At the Precipice: New Mexico's Changing Climate

by Laura Paskus

2021 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award Winner for Nature/Environment

At the Precipice explores the question many of us have asked What kind of world are we leaving to our children? The realities of climate change consume the media and keep us up at night worrying about the future. But in New Mexico and the larger Southwest, climate change has been silently wreaking average temperatures in the Upper Rio Grande Basin are increasing at double the global average, super fires like Las Conchas have devastated mountains, and sections of the Rio Grande are drying up.

Laura Paskus has tracked the issues of climate change at both the state and federal levels. She shares the frightening truth, both in terms of what is happening in nature and what is not happening to counteract the mounting crisis. She writes, "I wonder about the coming world. Which trees will grow, which birds will have survived. . . . The door to that new world has opened. And there's no going back." And yet our future is not yet determined--or is it?

Genres: Nonfiction, Environment

200 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2020

About the author

After working as a contract archaeologist and tribal consultant for six years, I began my journalism career at High Country News in 2002. Since then, I’ve worked for KUNM-FM, Tribal College Journal, New Mexico in Depth, and New Mexico Political Report, covering climate change, forest fires, water, and wildlife. I also spent many years freelancing for local, regional, and national outlets like Ms. Magazine, Audubon, The Progressive, Capital & Main, and the Santa Fe Reporter.

Currently, I’m senior producer of “Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past, Present and Future” on NMPBS. You can watch that program on the PBS App or YouTube (or Channel 5, if you live in New Mexico).

I love reading and being outside, and am super proud of my daughter.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading this I’m convinced more than ever we are doomed. We are still kicking the can down the road instead of doing the hard work and making the hard decisions. We as Americans are forfeiting our potential to lead the world through this change.

Paskus talks about all of it: rainfall, drought, snowpack, groundwater, forests, energy, and fires as they relate specifically to New Mexico. Climate change is here. Water wars are coming. The forest we had and have now will not be the forest of 2050.

New Mexico is the sixth fastest warming state. The GOP governorship of Martinez was a disaster for environmentalists. It presaged the Trump era. But it was eight years.

[Kerry Pickens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Global warming is impacting the entire Southwest United States, so what make New Mexico any different. New Mexico has become the fifth largest oil producing state, which creates a lot of environmental issues such as release of methane gas. The NM Environment Dept just won a huge lawsuit against a Texas oil company for this very issue. New Mexico’s climate has increased to record temperatures in an area where homes were not built with cooling units. The higher temperatures increase the use of energy and water in an area that is already drought stricken. The state has had raging forest fires which are destroying property, parkland and animal habitat. The majority of the land in New Mexico is either rural, owned by the government or belongs to a Pueblo. The water supply has always been an issue and fracking and oil production is threatening an already limited supply. None of this is really news, but since the majority of New Mexicans live below the poverty line they don’t have much political clout.

[Gary Reger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laura Paskus's new book on climate change in New Mexico rests on her years of reporting on climate matters in the Southwest for TV, radio, and print outlets. Much of the content is derived from her reporting, revised and/or amplified for the book. The result is a little uneven; the first couple of chapters are only tangentially related to New Mexico. But once she gets into the state her focus becomes sharper and the information more directly relevant to New Mexicans. She is especially interested in wildfires, which have devastated large parts of the forests in the Jemez Mountains west of Albuquerque and other parts of the state like the Gila in its southwest. There is less attention to water than might be expected, and the eastern half of the state is somewhat neglected. Ironically, the book was finished before the great West Coast fires of 2020, which have dwarfed all past fire seasons in the West in extent and intensity. In many ways New Mexico seems positioned to weather climate change better than other parts of the West except the Northwest; still, extreme heat, water shortages, and more fires seem in its future. The book ends with a useful bibliography for those who want to explore in more detail and precision issues Paskus raises.

[Trine Vik · Rating 5 out of 5]

“[People] talk about the deep emotional connection to [the land], it’s landscape of rugged canyons and mesas... people in the community tell stories about fishing with their grandfather... about hikes they took as children... and tribes have used these lands and collected plants and materials here for hundreds of thousands of generations... and within less than a generation these places have changed so drastically.”

