Episodes

Responding to sexual-assault allegations against César Chávez, Chris examines the damage caused by hero worship and argues for accountable, distributed movements that value collective work above charismatic leaders.

Dr. Jackie Grant explains how a Congressional Review Act attack on Grand Staircase–Escalante’s management plan could destabilize public-land planning nationwide, despite extensive local participation and the monument’s ecological and economic importance.

Desert tortoise biologist Tim Shields explains experimental tools for deterring ravens, confronting invasive schismus grass and measuring ecosystem health—work intended to give future restorationists practical ecological leverage.

Journalist Zak Podmore connects proposed nuclear-waste storage in southeastern Utah with the rapid ecological recovery emerging from Lake Powell, asking who bears the nuclear fuel cycle’s costs and what a restored Glen Canyon could become.

Timbisha Shoshone leaders commemorate the Homeland Act’s 25th anniversary in Death Valley, recounting displacement, return and the continuing struggle for honest representation, cultural survival and respectful federal partnership.

Mary O’Brien of Project 1100 explains how commercial honeybees compete with and spread disease to native solitary bees, why public lands are essential pollinator refuges and what genuine bee conservation requires.

Rick LoBello describes a lifelong effort to connect protected lands on both sides of the Rio Grande, using wildlife recovery, community relationships and environmental education to revive the vision of an international Big Bend park.

Gilberto Manzanarez of Valle Imperial Resiste explains why Imperial County residents are demanding a moratorium on data centers until officials address their enormous energy, water, noise and community impacts.

Drawing on geographer Diana K. Davis, Chris challenges the idea that deserts are failed landscapes, traces the colonial politics embedded in ‘desertification’ and argues for precise descriptions of degradation in drylands.

Chris explores desert quiet as an ecological soundscape rather than emptiness, showing how noise pollution masks wildlife, displaces animals and makes ecological loss harder for people to recognize.

John Dougherty of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas explains how Hudbay’s Copper World proposal would expand open-pit mining, deplete groundwater, damage cultural and wildlife resources and exploit the 1872 Mining Law.

Chris contrasts AI-generated misinformation and political certainty with the desert’s stubborn complexity, arguing that truth requires attention, humility and a willingness to slow down long enough to see what is actually there.