An excerpt:

Maybe as a culture we have it all backwards. We assume that a hyper-growth economy that gives people what they desire – we should say what it can cause them to desire – will ipso facto result in maximal human contentment and happiness. But what if it’s actually the other way around? Instead of making the economic system the first link in the chain, maybe we should look at what kind of human focusing leads to both contentment AND eco-systemic health and sustainability. And then build our economic system around that.

To read more of Scott’s article, click the image below:

http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/2014/02/03/contemplation-solitude-and-hyper-focusing-a-theory-by-scott-thompson/

This is the first in a series of “Zephyr Interviews” from the past 25 years. Each will offer a revealing look at Moab’s transformation.

An excerpt:

“Another problem that I see is that Moab is going to become a much more expensive place to live.  That scares me.  We’re appealing to much wealthier people, lots of new construction, building much more expensive homes.  We have people here now who really place a premium on education, we’re going to be building new schools, we’re going to have to upgrade our infrastructure.  Every one of those pressures is upward on the cost of living.  This used to be a hard place to get rich, but it was a real good place to be poor.  I see that changing, and I don’t like that.  That’s one of the problems that’s uppermost in all of the members of the council’s minds…”

To read more of the interview, click the image below:

http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/2014/02/03/from-the-zephyr-archives-an-interview-with-grand-county-councilman-bill-hedden-by-ken-davey/

An excerpt:

Just how precious is that moment, leaping from a 1200 foot cliff, when suddenly everything goes terribly wrong and, as the ground comes up to meet you at over 100 miles per hour, you know this moment is your very last? Is it worth what you’re about to lose?

To read more of Jim’s article, click the image below:

http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/2014/02/03/theres-nothing-more-extreme-than-a-young-brutal-death-by-jim-stiles/

An excerpt:

It was never really about the bicycle. The contraption was merely a conveyance, a delivery system for a culture and a mind set and an industry that, even twenty years ago, was inevitable. The sport of mountain biking appeared in Moab in the mid-1980s.  Within a decade, the amenities/tourist demographic had established a death grip on my old hometown.  We had once been an eclectic mix of miners, ranchers, small-town businesses, government staffers and young hippie/back-to-the-earth types; now we found ourselves in a state of rapid transformation–of upheaval.

Suddenly it was as if those of us who had lived there no longer had a say in our own  future. Out-of-town investors with the assets and capital to exploit Moab’s new moniker as “Mountain Bike Capital of the World” laid claim to its future. Like a Borg…for lack of a better word, a Bike Borg…opposing “the hive” was not an option.

To read more of Jim’s article, click the image below:

http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/2014/02/03/moab-is-assimilated-bike-borg-moves-south-is-resistance-futile-in-san-juan-county-by-jim-stiles/