In Praise of Old Maps

by Paul Gilmore

Revelling in a treasure trove of maps.

Sitting Pretty

by Nicole McClelland

Will true love survive a composting toilet and other unknowable but potentially devastating sacrifices?

The Perfect Predator

by Sonia Shah

A mosquito, a parasite, and the misguided ethos that allowed both to prosper.

The Righteousness Fix

by Roget Lockard

From a global perspective, which addiction is setting us up for disaster fastest?

A Quirk in the Law

by William DeBuys

This land was their land—until the gas wells went in.

The Germs of Life

by Lynn Margulis and Emily Case

Whither Wind

by Charles Komanoff

An environmental Don Quixote goes, painfully, from tilting at windmills to believing in them.

Prairie Dreaming

by Hal Herring

To remake a prairie you need time, money, and a historic collision of events.

Winged Mercury and the Golden Calf

by Rebecca Solnit

The mythology of gold didn't end with the ancient Greeks, and the popular version of this element's story in America leaves out a glittering nemesis.

Of Mites and Men

by Bill McKibben

The work of bees has become a global market commodity, as have mite infestation of hives, its cures, and the cures for the cures. McKibben follows the cycle of cause and consequence.

Beyond Hope

by Derrick Jensen

Hope is the antithesis of action. Hope expects that someone else will do the hard work of change, that things will just...get better.

Love Song of the Agave

text and photograph by Douglas Menuez

In the northern Mexican town of Tequila, an unwavering tradition yields a fruit in perfect harmony with its culture.

Slum Ecology

by Mike Davis

The international economic policies that decimated rural infrastructures worldwide have driven hundreds of millions of the poor to already teeming cities.

National Defense

by Kathleen Dean Moore

"Maybe civil disobedience isn't about justice and obligation. Maybe it's about love."

The Nature of Violence

text by Jeffrey A. Lockwood

This thoughtful essay about violence was included in Best American Science and Nature Writing 2007.

The Long Emergency

A five-part video exploration with author. lecturer, and de facto cultural historian James Howard Kunstler

Progress Hits Home

Melissa Holbrook Pierson

Did we really trade our birthright for a wider selection of bathmats? A sprawling lament.

Conservation Refugees

by Mark Dowie

Large conservation groups too often overlook a messy byproduct of wildland protection: People. What do you do with them?

Mad Max Meets American Gothic

by Bill McKibben

The post peak-oil future looks bleak for the world economy; but perhaps less so for those who value all things local.

Renewing Husbandry

by Wendell Berry

The time of technology and mechanization in agriculture is fast coming to an end. Now it's time to recover what's been lost.

Charlotte’s Webpage

by Lowell Monke

Computers are dramatically altering the way your children learn and experience the world -- and not for the better.

What Fundamentalists Need for Their Salvation

by David James Duncan

Challenging the Right on the fundamentals of Christian stewardship.

The Housewife Theory of History

Rebecca Solnit

Who's really been changing the world, the Lone Ranger or Erin Brokovich?

The Pirates of Illiopolis

by Sandra Steingraber

Floral-patterned kitchen floor kills five, terrorizes Illinois town, and threatens national security. (Yes, it's true.)

In Weather Like This

by Roger Pinckney

Believe what you want to believe. Science will catch up sooner or later.