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Photograph | Lois Ellen Frank / CORBIS

THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

Conservation Refugees
BY MARK DOWIE
A worldwide increase in protected areas may sound like an awesome achievement, but the indigenous peoples who were evicted as a result don't see it that way.

No Two Alike
BY BARBARA L. BAER
An intrepid traveler descends into the darkness of monstrous dictatorship to rescue a mythic fruit.

ART OF LIVING

Collecting the Wild
BY SUZANNE STRYK
On the path from an artist's experience in the world to a finished work, lives are transformed into fragments of symbolic beauty.

Flower of the Fringe
BY SETH KANTNER AND BOB UHL
Honing the art of observation may mean food in the belly for an Alaskan hunter. It may also mean clearing space in one's life for unexpected friends.

GROUNDSWELL

Between Hoofprints
BY MICHELLE NIJHUIS
Think ranches are bad for the environment? A band of maverick cowpunchers and fringe environmentalists would have you think again.

A New Spin on Wind
BY JOSH WEIL
Urban turbines, first pioneered in the '70s, are making a comeback—but the jury's still out on what shape they'll take.

COLUMNS

Small Change
Mad Max Meets
American Gothic
BY BILL MCKIBBEN
There are multiple options for the peak-oil future—some grim, some downright seductive.

From the Faraway Nearby
Keepers of the Country
BY REBECCA SOLNIT
Etymologically, country and contrary are cousins, which means that radicals are the real patriots.

The Tangled Bank
Losers Keepers
BY ROBERT MICHAEL PYLE
For the prodigal loser, life is a tragicomic series of painful partings and joyful reunions.

DEPARTMENTS

From the Editors

Contributors

Mailbox

Sacred & Mundane

Point of View
A Fellowship of Amateurs
BY ELI PARISER
Realizing that leaders don't have the answers is the first step to realizing democracy.

Poetry BY REG SANER

Poetry BY LEONARD NATHAN

Poetry BY KIM STAFFORD

Health and the Environment
Soiled Genes
BY LESLIE A. PRAY
Your progeny may get your blue eyes, but will they also inherit the legacy of your toxic exposures?

Blueprint for Change
The Buoyant Brigade
BY ELIZA STRICKLAND
Adrift on the Bronx River in homemade boats, inner-city youth are nurturing community and ecology.

Orion Grassroots Network
Electrifying Results
Spotlight: Green Empowerment

Coda
The Company of Rocks
BY REBECCA LAWTON

Once again Orion magazine has been honored with two nominations for 2005, in the categories of General Excellence (the top honor) and Best Environmental Coverage.