Me and Pat
Following my talk in Grand Junction in September (videos linked here), Pat had some pointed questions for me about my comparisons of Las Vegas per capita water consumption to other cities. Pat’s point was well taken.
Archive of entries posted by jfleck
The best editor I ever had mostly wasn’t my editor
Oh my, this picture of journalism: That’s my old friend Jim Timmermann, the best editor I ever had, who died last week. He wouldn’t want me to bury the lede. A few days ago, staring at a computer monitor in frustration as I tried to figure out what to type, I quipped thus…. Journalism 1) Understand …
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The Cold War was so much easier – water project development as a matter of national security
In 1960, the Cold War was a thing – the moral imperative of our global stand against the commies. At the time, Albuquerque, New Mexico, was one of the nation’s centers for nuclear weapons research, development, and management. What better reason for supporting water development? From a May 20, 1960 hearing before the House Subcommittee on Irrigation …
Stationarity, recurrence intervals, and our perception of weather and climate extremes
Robert Osborne and Jonathan Overpeck published interesting pieces in the last couple of days reinforcing an important point about our perceptions and understanding of recurrence intervals in big weather and climate events. Osborne is in the southeastern U.S. and is writing about flooding (short term) while Overpeck is in the southwest and is writing about drought (much …
Librarian love for “The Tree Rings’ Tale”
I’m happy to note that my book The Tree Rings’ Tale: Understanding Our Changing Climate (Barbara Guth Worlds of Wonder Science Series for Young Readers) was a November pick of the month by librarians at the Clovis-Carver Library in Clovis, New Mexico. Not too early to think about a Christmas gift for that bright young …
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How much lawn should I keep?
Trying to decide which parts of your lawn are functional? Ask yourself: "Last time someone walked here, were they pushing a mower?" — Doug Bennett (@WaterDoug) October 27, 2015
Climate change, the Rio Grande forecast problem, and the death of stationarity
Laura Paskus takes us this morning to the mountains of northern New Mexico, where the snow is melting earlier than it used to, and less of the ensuing runoff is making it into our Rio Grande: [A]s bleak as southwestern springtime stream flow forecasts have been in recent years, scientists at the University of New …
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Biker wedding, Albuquerque New Mexico
Lissa and I were sitting this afternoon in Pat Hurley Park, up on the west mesa (best view in Albuquerque, check it out) when we heard the rumble of Harleys. A couple of dozen bikes, a full biker wedding. And, being an outlaw gang – Bandidos, whose regalia included New Mexico “bottom rockers” (see Jeff …
Cadiz, scientization, and how Dan Sarewitz almost drove me out of journalism
Ian James at the Desert Sun this week took on the journalistic task of rounding up the back-and-forth over the politics, law, policy, and science of the Cadiz project, a proposal to pump groundwater in the deserts of Southern California and ship it off for use in coastal plain cities. Ian, who’s earned a reputation …
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Turns out Casablanca isn’t a desert. I was misinformed.
One of my favorite water nerd film moments is the conversation between Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains in which Rains’ Inspector Renault tries to get Bogart’s Rick to explain why he came to Casablanca: Captain Renault: What in heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca? Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters. Captain …
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