Sonoran Desert Episodes

Journalist Kimon de Greef follows the dirty business behind psychedelic “toad medicine”: wildlife exploitation, manufactured Indigenous tradition and a global market selling ego death as transcendence.

Kate Scott reports from a tree sit in Lochiel, where activists occupied the last of four landmark cottonwoods after contractors destroyed the others for double-wall construction through the San Rafael Valley.

John Dougherty of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas explains how Hudbay’s Copper World proposal would expand open-pit mining, deplete groundwater, damage cultural and wildlife resources and exploit the 1872 Mining Law.

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.

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.

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.