Adam M. Sowards
@adamsowards.net
Writer & historian.
Words all over. Usually about "the environment."
Rooted in the Pacific Northwest.
https://www.adamsowards.net/
Words all over. Usually about "the environment."
Rooted in the Pacific Northwest.
https://www.adamsowards.net/
A good investment, or rather, an investment in something good. Please considering becoming a Founding Member for Drafting the Past.
These are a bit cheeky, but in all seriousness we invite you to become a Founding Member of Drafting the Past, if you're in the position to do so. If you believe in our mission to bring more attention to history books, joining this limited time special group is an amazing way to invest. 1/
September 10, 2026 at 10:05 PM
A good investment, or rather, an investment in something good. Please considering becoming a Founding Member for Drafting the Past.
Reposted by Adam M. Sowards
My little project, Westward, now pulls in images from the Library of Congress, the Portal to Texas History at the University of North Texas, and the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University, partners across the Digital Public Library of America, and the Smithsonian.
Westward — photographs of the American West
An endless scroll of public-domain photographs of the American West — homesteading, ranching, and frontier life from open cultural-heritage collections.
westward.jasonheppler.org
August 26, 2026 at 1:20 PM
My little project, Westward, now pulls in images from the Library of Congress, the Portal to Texas History at the University of North Texas, and the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University, partners across the Digital Public Library of America, and the Smithsonian.
I'm not sure we needed "documents" to show the administration was lying about public lands, but I guess it's nice to have proof. 🤷
When President Trump sharply reduced the size of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah by more than 1.2 million acres, he claimed it was necessary because recreation was virtually impossible within the site’s boundaries. Documents reviewed by The New York Times show officials knew otherwise.
Documents Undercut Trump’s Claims About Bears Ears National Monument
President Trump said recreation in Bears Ears National Monument was virtually impossible. Documents reviewed by The New York Times show officials knew otherwise.
nyti.ms
August 4, 2026 at 2:30 AM
I'm not sure we needed "documents" to show the administration was lying about public lands, but I guess it's nice to have proof. 🤷
This is a fittingly sad/infuriating coda to the short essay I shared this week.
www.sltrib.com/news/environ...
www.sltrib.com/news/environ...
Days after slashing Bears Ears, Trump administration removes tribal seals from monument signs
President Donald Trump shrank Bears Ears by 91% and disbanded a tribal-led commission. Now, the BLM is removing tribal seals from remaining monument signs.
www.sltrib.com
July 24, 2026 at 1:53 PM
This is a fittingly sad/infuriating coda to the short essay I shared this week.
www.sltrib.com/news/environ...
www.sltrib.com/news/environ...
Reposted by Adam M. Sowards
in a lot of ways the current republican government is just the worst, extractive red state governance taken national. total hostility to public goods, total indifference to long-term investment, and a monomaniacal interest in using the state to enrich private benefactors
the food safety stuff is another reminder that a large, huge, gigantic part of being a republican is going “lmao why are we spending money to prevent horrifying disasters from happening if they never happen 🤪”
July 15, 2026 at 11:56 AM
in a lot of ways the current republican government is just the worst, extractive red state governance taken national. total hostility to public goods, total indifference to long-term investment, and a monomaniacal interest in using the state to enrich private benefactors
Rather than "opening" these places up, the changes close things down. Less freedom, not more.
The Trump Team Lies To The Public About Utah National Monuments
open.substack.com/pub/chrisdan...
The Trump Team Lies To The Public About Utah National Monuments
open.substack.com/pub/chrisdan...
The Trump Team Lies To The Public About Utah National Monuments
"You can virtually not even walk on it," Trump falsely claimed before slashing nearly 3 million acres from Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.
open.substack.com
July 15, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Rather than "opening" these places up, the changes close things down. Less freedom, not more.
The Trump Team Lies To The Public About Utah National Monuments
open.substack.com/pub/chrisdan...
The Trump Team Lies To The Public About Utah National Monuments
open.substack.com/pub/chrisdan...
Reposted by Adam M. Sowards
Trump just shrunk Bears Ears by 91% and Grand Staircase-Escalante by 90%. Bears Ears was the first national monument co-managed by tribes. Five tribes spent years building that partnership. It's been walked back. 100,000+ archeological sites now exposed to mining and drilling.
