Episodes

A monsoon in Twentynine Palms becomes an exploration of how scarce water shapes desert land and life, why rain smells so extraordinary, and how to stay safe when celebration turns into flash flooding.

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.

On the Dome Fire's fifth anniversary, Chris returns to Cima Dome to confront the loss of its vast Joshua tree forest, the spread of invasive grasses, uncertain restoration and his own enduring solastalgia.

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.

Journalist David Morales explains how Tucson residents stopped Project Blue, a proposed Amazon data center whose enormous water and electricity demands exposed Arizona's tax incentives and longer history of extraction.

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.

Mason Voehl celebrates Rover Critical Minerals' withdrawal from lithium exploration near Ash Meadows and explains how local residents, conservation groups and legal advocacy produced a rare desert-protection victory.

In the 99th episode, Chris explains how the elimination of federal public-broadcasting grants threatens rural and tribal stations that provide emergency information, local culture and community connection across the desert West.

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.