A long-standing dispute in Utah’s Escalante watershed comes to a head, wastewater spills in North Dakota oilfields, a statistician looks at the future of the shale oil boom, and more.

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Welcome, new interns!

Our latest interns, Kate Schimel and Kindra McQuillan, have arrived for six months of rigorous reporting, writing and perhaps even a bit of fun. And Sarah Tory, a stellar intern from last session, is now our editorial fellow for the next year. When Kindra McQuillan was a child, her outer world was often in flux…

by Kate Schimel and Kindra McQuillan

Chainsaw diplomacy

In southern Utah’s Escalante watershed, a river restoration group tries to cut through old cultural barriers.

by Scott Carrier

Wilderness as therapist

A growing number of veterans and researchers are racing to understand nature’s power to heal.

by Tay Wiles

Decent landowners

Michelle Nijhuis suggests that accelerating Aldo Leopold’s land ethic and “voluntary decency” can help us meet the challenges of the modern West (“Where’s Aldo?” HCN, 1/19/15). I would offer that the first step is to recognize and support implementation of this ethic where it already exists and to understand that doing the “right thing” for…

by Lesli Allison

Ethics to law

In HCN’s special issue on the future, the first two essays discuss Aldo Leopold’s land ethic and William O. Douglas’ dissent in Sierra Club vs. Morton. I’d like to connect these ideas using Leopold and Christopher Stone, whose law review article Douglas cited in his dissent. In his 1949 “Land Ethic,” Leopold challenges us to expand…

by Susan Jacobson

Facebook Feedback

… on Sarah Gilman’s story,  “Where can we say ‘Yes’ to oil and gas?” Wade Field Dixon: “Drill here and do it right.” Joanne Hudela: “Nowhere! It’s destroying everything! Make it illegal! Decriminalize industrial hemp and help heal this planet! Oil and gas is passe and ignorant!” Steve Barry: “I HEART DRILLING.”                   Susan Cromer:…

by From our readers

How deep is your love?

“I love the land, and it’s different from an environmentalist’s love. We have a deep, abiding love; they have a weekend love affair. Their love is intense and passionate, but it’s not an abiding love. That kind of love comes from making a living off the land.” When Garfield County, Utah, Commissioner Louise Liston said…

by Paul Larmer

Kaput-alism

What are we thinking? I’m thinking that capitalism and Gaia have nothing in common. It was thought in the 19th century, when imperialism justified itself with various racist faux-Darwinian scientisms, that nature fit neatly with Adam Smith’s exaltation of the free market. But now we know better. Global capitalism is destroying the planet. What thinking…

by Merrill Collett