In this issue, we examine Chicano movements that are beginning to embrace immigration as an issue, a surprising development spurred by recent national policies. We also analyze a major public-lands bill just passed in Congress; a water grab in Idaho; a crackdown on humanitarian aid along the southern border; and a Portland neighborhood that is already adopting the principles of a Green New Deal. We take a close look at Pinal County, Arizona, where climate change is forcing tough agricultural choices. We also discuss why environmental victories don’t guarantee economic justice, and we explore the surprising challenges faced by women of color when it comes to public lands.
Brave and bravo!
Integrating this form (comics/graphic novel) into a journalistic outlet is brave; it opens up a lot, formally. By amplifying an Indigenous storyboard, HCN is strengthening its adaptive ability to meaningfully respond to the myriad challenges we face, further opening the possibility of a magazine that enacts the actual context of the West, whose past, present, and future…
Editorial drift
I’m concerned about HCN running a 10-page comic book as the cover story in the magazine (“Nizhóní Girls”). I have nothing against comic books. When I was a kid, I enjoyed the debut of Spider-Man in 1963. As a young man, I enjoyed the revolutionary underground comic books of the late 1960s and 1970s, such…
Journalistic insanity
I just received my Feb. 4 issue of HCN and was surprised to see that the “environmental bi-weekly for people who care about the West” had morphed into Rolling Stone. With Donald Trump in the White House dismantling environmental regulations, assaulting the Endangered Species Act, filling top spots with corporate polluters and environmental destroyers, attacking…
More visual storytelling
HCN’s effort to delve into visual storytelling has been one of the most exciting things I’ve seen in the many years I’ve been reading my favorite magazine. You can’t please everyone. I hope to see this trend continue. Dave BastionGrand Junction, Colorado This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline…
Moving story
“Nizhóní Girls” was an important and moving piece. I still can’t read it without tearing up. Pauly DenetclawManuelito, New Mexico This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Moving story.
Not up to standard
I appreciate Associate Editor Tristan Ahtone’s account of the Indigenous storytelling tradition, and I’m glad to hear of the success of these motivated and talented girls, but journalism this is not. HCN has such a wonderful history of hard-hitting investigative journalism, stories that involve research, face-to-face interviews, extensive travel and persistence when confronted with less than cooperative…
Spurred to subscribe
Osiyo. We most respectfully have been spurred to subscribe for a year due to your perspective commentary by Kim TallBear. Wado. Sarah Mix and Susan StrubelCitizens of Cherokee Nation Ashland, Oregon This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Spurred to subscribe.
Can beauty alone save a natural place?
Essays that unravel the mystique of the American West.
Unwarranted critique
I am very much enjoying your focus on Native American issues, and I thought the “Nizhóní Girls” comic was marvelous (HCN, 2/4/19). But I was disappointed with Kim TallBear’s critique of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, “Playing Indian.” As a former elected official for the Green Party, I’m proud that San Miguel County, Colorado, adopted Indigenous Peoples Day…
Glimpse inside the last inland temperate rainforest
Endangered species and landscapes vividly captured in a new book.
A new podcast, and a farewell
We mourn the loss of our longtime friend, Patsy Batchelder.
Making sense of the West
Why we’ve expanded our coverage beyond environmental issues.
Wintery resurrections; a coyote that cried wolf; drug bust
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
‘A dangerous game of chicken’ on drilling near Chaco Canyon
Feds go back and forth on leasing culturally important lands.
One family makes sense of losing its Colorado River water
Pinal County farmers suffer more drastic cuts than cities in Arizona’s tenuous drought plan.
The last woodland caribou has left the Lower 48
Canadian wildlife officials relocated the sole surviving member of the South Selkirk herd to British Columbia.
New bill leaves lands protected, lawmaking neglected
A bipartisan public lands bill punts on overhauling environmental policies.
Get to know the Green New Deal, by the numbers
The plan would boost the U.S. economy and eliminate fossil fuel use in ten years.
Environmental victories don’t guarantee economic justice
Without a just transition, the Navajo Generating Station closure will have harmful consequences.
Mountain biking is my act of resistance
In predominantly white Colorado, I bike to beat my fear.
Humanitarian aid is being criminalized at the border
Deterrence strategies have turned increasingly punitive for immigrants and activists.
In need of water, an Idaho town turns to its neighbors
Does recharging an aquifer solve one of the West’s oldest water problems, or perpetuate it?
The Green New Deal is already at work in one Portland neighborhood
How one community is building a green workforce to combat climate change.
Chicano groups are embracing undocumented immigrants. It wasn’t always this way.
New alliances are forming in the face of racism and an unprecedented political moment.