Gone
A meditation on extinction
No more northern white rhinos live in the wild, and the three in captivity are too old to reproduce.
Wyoming’s Only Endangered Plant
A tale of re-discovery
In the 1850s, the geologist Ferdinand Hayden crossed the Nebraska Sandhills on an expedition to map uncharted territory and chronicle its natural resources.
A Win-Win Situation
What’s good for sage grouse is good for landowners
I met Peter John Camino in the lobby of the Johnson County Public Library in Buffalo, Wyoming.
To the Bat Cave!
Conservationists turn to tourism to protect endangered bats
In the 1980s, more than 50,000 visitors toured Colossal Cave annually.
Lesson from a Tortoise
The Endangered Species Act works best when it’s never invoked
A first encounter with a gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) may not leave a lasting impression in one’s mind;
Net-Zero Energy Homes in Wyoming
The next frontier?
On an unseasonably warm day last October, Richard Fox pulled up to the construction site of his future home near Pavillion, Wyoming, in an old Toyota pickup.
Doing More with Less
How energy efficiency and conservation can decrease UW’s utility bills
Keeping the lights and heat on at the University of Wyoming is a challenge.
Downsized
Saving Energy by Living Small
Before Macy Miller moved into her 232-square-foot tiny home in Boise, Idaho
Community Solar
Community solar—sometimes referred to as a solar garden or virtual net metering—is when several households, businesses, or other entities invest together in a solar installation and share the electricity it produces.
Net Metering
Net metering lets customers tie small-scale renewable energy systems such as solar panels into the grid to offset their energy bills.
Turbines on the Horizon
How the western grid could unleash Wyoming wind energy, for better or worse
California and Wyoming make strange bedfellows, but when it comes to sharing electricity, the two states have been flirting.
The Most Complicated Machine Ever Built
How to modernize the power grid
Renewable energy is on the rise in the western United States, and the world.
Wyoming’s Wind Tax
Wyoming’s strong, predictable, consistent winds are a world-class resource. Ranchers and farmers have harnessed the wind to pump water since Wyoming was first settled, and small-scale commercial wind projects started in the 1970s.
Renewable Portfolio Standards
Several states have implemented Renewable Portfolio Standards in an effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector.
A “Just Transition” for Fossil Fuel Workers
The search for a jobs-positive shift to clean energy
Nearly 500 Wyoming coal miners were laid off last spring, and in the past two years roughly 5,400 oilfield workers lost their jobs in the state.
Energy Transition
Our world needs more energy and less CO2
The world needs more energy. More than 1.4 billion people live without access to electricity.
Small-Scale Hydropower
Wyoming’s streams and irrigation ditches are an untapped clean energy source
“If we disconnected that 14-inch pipe and pointed it upward, the water would blast nearly 600 feet into the air,” says Les Hook
Case of the Missing Otters
UW researchers search for answers in the Green River Basin
Brady Godwin was on the lookout for river otters.
Amphibious Citizen Scientists
Wildlife managers turn to volunteers for help collecting hard-to-get data
I swished my dipnet through water and vegetation at the edge of the beaver pond, creating swirls of mud that obscured the bottom.
Editor’s Note
Coal powers America. Or at least it has for the last sixty years. For most of the last century, anywhere from 45 to 55 percent of US electricity came from coal.