New Mexico is uniquely vulnerable to climate change and its citizens and landscape are experiencing its effects disproportionately to other states. At The Precipice is wonderfully written and provides a historical and political context for climate change in New Mexico. It is also a window into the people, landscapes, species and aquifers that are affected by rapid global warming and modern industry.

I was pleasantly surprised by Laura Paskus’s approach to this issue and how she included many aspects of how New Mexican citizens can relate to climate change. I highly recommend this book for all New Mexican and ESPECIALLY POLICY MAKERS. Paskus provides a unifying message to a complex issue that connects us all.. thank you for writing this book.

[Maia Zade · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A critical element to understanding and tackling climate change is familiarity with how it manifests, which is very region- and locale-dependent. I did most of my studies on climate change during college in Vermont (so, New England/Northeast), but I grew up in New Mexico (Southwest), and obviously the issues faced by a desert biome (and at high elevations, in alpine and grassland environments, and the various other microcosms within not just this state but across the southwestern region) are quite distinct from those faced by a temperate forest biome. Laura Paskus focuses on the water loss we're facing in the state - both at the surface level with the Rio Grande as well as from our aquifers - the devastation from the severe wildfires of the last decade, and how our oil-and-gas-dependent economy creates hazardous living conditions (e.g., the US's largest methane hotspot centers above the Four Corners area) and perpetuates environmental injustices against indigenous communities. A key read for New Mexicans wanting to understand the ways climate change is affecting our state.

[Tomek · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great primer on the effects of climate change in the southwest, and specifically New Mexico. Paskus does a wonderful job considering the ecological, social, and economic effects in a way that is digestible but still detailed. Some of the early chapters seemed a bit repetitive, perhaps because they are largely the product of individual stories she wrote as a journalist for publication elsewhere, but anything this important is worth repeating. The sections on water are particularly revelatory, as I already had a solid grasp on the effects of climate change on fire ecology, which is another major focus of the book. The book manages to thread the needle between dismal, disturbing Jeremiad and hopeful Pollyanna naivete. It also manages to decry both conservative obfuscation and liberal fecklessness. The author pulls no punches, pointing out that NM's economy is shackled to the industry that is killing us, neatly sidestepping the trap of calling for for anodyne individual action. Instead, it rallies us to act upon our collective sense of querencia, and embrace this burning world with tenderness and without fear.

[suz]

Laura Paskus, long time writer about the environment and environmental change, pulls together data and insights into environmental threats, devastation and potential future scenarios for New Mexico.
Thoughtfully written, her extensive experience as an environmental journalist is supported by data culled from state and national data resources.

[Nick Swindle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m new to New Mexico and shortly upon arriving, I had many questions about a sustainable future here. This book answered those questions and brought me up to speed on the current state of environmental affairs, past battles, and the politics of climate in NM. This book certainly has broader reach applies to the desert southwest as well as many parts of the US. Highly recommended.

[Mitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking. Big ups to the author for the little moments of hope, cuz I needed em after a few of these chapters. Much to consider as we move forward. It's pretty clear that we're not gonna stop climate change, but maybe we can work together to adapt to it.

[Tyler Garwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great look into the recent history of New Mexico, it's policies and politics. Hopefully things can change for the better.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to know what is going on with climate change in New Mexico, this is a great place to start and is up-to-date. Things are not looking up.

[Slingsnarrows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good collection of essays specifically dealing with climate change, oil and gas, emissions, water and politics as it affects New Mexico and all who live here, taking time to mention specifically the effects on indigenous populations and the perspectives of those peoples. I really wish more politicians and officials would read books about climate change and the science and data behind it. Maybe they do, but as I am writing this, the decisions being made by people with power and influence make it hard for me to believe that they have actually taken note of any facts. Effects of climate change are accelerated and amplified in the American Southwest, making New Mexico a canary in the coal mine for climate change.