For many years, the most-read post on Inkstain was this, from April 23, 2005: When Fred Phelps’ motley entourage came to Albuquerque, Nora and her friends made wings – big-ass wings. The Phelpsites set up on one corner at the entrance to the University of New Mexico, and the counter-protesters set up on the other. …
When I first became interested in the Colorado River delta a few years back, I wrote a piece for the newspaper explaining why I’m partly to blame for its fate: I know the collapse of the Colorado River delta ecosystem is not entirely my fault. But I couldn’t help but feel a little personally responsible …
Continue reading ‘The fate of the Colorado River delta: shared blame’ »
In 1857-58 1st Lt. Joseph Christmas Ives (ah, such a great name) conducted one of the first U.S. expeditions to map the Colorado River Delta, and figure out how to make use of it. Ives felt especially obligated to carefully document his journey “it being doubtful whether any party will ever again pursue the same …
This, from Tyler Cowen, explains why I love writing here so much: It is hard to write for uninspired readers. Y’all chose to stop by. That makes the task of writing for you so much easier and more enjoyable. So thanks.
As part of my new “slow journalism” movement, I’m adopting a more casual style of photography than the hyper-aware Weegee “f/8 and be there” approach.
Went with friends this morning in the woods along the Rio Grande in search of porcupines. You’d never know you’re in the middle of New Mexico’s largest metro area. (We found porcupines!)
When I give talks about western water and the Colorado River they usually end, or sometimes start, at Morelos Dam. Built from 1948-50, it spans the river between Baja California Norte and Arizona, scooping up the last of the great river and diverting it west, to the farmlands of the Mexicali Valley. Visiting the Lower …
Continue reading ‘Morelos Dam, Minute 319 and replumbing the Colorado River Delta’ »
From Bobby Magill, more evidence for my thesis that we’re such profligate water users in the United States that we’ve got lots of room to move as drought and climate change reduce supply: Eventually, TV station weathercasters began reporting the level of the Edwards Aquifer along with the daily weather forecast, forcing residents there to …
Continue reading ‘When there is less water, people use less water, Texas edition’ »
As California struggles against the problems posed by its current drought, there has been a great deal of attention paid to the lack of groundwater regulation. Melody Gutierrez has a great example today, from Paso Robles: How scant has the crucial underground water supply become around the San Luis Obispo County city? Sue Luft can …
Continue reading ‘Why is Paso Robles failing to self-regulate groundwater?’ »
I’ve often written about the ways in which our rivers in the western United States have become like plumbing (and here, here, and especially here). But one of the most interesting things to me about metaphors is when you push them to too hard. You can learn a lot at the point where the metaphor breaks …
Continue reading ‘When the “plumbing” metaphor breaks down’ »