My friend Andrew told me the story of Hite, Utah, left high and dry as Lake Powell’s levels dropped. Lissa and I went through there on our recent vacation, and I was so struck by the place that I scraped together the details of Hite’s abandonement and turned it into a newspaper story: HITE, UTAH …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: What I Did On My Summer Vacation’ »
Why it is so hot in Albuquerque this week, teevee edition.
Drought’s a funny thing. Take North Carolina (hi Dave!), which in general averages about 50 inches (125 cm) of rain per year. To a hardened desert dweller like me, it’s inconceivable that a 40 inch year (the great drought of ’07) could be anything other than a mild inconvenience. But drought is really all about …
My Albuquerque Journal colleague Mike Coleman has a post this morning that illustrates the complexity of the science-politics-policy interface surrounding the cap-and-trade legislation now slogging through Congress. It’s about Harry Teague, a newly elected conservative Democrat from New Mexico who represents a very conservative district with a strong oil and gas component to its economy. …
This one was enough to lure me away from the all-MJ/Farrah news feed this morning: In some valley towns the crime rates have soared. The link, officials suggest, are the water shortages to farming communities. The drought is said to have lead to higher crime rates in some Valley towns. In the farming community of …
My Albuquerque Journal colleague Mike Coleman has a nice example in today’s paper (might be behind paywall, a bit of a crapshoot there) of the horse trading now underway in an attempt to win passage of the Waxman-Markey climate bill: Rep. Harry Teague, a southern New Mexico Democrat, this week persuaded the authors of a …
Continue reading ‘Waxman-Markey Horse Trading, a Case Study’ »
New Mexico drought conditions forecast to improve
In light of yesterday’s mediapalooza about the new federal climate report (see my contributions here and here), there’s an interesting on-the-ground reality check today in the Denver Post: Colorado’s peak flow from snowmelt hit a few weeks earlier than normal, causing problems for some recreational users of the state’s rivers and complicating downstream irrigation strategies. …
No. But a story by Mark Hume in the Globe and Mail illustrates the delicacies of transboundary water questions, and by coincidence is one of two interesting examples of the problem that scrolled across my monitor this morning. Hume’s story details objections by residents of British Columbia to a dam being contemplated in Washington state …
Continue reading ‘Will Canada and the U.S. go to war over water?’ »
The Tree Rings’ Tale: Understanding Our Changing Climate won’t be out until fall, but you can pre-order now! Don’t delay!