Water, heat, and survival infrastructure. We cover the Colorado River crisis, urban heat islands, green infrastructure, coastal defense, drought management, ecosystem services, and climate adaptation. From acequia governance to bioswales, ecological systems are social systems.
8 articles
The Delta We Forgot to Draw: Post-2026, the Colorado River's Real Negotiation Is With the Future
Forty million people will vote with faucets this decade. The Colorado—that purposeful blue thread stitched through seven U.S. states, 30 Tribal Nations, and two Mexican states—has been over-promised for a century and under-delivered for a generation. The legal wallpaper is ornate (compacts,.
The Lines That Remember the Sun: A North American grid for a Spanish-American republic
Most borders are written in ink, but the U.S.–Mexico line is increasingly drawn in wire. It is a thin set of bridges—high-voltage interties, converter halls, relay cabinets—that allow two different electrical civilizations to borrow from each other when heat climbs, when hurricanes prowl, when a.
The Cities That Forgot Water: When Drainage Becomes Drowning
Cities built to shed water now face repeated floods and heat stress. This essay argues for pragmatic, equitable urban hydrology: hybrid grey‑green systems, watershed governance, and policy tools that protect people and repair past planning choices.
The Neighborhoods That Burn First: How Heat Islands Map Inequality
Cities are becoming furnaces. This essay traces how design, policy, and inequality create urban heat islands and proposes pragmatic, equity‑first interventions—shade, water, surface albedo, zoning reform, and community stewardship—to cool the most vulnerable neighborhoods.
The Treaty Clock: The Río Bravo, Binational Water Law, and Neighborly Duty
Every five years the Río Bravo—call it the Rio Grande if you must—ticks like a metronome. On the last week of October, a binational ledger is balanced: 1.75 million acre-feet from six Mexican tributaries must have reached the United States, averaged over the cycle. Not every year. Not even evenly.
The Water Barons: Drought as Market
Post-2026 Colorado River rules, a bilingual law of the ditch, and the cities that already know how to share. Every politics is water politics in disguise. Draw the United States by rivers and you get a biography of arguments: the Colorado's improbable slingshot through seven states and two nations;.
Solar Sovereignty in the Mojave
Ecological development for the Sonoran century—north and south of the line. Stand on a clear night above the borderlands and you will see two kinds of
Green Infrastructure: When Nature Does the Work
Rain gardens, bioswales, green roofs—cities are rediscovering that natural systems can outperform engineered ones. This essay traces the science, governance, and equitable practice of green infrastructure and offers concrete steps for designers, planners, and officials.