July 14, 2026 at 6:19 PM
Trump just shrunk Bears Ears by 91% and Grand Staircase-Escalante by 90%. Bears Ears was the first national monument co-managed by tribes. Five tribes spent years building that partnership. It's been walked back. 100,000+ archeological sites now exposed to mining and drilling.
Reposted by Adam M. Sowards
OMG, it's happening! Today is the official publication date of my new book, The Earth Said Remember Me: How to Revive Our Memories and Restore the Planet
July 14, 2026 at 3:42 PM
OMG, it's happening! Today is the official publication date of my new book, The Earth Said Remember Me: How to Revive Our Memories and Restore the Planet
Reposted by Adam M. Sowards
stuff like this is why one important avenue for court reform is just nixing the shadow docket altogether and forcing these people to explain themselves to the public when they issue orders. also, making their records property of the united states and subject to publication when they leave the bench.
Amy Coney Barrett just told Congress that it would be inappropriate to explain the reasoning behind the Court’s unreasoned shadow docket orders. As if unreasoned judicial orders are a thing. They are not. The reasoning is the whole point.
July 14, 2026 at 3:41 PM
stuff like this is why one important avenue for court reform is just nixing the shadow docket altogether and forcing these people to explain themselves to the public when they issue orders. also, making their records property of the united states and subject to publication when they leave the bench.
Reposted by Adam M. Sowards
Republicans will be giving away YOUR public lands to their donor buddies after Trump destroys Bears Ears Monument
July 14, 2026 at 2:56 PM
Republicans will be giving away YOUR public lands to their donor buddies after Trump destroys Bears Ears Monument
Reposted by Adam M. Sowards
In response to President Trump signing an executive order to shrink Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments, Cheryl Schreier, Chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, issued the following statement. protectnps.org/2026/07/13/c...
July 14, 2026 at 12:49 AM
In response to President Trump signing an executive order to shrink Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments, Cheryl Schreier, Chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, issued the following statement. protectnps.org/2026/07/13/c...
Reposted by Adam M. Sowards
Utah is famous for its ecosystems found nowhere else in the world, dinosaur bones, Indigenous artifacts, vast redrock canyons AND as the most anti-public-lands state in the West. Trump just gave 3 million acres of these sacred public lands to those who will destroy them.
thehill.com/policy/energ...
thehill.com/policy/energ...
Trump shrinks Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah
President Trump on Monday signed executive orders shrinking the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah. “We’re actually giving more than we did the first ti…
thehill.com
July 14, 2026 at 1:00 AM
Utah is famous for its ecosystems found nowhere else in the world, dinosaur bones, Indigenous artifacts, vast redrock canyons AND as the most anti-public-lands state in the West. Trump just gave 3 million acres of these sacred public lands to those who will destroy them.
thehill.com/policy/energ...
thehill.com/policy/energ...
Voters have the power to vote anti-conservation candidates into office under the Utah and US constitution. The constitutions do not say anything about voting them out.
Presidents have power to designate national monuments under the Antiquities Act. The act does not say anything about reducing or eliminating them, though.
President Trump drastically shrinks Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments
Trump cuts nearly 3 million acres out of the two monuments in southern Utah.
www.sltrib.com
July 14, 2026 at 1:00 AM
Voters have the power to vote anti-conservation candidates into office under the Utah and US constitution. The constitutions do not say anything about voting them out.
Reposted by Adam M. Sowards
The original Bears Ears proclamation didn't just list cliff dwellings or petroglyphs; it stated that the entire area comprised a vital interconnected cultural landscape, what the Five Tribes of the Bears Ears Coalition viewed as a living, sacred whole. Trump cut it by 90%🌎
www.bearsearscoalition.org
www.bearsearscoalition.org
Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition
A historic consortium of sovereign Tribal nations united in the effort to conserve the 1.36 million acre Bears Ears National Monument
www.bearsearscoalition.org
July 14, 2026 at 12:25 AM
The original Bears Ears proclamation didn't just list cliff dwellings or petroglyphs; it stated that the entire area comprised a vital interconnected cultural landscape, what the Five Tribes of the Bears Ears Coalition viewed as a living, sacred whole. Trump cut it by 90%🌎
www.bearsearscoalition.org
www.bearsearscoalition.org
Reposted by Adam M. Sowards
🚨 BREAKING: President Trump announced and signed two proclamations to dramatically shrink the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments by nearly three million acres. https://bit.ly/3Ti1cTE
President Trump Signs Order to Slash Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah
"President Trump’s order to slash protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante is both a betrayal to the American people and illegal. No president has the authority to erase or shrink a na...
www.npca.org
July 14, 2026 at 12:33 AM
🚨 BREAKING: President Trump announced and signed two proclamations to dramatically shrink the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments by nearly three million acres. https://bit.ly/3Ti1cTE
No conservation victory is ever permanent. Example 65,387.
