NEWS & INFORMATION
Respect Big Bend: Breaking New Ground
Respect Big Bend, a regional grassroots planning effort focused on energy development, is breaking new ground on behalf of landowners and communities in far West Texas.
Respect Big Bend Named Texan by Nature 2020 Conservation Wrangler
Texan by Nature (TxN), a Texas-led conservation non-profit announced today that Respect Big Bend has been named among the 2020 Conservation Wranglers. The organization’s Conservation Wrangler program recognizes six innovative conservation projects across the state of Texas for their science-based and results driven approach to conservation along with their ability to positively impact people, prosperity and natural resources.
Respect Big Bend Public Opinion Research Presentation
This is a video presentation of the findings of public opinion research conducted on behalf of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation in 2017 and 2018. These findings helped inform development of the Respect Big Bend Coalition and its efforts on behalf of the communities and natural resources of the Big Bend Region.
U.S. Imperiled Species are Most Vulnerable to Habitat Loss on Private Lands
These results of this study underscore the importance of federal lands in protecting habitat for imperiled species and highlight the need to improve habitat protection on private lands for long‐term conservation.
Sustainable Development Must Account for Pandemic Risk
The United Nations (UN) launched the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to address an ongoing crisis: human pressure leading to unprecedented environmental degradation, climatic change, social inequality and other negative planet-wide consequences. This crisis stems from a dramatic increase in human appropriation of natural resources to keep pace with rapid population growth, dietary shifts toward higher consumption of animal products and higher demand for energy. There is an increased recognition that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are linked to one another, and priorities such as food production, biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation cannot be considered in isolation.
Boomtown, Episode 11: The Last Frontier
Record-breaking oil production in the Permian Basin has brought the boom to the Big Bend’s doorstep for the first time. Is it too late to save this pristine landscape?
Big Bend Residents Work to Engage With Energy Producers Before Development Happens
Oil and gas production dominates further north, but solar and wind farms are likely to be more common in the Big Bend area.
Boomtown, Episode 10: The Mitchell Paradox
No oil and gas baron since John D. Rockefeller has made more of an impact on society than George P. Mitchell. But this son of poor Greek immigrants who died a billionaire wanted to leave a legacy beyond oil and gas.
This Map Shows an Unlikely Source of America's Light Pollution
The map was created by subtracting population from light output, which highlights areas that throw off more light than predicted given their population density. It isn’t the glowing metropolitan centers of New York and Los Angeles that stand out, but regions like the oil-rich corner of South Dakota or the final leg of the Mississippi River. Some of the most prominent patterns on the map appear in regions where shale oil is being extracted.
West Texas Talk: Marilu Hastings and Dr. Michael Young on Respect Big Bend
Marilu Hastings is the vice president of sustainability programs for the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation — the primary funder of the Respect Big Bend initiative. She discusses the impetus for helping start the initiative.
Dr. Michael Young is a scientist with the Bureau of Economic Geology at UT Austin. He’s been working with a team to study energy projections in Far West Texas.