The episodes on our "Start Here" page detail how we feel about North America's deserts and why they're worth defending. The episodes on this page offer background on a few of the issues we track across the deserts of the US and Mexico.

S2E8: Native Activism in the Desert
Across the Southwest, Indigenous communities are leading efforts to protect sacred places, public lands, and cultural traditions. In this episode, Native advocates discuss the connections between environmental stewardship, tribal sovereignty, and the enduring relationship between people and the desert landscape.
S2E5: The Problems with Desert Solar
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.
S3E29: Barbed Wire and Border Walls: The Unseen Cost of Fragmented Habitats
Ben Goldfarb joins us to talk about road ecology: roadkill, habitat fragmentation, altered hydrology, wildlife crossings, tortoises, pronghorn, and the far-reaching ecological effects of transportation infrastructure.
S4E15: The Fight to Save Lives on the U.S.-Mexico Border
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.
S3E27: Los Alamos’s Dark Legacy: Plutonium Pollution in Plain Sight
Chemist Michael Ketterer educates us about plutonium contamination in New Mexico's Acid Canyon, isotopic tracing, downstream risks, environmental justice, and the enduring consequences of Los Alamos's nuclear legacy.
S1E13: Don’t Die Today: Heat in the Desert

Desert heat is unforgiving, but many tragedies can be prevented with preparation and good decision-making. This episode offers practical advice for staying safe during extreme heat while explaining why deserts become dangerous so quickly when people underestimate the conditions.
S4E45: The Desertification Myth
Drawing on the work of 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.