Justice, power and environment: The 2020 elections were defined by grassroots organizing and deep partisanship.
California
Posted inArticles
What it took to investigate a suspicious town in the Mojave Desert
The creator of the 2020 podcast California City reflects on how she exposed deceptive desert land sales — from the outside.
Posted inArticles
Are wildfires contaminating your drinking water?
Manufactured substances known as volatile organic compounds pollute water around the U.S., and they’re heightened in the aftermath of fires.
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
A whistleblower speaks out over excavation of Native sites
In California, archaeologists unearthed Indigenous burials 11 years ago, but the remains have yet to be repatriated.
Posted inArticles
Wilderness rescuers brace for a busy winter
Snow is on the way — and amid COVID-19, recovery missions are on the rise.
Posted inArticles
California voted to keep affirmative action ban in place
It’s a setback, but students have been fighting to diversify their college campuses for years.
Posted inArticles
Bracing for unlawful militias and vigilantes at the ballot box
Emboldened by Trump’s rhetoric, armed groups plan to post up near poll sites.
Posted inNovember 1, 2020: When the Smoke Clears
Maskless in Montana; stuck in a rut; hot pronghorn
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inArticles
Violence at the U.S.-Mexico border as a presidential election nears
Law enforcement deploys tear gas and rubber bullets in confrontation with Indigenous activists.
Posted inArticles
How the West’s wildfires impact crops
Wine grape and cannabis growers try to assess the invisible damage of ash and smoke on their harvests.
Posted inNovember 1, 2020: When the Smoke Clears
California’s history of anti-Blackness hides beneath its progressive reputation
A new history of the state traces early civil rights battles spearheaded by Black activists.
Posted inNovember 1, 2020: When the Smoke Clears
Between California and Colombia, the internet becomes home
In ‘Aphasia,’ Mauro Javier Cárdenas explores the liminal spaces of divided language, place and family.
Posted inArticles
Tribes defend themselves against a pandemic and South Dakota’s state government
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Oglala Sioux Tribe’s COVID-19 checkpoints are at stake.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
Sage advice
The ecological and ethical problems of ‘smudging.’
Posted inNovember 1, 2020: When the Smoke Clears
The lessons of Redwood Summer, thirty years later
A summer of protest ultimately marked a turning point in environmental activism.
Posted inArticles
Wildish Podcast: When a horse goes ‘home’
Episode Six: In Montana, two ranchers adopted ‘Delilah.’ They’re among the growing number of people actually getting paid to adopt wild horses and burros.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
Is spiritual growth possible without confronting whiteness?
In ‘White Utopias,’ cultural appropriation at festivals like Burning Man goes under the microscope.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
Former California prisoners may become professional wildfire fighters
Amid a raging fire season and pandemic, the Western U.S. seeks experienced fire crews to battle its conflagrations.
Posted inArticles
Six states threaten lawsuits if feds fast-track the Lake Powell Pipeline
The Trump Administration’s plan to expedite review of Utah’s diversion project undoes decades of collaborative agreements between the states that rely on the Colorado River.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
When home is next to an oil refinery
All I knew about Wilmington, California, was poverty, so I long hid my connection to it.