Flanked by Utah’s delegation, Gov. Spencer Cox and Utah Speaker Mike Schultz, President Trump again reduced the boundaries and protections of the two monuments. Conservationists and tribal leaders worry it could undo years of work to protect these lands.
Trump slashes Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante by 90%
Flanked by Utah’s delegation, Gov. Spencer Cox and Utah Speaker Mike Schultz, the president again reduced the boundaries and protections of the two monuments. Conservationists and tribal leaders worry it could undo years of work to protect these lands.
n.pr
July 14, 2026 at 12:38 AM
No conservation victory is ever permanent. Example 65,387.
Reposted by Adam M. Sowards
The Trump administration today illegally slashed the size of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments by about 90%.
What a travesty. Next, legal action.
Press release and my quote linked here: biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...
What a travesty. Next, legal action.
Press release and my quote linked here: biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...
July 13, 2026 at 11:32 PM
The Trump administration today illegally slashed the size of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments by about 90%.
What a travesty. Next, legal action.
Press release and my quote linked here: biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...
What a travesty. Next, legal action.
Press release and my quote linked here: biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...
The rule, apparently, is: It can always get worse.
Trump has cut nearly 3 million acres out of monument protection, including 1.69 million acres of land from Grand Staircase Escalante-National Monument and 1.24 million acres for Bears Ears National Monuments.
Read more:
www.sltrib.com/news/environ...
Read more:
www.sltrib.com/news/environ...
President Trump drastically shrinks Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments
Trump cuts nearly 3 million acres out of the two monuments in southern Utah.
www.sltrib.com
July 13, 2026 at 11:25 PM
The rule, apparently, is: It can always get worse.
Reposted by Adam M. Sowards
Sam Neill on tackling depression and imposter syndrome when you’re between jobs.
July 13, 2026 at 7:14 AM
Sam Neill on tackling depression and imposter syndrome when you’re between jobs.
Good tips here ⬇️ for writers establishing momentum after a conference.
July 13, 2026 at 7:40 PM
Good tips here ⬇️ for writers establishing momentum after a conference.
Reposted by Adam M. Sowards
New analysis shows that, since Trump's OBBBA bill, 216 major clean-energy projects have been canceled, costing the US economy billions of dollars & thousands of jobs.
(This contrasts with the bizarrely rosy spin other recent reports have put on the situation.)
(This contrasts with the bizarrely rosy spin other recent reports have put on the situation.)
July 10, 2026 at 5:26 PM
New analysis shows that, since Trump's OBBBA bill, 216 major clean-energy projects have been canceled, costing the US economy billions of dollars & thousands of jobs.
(This contrasts with the bizarrely rosy spin other recent reports have put on the situation.)
(This contrasts with the bizarrely rosy spin other recent reports have put on the situation.)
Useful contrast made here--with receipts. From the good folks at @westernpriorities.org
open.substack.com/pub/westwise...
open.substack.com/pub/westwise...
Teddy Roosevelt ended the Gilded Age. Trump is bringing it back
Trump and Burgum are visiting North Dakota to celebrate Teddy Roosevelt’s legacy while they reverse everything he stood for
open.substack.com
June 29, 2026 at 10:27 PM
Useful contrast made here--with receipts. From the good folks at @westernpriorities.org
open.substack.com/pub/westwise...
open.substack.com/pub/westwise...
Honored to be included here.
This month I feature @miskoaki.bsky.social @leylandcecco.bsky.social @theguardian.com @adamsowards.net @the-goose-media.bsky.social, and more!
#envhist
#envhist
Our editor-in-chief, @jessicamdewitt.bsky.social, is back with her picks for environmental history worth reading (and watching) from May!
niche-canada.org/2026/06/07/e...
#envhist
niche-canada.org/2026/06/07/e...
#envhist
June 14, 2026 at 6:32 PM
Honored to be included here.