Fernandez-Gimenez, with sheep herd in Spanish Pyrenees, in 2011.

A Colorado cowboy, a Spanish sheepherder and a Mongolian nomad walk into a bar… what do they have to talk about?

Maria Fernandez-Gimenez, a professor at Colorado State University, studies the traditional ecological knowledge of ranchers around the world, and she spoke to me about her work and findings for High Country News in January 2012.

Here’s an excerpt from the conversation, regarding how ranchers view the roles of values of predators:

HCN How similar are ranchers’ attitudes and management practices when we’re talking about interactions with predators?

MFG It was so similar, the wolf dialogue in the West and the bear dialogue in the Pyrenees, and the vilification.

In the Pyrenees, I spoke to one of the most outspoken, cantankerous herders in this village who was just renowned for being the kind of person who comes to every public meeting and stands up and yells at the government about the bear problem. But when we were talking to him, he actually he said he was able to distance himself and say, “I understand that as a citizen of this country that the bear is a public good, and I can understand why people want the bear. But as a livestock owner, I have a different feeling.” To me, it was maybe an instance of someone getting to a certain point in their maturity of thinking about an issue.

My December 30, 2011 story for the Northern Colorado Business Report looks at the progress of the initiative, and how a local recycling company is teaming up with the industry.

Here’s an excerpt:

Beginning in 2007, SIA, representing winter sports gear manufacturers and retailers, voluntarily launched a corporate-responsibility recycling program. The project was aimed at educating consumers to bring old equipment to retail stores, and its pilot phase focused on the Rocky Mountain region.

In three seasons working with just a handful of retail outlets, the SIA’s Greg Schneider said the program has compiled a whopping 300 tons of skis, boots and other gear. But the group had struggled to figure out how to actually process the trashed equipment, because winter sports products use composite plastics, wood fiber, aluminum and other metals that must be separated into usable materials. In the meantime, the backlog has sat in a Goodwill warehouse in Denver.

…

“We’re always looking for ways that we can repurpose the old equipment,” Schneider said. “It’s like the holy grail.”

Scary Halloween weather along the East Coast (NASA)

This year’s rash of severe weather has scientists scrambling to understand the connection between increasing emissions and natural disasters. While attending the World Climate Research Programme Open Science Conference in late October, I spoke with several prominent climate scientists about the various efforts devoted to detecting heatwaves, tornadoes, drought, and hurricanes and linking the extreme events to global warming.

My article for the Daily Climate, with the Seagal-inspired title, “Extreme Measures: The Push to Make Climate Science Relevant,” focuses on the push to attribute and predict extreme events, which should eventually provide better information for policymakers and disaster managers.

The story also ran online with Scientific American and Climate Central.

Spent brewery grain (via Flickr, under a Creative Commons license)

In Fort Collins, a city that sometimes seems to be powered by beer, businesses are looking at an innovative power plant to run on spent brewery grains.

A Sept. 23 column in the Northern Colorado Business Report — “Beer-powered syngas plant slated to give FortZED a buzz” — explores the backers’ claims and potential interests.

Here’s a sip from the article:

If all goes well, the same partners hope to build a four-megawatt gasification power plant in Fort Collins, using local spent grains and other brewery waste. The beer-fueled electricity would be enough to offset the energy needs of several local microbreweries, and another two megawatts of waste heat would be recaptured and could be sent to a brewery or other business to replace the use of natural gas.

“It’s an extremely innovative project, and one that’s receiving international attention,” said Ryan Speir, acting CEO of the Rocky Mountain Innosphere.

Stephen Schneider

When Stephen Schneider died in July 2010, the climate science community lost one of its leading and most articulate voices, but colleagues and a new generation of researchers are carrying forth his spirit and approach to understanding and explaining the impacts of climate change.

This August, hundreds of Schneider’s fellow scientists gathered in Boulder to remember him and also share their own research exploring the topics that he helped bring attention to with policymakers and the public. My September 2011 article for Miller-McCune, “A Discernible Human Influence: Schneider and Climate Change,” recounts the personal and intellectual impacts Schneider had on his colleagues and explores how scientists are tackling the latest and largest questions surrounding climate science and policy.

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Ten years after the attacks, Peek and I spoke for an interview, “A Spotlight on the 9/11 Anti-Muslim Backlash,” for Miller-McCune in September 2011.

Powdered oxides of rare-earth minerals (Peggy Greb, USDA ARS)

A run on rare earth metals, used to make solar panels, military hardware and cell phones, is driving a frenzy for mining claims in the West.

My April 17, 2011 story in High Country News looks at the rush and the reality behind a rare-earth boom in the U.S.

My article, “Algae industry embraces lower expectations,” in the April 21 issue of the Northern Colorado Business Report, covers Solix’s latest moves and explores the future of algae and biofuels production.

My January 24, 2011 cover story for High Country News, “Utah’s Sagebrush Rebellion capital mellows as animal-lovers and enviros move in,” reports on the region’s swirling social, political and environmental dynamics, from antigovernment protests over public lands to failed bikini bans to supposedly uphold local, social values.