The indelible history of mining poisons a town yet extracts something new.
History
Posted inArticles
Jimmy Carter’s mixed environmental record
The former president emphasized conservation, protection — and coal mining.
Posted inJanuary 2025: The West's Most Wanted
Tribal objects returned to the Northern Arapaho Tribe
After years of negotiation with the Episcopal Church, over 200 cultural items finally come back home.
Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations
Can land repair the nation’s racist past?
California’s approach to Black reparations shifts toward land access, ownership and stewardship.
Posted inArticles
My family experienced Indian boarding schools – and genocide
Why Biden’s apology didn’t go far enough.
Posted inArticles
President Biden to apologize for federal Indian boarding schools
The U.S. government hopes to assuage cynicism and begin a new chapter of healing for Native people.
Posted inSeptember 2024: When Migrants Go Missing
Preventing the next ‘Fukushima’
As oil and gas operations at Portland’s CEI Hub grow, so do the chances of a catastrophic spill.
Posted inSeptember 2024: When Migrants Go Missing
What Denali’s road closure means for its wildlife
A landslide sealed off much of the national park’s iconic road — to the delight of bears.
Posted inAugust 2024: In the Wake of the Floods
The vision of Little Shell
How Ayabe-way-we-tung guided his tribe in the midst of colonization.
Posted inAugust 2024: In the Wake of the Floods
Indigenous celebration of Hanford remembers the site before nuclear contamination
At the fourth annual Hanford Journey, Yakama Nation youth, elders and scientists share stories about a land that is a part of them.
Posted inJune 2024: The Idea of Wilderness
Hate groups in western Washington echo the past
The bigotry displayed when white supremacists disrupted a Pride celebration in Centralia repeats a pattern that dates back to 1919.
Posted inApril 2024: Epic Journeys
The untold history of Japanese American bird pins
They were one of the most ubiquitous crafts to come out of Japanese incarceration camps. But few knew their back story — until now.
Posted inApril 2024: Epic Journeys
What’s going on with natural gas exports?
The U.S. is the world’s largest exporter of LNG, but President Biden just paused new permits.
Posted inArticles
Who are the real Black superheroes?
A photo exhibition captures the courage of Mamie Till surrounding the lynching of her son, Emmett Till.
Posted inMarch 2024: Fertile Ground
The desert’s Radical Faeries
How a gathering of gay men in the Sonoran Desert started a worldwide movement rooted in nature.
Posted inMarch 2024: Fertile Ground
Issei poetry between the world wars
The rich history of Japanese-language literature challenges assumptions about what counts as U.S. art.
Posted inJanuary 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst
Learning to live with musk oxen
The species were introduced to Alaska’s Seward Peninsula decades ago, without local consent. Now they pose danger to life and property.
Posted inJanuary 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst
The Northwestern Shoshone are restoring the Bear River Massacre site
The tribe is reclaiming their gathering place and returning water to the Great Salt Lake.
Posted inArticles
Is uranium poised for a renaissance?
As prices climb, mining proposals proliferate. But it might just be hype.
Posted inDecember 1, 2023: December 2023
North Denver’s green space paradox
Will a billion-dollar infrastructure project heal a Colorado community — or displace its residents?