Writing Episodes

A personal history of Cima opens into the evolutionary partnership between Joshua trees and Shasta ground sloths, asking how a plant adapted to past climate shifts can migrate now that its most effective seed disperser is extinct.

Chris contrasts AI-generated misinformation and political certainty with the desert’s stubborn complexity, arguing that truth requires attention, humility and a willingness to slow down long enough to see what is actually there.

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.

Rubén Martinéz reads an essay connecting the deadly U.S.–Mexico border desert with the spiritual desert of monastic retreat, exploring migration, silence, trauma, faith and the possibilities of refuge.

Cameron Mayer reads poems about honey mesquite, Mojave aster and travels through the Great Basin, showing how botany, photography and language can deepen attachment to overlooked desert places.

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.

Chris Clarke reflects on how the desert became central to his identity, reviews a year of reporting across North American deserts, and connects personal attachment to the continuing work of ecological advocacy.

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.

Sometimes the desert is best understood through stories. Chris Clarke visits the Amargosa Basin during a spectacular wildflower bloom before sharing three tales about the strange relationships that shape desert life. He considers evidence of surprisingly sophisticated behavior in bursage plants, the long and complicated relationship between humans and coyotes, and the seductive power of what we sometimes call desert magic. Together, the stories offer a playful but thoughtful exploration of how humans perceive—and sometimes misunderstand—the living desert.

What can Joshua trees teach us about family? Chris Clarke reads an excerpt from his book in progress about the Mojave Desert's signature plant, weaving natural history with personal memory and reflections on kinship. Through encounters with Joshua trees and the landscapes they inhabit, he considers relationships among plants, animals, people, and place—and challenges the idea that nature consists of isolated individuals rather than communities of interconnected lives.