealed weapons without a permit. (Arizona, Alaska and Vermont are the others.) […]
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Can YOU carry a concealed weapon without a permit?
“Starting Friday, Wyoming will join three other states in allowing individuals to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.” Which inspired me to make this flow chart to help you decide if YOU can carry a concealed weapon without a permit. Can you? Read the flow chart to find out… View the flowchart in its […]
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New Mexico wildfire poses a double threat
Although I don’t live in New Mexico, I worked as a journalist in Colorado’s part of the Four Corners region for a while, and spent a fair bit of time in the northern part of the Land of Enchantment. This connection is perhaps one reason why, on Monday, I became obsessed with the Las Conchas […]
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Subsidized crop insurance: the next ag boondoggle?
Over the past few weeks, the House of Representatives has been hacking away at the budget for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The dollars cut and kept in these negotiations set a baseline for the spending in the 2012 Farm Bill debate, and since the farm bill is the primary way agriculture policy is determined […]
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Here comes Huntsman
Updated 6-21-11 Courtesy Twitter and the Huffington Post, we’d already heard former Utah governor, ambassador to China, fluent Mandarin speaker, businessman, climate change moderate and Mormon extraordinaire Jon Huntsman Jr. was going to throw his hat in the Republican presidential ring. And on Tuesday he did just that. Slate has the story on how the […]
Posted inJune 13, 2011: Under the Flight Path
Sounds of the Grand Canyon, followed by a quiet helicopter
The natural sounds of birds and wind in the Grand Canyon, followed by the sound of one of the newer, quieter helicopters used in overflights. Sound clip taken at Dripping Springs trail by Mike Garvey.
Posted inJune 13, 2011: Under the Flight Path
Two helicopters fly over the Grand Canyon
Listen to the sound of two helicopters flying over the Grand Canyon at the Dripping Springs trail. Audio courtesy Mike Garvey.
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A Westerner too reasonable for the White House?
Why would a two-term former governor of Utah, the third most conservative state in the Union, be viewed as too liberal for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination? In the state’s legislature, Republicans in the House outnumber Democrats 2-1. Its Senate is even more lopsided, with a 3-1 ratio. Yet despite former governor Jon Huntsman Jr.’s […]
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The Sound of … Journalism?
They say sex sells. But does music teach? This seems to be the case with a couple recent music videos — one on the potential health hazards of hydraulic fracturing (which we’ve covered quite a bit here at HCN, from lack of regulations to health studies to health hazards in the chemical mix) — and […]
Posted inMay 16, 2011: Ripple Effects
The Garrison Dam: a history
Author Paul VanDevelder, who penned the book Coyote Warrior: One Man, Three Tribes, and the Trial that Forged a Nation, a history of the three tribes flooded by the Garrison Dam, speaks on the U.S. government’s plan to dam the Missouri River and flood native lands. VanDevelder is also the author of Savages and Scoundrels: […]
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New Mexico governor continues anti-green push
For the past few months, New Mexico’s new governor Susana Martinez has been sending a message about her priorities and how she’s going to run the state. And it’s not one enviros like. Last week, the governor pushed her influence one level deeper into the state’s Environment Department, reassigning some of the Departments’ bureau chiefs […]
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CAFO air pollution crackdown?
I’m traveling in New Mexico this week, learning about its dairy industry, and thinking a fair bit about how we raise animals — for milk and meat — in the United States. Many of the people I’ve met so far on this trip live very near large dairies. Some of the people I hope to […]
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Sustainable ag education loses funding
The U.S. government has long been in the business of supporting education for farmers. In 1914, Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act, which formalized a system of agriculture education that is still ongoing. Known as cooperative extension, it was a partnership between the U.S Department of Agriculture and the land grant colleges. The partnership allowed the […]
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Idaho eases the way for factory farms
Idaho counties have fought hard in the past for the right to regulate mega-animal operations; Gooding County, which has some of the highest concentrations of dairies in the state, won a lawsuit in the Idaho Supreme Court in Feb. 2010 upholding its ability to regulate water and the number of animals per acre. But the […]
Posted inArticles
Peter McBride on photographing the contentious Colorado River
International photographer and Colorado native Peter McBride spent the past three years making images of the Colorado River. His work has been turned into several magazine articles, a book, a museum exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and a short film. Here, he talks about what has become of the Colorado River […]
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Organic farmers prepare to ward off genetic trespassers
In early February, I wrote about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to fully deregulate the planting of genetically-modified alfalfa, and partially deregulate the planting of genetically-modified beets. These decisions allowed modified alfalfa to be planted anywhere, without restriction, and modified sugar beets to be planted in many locations, with some restrictions — despite a […]
Posted inMarch 21, 2011: Big Beef
Cattlemen struggle against giant meatpackers and economic squeezes
‘This situation is what I call economic waterboarding.’
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Superfund sludges on
Superfund. The word, at least for me, conjures up images an empty warehouse filled with metal drums leaking toxic sludge, dirt barely covering a hazardous waste sites, maybe some illegal dumping. This Tuesday, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency added 10 sites to its “Superfund” priority cleanup list, and proposed 15 more for consideration. One of the […]