Extreme heat doesn’t discriminate; the ability to escape it does.
Jonathan Thompson
Jonathan Thompson is a contributing editor at High Country News. He is the author of Sagebrush Empire: How a Remote Utah County Became the Battlefront of American Public Lands. Follow him @LandDesk
Posted inArticles
Grabbing public land in the name of housing
Have politicians finally found a way to take public land out of the public’s hands?
Posted inJuly 2024
Abandoned mines cover the West
Their legacy is destruction and pollution of lands and waters.
Posted inArticles
Data centers could set back climate progress
AI, cryptocurrency “mining” and our digital lifestyles imperil the energy transition — and the planet.
Posted inJune 2024: The Idea of Wilderness
Water inequality on the Colorado River
A new accounting reveals deep disparities in Western water consumption.
Posted inArticles
Trump vs. Biden on the climate
The next presidential election will have huge ramifications for the planet.
Posted inMay 2024: A River Returns
The West remains cattle country
Livestock has indelibly altered the region’s land, water and air.
Posted inArticles
Is Biden a public-lands protector?
The administration makes the biggest land-management moves in a half century.
Posted inApril 2024: Epic Journeys
What’s going on with natural gas exports?
The U.S. is the world’s largest exporter of LNG, but President Biden just paused new permits.
Posted inArticles
Cattle are drinking the Colorado River dry
Balancing Western water demand and supply will alter the region’s landscape.
Posted inMarch 2024: Fertile Ground
The West’s hazardous highways
America’s car culture kills people
and wrecks communities.
Posted inArticles
The good, the bad and the ugly of the state legislative season
While Congress does nothing, Western state lawmakers pass a flurry of consequential and/or crazy — bills.
Posted inJanuary 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst
The state of the West’s cannabis economy
A booming industry is reviving communities and suffering growing pangs.
Posted inArticles
Is uranium poised for a renaissance?
As prices climb, mining proposals proliferate. But it might just be hype.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2024: January 2024
12 not-so-easy steps to decarbonize the grid
Electrifying will make a difference if that power comes from clean sources.
Posted inArticles
Is Biden waging a war on energy? Or on the climate?
A year-end review of the administration’s policy on fossil fuels and public lands.
Posted inDecember 1, 2023: December 2023
The Endangered Species Act by the numbers
Half a century of wins and losses.
Posted inArticles
Pondering public lands and the energy transition conundrum
Fighting the climate crisis will require difficult choices.
Posted inArticles
Outrage, disinformation and threats rise up in Wyoming around a BLM land plan
Is there a new Sagebrush Rebellion flaring in the Cowboy State?