National forest lands are the headwaters of some of our most coveted river systems and provide water for a range of uses (HCN, 2/20/12, “Trickle-down economics”). In the West, we rely on national forests to supply over half of our water. Climate change is increasing pressure on these water resources. The resulting threats — insect […]
Letter to the editor
Posted inMarch 19, 2012: Water Warrior
What describes us doesn’t define us
Tom Zoellner has some great points about how Arizona fails the mentally ill, but I take issue with his assertion that Tucson neighborhoods are among the “coldest and most distant,” implying that we’re a hollow community and partially to blame for Gabby Giffords’ shooting (HCN, 2/20/12, “Extreme Arizona”). Zoellner says that he can attest to […]
Posted inMarch 5, 2012: The Zombies of Teton County
Goliath vs. Goliath
Your story “Anatomy of a conspiracy theory” suggests that opposition to zoning, planning and conservation as a U.N.-sponsored sovereignty grab is genuinely grassroots (HCN, 2/6/12). We can just as easily see this opposition to regulation as corporate pushback, motivated and underwritten by the energy industry and large agricultural interests. What’s still missing is a documented […]
Posted inMarch 5, 2012: The Zombies of Teton County
Misplaced blame
As a longtime subscriber, I was disturbed by the article by Tom Zoellner, and by his efforts to demonize those he disagrees with (HCN, 2/20/12, “Extreme Arizona”). The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was not a political assassination. Rather, it was a delusional act of a schizophrenic in a psychotic episode. That Mr. Zoellner would […]
Posted inMarch 5, 2012: The Zombies of Teton County
Natural gas: a non-solution
Natural gas only emits slightly less carbon than petro fuels (HCN, 2/20/12, “Between energy nirvana and hot air”). Its use will not retard climate change already in effect and will worsen its consequences. Releasing natural gas from the earth is energy-intensive. Shipping liquid natural gas is still one of the most perilous of human endeavors. […]
Posted inMarch 5, 2012: The Zombies of Teton County
Predators aren’t the problem
It is a human problem that we would intentionally put imported and non-native livestock in areas that are a natural home to predators and then define the predators as problematic (HCN, 2/20/12, “Bears in sheepland”). As long as these sheep and grizzlies can share the same area without the bears being destroyed, keeping the Sheep […]
Posted inMarch 5, 2012: The Zombies of Teton County
Science, illuminated
I am writing to thank HCN and Hillary Rosner for the article “The Color of Bunny” (HCN, 2/6/12). This piece seems to me the epitome of good science writing. It lays out the questions the science is addressing and the reasons those questions are important. Moreover, it provides insight into the process of science — […]
Posted inMarch 5, 2012: The Zombies of Teton County
Weekend reading
I just spent my Saturday morning reading the Feb. 6 issue cover to cover. I appreciated every aspect of it, from the Agenda 21 buzzwords, to the “uncommon Westerner” in search of Sasquatch, to the fantastic conveyance of climate change research for a broad audience, to the classic struggle between local residents and the federal […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2012: How Arizona's culture helped shape the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords
We need Wilderness Watch
The issues discussed in “The law, the lookout and the logging town” are significant, but the focus is wrong (HCN, 1/23/12). Lookouts are great, but in wilderness areas they straddle the boundary between historic and intrusive. Wilderness is not for people even though we benefit from it. The Wilderness Act of 1964 is clear: Abandoned […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2012: How Arizona's culture helped shape the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords
We the corporate campaign donors?
