Solar Episodes

Laura Cunningham and Kevin Emmerich trace Greenlink West from the Amargosa Valley toward northern Nevada, arguing that the transmission line will accelerate utility-scale solar, gas generation and hyperscale data-center development across intact desert.

Caroline Tracey discusses Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History, tracing how water diversion transforms terminal lakes while using natural history, queer theory and personal narrative to challenge the idea that saline landscapes are barren or disposable.

Gilberto Manzanarez of Valle Imperial Resiste explains why Imperial County residents are demanding a moratorium on data centers until officials address their enormous energy, water, noise and community impacts.

Drawing on geographer Diana K. Davis, Chris challenges the idea that deserts are failed landscapes, traces the colonial politics embedded in ‘desertification’ and argues for precise descriptions of degradation in drylands.

A 1,600-mile journey from the Mojave through Tucson to El Paso reveals shared threats, passionate local defenders and the possibility of a cross-desert movement built through relationships and regular communication.

Michael E. Ketterer's plutonium fingerprinting reveals that eastern California received Nevada Test Site fallout comparable to recognized downwind areas, strengthening the case for expanded mapping and compensation.

Brendan Cummings explains California's Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan, the compromises behind the 2023 law and the difficult work of protecting climate refugia while development and fire continue.

Poet and former wildland firefighter Ruth Nolan reads work about Ruby Mountain, the Dome Fire, invasive grasses and renewable-energy development, joining personal memory to the desert's ecological wounds.

Writer Morgan Sjogren reads from Path of Light, tracing the beauty of Glen Canyon alongside the lasting damage uranium mining has inflicted on Indigenous communities, wildlife, water and public lands.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 examines the final Western Solar Plan and argues that fighting climate change shouldn't require sacrificing intact desert ecosystems, pointing to parking lots and disturbed land as alternatives.

Chris Clarke talks with public lands journalist Jonathan Thompson about Utah's lawsuit seeking greater state control over federal lands and what it could mean for development, recreation, conservation, and NEPA.

Utility-scale solar development can carry substantial ecological costs when projects are built across intact desert habitat. Chris Clarke talks with Kevin Emmerich of Basin and Range Watch about a proposal to protect thousands of acres in Nevada's Pahrump Valley as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern. They discuss threats to desert tortoises, habitat connectivity, and the cumulative effects of industrial development—and how an ACEC designation could give federal land managers another tool for directing damaging projects away from sensitive landscapes.

In a departure from the show's usual reporting, Chris Clarke reads from Walking with Zeke, recalling a moonlit camping trip with his dog in Red Rock Canyon. The essay explores the physical and emotional bond between dogs and humans, the persistence of memory, and the ways particular desert landscapes become inseparable from those we have loved within them. It's a quiet meditation on companionship, place, loss, and the connections between caring for the natural world and caring for those we consider family.

Darkness is an essential part of the desert environment. Chris Clarke talks with photographer Mitch Miller and conservationist Steve Bardwell about protecting the night sky from artificial light. They explore the effects of light pollution on wildlife and human health, the beauty and challenges of night-sky photography, and San Bernardino County's efforts to control light trespass. They also offer practical ways residents can reduce unnecessary outdoor lighting while improving visibility and preserving one of the desert's increasingly scarce natural resources: darkness.

When developers proposed a large glamping project called Flamingo 640 in California's Mojave Desert, local residents organized to stop it. Chris Clarke talks with Caroline Partamian, Justin Merino, and Luke Basulto about concerns over wildlife, traffic, noise, and the project's effects on the surrounding rural community. They recount how neighbors organized, challenged the proposal, and ultimately prevailed—a case study in how local activism can successfully shape land-use decisions and protect desert communities.

The federal government is reconsidering where utility-scale solar development should occur across the American West. Chris Clarke examines the Bureau of Land Management's draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, the alternatives it considers, and the enormous areas of public land potentially available for solar development. He looks at exclusion zones, environmental impacts, and an alternative largely absent from the discussion: putting far more solar on rooftops and already-developed land instead of intact desert habitat.

Renewable energy is essential for addressing climate change—but where we build it matters. This episode looks at the ecological costs of poorly sited utility-scale solar projects in the desert and discusses how better planning can protect wildlife, intact ecosystems, and public lands while still accelerating the transition to clean energy.