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You may as well collect! The upcoming dry summer months are probably the last thing on your mind during heavy late winter and spring rains. At this time of year, it may seem like it will never dry out, but it’s important to remember that a hot summer is just around the corner. So why not collect that [...]

Friday, March 24 is New Mexico Arbor Day. Trees add beauty to our landscape, but they also provide many other benefits:

Just one acre of forest puts out about four tons of oxygen – enough for four people for an entire year.
Adding trees around your home can increase its value by up to 15 percent.
One [...]

B-roll video is available for this tip.
Mid-winter is the perfect time to put out a birdhouse. Even though there is still snow on the ground in many places and many bird species are still far to the south, it’s not too early. Chickadees, bluebirds, screech owls and woodpeckers are among the bird species that will [...]

Winter storm season is here. Storms will be blowing in from the Pacific, bringing rainfall to lower elevations and snow to the mountains. This year, the eastern tropical Pacific is in an El Niño phase, meaning that its waters are warmer than normal. When the eastern Pacific is in an El Niño phase, the southwest [...]

Ever wonder why some trees have their trunks painted white?  Did you know that too much sun in the winter can damage young trees? According to the National Center for Appropriate Technology, sunscald can occur on cold winter days when the afternoon sun is high in the sky. Heat given off by the sun can [...]

A sure-fire sign of the holiday season is brilliant neighborhood light displays. Festive colored lights boost holiday spirit – and they boost energy bills, too. Americans use up to 40 percent more energy during the holiday season and much of that energy is attributed to decorative lights. Luckily, you don’t have to lose the lights [...]

Watersheds are areas of land in which all water drains into a common body of water. Because water does not obey political boundaries, watershed maps can cross county, state and even national lines. The size of a watershed can vary, but all bodies of water have one. You can think of watersheds like pieces of [...]

We don’t often associate the desert with trout habitat, but the gila (HEEL-a) trout, or “trout of the desert,” is a unique species that lives in the arid climate of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.  Unfortunately, the gila trout has suffered severe population declines over the past 100 years and currently occupy only a fraction [...]

Fewer daylight hours and cooler weather often mean that we spend more time inside during fall and winter.  While heating and cooling account for more energy use than other household activities, small appliances and lights still add to home energy costs. Last year, New Mexicans spent 155 dollars on energy for home lighting.
Viewer Tip: The Alliance to Save [...]

Fall is here and wild animals are prepping for the winter. Some species migrate to warmer places, and not just birds. Monarch butterflies, dragonflies and even some mammals migrate south in the fall. Other species grow thick winter coats to stay warm. In the case of the artic fox, snowshoe hare and short-tailed weasel, those [...]

October is Children’s Health Month. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), when food, water or air is polluted, children are more affected by that pollution than adults. Children eat, drink and breathe more per pound than adults. Also, their bodies are still developing and their behavior can expose them more to chemicals and organisms.
Viewer [...]

The change of seasons is an important influence on animal behavior. Whether it’s the hot season turning cold or the dry season turning wet, wildlife has to adapt to survive. One strategy is migration. Songbirds, waterfowl, raptors and hummingbirds travel north and south each year, some as far as the tropics! Caribou and pronghorn shift [...]

Vegetation “feedbacks,” changes in vegetation as the climate changes, are an important component of Earth’s climate system. At high latitudes, warming tends to allow trees and shrubs to grow faster and expand into previously inhospitable locations. Because trees and shrubs are generally darker than the grasses they overshadow, they absorb more of the sun’s energy [...]

If the water we use is replenished by precipitation, why do we need to save it? The short answer is that while water can be purified and reused over and over thanks to the natural water cycle and wastewater treatment technology, it may not be available everywhere—or every time—it’s needed. When we all use water [...]

Did you know that at least 30 percent of the water you use at home is outdoors? In drier parts of the country, homeowners use as much as 70 percent of their water outdoors.
Viewer Tip: This autumn, look for ways to be more water-efficient and fall into good water habits.

Adjust your watering schedule each month [...]

According to EPA’s AIRNow Program, the summer of 2009 had better ozone air quality than years past. Many U.S. cities experienced at least 80 percent fewer days when ozone air pollution reached levels that were Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (USG) or higher on the Air Quality Index. This trend was especially apparent in the Midwest, [...]

September is National Preparedness Month! A 2009 national survey by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) found that just over half of respondents have set aside emergency supplies at home, but less than half of survey respondents have a household emergency plan.
Viewer Tip: Are you prepared? Make sure you have the supplies and information you [...]

On warm days, outdoor air pollution concentrations often rise to levels that can impact our health. But did you know that air pollution inside can be worse than air pollution outside? The air we breathe inside a sealed building can be 25 to 100 percent more polluted than the air outside. The U.S. Environmental Protection [...]

Have you noticed that encounters with aggressive yellow jackets increase at this time of year? Yellow jackets are a type of paper wasp found across the country. Depending on the species, they either nest above or below ground in colonies with workers and one queen that lays eggs. During the spring and early summer, workers [...]

The Centers for Disease Control estimate that more than half of all flood-related drownings occur when a vehicle is driven into flood waters; the next highest percentage of deaths is from walking into or near flood waters.  Many people falsely believe that cars, trucks and SUVs are heavy enough to maintain contact with the road [...]