Environment
Wild cat, wily rodent may get endangered species protection
If you came across a Canada lynx while taking out the trash one night, you would not mistake it for a stray cat. The Canada lynx is a ferocious-looking, wildly furry creature bigger than a bobcat, standing about two feet tall at the shoulder. It has been known to kill deer, but mostly it preys [...]
Weighing the pros (and cons) of the sparkly green economy
Your grandmother was right — there is no such thing as a free lunch. Belief in this core principle unites all economists, from conservative Walter Williams to liberal Paul Krugman. It’s a principle (feel free to call it “opportunity cost” while sipping eggnog at your next holiday gathering) that says when you choose to invest a resource in a certain way, you are giving up the value of the next best alternative.
New Mexico Food Gap Task Force invades the ‘food desert’
The New Mexico Food Gap Task Force is expected to submit its first report to Gov. Bill Richardson today. The panel’s members want the state to pay for fresh fruits and veggies in schools, and to help rural communities gain access to fresh foods. But with state revenues plummeting, will they be able to wrangle the cash?
TODAY’S TOP STORIES: Hantavirus takes the life of an Otero County woman
Hantavirus has taken the life of a 22-year-old Otero County woman. Meanwhile, a 36-year-old lawyer accused of killing a pedestrian in Santa Fe and then fleeing the scene initially told police he hadn’t been drinking.
In Albuquerque, a Sandia National Laboratories solar energy researcher is a finalist in Discover Magazine’s “The Future of Energy in 2 [...]
Time to start planning for our future
We need a growing body of citizen experts to motivate and guide elected leaders in directions that serve the good of all, much like we had in the heyday of the environmental movement in the 1970s. A good example is something called the New Mexico Water Dialogue.
Patricia Madrid’s competition for Interior Dept. nod looks tough
Former New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid may be in the running for secretary of interior, but she has some stiff competition for the post. Democratic Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva is also cited in news reports, and he appears to have much more forest, basin and range cred for the job than Madrid.
Bill Richardson for Commerce Secretary?
It looks increasingly like Bill Richardson won’t get the spot as secretary of state as many thought might be possible. Hillary Clinton is reportedly going to take that job.
And the latest rumors are that Bill Richardson will be the Secretary of Commerce in the Barack Obama administration. Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post writes that [...]
Waxman ushers in new era
Party tactics trumped seniority. Democrats take a bold step as Henry Waxman, who is far more in line with the president-elect’s agenda, replaces John Dingell as chairman of one of the most powerful House committees.
Drip irrigation has drawbacks, N.M. study says
A New Mexico State University agriculture professor has some surprising news on the water front: Drip irrigation is not the water-saver it’s cracked up to be.
The study, co-authored by NMSU water resource economist Frank Ward and Manuel Pulido-Velazquez of Spain and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, looks at the big [...]
The green life cycle’s final, logical conclusion… the eco-burial
It appears that everything is going “green” — even death.
I know, that sounds morbid. But seriously. There’s a very interesting article by the New Mexico Business Weekly’s Carrie Siedman about a 15-acre green burial ground being planned for the Galisteo Basin preserve. The idea is that the preserve — 13,000 acres about 15 miles southeast [...]