Who’s Really “Using” That Water
David Zetland, the bad boy of water economics, offered up a fascinating argument the other day regarding the traditional argument that agriculture used three quarters of the water in the West. When a farmer irrigates her field, who is it who’s really the “user”? When I use water to flush the toilet, that water only [...]
On Drought
I would like to thank Nora for bringing this to my attention.
Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere, Aldo Leopold Edition
I’ve been working for the paper on a piece about Aldo Leopold’s years in Albuquerque. It’s a setup for a conference next month, and an excuse to explore some of the issues Leopold’s legacy raises for use living in the desert Southwest today. Here’s a snapshot, from a walk around the University of New Mexico [...]
Listen to Barb and Mary Ellen
From Democracy for New Mexico: My partner of 19+ years and I are aging. We’re dealing with a number of health problems. We’re aware that if Mary Ellen loses her job, my health insurance will end that day, because the vast majority of employers in New Mexico can’t, by law, offer insurance coverage to domestic [...]
Scarcity Rent and the Price of Water
If OPEC priced its oil based on how much it costs to get it out of the ground, we’d be swimming in it right now. Or, more precisely, we would have been swimming in it, until we used it all up. The peak would have come long ago. When the market prices oil, the cost [...]
Unemployment Numbers
New data dump today from the St. Louis Fed includes this striking graph of unemployment in New Mexico (in blue, red is national numbers for comparison): We escaped the carnage for a while, anyway.
NM Brackish Water Rush Continues
The rush to get in permit applications for brackish water drilling in New Mexico continues, as the state legislature considers a bill that would give the state regulatory authority. Staci Matlock reports in today’s New Mexican on more applications: Private interests are rushing to tap lightly regulated supplies of briny water deep under New Mexico [...]
Is the Push for Regional Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Breaking Down?
Shaun McKinnon had an item today on the push in the Arizona legislature to back away from the Western Climate Initiative: A group of state legislators has started the process of undoing former Gov. Janet Napolitano’s climate change initiatives and their chances of success are probably good. A bill has been introduced in the Senate [...]
Tobis on the Lawnmower Dilemma
Michael Tobis models the lawnmower problem: If you have a typical American house, you have a typical lawn in front of it, a lawn that is in need of occasional trimming. Unless you contract out for lawn services, you almost certainly own a lawnmower too. Most likely it has a cheesy, loud, polluting little engine. You only [...]
Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: Black Swans in the Arctic
The black swans of climate change, national security, the arctic. (ad gated)
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