I remember the billboard controversy in Tucson in the 1980s described in Ray Ring’s story (HCN, 1/23/12, “Billboards vs. Democracy”). As a scientist, I try to look for simple, logical solutions to problems. My take on corporate money in politics is a simple one. We, the voters, elect someone to represent us. If a candidate […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2012: How Arizona's culture helped shape the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords
Monkey-wrenchers to the rescue
I was surprised and dismayed at the apparent power wielded by billboard companies (HCN, 1/23/12, “Billboards vs. Democracy”), but even more surprised and dismayed at the apparent lack of power that governments at all levels have to prevent their various affronts to our senses. Unlike junk mail, telemarketers, and political advertisements on TV, billboards are […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2012: How Arizona's culture helped shape the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords
The error of the well-intentioned
Thank you for the billboard and “untrammeled” wilderness articles (HCN, 1/23/12, “The law, the lookout and the logging town” & “Billboard vs. Democracy”). Boycotting Utah and/or monkey-wrenching seem like the only viable options for correcting these corporate billboard crimes. Wilderness Watch, by contrast, is well intentioned, but apparently ignorant of the harm it’s doing. Wilderness […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2012: How Arizona's culture helped shape the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords
The shine of the golden saddle
The grazing buyout is sometimes referred to as a “golden saddle” (HCN, 1/23/12, “Detente in the grazing wars?”). I like that. Even though grazing permits are not rights, the buyouts recognize that grazing permits have been treated as such and are of value to the permittee. I like how it is a free market solution, […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2012: How Arizona's culture helped shape the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords
The troubling tentacles of Citizens United
I feel really fortunate to live in one of four states that have outright bans on billboards (HCN, 1/23/12, “Billboards vs. Democracy”). Despite an underhanded attempt to gut the Alaska billboard ban a few years ago, the citizens rose up with a resounding no. Call me a worrier, but will the Citizens United case, which […]
Posted inFebruary 6, 2012: Can evolution help snowshoe hares adapt to climate change?
Viva la revolución!
I read with interest “Growing a Revolution” in the Nov. 28 issue by Jennifer Langston. While that approach certainly has great merit, there are other approaches to getting local food to local neighborhoods that can be equally successful. I am on the board of trustees of St. Luke’s Health Initiatives in Phoenix, and we have […]
Posted inFebruary 6, 2012: Can evolution help snowshoe hares adapt to climate change?
A needed hard line
In his article about the reconstruction of Green Mountain Lookout in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, Nathan Rice categorizes Wilderness Watch as “a small, hard-line Montana group” (HCN, 1/23/12, “The law, the lookout and the logging town”). That’s like calling the Sierra Club “a California environmental group.” Wilderness Watch was founded in Missoula, Mont., and is […]
Posted inFebruary 6, 2012: Can evolution help snowshoe hares adapt to climate change?
A transplant at home in rural Utah
I happen to live in a tiny Utah town, population approximately 175, with plenty of “move-ins.” I’ve yet to meet a “move-in” who wants to create massive changes there (HCN, 12/16/11 & 1/9/12, “Stranger in these parts”). In fact, the majority of them moved there precisely for what the place offers: community, beauty, and a […]
Posted inFebruary 6, 2012: Can evolution help snowshoe hares adapt to climate change?
Captivity, clarified
We would like to provide a more thorough insight into our facility, the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center, than was presented in “Possessing the Wild” (HCN, 11/14/11). The author’s description of our tour guides “tossing treats into wolves’ enclosures to hear their jaws snap shut” was a misinterpretation. We do not put our animals on […]
Posted inFebruary 6, 2012: Can evolution help snowshoe hares adapt to climate change?
The suburban squeeze
I find the perilous journey across Wyoming’s energy fields to be far less harmful to the well-being of pronghorns than the rampant development along Colorado’s Front Range and elimination of their habitat entirely (HCN, 12/12/11 & 1/9/12, “Perilous Passages”). Try finding a pronghorn anywhere south and west of Greeley, in a huge range that they […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2012: Billboard corporations use money and influence to override your vote
No more stopgap solutions
The dispute between the Environmental Protection Agency and Mora Mutual Domestic Water and Sewer Association brings to the fore an issue that plagues many poor rural communities (HCN, 12/12/11, “Clean Water Conundrum”). Both septic systems and treatment plants distract from the real issue of human waste removal at the point of disposal — the household. […]