Episodes

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.

Season Four opens with the Los Angeles fires, the designation of Chuckwalla National Monument, and the emerging Moab-to-Mojave network of protected lands across the Southwest.

Chris Clarke talks with journalist Jimmy Tobias about apparent coziness between Nevada BLM staff and renewable-energy interests, focusing on Greenlink transmission projects, environmental impacts, and concerns from conservationists and the National Park Service.

Chris Clarke reflects on how the desert became central to his identity, reviews a year of reporting across North American deserts, and connects personal attachment to the continuing work of ecological advocacy.