New West Network Topics
NewWest.Net Conferences
Designing the New West
The Designing the New West: Architecture and Landscape in the Mountain West Conference is wrapping up here in Bozeman at the historic Gallatin Gateway Inn. Put on by NewWest.Net and sponsored by the Sonoran Institute, the conference brought together designers from all over the country to explore innovative design ideas, identify best practices, and better understand how to bridge the gap between good architectural theory and sometimes-messy building practices in the fastest growing region in the nation.
A mix of presentations and engaging panel discussions tackled pressing Western issues like sustainable development, land design and the special challenges of urban, rural and resort design, historic preservation and affordable housing.
Click on the photo or here for a slideshow of the days' events. Click "more" for a recap of the conference.
NEW WEST BOOK REVIEW & INTERVIEW
‘Ski the 14ers’: Photo Book Reaches New Heights
Skier Chris Davenport set out on an epic adventure. An Aspen, Colo., resident, Davenport dedicated himself to skiing all of Colorado’s Fourteeners – the 54 peaks topping out at over 14,000 feet – within a year. He would do it from their summits, or close to it, with free-skiing style.
For many, just climbing the Fourteeners in the comparatively balmy summer months is a long-term commitment. Others have skied them, but only one other has skied them all. Davenport did it in a year, and with aplomb.
He documents his journey photographically in his striking book Ski the 14ers. Just as Davenport pushed backcountry skiing to a new level, his work takes coffee table books dedicated to Colorado’s peaks to a new extreme. As he notes in his introduction, there’s nothing new about beautiful picture books of mountain landscapes. Davenport’s book, filled with photos shot by himself and his backcountry companions, exposes the mountains in their winter glory, or fury.
More New West Network Topics
Introducing...
A New Magazine: The New West
The best way to check out The New West magazine is to subscribe. We want to know who’s interested in The New West, so we have made the magazine available free to qualified subscribers who answer a short questionnaire.
In the Spring Issue and online here:
- Montana’s Cash Cowboy
- Real Ranch Living: Not Everyone is Selling Out
- Essay: The Family Farm, Version 2.0
- Essay: Tracks Across A Landscape
- Have Your Ranch & Develop It, Too
- Design Showcase: The Big and Little of Western Building
- Stuff It: Can Wolf Hunting Help Conserve the Species?
- Traffic Perplexes New Western Communities
- Boise in Its Own Little Bubble
- Revenge of the Resource Economy
- Spotlight North Idaho: On the Agenda: Youth, Growth & Silver
- Spotlight North Idaho: Players of the Panhandle
- Spotlight North Idaho: Coeur d’Alene Tribe Rides the Idaho Boom
N.Rockies Bioneers Beaming – A hub for natural innovation and inspirationWARNING: Attending a Bioneers conference may cause an uncontrollable desire to seek innovative and practical solutions to restore the earth and its people.
unfiltered commentary
Bill Richardson Should Offer More than His ResumeDemocratic Presidential hopeful Bill Richardson has a long-list of accomplishments and is possibly the most qualified nominee of the entire field of candidates-- in both parties. He remains the only Democratic contender with executive experience. However, his resume to this point has not translated to an overriding support in the polls. Why? Well…there are a number of reasons for that-- John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. Sure, he’s got an impressive resume. But outside of his credentials, voters what to know what he stands for? What is his vision for this country?
wildfire
Statewide FireSafe Organization Becomes RealityAfter several years of planning and coordination, efforts to establish a statewide FireSafe organization in Montana became a reality on May 18 during a signing ceremony at Carroll College in Helena. FireSafe Montana will offer a very important service for the citizens of Montana – statewide coordination of efforts supporting FireSafe programs and firewise activities.
Eloise Cobell - The Face of CourageEloise Cobell spoke in UM’s Ethics at Noon series on Wednesday, giving a succinct accounting of what she’s been through in the last decade or so. Having taken on the U.S. bureaucracy, including the Departments of Interior, Treasury and Justice, in an attempt to right more than 100 years of wrongs in accounting on Indian lands, she is a figure larger than life for me. So when I heard she was going to be on campus, I scurried over to Turner Hall. I wanted to see what that kind of courage looked like.
Unfiltered Guest Column
Are Cows Really the Villains?Peter Holter, COO of Holistic Management International, discusses the recent UN report, "Livestock's Long Shadow," which suggests that the world’s cattle herds actually emit more carbon and dioxide and greenhouse gases than cars do.
The recent UN report, “Livestock’s Long Shadow,”, suggested that the world’s cattle herds actually emit more carbon and dioxide and greenhouse gases than cars do.
The issue is not really the cows, but how they have been managed in an industrialized food chain.
As best we can tell, the UN study is primarily based on animals that have been raised in an industrialized manner, confined to pens and barns where they are fed a steady slaughterhouse/feedlot diet of synthetic minerals, grains, fodder, and antibiotics. These would make anyone belch and produce unpleasant gas!
Coffee Shops in MissoulaAhem. I know we all need to care about global warming, nukes in Idaho, delisting the wolves, and so on, but there's other things that matter too. Like coffee. Lots of coffee. Finding the best coffee. And telling others about it, since after all, we're all in this together and we might as well have a great cup of joe to help us on our way.
Here's my take on the coffee scene in Missoula...
