I am on a journey through the Southwest. Looking for a little solitude in the desert. The solitude is offset by my conversations with strangers. Where are you from? Isn’t the earth amazing? Which eventually leads to… How do you see the environment? Today, I met Ranger Pete. I [...]
Drawdown, Edited by Paul Hawken, is likely the most important book on climate in a decade. While its title sounds slightly self-congratulatory, the book lives up to it. Hawken and his team have created a comprehensive review to answer the question, “What do we need to do in order [...]
The Trump administration is a disaster for Americans who want clean air and water and to reduce global warming. Under his onslaught, it is also easy to lose hope or become cynical. We should worry about Trump’s executive orders, but we should also be concerned with cynicism. If you [...]
What’s the life of a single golden eagle worth? It’s an unfair question, but the one I ask, Steve Slater, director of Hawk Watch International (HWI) in Salt Lake City. There are two answers he says. The first, is that there is value in all life. The second, is a [...]
The first day, I drive 850 miles. The second 500 miles. The third day, I ask myself where am I going, and drive 250 miles. It’s hard to slow down, unplug. I am programmed like a pelagic shark to keep swimming. I put my phone in airplane mode. It’s [...]
I am in Donley County, Texas. The panhandle. As sparse as the spelling of its name. Flat, dry to the edge of the earth, and bucking a headwind. But something’s going on here. My eye catches a white wind turbine, then another and another. As I look, dozens fade [...]
A friend of mine told me that I was a romantic. I had to look it up. It wasn’t much help. If you’ve ever had a literature course, you might remember the “hero's journey.” One of the things required for a hero’s journey is a challenge or an obstacle the [...]
Farmers are connected to the earth physically, economically, and spiritually. They understand what’s going on with the earth and have for six thousand years. I am talking to a friend of mine who farms in Iowa. It is pheasant season, which is mostly an excuse to walk the land. [...]
There is a war on renewable energy. It’s being conducted by a combination of fossil fuel companies, power companies and the uninformed legislative representatives they have in their pockets. I’ve always been a free market capitalist... with reservations. I understand and welcome competition. I even understand that there need to [...]
I once had someone tell me that the major reason they didn’t believe in climate change was that scientists would do or say anything to get grant money. That their motivation was simple greed. The system was rigged. I was a little surprised. In my experience, we humans are not [...]