Prisons for Sale, Histories Not Included
Environmentalists played a disturbing role in the Adirondacks’ prison-building boom. As the state now shutters many of those facilities, we’re at risk of forgetting that.
Water Justice vs. Western Development in Nepal
A development practitioner and anthropologist explores the promises and realities of water development projects in Kathmandu, Nepal, where luxury hotels have pools while poor city residents struggle to find clean water sources.
Creating the Climate Voter: A Conversation with Tia Nelson
Last week’s IPCC report sunk the spirits of many. But one veteran activist, with no time for despair, still believes in the power of citizens.
Fire and the Impermanence of Landscape
Photography is both an act of memory and a way to perceive change. For one writer, returning home means facing a landscape transformed by fire, climate change, and time.
Earth First! and the Ethics of American Environmentalism
Why were American radical environmental movements able to gain political and philosophical ground in the second half of the 20th century? Keith Woodhouse looks at this question through the history of Earth First! and its legacy today.
Urban Wilds and Modern Mythology: A Conversation with Gavin Van Horn
With Aldo Leopold, Lao Tzu, and the trickster Coyote as his guides through the city, a writer explores how to live well with beavers, falcons, and the urban wilderness.
The Pleasures of Teaching Plastic
Plastic shapes us even as it contributes to our destruction. A performance studies scholar shares her creative approach to teaching about plastic and identity in an unavoidably plastic world.
Wading out the Kickapoo River Flood
After historic floods devastate Wisconsin’s Driftless Area, a team of scientists reflects on their fieldwork in the Kickappo River Valley to make sense of an entangled, multispecies world.
W. E. B. Du Bois and the American Environment
Du Bois, born 150 years ago, was one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century. But his environmental thought remains underappreciated.
Should We Empathize with Poachers?
Globalization makes animals more vulnerable to illegal trafficking, even as regulations restricting poaching have increased. An ecologist reviews Rachel Nuwer’s new book and asks what role empathy should play in addressing animal trafficking.