irritable?
Typo found in my notes: “irritable” where I meant to type “irrigable“. Looking at century-old estimates of possible agricultural land in the desert southwest. Notable mistake.
Archive of entries posted by jfleck
Note to self: invest in water
From Rakteem Katakey and Manish Modi at Bloomberg: Shares of water companies are beating those of gold and oil producers as governments from China to India boost spending on basic infrastructure to avert shortages threatening economic growth and political stability.
The arrival of the elk – another “what is nature?” story
My Journal colleague Charles Brunt had a fascinating tale in this morning’s Albuquerque Journal about the Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge’s struggle with elk. Located on the Rio Grande in central New Mexico, the Bosque is famous among birders, a winter home to a flock of some 10,000 sandhill cranes. It’s always been my personal …
Continue reading ‘The arrival of the elk – another “what is nature?” story’ »
I want my atmospheric river!
Ever since I first heard about “atmospheric rivers” from Cliff Dahm, the biologist who until recently headed science efforts for the Delta Stewardship Council, I’ve been asking every scientist who I heard talk about them whether they can make it all the way to New Mexico. AR’s are these amazing storms that blast California like a …
So “playground activists” were a thing
In early twentieth century America, there were playground activists: Playground activists in cities across the nation, drawing from prevailing theories in psychology and sociology, championed organized play as the path toward stronger bodies and higher morals. That’s from Matthew Klingle’s fascinating Emerald City: An Environmental History of Seattle (The Lamar Series in Western History).
Groundwater: cooperating in Kansas
Brett Walton’s got another good story about what happens when communities creatively confront coming water shortages and take control over their own adaptation. This one’s out of Kansas, where folks in the Northwest Kansas Groundwater Management District are on the cusp of agreeing amongst themselves to a 20 percent groundwater pumping curtailment, shared, to stretch out …
the drought’s Obama’s fault
From the Texas Tribune: “Without immediate and direct action from the White House and U.S. Department of State, Texans along the Rio Grande will continue to suffer from a lack of available water,” Perry wrote.
what newspapers do
Newspaper people don’t become newspaper people because they want to get rich, or because they want to be famous, they do so because they believe in what newspapers do. TJ Sullivan, in his explanation of why he went to Roger Ebert’s funeral
Why “when the Ogallala runs out” isn’t the right way to think about this
At dinner the other night, one of the people at the table commented about the risk we face when the Ogallala Aquifer, beneath the great plains, runs out, which he’d heard would happen in 20 years. Without taking action now to begin regrowing the native grasses needed to hold the plains in place, he’d heard, …
Continue reading ‘Why “when the Ogallala runs out” isn’t the right way to think about this’ »
Stuff I wrote elsewhere: in the midst of drought, signs of water cooperation
It almost felt like a setup when Steve Harris asked me to talk at a conference about how “water is for cooperating over.” I make a meager but steady living these days writing about water conflict. And yet…. [B]efore I got to Ghost Ranch on Friday afternoon, I took the turnoff to Abiquiu Reservoir. In …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I wrote elsewhere: in the midst of drought, signs of water cooperation’ »