Episodes

Mason Voehl celebrates Rover Critical Minerals' withdrawal from lithium exploration near Ash Meadows and explains how local residents, conservation groups and legal advocacy produced a rare desert-protection victory.

In the 99th episode, Chris explains how the elimination of federal public-broadcasting grants threatens rural and tribal stations that provide emergency information, local culture and community connection across the desert West.

Prompted by the loss of the Grand Canyon Lodge, Chris shares nine desert destinations he hopes to experience—from Kofa and El Pinacate to the Ruby Mountains and the Wave—and reflects on visiting while we can.

Basin and Range Watch co-founder Kevin Emmerich explains how Nevada's Greenlink West transmission project threatens desert tortoise habitat, rare plants, cultural sites and intact landscapes while serving industrial growth.

A lyrical argument against border violence traces migrant deaths across the Sonoran Desert and asks listeners to imagine a borderland restored to wildlife, Indigenous communities and human freedom.

Chris sounds the alarm over a Senate proposal to sell millions of acres of Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service land, explaining what privatization could cost Western communities and urging immediate action.

Parker Lloyd tours the Nature Center at Pia Okwai, where Tracy Aviary and West Valley communities are restoring former industrial land as wildlife habitat and an environmental-justice gathering place.

Diné leader Davina Smith explains Bears Ears as a living cultural landscape, the legacy of her grandmothers' resistance and the necessity of Indigenous leadership in protecting sacred lands.

Journalist David Helvarg revisits his 1994 investigation The War Against the Greens and explains how the Wise Use movement's tactics evolved into today's attacks on environmentalists, public lands and democracy.

Chris Clarke critiques Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's Abundance, arguing that environmental review is being blamed for failures more accurately explained by economics, corporate power and poor project choices.

Humane Borders chair Laurie Cantillo describes placing and maintaining life-saving water stations in the Sonoran Desert while confronting migrant deaths, militarization and disinformation at the U.S.–Mexico border.

Teal Lehto, known online as Western Water Girl, explains Colorado River politics, prior appropriation, agricultural water use and how authentic social media storytelling can make water policy understandable.

Author Barret Baumgart traces the strange cultural and natural history of Joshua trees, from early disgust and failed schemes to commercialize them to their modern role as icons of desert resistance.

Chris challenges claims that genetically edited gray wolves amount to resurrected dire wolves, asking whether de-extinction can succeed without habitat, ecological relationships and learned animal culture.

Writer and photographer Josh Jackson discusses The Enduring Wild, his travels across California's BLM lands, the tension between exposure and protection, and threats from mining and agency cuts.

Three surprising examples show deserts protecting human health and climate: tortoise blood suppressing tick-borne bacteria, desert soils storing carbon, and desert pavement reducing harmful dust.

Chris examines why diversity, equity and inclusion are inseparable from desert protection, from Indigenous dispossession and border militarization to inequities within the environmental movement itself.

Journalist Caroline Tracey explains Plan Sonora's solar, lithium, gas pipeline and logistics projects—and how a purported green transition can transfer environmental costs to Indigenous and Mexican communities.

Kyle Paoletta discusses American Oasis and the histories of Albuquerque, Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas and El Paso, arguing that understanding the desert Southwest requires understanding its cities.

Field recordings from Amargosa Valley and Joshua Tree capture residents defending Ash Meadows from mining and protesting cuts that threaten National Park Service staff and visitor safety.

Kristen Brengel explains how mass federal layoffs and disrupted seasonal hiring damage National Park Service operations, visitor safety, conservation work, and gateway communities.

Chris recommends six podcasts that deepen understanding of wilderness, desert development, the Colorado River, public lands, and the U.S.–Mexico borderlands.

Chris Clarke recounts the environmental history of the Ivanpah solar power tower, its effects on desert tortoises and birds, and the economic forces now bringing the troubled plant toward closure.

Mason Voehl explains how community organizing and scientific advocacy produced an interim halt to new mining claims near Ash Meadows—and what must happen to secure a 20-year mineral withdrawal.