A woman standing in a desert landscape at sunset, gazing into the distance with mountains and clouds in the background, a crescent moon visible in the sky.
Night sky filled with stars, some shooting stars, over a mountain range with snow-capped peaks and silhouetted bushes in the foreground.
A man wearing a plaid shirt, jeans, and a wide-brimmed hat kneeling in a field, inspecting the soil and small green plants under a clear sky with mountains in the distance.
Close-up of an elderly woman with gray hair, wearing glasses with a tortoiseshell pattern, looking to her right with a serious expression and sunlight illuminating her face.
A man wearing a cowboy hat and a brown vest stands next to a green utility vehicle, with a tabby cat walking on the vehicle's dashboard. In the background, farm equipment and a pickup truck are visible in a rural setting.
Long straight dirt road stretching into the distance through a rural landscape with fields and a few scattered buildings, with mountains in the background and a hazy sky.
Aerial view of a small campsite with tents and cars at sunset on a hillside covered in bushes.
Close-up of a man with shaggy brown hair, a beard, wearing a dark blue beanie, looking into the camera with a neutral expression outdoors at dusk.
Four deer grazing and standing in a grassy, sunlit field with a dark mountain in the background.
A person standing on a trail in a desert landscape during sunset.
A protest banner with painted landscape, the words "PROTECT THE LAND" in white and red, and messages about land rights, held up by a barbed wire fence during sunset.
A person crouched down measuring a barbed wire fence in a dry, open desert landscape with mountains in the background.
A landscape of mountains at sunset, with a pink-orange sky and dark silhouettes of distant hills and foreground shrubs.
A man wearing a cowboy hat and a blue plaid shirt is stepping out of an old vehicle into a vast, open desert landscape with mountains in the background.
Group of people gathered outdoors in a desert landscape, facing a large rock formation under a partly cloudy sky.
A group of Indigenous people participating in a cultural ceremony outdoors, with one person playing a drum and others holding objects, under a partly cloudy sky.
A dusty road in a rural area with multiple cars driving away, surrounded by dry grassy fields and rolling hills or mountains in the distance under a partly cloudy sky.
An aerial view of a desert campsite with tents, vehicles, and a large teepee, situated near power lines and a dirt road, with mountains in the background.
Two flags on a wooden pole against a landscape with hills and cloudy sky, one flag has a red fist on a white and yellow background, the other has a dark background with a water protection emblem and the words 'Water is Life'.
Three women walking on a dirt road in a desert landscape with two parked vehicles nearby.
Person gathering herbs or plants around a small campfire made of logs and rocks, with various natural and man-made objects placed nearby.
Close-up of a man wearing a black and red headband, with tattoos on his face, looking towards the camera.
Close-up of an elderly woman with glasses, wearing a blue patterned hoodie, and a colorful earring, looking contemplatively into the distance.
A person wearing a black face mask, a green jacket, and a black cap with a red star emblem, standing in a dry, grassy landscape with bushes.
A person with a feather in their hair holding a decorated staff in an open grassy landscape at sunset.
Nighttime view of a tipi tent with exposed poles against a starry sky and the moon shining behind.
An aerial view of a large construction site in a desert landscape, with multiple cleared areas, construction vehicles, and equipment, surrounded by open land and distant mountains under a partly cloudy sky.

Of Lithium & Land

In a remote pocket of Northern Nevada, a battle for the future of energy production is being waged. On one side is Lithium Americas, which wants to build a massive new lithium mine that will help fuel the electrification of the economy, and those who support that electrification as a major part of progressive policy. On the other side are "deep green" activists who want to scale back the overconsumption of our Western lifestyles to save the earth, allied with nearby indigenous people and the area's predominantly conservative farmers and ranchers.

Published in Deseret Magazine, Atmos & Inside Climate News