Fixing What Isn’t Broken

June 22, 2022

President Jimmy Carter’s Office of Management and Budget Director, Bert Lance, is best remembered for a corruption scandal involving Calhoun National Bank. But he is also the one who popularized the corny phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” “That’s the trouble with government,” he wrote, “Fixing things that aren’t broken, and not fixing […]

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Going With the Flow

June 15, 2022

Several recent newspaper articles have focused on the Colorado River, because of the historically low water levels in Lake Powell and Lake Mead. A recent follow-up in Greenwire asked the rhetorical question, “Could the Colorado River Compact adapt to go with the flow?” The question was only rhetorical, but should it be? Actually, water leaders […]

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Draining the Bathtub

June 10, 2022

Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton recently told a Senate Committee the government must reassess its management of the Colorado River Basin, because of unprecedented drought. She cited the historically low levels of both Lake Powell and Lake Mead, though her testimony was long on drama and short on plans. In fact, she offered no […]

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Painting a Pretty Picture

June 3, 2022

There are hundreds of books about the history of conservation and natural resources, including biographies of the important leaders, and tales of early settlers. But there is almost always something missing, namely, the contribution of artists. Modern conservationists have largely forgotten that artists started it all. I was reminded of it this week by a […]

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Admire Him, But Don’t Read Him

May 26, 2022

Generations of Christian worshipers, and even atheist historians, have admired the Apostle Paul, for his consistent philosophical advice, his remarkable writing skill, and of course his willingness to undergo imprisonment, torture, and death for his views. Yet writers frequently lament the fact that people admire him, while paying little attention to his teachings. That is […]

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Red Light – The Devil’s Playground

May 20, 2022

An ancient expression says, “the idle mind is the devil’s playground.” When it comes to air pollution, it could be said about the idle car. Idling engines pollute the air. A British consulting company, Cambustion, studied the use of gasoline by idling vehicles, with startling conclusions. Cars use more fuel, and emit more pollutants, idling […]

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Not Here, Not Now, Not This Kind

May 10, 2022

An Ellsworth, Maine newspaper columnist lamented voters’ defeat of a transmission line to bring renewable energy. “Talk about mixed messages. We want renewable energy but not here, not now, not this kind. We have to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, but we won’t support a project to replace them.” Voter schizophrenia is not unique […]

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Just When We Were Breathing Easier

April 25, 2022

Steven Spielberg’s first block-buster hit as a director was 1975’s Jaws, and we all know sequels are rarely as good as the original. Yet it was 1978’s Jaws II, directed by someone far less famous, that film historians often credit with the movie industry’s best-ever tagline, “Just when you thought it was safe to go […]

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We Need a Different Enemy

April 20, 2022

Fans of Aaron Sorkin’s classic TV series “The West Wing,” marveled at how realistic some of the strategy sessions seemed. In one episode, the President is being investigated by a special prosecutor for failing to disclose his debilitating disease. Strategists gather in Press Secretary CJ’s office to discuss subpoenas White House staffers have received, and […]

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John Muir, Great Republican

April 15, 2022

Several years ago in a speech to a Republican Party gathering, I was mentioning the GOP’s history in founding the original conservation movement in America. I pointed to the first preservation of public lands by Abraham Lincoln (Yosemite), the first National Park created by Ulysses Grant (Yellowstone), and several achievements of Theodore Roosevelt and his […]

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